Amazon's digital assistant seems to be everywhere these days, from home to office Alexa, Amazon’s increasingly ubiquitous voice-activated digital assistant, isn’t just a fun toy for the home; it seems to be learning new “skills” rather quickly, even in the workplace. Among those skills, and one we’re quite taken with, is the ability to deliver Computerworld‘s top tech news in its Flash Briefings — a new talent made possible by Sharon Machlis, executive editor for data analytics and online. (A Flash Briefing, for the uninitiated, is a customized news audio report; you pick and choose the news sources you want to hear and Alexa does the rest.) Machlis joins Executive News Editor Ken Mingis and Alexa herself — itself? — for this week’s show to find more about what the digital assistant can do, how to set up skills yourself and how you can customize your flash briefings. Underlying the conversation is just why this technology seems to be gaining popularity so quickly. Heck even Ford Motor Co. wants in on the Alexa action, and plans to bring it to future vehicles. So if you have an Amazon Echo, Dot, Tap or some other Alexa-enabled device, you’ll find out how to get more out of Alexa. And if you don’t have any Alexa hardware yet, you just might want it after hearing all she can do. (Machlis, who has several Alexa devices at home, is planning to check out Google Home, as well. So if you’re a Google Home fan, stay tuned.) For an audio podcast only, click play (or catch up on all episodes) below. Happy listening, and please, send feedback or suggestions for future topics to us. We’d love to hear from you. Related content news analysis Apple earnings: About that iPhone 'slump' in China Based on information from Thursday's earnings report, it seems that data pointing to an iPhone slump in China were over-baked. By Jonny Evans May 03, 2024 9 mins iMac iPhone Apple news Microsoft begins to phase out ‘classic’ Teams Microsoft is encouraging Teams customers to move to the new, faster version of the collaboration app; the older version will be switched off next year. By Matthew Finnegan May 03, 2024 3 mins Microsoft Teams Collaboration Software Productivity Software news analysis Apple confirms it will open up the iPad in Europe this fall The latest efforts to comply with Europe’s Digital Markets Act mean developers can offer to side load apps to both iPhones and iPads in the EU. Apple has also taken steps to improve what it offers to smaller and non-commercial developers in the By Jonny Evans May 02, 2024 6 mins iPad Apple Mobile Apps news Udacity offers laid-off US workers free access to its courses for 30 days Sign-ups will be available over the next 30 days By Lucas Mearian May 02, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry IT Jobs IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe