I use Siri to send texts, put my phone on Do Not Disturb before I record, set meetings and lots more. One time I don’t use it? In an emergency. Luckily, emergencies are few and far between in my life (knock on wood), but I wouldn’t risk it. Researchers asked voice assistants questions related to cardiac arrest emergencies. Yep, it was a complete disaster. You might think a quick “Hey, Siri” would pull up the instructions quickly and clearly, but that’s absolutely the worst thing to do.  Click here to read full story ..read more

According to Amazon, Alexa can follow more than 50,000 unique tasks and commands. Obviously, we can’t list them all, but we’ll give you a starting point. Tap or click here for 15 Alexa commands to try out right now. Smart speakers are supposed to make our lives easier, but at what cost? Keeping one of these devices around is a privacy risk, but it can worsen. Click here to read full story ..read more

Alexa Guard is a free home security feature for your Alexa-enabled devices. You can use it as a virtual watchdog when you’re away from home. Once enabled, Guard will listen for breaking glass, smoke detectors and CO2 alarms. If it detects something, you will get a push notification on your phone, including an audio replay of the event.  You can combine this feature with other Alexa commands too. Let’s say you get notified that Alexa picked up the sound of a window breaking. If you have an Echo Show, you can use the Drop In feature to see right inside the room. Click here to read full sto ..read more

Medical alert systems ain’t cheap. There’s the price of the hardware ($50 to a few hundred), the charge to set everything up (set aside $100 for that) and a monthly fee of $20 to $40 for the ongoing service. All for a little button on a necklace? It’s highway robbery. Here’s the good news: With the right settings and subscriptions, your smart home assistant can help you call or contact your loved ones in an emergency. Before you rely on one, though, there are a few things you need to know.  Click here to read full story ..read more

You’re suddenly thrown into a situation where you must perform CPR to save a life. Oh, no — you don’t remember anything from that course 15 years ago. You might think a quick “Hey, Siri” would pull up the instructions clearly, but that’s absolutely the worst thing to do. In a recent study, researchers asked voice assistants about cardiac arrest emergencies. Yep, it was a complete disaster. Click here to read full story ..read more

Anything connected to the internet is a hacker target, and you better believe that includes all the Internet of Things (IoT) gadgets in your home. We’re giving away a $1,000 laptop! Enter to win right now here. Good luck! Click here to read full story ..read more

I use Siri to send texts, put my phone on Do Not Disturb before I record, set meetings and lots more. One time I don’t use it? In an emergency. Luckily, emergencies are few and far between in my life (knock on wood), but I wouldn’t risk it. Researchers asked voice assistants questions related to cardiac arrest emergencies. Yep, it was a complete disaster. You might think a quick “Hey, Siri” would pull up the instructions quickly and clearly, but that’s absolutely the worst thing to do.  Click here to read full story ..read more

Remember screaming, “Dinner’s ready!” Or maybe you had a fancy built-in intercom system in your house? Those clunky old systems feel outdated today, but man, were they handy. Good news: You have access to the future world version if you own any smart speakers. It’s super easy to set up. Let me show you how. Click here to read full story ..read more

When we have friends and family with kids over, voice assistants can become a favorite attraction. At best, someone will start another “Baby Shark” round and you’ll sing it for a week. But what if one of those curious kiddos buys toys with your Amazon Echo? Or maybe your niece, Alexis, will have the Echo going haywire. Click here to read full story ..read more

Think of everything you do online and in real life that says something about who you are. Your likes, clicks, hobbies and activities all add to the wealth of data points companies already have on you. What about your conversations with Alexa or Siri? How is that data used? Let’s take a deep look at how they use your conversations to create profiles. Click here to read full story ..read more