Gadgetory

these are the top stories of the week Apple gained some powerful allies Amazon releases new gadgets and everything else you need to know Amazon introduced two new devices that can access Alexa the personal assistant that lives in the echo and the fire TV say hello to the Amazon dot and the Amazon tap the amazon.com looks like someone cut the speaker off of a full-sized echo the dot does what the echo does they both are always listening to your requests the dot has tiny speakers but it's meant to be attached to your own speakers using a wire or over bluetooth the Amazon tap is a portable version of the echo but you'll have to tap the mic button to get tap to listen to you both are less expensive than the Amazon echo Alexa power devices also learn a new trick they can now control Google's nest smart thermostat Apple is still in the middle of challenging it February 16th US court order they'll require Apple to build a new version of iOS to bypass the security of an iPhone both Apple and the FBI spent five hours fielding questions from the House Judiciary Committee on March 1st after that a bunch of other organizations showed their support of Apple's position by filing amicus briefs in federal court the American Civil Liberties Union and Intel both filed individual briefs a brief signed by parties including Airbnb reddit Twitter and Kickstarter was also filed there's also another brief signed by lots of big guns like Amazon Cisco Facebook Google Microsoft and Yahoo Microsoft states that the statute being used by the US government is ill-suited to apply to current technology the FBI is trying to use the all writs Act enacted in 1789 and the last amended in 1911 Apple has also set up a dedicated page on its website to collect all of the amicus briefs in software news Microsoft officially announced it is no longer developing project Astoria projects Astoria was the codename for Microsoft software that were allowed developers to bring Android apps to Windows 10 does that mean we won't get Android apps on Windows through Microsoft well not necessarily Microsoft has purchased a company called xamarin stammers technology allows developers to write native apps for does iOS Mac os10 and Android using the programming language c-sharp some quick bits you should know it's time to go rapid fire Apple launched customer support on twitter with the username at Apple support Facebook live-streaming is now rolling out to Android in the u.s. support for more countries will follow and Star Wars The Force awakens will arrive for digital download on April 1st DVD and blu-ray versions will arrive on April 5th 3d versions are coming later let's take a look at what flew under the radar Microsoft announced that soon you'll be able to play some Xbox one games on Windows 10 pcs every new Forza Motorsport racing game will ship on both Windows 10 and Xbox the title quantum break will be released on Windows 10 and Xbox one on April 5th how is this happening Microsoft is merging a software for PCs and Xboxes if you're worried that Microsoft is ditching the Xbox don't worry Xbox head Phil Spencer says the company is committed to the console now you're all caught up in SAC to get your daily dose of tech music check out cnet.com / - for a weekly dose hit up cnet.com / hi my is actor signing off