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Today — 6 October 2026The Verge

Alexa can’t control the aux input on Amazon Echo speakers anymore

✇The Verge
By: Stevie Bonifield
6 October 2026 at 19:03
The fourth-gen Echo smart speaker on a wooden desk

If you've been using an older Amazon Echo device as a speaker through its 3.5mm aux input, Alexa voice commands to play or pause from line in may stop working. Ars Technica points to this Reddit poster claiming they received a message from Amazon about the change, which the company has confirmed. According to Amazon spokesperson Claudia Chavira Velez, "We recently notified the very small number of customers using voice requests to play or pause audio from the aux audio input on select Echo devices that this functionality will no longer be supported."

The message does not include any explanation for why the feature was removed. It also …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Amazon Alexa Plus keeps creepily singing ‘lalala’ for minutes on end

✇The Verge
By: Dominic Preston
6 October 2026 at 10:53
The Amazon Echo Studio with its front blue LED ring illuminated while sitting on a wooden coffee table.
The Amazon Echo Studio is one of the speakers that runs Alexa Plus. | Photo by John Higgins / The Verge

An unsettling Alexa Plus bug has seen some Amazon Echo smart home speakers reduced to saying - and sometimes singing - nothing but "lalala" on repeat for minutes at a time, often in the middle of conversations with users. When quizzed about the behavior, Alexa is apparently entirely unaware of what it's been doing.

The issue has been reported on Reddit repeatedly over the last few weeks, as recently as three days ago, across multiple types of Echo speaker. Multiple users have uploaded videos of the speakers' strange behavior. Here's one that Android Authority uploaded to YouTube:

Amazon is aware of the issue, and told Android Authority in …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Before yesterdayThe Verge

Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick 4K can pull power directly from your TV

✇The Verge
By: Stevie Bonifield
30 September 2026 at 13:00
The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K with a redesigned Fire TV remote

The new Fire TV Stick 4K will be a little easier to set up than Amazon's previous 4K streaming sticks since it no longer requires a power adapter. You can power the device directly from your TV's USB port, like the updated entry-level Fire TV Stick Amazon launched earlier this year. The Fire TV Stick 4K, available starting today for $59.99, runs on Amazon's refreshed TV OS and includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and Bluetooth Low Energy.

Amazon's also simplifying its streaming stick lineup, which now includes four devices instead of five: the Fire TV Stick HD, Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, and Fire TV Cube. The new Fire TV Stick 4K …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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