Tag: Amazon

Amazon has unveiled its new Dual Audio feature for Fire TV, allowing users to stream audio through a hearing aid while others in the room enjoy standard sound from the TV’s speakers. This feature, which uses the Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) protocol, will roll out over the coming weeks, starting with the company’s latest Fire TV Omni Mini LED model.

In an official blog post, Amazon highlighted that this is the first time Fire TV customers using ASHA-enabled hearing aids can simultaneously enjoy streaming content with two different audio outputs. This new addition aims to enhance the communal viewing experience by providing a more inclusive and personalized approach to audio.

Expanded ASHA Support for Fire TV Devices

Amazon is also expanding its ASHA support to include all Widex Moment Behind-The-Ear (BTE) and Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) hearing aids. The Dual Audio feature will be available across a range of Fire TV devices, including:

• Fire TV Omni Mini LED Series
• Fire TV Omni QLED Series
• Fire TV Cube
• Fire TV 4-Series
• Fire TV 2-Series
• Fire TV Omni Series

This move ensures that a wide variety of Fire TV users with ASHA-enabled hearing aids can enjoy the same enhanced experience.

Accessibility Improvements in Amazon Packaging

Alongside the new feature, Amazon is making efforts to improve accessibility for all customers, particularly those with visual impairments. The company has introduced QR codes on the latest packaging for devices like Fire TV, Echo, and Kindle, which now feature tactile, raised UV dots to improve discoverability.

When scanned, these QR codes direct users to Amazon.com, providing detailed product information and step-by-step setup instructions. This feature is especially beneficial for customers who are blind or have low vision, as it allows them to find the code by touch, as explained by Amazon’s Maiken Moeller-Hansen in the blog post.

In addition to these accessibility enhancements, Amazon has introduced more eco-friendly packaging for its devices. The new packaging includes 30% more recycled fiber and 60% less ink on average, reflecting the company’s commitment to sustainability.

How to Enable Dual Audio on Fire TV Omni Mini LED

To activate the Dual Audio feature on your Fire TV Omni Mini LED, follow these simple steps:

1. Press and hold the Home button on your remote control.
2. Navigate to Settings → Accessibility.
3. Turn on the Dual Audio feature and pair your compatible hearing aid to start streaming audio.

How to Set Up Your Hearing Aid with Fire TV

To set up your hearing aid with your Fire TV device:

1. Go to Settings → Accessibility.
2. Select the Hearing Aids section.
3. Choose Add Hearing Aids to pair your device and begin streaming audio.

In the week’s least surprising news, Amazon’s reinvention of its Alexa voice assistant has reportedly fallen even further behind. According to Bloomberg, the launch of a new Alexa — billed as a smarter, more capable AI-powered voice assistant — has been pushed back. Again. “A person familiar with the matter said Alexa AI teams were recently told that their target deadline had been moved into 2025,” writes Bloomberg. 

In June, Fortune reported that the AI-powered Alexa — which Amazon demoed last September and said would be available for a free preview on its Alexa-fitted devices in the U.S. — is not even close to being ready. Former employees told the publication that the company doesn’t have enough data nor access to the chips needed to run the large language model (LLM) powering the new version of its voice assistant. The company also reportedly deprioritized Alexa AI to focus on building generative AI for its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services.

Amazon said its former employees are incorrect and uninformed on its current Alexa AI efforts, and that the Amazon Artificial General Intelligence team has access to both in-house Trainium chips and Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs).

“We have already integrated generative AI into different components of Alexa, and are working hard on implementation at scale—in the over half a billion ambient, Alexa-enabled devices,” an Amazon spokesperson previously told Quartz in a statement. “We are excited about what we’re building and look forward to delivering it for our customers.”

On Amazon’s third-quarter earnings call, Jassy said Amazon has a “very deep partnership with Nvidia” and plans to “be their lead partner on most of their new chips.” Production of the second version of Amazon’s training chips, Trainium, will start ramping up in the next few weeks, Jassy said.

Bloomberg reports that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has yet to convey a compelling vision for an AI-powered Alexa to the company. While he’s said publicly, “We continue to re-architect the brain of Alexa … ”, there’s been scant information about what an LLM-powered Alexa will bring to its millions of users — beyond being able to converse more naturally. More importantly, it seems Amazon has yet to prove it can do this without diminishing the features customers use the assistant for every day.

While the company searches for its vision, Jassy has installed a new head of the devices and services division under which Alexa falls. Panos Panay has been at the company for a year now, and Bloomberg reports the former head of Microsoft’s Surface division has “brought a focus on higher-quality design to a group adept at utilitarian gadgets.”

Amazon’s prior tact of making copious amounts of cheap hardware at the expense of better software is partly why Alexa hasn’t gotten measurably smarter over the last decade. However, with better hardware and a focus on building on Alexa’s strength, rather than simply turning it into a chatbot, the company could recapture Jeff Bezos’s original vision of creating Star Trek’s “Computer.” But whatever the plan is for a new Alexa, it looks like it won’t be here anytime soon.