WEBVTT - Amazon Unveils 14 New Alexa Devices

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<v Speaker 1>Fourteen new Alexa powered devices from Amazon.

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<v Speaker 2>What's going on? I'm Richdmiro, this is rich on tech. Okay,

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<v Speaker 2>so I.

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<v Speaker 1>Wasn't invited to Amazon's big surprise event in Seattle, but

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<v Speaker 1>I won't hold that against the company. They took reporters

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<v Speaker 1>on a wild ride announcing over seventy new devices, features,

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<v Speaker 1>and developer tools across Alexa, Echo, and fireTV. It's very

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<v Speaker 1>clear Amazon has huge plans for Alexa and wants it

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<v Speaker 1>to power just about every aspect of our everyday lives.

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<v Speaker 1>And as Amazon builds its portfolio, the missing piece might

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<v Speaker 1>just be another smartphone. So let's go through some of

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<v Speaker 1>the most notable products that they launched, starting with the

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<v Speaker 1>Echo lineup.

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<v Speaker 2>It is a lot. First off, you've got the Echo Dot.

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<v Speaker 1>It now comes wrapped in fabric and it has a

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<v Speaker 1>louder speaker with better sound. The price stays the same

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<v Speaker 1>at fifty dollars. That launches October eleventh. The Echo Plus

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<v Speaker 1>is their top of the line Echo speaker. This has

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<v Speaker 1>a new rounder design. It's also wrapped in fabric. It

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<v Speaker 1>also functions as a smart home hub. The speaker inside

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<v Speaker 1>the Echo Plus is also upgraded. That will sell for

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and fifty dollars. It is also available on

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<v Speaker 1>October eleventh. The Echo Show is sort of a mini

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<v Speaker 1>TV slash tablet slash show screen slash video conferencing tool. Now, personally,

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<v Speaker 1>I use an iPad on my kitchen counter. I think

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<v Speaker 1>this would be a great replacement for that, but I

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<v Speaker 1>don't really need some extra features that this offers.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the second generation of the device.

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon upgraded the design added a better speaker, plus it

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<v Speaker 1>also has a larger.

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<v Speaker 2>Ten inch HD display.

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<v Speaker 1>They're also adding Skype to the options for video calling,

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<v Speaker 1>which is really cool because you're no longer limited to

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon's proprietary option and pretty much anyone with Skype will

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<v Speaker 1>be able to talk to you on the other end.

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<v Speaker 1>That's pretty big. This sells for two hundred and thirty dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>It's also available on October eleventh. There's a new thing

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<v Speaker 1>called Echo Auto. This brings Alexa into your car, sort

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<v Speaker 1>of a stopgap until more automakers jump on board with

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<v Speaker 1>Alexa built into their cars, or at least the head units.

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<v Speaker 1>This is a small device that connects to your car

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<v Speaker 1>via Blue or the AUX input. It has eight microphone

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<v Speaker 1>so Amazon says it will hear your commands above all

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<v Speaker 1>the road noise and the AC blasting. The device will

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<v Speaker 1>be fifty dollars when it officially launches, but right now

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<v Speaker 1>you can request an invitation to buy one.

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<v Speaker 2>For just twenty five dollars. All right. From here things

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<v Speaker 2>get pretty interesting.

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon launched a bunch of Echo companion devices think Alexa.

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<v Speaker 1>In just about every aspect of your house. There is

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<v Speaker 1>a wall clock which connects to Echo devices. It looks

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<v Speaker 1>like your typical analog wall clock, but it helps you

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<v Speaker 1>visualize timers that you set with Alexa. And I kind

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<v Speaker 1>of like the idea of this because I regularly set

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<v Speaker 1>timers for my kids for reading, watching TV, or other things,

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<v Speaker 1>and I like the idea that they can glance up

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<v Speaker 1>and kind of see visually how much time is left.

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<v Speaker 2>That is thirty dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>Then there's a whole bunch of Echo accessories for your

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<v Speaker 1>home theater setup. There's an input that lets you add

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<v Speaker 1>Alexa to any speaker for thirty five dollars, a sub

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<v Speaker 1>for more base when you play TV or music on

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<v Speaker 1>your Echo devices that's one hundred and thirty dollars. Then

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<v Speaker 1>there's an Echo link which connects to your stereo system

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<v Speaker 1>and allows you to feed your streaming music in high

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<v Speaker 1>quality format to your existing receiver.

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<v Speaker 2>That's two hundred dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's even an EchoLink amp which has its own

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<v Speaker 1>power and it works to pass music to any pair

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<v Speaker 1>of speakers for three hundred dollars. I wonder what Sonos

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<v Speaker 1>is thinking right now, because the only thing Amazon did

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<v Speaker 1>not reveal was a Alexa powered soundbar for your TV.

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<v Speaker 2>Maybe that's next.

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<v Speaker 1>As if all that's not enough, Amazon also announced in

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon Basics microwave.

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<v Speaker 2>This is a sixty dollars microwave that.

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<v Speaker 1>Doesn't necessarily have Alexa built in, but it does work

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<v Speaker 1>with a nearby echo to take commands for cooking food,

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<v Speaker 1>so you can say things like reheat coffee or microwave

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<v Speaker 1>frozen vegetables. And I love the idea of this and

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<v Speaker 1>suddenly wish my microwave was not built into my kitchen setup.

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<v Speaker 1>This is kind of a no brainer purchase for the

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<v Speaker 1>price at just sixty bucks. And the best part is

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<v Speaker 1>I love microwave popcorn. By the way, I love popcorn

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<v Speaker 1>in general. You can finally use the popcorn button on

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<v Speaker 1>your microwave, even though every bag of popcorn you ever

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<v Speaker 1>buy says the first rule of Popcorn Club is.

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<v Speaker 2>Don't ever use the popcorn button.

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<v Speaker 1>The Amazon microwave is smart enough to ask you the

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<v Speaker 1>brand of your popcorn and the size of the.

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<v Speaker 2>Bag so that it pops perfectly every time.

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<v Speaker 1>There's also a one touch popcorn replenishment button. Oh my gosh,

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<v Speaker 1>this was built for people that love popcorn. The Amazon

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<v Speaker 1>Basics Microwave is available on November fourteenth. Finally, there's now

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<v Speaker 1>an Amazon smart plug that you control with Alexa.

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<v Speaker 2>These are fantastic.

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<v Speaker 1>I have a bunch of other brands of these things

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<v Speaker 1>around my house and I find them really useful, especially

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<v Speaker 1>for controlling holiday lights the Christmas tree and little tabletop

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<v Speaker 1>lamps I have around the house that turn on and

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<v Speaker 1>off at sunrise and sunset. And sure there are lots

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<v Speaker 1>of these from various brands, but Amazon offering their own

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<v Speaker 1>smart plug is really a smart idea because you know

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<v Speaker 1>it's gonna easily work with Alexa.

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<v Speaker 2>And the quality is going to be there.

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<v Speaker 1>And Amazon smart plug is twenty five dollars, which is

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<v Speaker 1>about the average going price from other competitors. Usually they're

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<v Speaker 1>around thirty five dollars. I would have liked to see

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<v Speaker 1>this offered at ten or fifteen dollars, but perhaps what will

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<v Speaker 1>happen when Amazon sells them as a bundle or puts

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<v Speaker 1>them on sale. The smart plug is available October eleventh

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<v Speaker 1>as well. But wait, there's more, including a new feature

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<v Speaker 1>that lets Alexa control basic functionality of your smart home

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<v Speaker 1>devices even if her Internet connection goes out.

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<v Speaker 2>Which is kind of cool.

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<v Speaker 1>But I'm going to focus on just one more interesting

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<v Speaker 1>addition to the lineup, which is a new fireTV DVR.

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<v Speaker 2>It's called the fireTV Recast and this.

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<v Speaker 1>Is sort of the missing link between what we were

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<v Speaker 1>used to, which was a DVR with every channel imaginable,

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<v Speaker 1>and the new age of cord cutting and streaming everything

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<v Speaker 1>through a box like fireTV. Now. I still haven't made

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<v Speaker 1>up my mind whether this Recast TV is brilliant or

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<v Speaker 1>too late to be useful, But here's what it is.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a simple little box that you set up pretty

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<v Speaker 1>much anywhere in your house where you can put up

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<v Speaker 1>an antenna and get the best reception for over the

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<v Speaker 1>air channels. Then it goes to work recording your favorite

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<v Speaker 1>shows and saving them on its internal hard drive. You

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<v Speaker 1>can then view your shows on an Amazon fireTV, a

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<v Speaker 1>tablet or an IOA or Android device. It doesn't sound

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<v Speaker 1>like there's support for Apple TV, Roku or Chromecast out

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<v Speaker 1>of the gate, but I could definitely see that being

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<v Speaker 1>added down the line. Of course, you can easily browse

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<v Speaker 1>through your recordings, see what's currently live and more on

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<v Speaker 1>a fire TV connected to your TV set. What's also

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<v Speaker 1>cool about this is that you can finally get and

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<v Speaker 1>record all of your local channels for free, and for

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of folks, that, along with the Netflix subscription,

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<v Speaker 1>will be pretty much all they need. And you also

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<v Speaker 1>have Amazon Prime Video of course, it's kind of like

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<v Speaker 1>a modern TVO. But the other great thing is that

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<v Speaker 1>this is a one time purchase. There are no ongoing

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<v Speaker 1>monthly fees, and you can even choose shows from an

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<v Speaker 1>on screen guide to record, or you can use your

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<v Speaker 1>voice with Alexa to tune in channels, shows or even

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<v Speaker 1>set up recordings.

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<v Speaker 2>That's pretty cool.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm kind of loving this, especially since the channel I

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<v Speaker 1>work for, which is KTLA and Los Angeles, isn't on

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<v Speaker 1>any streaming service just yet, and of course you can

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<v Speaker 1>easily grab the channel over the air, so now I

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<v Speaker 1>can pipe our programming right onto my TV screen and

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<v Speaker 1>into my devices. I really hope Amazon adds the ability

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<v Speaker 1>to download shows that you record on your recast to

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<v Speaker 1>our devices. That would really be the missing link here.

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<v Speaker 1>The fire TV recast comes in two models. A two

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<v Speaker 1>tuner model, which is five hundred gigabytes, can record two

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<v Speaker 1>shows at once and hold up to seventy five hours

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<v Speaker 1>of programming.

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<v Speaker 2>That's two hundred and thirty dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>Then there's also a four tuner model that can record

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<v Speaker 1>a whopping four shows at once that holds up to

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and fifty hours of HD shows and that's

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred and eighty dollars.

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<v Speaker 2>This is kind of the better buy, but you will

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<v Speaker 2>be able to add.

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<v Speaker 1>An external hard drive to either of these systems down

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<v Speaker 1>the road. The Recast TV is shipping November fourteenth. You

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<v Speaker 1>better believe I'll be buying one, and I don't think

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<v Speaker 1>it can recapture the excitement of my first TVO, which

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<v Speaker 1>was back in two thousand. I invited all my friends

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<v Speaker 1>over I put on Survivor back when it was big,

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<v Speaker 1>and I will never forget watching the look on their

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<v Speaker 1>faces as I paused live TV for the very first time.

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<v Speaker 1>They were all baffled as to what I just did.

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<v Speaker 1>That was a pretty cool memory. Of course, we're all

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<v Speaker 1>pretty used to pausing live TV at this point. There

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<v Speaker 1>you have it, Amazon Alexa overload. It is full on

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<v Speaker 1>game on between Amazon, Google, and Apple for smart assistant dominance,

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<v Speaker 1>in the.

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<v Speaker 2>Home, car, and everywhere in between.

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<v Speaker 1>Apple and Google might have had a head start on phones,

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<v Speaker 1>but Amazon is certainly making a big play for everywhere else.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and if

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<v Speaker 1>you enjoy this. If you enjoy listening to this, please

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<v Speaker 1>take a screenshot on your phone and share it on

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<v Speaker 1>social media with your friends, and please remember to tag

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<v Speaker 1>me so I can share in the love and say thanks.

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<v Speaker 1>Just a quick programming note, I will be filling in

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<v Speaker 1>for Leo Laporte on his radio show this weekend September

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<v Speaker 1>twenty second and twenty third. You can listen on KFI

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<v Speaker 1>AM six forty in Los Angeles from eleven am to

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<v Speaker 1>two pm, or you can find a station near you

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<v Speaker 1>just go to tech guy labs dot com.

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<v Speaker 2>Thanks so much for listening. I'm Rich Damiro I'll talk

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<v Speaker 2>to you real soon.