Alcatel OneTouch launches Hero 2+ phablet running in Cyanogen OS for $299

Alcatel OneTouch revealed its Hero 2+ smartphone which will be the first phablet running Cyanogen OS. The HERO 2+ is a refreshed concept of the 2015 iF Design Award winning HERO 2 phablet, featuring Cyanogen OS, with enhanced customization, security, and photo and video capture features. The HERO 2+ with Cyanogen has a 6-inch Full HD edge-to-edge display and LTE running  on an octa-core processor

This is also the first phablet with an octa-core processor with Cyanogen OS natively available on the device, brought exclusively to the North American market by ALCATEL ONETOUCH. It will be available unlocked via the ALCATEL ONETOUCH store powered by Amazon for $299 beginning in Q2 2015.

Click to read more ...

Amazon Prime and Free Shipping saved customers over $2 billion in shipping fees this holiday

Amazon has changed the way many Americans and Canadians procure products and their features such as Amazon Prime and free shipping have been nothing short of game changing.

Amazon’s 20th holiday brought more than just record growth for Prime. Amazon customers also saved billions thanks to free shipping. On all items purchased this holiday season, customers saved over $2 billion on free two-day shipping through Amazon Prime and other free shipping offers. Additionally, 100 million more items shipped for free this holiday compared to last.

Click to read more ...

Amazon's Echo is a standalone voice assistant you can boss around

Got to hand it to Amazon, eh? Days after announcing same-day delivery service for Prime members in Vanvouver and Toronto, they now  revealed a standalone personal assistant.

Echo looks like a speaker but is actually a connected voice assistant like Apple's Siri, Google Now and Microsoft's Cortana. As shown by the cringeworthy ad above, it is triggered by the 'Alexa' word and can be engaged in a number of ways.

Click to read more ...

Goodreads gets makeover on iOS

Amazon has finally gotten around to redesigning its Goodreads iOS app. It gets a bit more social right from the home screen where it shows updates from your friends using the service. There is also the ability to update your book progress on your currently reading shelf right from My Books section. Goodreads also introduced a More tab to house recommendations and events options.

Source: GeekWire | Download: Apple App Store (Free)