Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission. Amazon's Echo smart speakers and displays can listen for more than just your wake word--devices like the Echo Dot and Echo Show 5 can also keep an ear out for everyday household noises like barking dogs, appliance beeps, and even your snoring spouse (to name a few). The idea is to help turn your home's everyday sounds into triggers for your smart devices to make your life a little easier. Get deals and shopping advice delivered straight to your phone. Sign up for text message alerts from the experts at Reviewed.

With Christmas right around the corner, Santa is loading up his sleigh and getting ready to make his gift-giving trek around the world. Waiting for Santa's arrival is easier said than done (especially for kids). However, you and your family can enjoy holiday fun together by using smart assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to track Santa's location. A smart display, like the Google Nest Hub (second-gen) or the Amazon Echo Show 8 (second-gen), provides the most engaging Santa tracking experience with fun on-screen holiday visuals for both kids and adults. You can also keep tabs on Santa's arrival using a smart speaker like Google's Nest Audio or Amazon's Echo Dot, or by using the Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant app.

The Show 5 (second-gen) is one of several new touchscreen displays from Amazon this year, including the all-new Echo Show 5 (second-gen) Kids edition and the recently-revamped Echo Show 8 (second-gen). This is the first time that Amazon has refreshed the Echo Show 5 since 2019, but the upgrades are minimal between the first and second-gen models. However, if you're on the hunt for a compact Alexa display and don't already have one, the new Echo Show 5 is worth a look. The second-gen Show 5 comes with a white power adapter (15W) that spans about five feet in length. Plug the cord into the display, connect it to the internet, and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the setup process.

So, you recently bought or were gifted an Echo, Echo Dot, or another Echo device, and it's sitting in your kitchen, silently awaiting your next order. Before you can ask your Alexa-powered Echo to play your favorite Spotify playlist or to turn on your living room lights, you'll need to tweak a few key settings. Get the scoop on how to train Alexa to recognize your voice, keep her from letting just anyone buy stuff on Amazon, tell her where you live and work, and more. As soon as your new Echo is up and running, Alexa can start answering your questions and doing your bidding. That said, it's a good idea to help Alexa get accustomed to your voice as soon as possible.

Amazon and Microsoft are adding a new Amazon Alexa app to the Xbox with a number of capabilities, including the ability to remotely browse your home's camera system via Microsoft's game console. The new Alexa app for Xbox isn't quite live, though; it's listed as "Coming Soon" on the Microsoft Store. Controlling your Xbox via an Alexa-powered speaker isn't new--Microsoft launched the capability to Windows Insider beta testers in 2018 via what it called a "skill"--but it's the first time we've seen such tight Alexa integration on the Xbox itself. Microsoft says the app will run on both the Xbox One (presumably including the Xbox One X) as well as the latest Xbox Series X and S consoles. You'll need an Amazon Echo or other Alexa-powered device too, of course.

Amazon Sidewalk was announced in 2019, but chances are you may just now be hearing a lot of chatter about the new shared neighborhood WiFi network. That's because the service, though not live yet, has been automatically enabled for many users with newer Amazon Echo speakers and Ring cameras--and it's raising some privacy concerns. Here's what you need to know about Amazon Sidewalk and how to turn it off. Amazon Sidewalk is a neighborhood WiFi-sharing feature that helps your Echo speakers and Ring cameras stay connected when they're out of range or the internet is down. Amazon Sidewalk is a network created by pooling nearby Amazon devices that can help your Amazon devices stay connected when they're just out of range or when your WiFi goes out.

One of the best things about Amazon Alexa is that she can make life easier by helping you prepare for the day ahead. She read you the forecast, remind you of upcoming meetings, and much more. Now she can brew you a pot of coffee before you ever leave the bed. Like many people, coffee is essential for making my mornings run smoothly. While living in quarantine with my two young kids, I'm always looking for ways to automate my morning and make life less hectic, like letting Alexa brew me up a pot of the good stuff.

Amazon studies user voice recordings to make improvements to Alexa, according to the company. Each time you say "Alexa" (or whatever your wake word of choice happens to be), Amazon might be listening. However, the company says the wake word and the command or question that follows is the only part that's being recorded. This is all to help Alexa get smarter, but this may leave some smart home users feeling a bit uneasy. While Amazon points out that an "extremely small fraction of voice recordings are manually reviewed," the recordings have been mismanaged in the past, including a few horror stories, so it doesn't hurt to take precautions. You can adjust Alexa's voice recording settings in the Amazon Alexa app, available for download on iOS and Android devices. There are other ways to manage your voice recordings in the Amazon Alexa app, like automatic deletion and turning off voice recordings altogether.

When I test a kitchen appliance, I spend a ton of time thinking about the different kinds of people who'd use it. I keep little Venn diagrams in my mind, and see how much overlap there is between the different sets: tech geeks, busy people, people who like to cook, people who don't like to cook, aesthetes, purists. A couple of months ago, for instance, I looked at a giant countertop oven that was also a microwave, and I just struggled. It was way more than a microwave-burrito bachelor needed, too big for a city apartment dweller, and large enough to microwave for four but tricky to get it to bake for more than two. It was a promising idea--two appliances in one!--but

Amazon Alexa can read you the latest headlines, give you the forecast, and help you manage your smart home, but can Alexa play Spotify? Whether you recently signed up for Spotify or have been using the music streaming service for a while, you'll be happy to know that yes, it's possible to connect Spotify to Alexa. Not sure how to go about setting it all up? Then these simple instructions of how to connect Alexa to Spotify will be music to your ears. It only takes a few taps to connect Spotify with Alexa.