Anki’s Vector robot to come with Amazon Alexa integration

We’re seeing more and more toy robots out in the market and one of them is about to get smarter. Anki confirmed in a blog post from its CEO Boris Sofman that the company is working with Amazon to integrate Alexa into the new Vector robot. This Wall-E lookalike will be getting the integration in the future as Sofman say they are still in early development stages. He acknowledges that these robots can’t just be cute but need to smart enough to last for years, which he claims they plan to keep doing for the coming years. The Alexa integration is expected to arrive by the end of the year.

On top of this, though, Anki is working on things like pet detection, delivering messages, music recognition, home monitoring, and a 360-degree camera. The Anki Vector is coming to stores in the US on October 12^th for US$250. 

Source: Engadget

Google will let you hide the notch on the Pixel 3 XL

Notch haters rejoice! You will be able to hide the notch on the Pixel 3 XL. As we already know, the current build of Android Pie has this option in the development menu. And Google confirmed in a tweet that they’ve added this option. We’re hoping that by the time the Pixel 3 XL comes out though that it’s in a more visible area. The downside of the current iteration is Google puts the menu bar below the simulated bezel, meaning you get less screen to work with. Here’s hoping they fix this or at least give users an option.

Source: The Verge

Review: 2018 Mazda6

Text and Photos Emily Chung

The 2018 Mazda6 is one of my favourite mid-size sedans given the combination of style, performance, and comfort. Our road test engine (Skyactiv-G 2.5L) has cylinder deactivation technology, which allows better fuel economy.

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Amazon's Music Unlimited streaming service aims to take on Spotify and Apple Music

While Amazon has offered streaming music for free with Amazon Prime subscriptions, the range of artists, songs and albums was rather lacking compared to larger libraries from services like Spotify and Apple Music.

Amazon actually has another music streaming service in Canada available since last month and unlike Prime Music, which has around one million songs, the Music Unlimited service offers millions of songs. Costing $9.99 a month, Music Unlimited is discounted to $7.99 for individual and current Amazon Prime users. A family plan costs $ 14.99 a month and a single device subscription (ideal for one Amazon Echo device) for $3.99 a month.

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