Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Amazon launches a Skype competitor in the form of Amazon Chime

Amazon just keeps finding ways to help your small business grow. The latest offering to emerge from the online retail giant is Amazon Chime, a new project from Amazon Web Services. It’s described as “a new unified communications service that makes meetings easier and more efficient than ever before,” and it looks an awful lot like a direct competitor with Skype. Amazon Chime will let users engage in video and audio meetings with just one click and allows for a synchronized experience across desktops, iOS, and Android devices.

Promising to take the frustration out of meetings, especially those that seem to be happening across different states or different countries with increasing frequency, Amazon Chime hopes to provide a more seamless solution to teleconferencing. Without a dial-in or PIN needed, Amazon Chime instead alerts all call participants when a meeting has begun, so all you need to do is click one button to be placed into the conference.

Recommended Videos

Amazon Chime also shows everyone exactly who they are talking to with a visual roster of participants within the meeting and any attendee has the option of muting their line no matter what sort of device they’re on, or where they are.

“It’s pretty hard to find people who actually like the technology they use for meetings today. Most meeting applications or services are hard to use, deliver bad audio and video, require constant switching between multiple tools to do everything they want, and are way too expensive,”  Gene Farrell, vice president of Enterprise Applications said in a statement. “Amazon Chime delivers frustration-free meetings, allowing users to be productive from anywhere. And with no ongoing maintenance or management fees, Amazon Chime is a great choice for companies that are looking for a solution to meetings that their employees will love to use.”

Download for iOS Download for Android

Lulu Chang
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Amazon Halo View launches alongside new nutrition and fitness features
Cycler riding while wearing the Amazon Halo View.

As a part of the Amazon fall event hosted by the tech giant earlier today, Amazon has announced the new Halo View.

The new iteration of Amazon's wearable fitness tracker features a plethora of upgrades, namely an integrated AMOLED touchscreen that shows the user tracking features such as heart rate, intensive workout tracking, and time. The Halo View will also monitor sleep tracking and blood oxygen levels, as well as show notifications on the screen. It also has waterproofing for optimized fitness use, but despite all these new features it's not technically a replacement of the Halo Band, since the Band will still be sold by Amazon.

Read more
Sideloading Android apps in Windows 11 might be easier thanks to Amazon
A photo of the TikTok app running on a Windows 11 laptop

Amazon is making changes to the Amazon Appstore that might end up benefiting the ability to sideload Android apps in Windows 11. The store now will support the Android App Bundle, which is the new Android app standard that Google has been pushing developers to get on board with.

Previously, Google had announced it was shifting developers away from the APK file format  --- which Microsoft had confirmed could be used to sideload Android apps on Windows 11. This would have complicated the ability to run apps that aren't officially available in Amazon's Appstore, but Amazon's news offers hope that this won't be the case.

Read more
Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg helps Amazon launch Echo Dot concepts
amazon launches new fashion forward echo dot concepts midnight kiss 3

Have you looked at your smart home devices and thought, "Gee, I wish some of these were more stylish?" Now you have the chance to add a bit of flair to your smart home thanks to a collaboration between Amazon and the famous fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. This is done through the Build It program, a way for customers to pre-order limited-edition versions of popular accessories. In this case, the device on the table is the Echo Dot.
How Build It works
Build It gives customers a say in what devices are manufactured next. Customers choose from different concepts by pre-ordering the ones they want, often at a special promotional price. After its launch, the concept has a set pre-order goal that must be reached within 30 days. If it meets this goal, Amazon will build it, and those that pre-ordered will be the first to receive the product. If the concept doesn't reach its goal, it won't be produced. Either way, customers aren't charged for the device until it actually ships.

This system means that customers can vote with their preorders without wasting money on a device that may never be built. It's Amazon's version of crowdsourcing style.
Diane von Furstenberg concepts

Read more