Microsoft adds Amazon Alexa support for the Xbox One

For select gamers in the U.S., starting up your Xbox One is as easy as calling out for Alexa. The console now supports voice commands via Amazon Alexa—that is if you’re part of the Xbox Insiders program. This Amazon Alexa skill will let you do things like switch the console on, open games, capture screenshots, control media playback, among other things. Not sure what else you can do, just say, “Ask Xbox what can I say?” Of course, to play, you will need to use your controller.

This isn’t the first time voice control has come to the Xbox One. Microsoft’s own assistant Cortana is supported by the Xbox One but you’ll need either their headset or the now discontinued Kinect cameras and motion tracker to get this to work. So, of course, the convenience of talking to nearby smart speakers will make things more convenient. In case you’re asking, the Xbox One doesn’t support Google Assistant just yet. But Microsoft isn’t closing the door on supporting it in the future. The company has said it will "continue to evolve this experience and grow our voice integration across devices, digital assistants, and voice services."

Bug fix causes mass update of Microsoft Store apps

Noticed a bunch of your Microsoft Store apps update over the past few days? Well, it’s not a sudden onslaught of new features. Instead, Microsoft is addressing an issue within the app store. It’s caused users to run into error 0x800B0100 when they try to download apps. Palani Sundaramurthy, principal program manager lead on Developer & Partner Services at Microsoft, expounds, “We have tracked this issue to our submission workflow incorrectly signing certain apps. [We need] to re-process the impacted apps in order to alleviate the problem. While we have already re-processed a few apps, […] we’re working to ensure that every impacted app is fixed.”

These reprocessed apps are showing up as app updates and come with the minor version number of .1000. It seems to have fixed the problem and Microsoft says developers can now safely resubmit apps and have end users download these fixed versions.

Source: MSPowerUser

HTC said to be working on smartphone with Snapdragon 855 processor, 5G support

While HTC has been struggling in the mobile space, it seems the company isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. An update from the LinkedIn profile of HTC’s senior RF designer Kevin Kuo states the company is hoping to turn its fortunes with a new device running on Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 855 chip, which will bring performance and efficiency enhancements over the current Snapdragon 845 processor. It’s also being suggested on Kuo’s profile that HTC plans to pair the Snapdragon 855 chip with the optional Snapdragon X50 5G modem. Qualcomm has said it is “on track to help launch the first 5G mobile hotspots by the end of 2018.”

Snapdragon 855 phones aren’t expected to land until the middle of next year. There is no specified timeline for this HTC device but if HTC manages to beat its competition, then this might help them along.

Source: Android Headlines + Tech Spot

Twitter adds audio-only live broadcasts for iOS

Sometimes you want to go live but don’t want to record your surroundings. Twitter just launched an audio-only live broadcast option for its iOS and Periscope app users. It acts similar to a regular live broadcast on the social network without videos attached to it. For iOS and Periscope users, you just need to tap on the “Live” button and from there you’ll get an option to broadcast using audio only. While being able to record is limited to iOS for the time being, all Twitter users can listen in on these broadcasts. Once a live broadcast is done, these can be made available to listen to afterwards.