Your Amazon Echo speakers can now work as an intercom

For Canadian and U.S. owners of Amazon Echo speakers, you can now turn your speakers into a one-way intercom system. The setup of Alexa Announcements isn’t complicated. All you need to do is talk to Alexa and say things like, “Alexa announce that dinner is ready.” And then all the Echo devices in your home will make the announcement. Or you can use other hot words like “Alexa, tell everyone…” or Alexa, broadcast…” It isn’t clear yet if this will work on other Alexa-enabled devices but for now we’re assuming it’s only for Echo speakers.

Source: Android Authority

Facebook says personal data of 622,161 Canadian users were harvested by Cambridge Analytica

According tor Facebook Canada, they estimate 622,161 Canadians had their data “improperly shared” with Cambridge Analytica. The U.K.-based firm, which served the Trump presidential campaign and Brexit, used data harvested through an innocous personality quiz app that collected personal information about users and their social network.

It is sobering news, that the personal information and data of more than half a million Canadian Facebook users was harvested by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica who used this information to profit from targeting voters.

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Final Cut Pro X gets new features including ProRes RAW standard and closed caption tools

Some good news for professional Mac users and video editors. Apple has updated Final Cut Pro X. Version 10.4.1 introduces a new format from Apple, ProRes RAW, which combines the visual and workflow benefits of RAW video with the performance of ProRes. The update also adds advanced closed captioning tools that allow video editors to easily view, edit and deliver captions from right within the app. Apple is also adding complementary new features to Final Cut Pro companion apps, Motion and Compressor.

This makes Final Cut Pro X even more versatile for existing users who are going to be enjoying the new features as part of a free upgrade which begins rolling out on April 9.

Chinese brand Blackview outs smartphone with 11,000mAh battery

While it’s a brand you probably won’t encounter here, the main selling point of its newest smartphone is too much to pass up on writing about. The Blackview P10000 Pro packs in a massive 11,000mAh battery that promises 50 days of standby time and seven days of use on a single charge. Its included 5V/5A charger promises to charge the P10000 Pro from dead to full in just two hours and 25 minutes. Of course, it isn’t just the battery size that determines the battery’s performance, things like software optimization plays a big role as well. But there’s something to be said about a phone that doesn’t need to rely on that—of course, actual use is going to paint a different picture than what the manufacturer claims it can do.

The other specs of the P10000 Pro include a 5.99-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and 2,160 x 1,080 resolution, 13-megapixel and 0.3-megapixel front cameras, 16-megapixel and 0.3-megapixel rear cameras, MediaTek octa-core Helio P23 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and Android 7.1 Nougat (that’s said to be upgradeable to Android 8.1 Oreo). If you’re intrigued, the phone is selling on AliExpress for around $200 USD (around $250 CAD).

Source: Android Authority