“Alexa, ask GMC to start my car” now works in GM vehicles in Canada. More than 800,000 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac owners are the first in Canada to be able to use Amazon Alexa enabled devices to remotely “start,” “stop,” “unlock,” and “lock,” from the comfort of their home. The linkage uses Owner Centre and Amazon accounts to voice command myChevrolet, myBuick, myGMC and myCadillac Alexa skills. Most 2011 or newer year models in Canada are eligible. It’s free for customers who currently have remote key fob services through the myChevrolet, myBuick, myGMC and myCadillac mobile apps or by subscribing to Remote Access or Premium Access plans for $14.99/month or $149.90 annually.
It’s back! Prime Day (www.amazon.ca/primeday) returns July 16 at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET until July 17. In case you didn’t notice, that’s 36 hours long! A day and a half of non-stop deals on Amazon Canada.
It’s challenging to pick new trends at the recent 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. After all, with 4,000 vendors showing big and small technology spread out over 2.7 million square feet between several spread-out huge halls, it’s impossible to see it all.
This year though, one repetitive new technology won hands-down. Voice assistant technology from Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home Assistant were everywhere and in the most interesting appliances.
IFA 2017 attracted more than 253,000 visitors to Berlin, a global trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances. With more than half of all trade visitors coming from abroad, IFA Berlin provided a huge boost for both manufacturers and retailers in the crucial run-up to the holiday period, which runs from Thanksgiving in the United States all the way to Christmas and the New Year. Once again, IFA was operating at full capacity, with 1,805 exhibitors showing their latest products and services on 159,000 square meters of fully booked show floor at Messe Berlin. The mood among exhibitors was highly optimistic, not least given the expected order volume of 4.7 billion euro achieved during the six days of the event.
The Annual 2017 IFA tradeshow in Berlin ends today with a slew of smart and sometimes crazy technology. Much was about the newest wearables, laptops, phones or speakers which are basically incrementally better than older models. But exciting technology is about how to do or experience things, in a new way.
Here are some of my favourites.
BIG AND SMALL HOME APPLIANCES The Smart Home appliance category ruled. German high end Miele’s Dialog oven uses a combination of electromagnetic waves (like microwaves) a convection fan and traditional radiant heating elements to cook food, precisely.
