Smart home
Alexa Challenges Kid to Touch Live Plug With Coin, Amazon Apologises
![Alexa Challenges Kid to Touch Live Plug With Coin, Amazon Apologises](https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/amazon_alexa_1538739343558.png)
The dangerous activity Alexa via an Echo smart speaker suggested to the girl is known as the “penny challenge” or the “outlet challenge” and it began circulating on social media platforms, including TikTok, about a year ago. Coins are made up of metals that are good conductors of electricity. Inserting them into a live socket can cause electric shocks, fires, and damage to people and property. Amazon said it has fixed the “error” after the company came to know about the incident.
OMFG My 10 year old just asked Alexa on our Echo for a challenge and this is what she said. pic.twitter.com/HgGgrLbdS8
— Kristin Livdahl (@klivdahl) December 26, 2021
Many users expressed their shock and anger at how the smart speaker set the girl up to a dangerous activity, with some questioning the evolution of technology behind it.
I suspected Alexa was evil. Just didn’t suspect Alexa was this evil.
— Leslie What (@leslie_what) December 26, 2021
Another pointed out that Alexa ironically left out the part in the article it referenced to for the “challenge” that warned parents about this viral activity.
The horrible irony of this is that the article referenced is a warning about this “challenge” and how dangerous it can be. Alexa left that part out, of course.https://t.co/OwWal7K9iC
— ???????????????????????? ???????????????? (@dcsohl) December 27, 2021
Another user questioned the necessity of such a “surveillance tool” in the house.
Perhaps it’s a good time to rethink Why you let this surveillance Tool in your house in the first place ????. No blame shifting, Amazon is responsible above all. But i really dont get Why people want to put these Devices in their homes.
— Dav Dav (@zwitscherDav) December 28, 2021
Livdahl, the mother, said her daughter wanted to try some physical challenges that they previously learned on YouTube but the weather was bad outside and the girl wanted another one to do inside their home. Alexa then suggested the challenge it had “found on the Web’, the mother added.
Following the episode, Amazon told BBC in a statement that it had updated Alexa to stop the voice assistant from recommending such activity in the future, saying “customer trust is at the centre of everything we do”. “As soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it,” Amazon said in the statement.
The girl’s mother, too, tweeted yesterday saying that the challenge was no longer working.
It isn’t working for us now, either. Maybe they fixed it.
— Kristin Livdahl (@klivdahl) December 27, 2021
In another tweet, Livdahl said that this incident made her “go through Internet safety and not trusting things you read without research and verification again”.
It was a good moment to go through internet safety and not trusting things you read without research and verification again. We thought the cesspool of YouTube was what we needed to worry about at this age—with limited internet and social media access—but not the only thing.
— Kristin Livdahl (@klivdahl) December 27, 2021
As far as this incident is concerned, the girl’s mother was there to intervene right away. But we can only imagine the damage that would have been caused if a parent or guardian wasn’t present.
Smart home
Wakefit Brings Temperature-Control Mattress, Contactless Sleep Tracker
![Wakefit Brings Temperature-Control Mattress, Contactless Sleep Tracker](https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/wakefit_zense_1718277394030.jpg)
Wakefit Zense Regul8, Track8 price and availability
Regul8, under the Wakefit Zense range, can be purchased at the price of Rs. 44,999. The mattress is available in Queen (78×60 inch) and King (78×72 inch) sizes. Track8, the sleep tracking sheet, is priced at Rs. 10,499. Both devices can currently be pre-booked on the official website for Rs. 499 each, or Rs. 899 combined.
Wakefit Zense Regul8 features
According to the company, the Regul8 mattress features a water-based system to control the temperature of the mattress surface. The mattress’ temperature can be set between 15-degree and 40-degree Celsius using the companion app. Regul8 has a dual-zone temperature controller, which allows the user to set different temperatures for each side of the bed.
Regul8 also comes with integrated temperature sensors that can monitor the temperature of the mattress surface and make real-time adjustments to keep it consistent throughout the night. It also features five different presets — Neutral, Cold, Warm, Ice, and Fire — to easily set the desired temperature. Wakefit claims that the Regul8 mattress consumes 60 percent less energy than a 1.5-ton AC.
Wakefit Zense Tack8 features
Track8 is a sleep solution under the Wakefit Zense range, which can track users’ sleeping patterns and other metrics without any contact. The device, which is a thin rectangular sheet of fabric with two sheet sensors, is placed under the mattress. It has dual-zone sensors, one for each side of the bed, and can track two users at the same time. The device directly sends the collected data to the companion app, which then processes the information to present a detailed sleep report.
The company claims the device uses AI and machine learning algorithms to capture data around sleep stages, respiratory rate, movement, sleep and wake up time, on and off bed time, and snoring. Once analysed, it also offers an aggregated sleep score.
Smart home
Apple’s tvOS 18 Gets InSight, Automatic Subtitles and Other New Features
![Apple’s tvOS 18 Gets InSight, Automatic Subtitles and Other New Features](https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/apple_tvos_18_1718110139174.jpg)
tvOS 18 Updates
At its developer conference, Apple announced InSight – a feature which displays real-time information about the currently playing content, such as the characters, cast and the music playing. To get further information, users can select a specific actor and bring up their background and filmography page, the iPhone maker revealed.
Moreover, tvOS 18 is also said to offer the ability to add the currently playing music to the user’s Apple Music library. The Cupertino-based tech giant also announced that the InSight information can now be accessed on the iPhone while using it as an Apple TV remote.
Stan Ng, Vice President of Apple Watch, Audio, Health, and Home Product Marketing, said, “This fall, tvOS 18 and our services take entertainment in the home to the next level by bringing timely information to fans about their favourite characters and scenes.”
With tvOS, the Enhanced Dialogue feature is claimed to have become smarter, leveraging machine learning (ML) and computational audio to provide better vocal clarity. This feature can now be taken advantage of when playing supported content through the TV’s in-built speakers, Bluetooth-connected audio devices and AirPods, Apple said.
Subtitles are also said to receive improvements, with Apple claiming they now automatically appear in places where the audio does not match the device language. In addition to new screensavers such as films, TV shows, portraits and even Snoopy, Apple is also introducing support for a wider 21:9 aspect ratio for video playback on projectors.
Apple also announced updates to the Home interface, with users now able to share control when playing music through HomePod and HomePod mini using SharePlay and Apple Music. Furthermore, Live Captions will be coming to the US and Canada to read what others say during FaceTime calls when using the iPhone as a Continuity Camera on Apple TV.
The iPhone maker claims to have also introduced a new look for the Apple Fitness+ app to “help users make the most of its robust library, stay motivated, and keep consistent with their fitness routine.”
Smart home
Siri May Soon Be Able to Control Robot Vacuum Cleaners for You
![Siri May Soon Be Able to Control Robot Vacuum Cleaners for You](https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/vacuum_cleaner_1718098654084.jpg)
Apple Home App Updates
At WWDC 2024, Apple announced that it will soon allow users to control their robot vacuum cleaners via the Home app. After the functionality is rolled out later this year, commands may be relayed to the vacuum cleaners via Siri. These include commands to clean floors, change cleaning modes, or check the battery status.
The core functionality of robot vacuum cleaners will be supported via the Apple Home app, according to the company. These include managing power controls, setting the cleaning mode, and performing vacuum and mop cleaning, and checking charge status.”
Guest Access on Apple Home
Device owners will be also able to provide guest access to smart home devices to those people who don’t visit their homes too often. In addition to that, they can also set schedules for when guests can access their homes with smart home keys utilising the ultra wide-band (UWB) technology, it further added.
This functionality will be rolled out when iOS 18 is released to the public, which Apple says will happen in the Fall. As per the previous trends, this might coincide with the launch of the upcoming iPhone 16 series in September.
iOS 18 Eligible Devices
While iOS 18 is bringing upgrades to existing features in addition to new ones, not all iPhones will be eligible. As per the company, only the iPhone XR and newer models up to the iPhone 15 Pro Max (as of now) will receive the update. This means the iPhone models that received the iOS 17 update last year will also be updated to iOS 18.
However, the newly announced features powered by Apple Intelligence (or artificial intelligence) will only be available on handsets running on the A17 Pro SoC, which means the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, according to the company.
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