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This week, the team is quite active! Join Rachel, Jessica, and Joel, as they discuss topics from a 9-month National Fitness Challenge, to the Ecobee4 Thermostat, to the Amazon Echo stepping into the communication market.

A 9-Month Fitness Challenge?

Students from the Georgia Blind Sports Association along with the United Association of Blind Athletes and the Amerigroup are taking part in a 9-month fitness challenge.
Read about it here
there are always things to say when it comes to getting out there and being active! Listen as the team shares their thoughts on this challenge and the devices used to promote friendly competition. read more

The ecobee4 is the First Smart Thermostat with Alexa, But is it Accessible?

Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant has integrated itself to work with a variety of smart home devices, but up until now, you needed to buy an Amazon Echo or an Echo Dot to enable those interactions on a thermostat.

The ecobee4 smart thermostat is the first device to have Alexa built in.

The new thermostat also answers other questions that Amazon Echo can handle like reading the news, order pizza, play music or request an Uber and more.

The Ecobee4 looks similar to the Ecobee3. Its face is a rounded black square with a smartphone-sized touch screen in the middle. The biggest noticeable difference is a small blue LED bar along the top, which lights up when Alexa is activated.
The interface is largely the same, with the current temperature displayed prominently and a slider along the right to adjust the heat or cooling. A small microphone icon in the lower right lets you activate Alexa manually. read more

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