NewGPU1.png' alt='Amd Catalyst Install Manager Stuck In The Middle With You' title='Amd Catalyst Install Manager Stuck In The Middle With You' />Alexa and Cortana Teamed Up, But Consumer Tech Is Still Stuck in an Ecosystem War. The voice interfaces Cortana and Alexa will soon be able to activate each other for functions that one does better than the other, Amazon and Microsoft announced today. Its the kind of cooperation that we dont see enough between the Big Five, or really any company thats grown out of its desperately cobble together partnerships so we look relevant phase and into its abandon all cooperation that doesnt lock customers into our shitty ecosystem phase. Cortana and Alexas competitors, Google Assistant and Siri, wont be integrating any time soon. As Gizmodo notes, Google and Apple have far more users locked into their ecosystems, so they have far less incentive to cooperate with competing systems. By combining forces, Microsoft and Amazon are admitting theyve lost the war for mobile, the dominant user interface now, and holding onto their own core competencies Microsoft for business communication, Amazon for consumption. Please note that once you make your selection, it will apply to all future visits to NASDAQ. If, at any time, you are interested in reverting to our default. For years I was convinced I hated scotch. Then one day someone talked me into doing a massive sidebyside tasting of some singlemalts and I realized that I dont. Meanwhile, though Google Assistant runs on i. OS, its very limited and cant be activated without opening an app. Siri wont run at all on Android. And even on its native platform, Siri wont control best in class apps like Spotify, Gmail, or Google Maps. Google Assistant is more flexible, but it cant order things on Amazon the way Alexa can. Cheat Css Steam New 2012 Macbook. You can run Alexa on Android, but only through Amazons app, and again with limitations. Your device also wont play well with a competing desktop OS Apples Handoff and i. Cloud make i. Phones and Macs work together seamlessly, whereas coordinating an Android phone with a Mac is clunky, and plugging an i. Phone into a Windows machine is eye twitchingly uncomfortable, thanks to Apples lousy Windows port of i. Tunes. The TV ecosystem is just as bad, largely thanks to Amazons own selfish decisions. Amazon still hasnt released its promised Apple TV app, so Prime customers have to stream Transparent and Curb Your Enthusiasm from their phones. There are no plans for an Amazon app on the Chromecast, or for Spotify on Apple TV. You can retreat to a third party media player like Roku, but then you cant play videos purchased through i. Tunes without a wonky file conversion. Starting at the end of this month, Amazon will no longer sell the Chromecast or Apple TV. AndRead more Read. Meanwhile, Facebook runs around kind of integrating with all these other services while trying to push its own messaging and sharing platforms, and burying every post that dares link to You. Tube or Twitter. As a customer choosing a phone, computer, and media player, youre stuck with three choices Buy into an ecosystem that inevitably has some crappy elements. You could choose Google, and miss out on Apples slick interface and seamless desktop to mobile integration. Or choose Apple, lose a lot of third party functionality, and get locked into increasingly bizarre design choices your Lightning headphones wont work on your laptop and inferior software like Apple Maps, Mail, and Calendar. Amd Catalyst Install Manager Stuck In The Middle With You' title='Amd Catalyst Install Manager Stuck In The Middle With You' />On desktop, choose Windows and miss out on that same integration, or choose Apple, pay more for the same computing power, and get your computer games a year late. Straddle ecosystems, running the Google Suite instead of MS Office and hooking your i. Phone up to your PC or your Android to your Mac. Run Spotify, buy an Echo, and live with their limited capabilities. Maybe even run Excel on OS X. All but the most basic users reach outside their main ecosystem at some point. Install Linux on your Chromebook, jailbreak your i. TheINQUIRER publishes daily news, reviews on the latest gadgets and devices, and INQdepth articles for tech buffs and hobbyists. As a customer choosing a phone, computer, and media player, youre stuck with three choices Buy into an ecosystem that inevitably has some crappy elements. Phone, run Cortana on your Fit. Bit, hack your Echo to play Tidal, and write a viral Medium post encouraging people to unplug. In the short term, all these companies have good reasons to lock up their platforms wherever they still think they can steal market share from the others, and wherever they would rather focus resources on improving their own service instead of handing millions of customers to their competitors through a partnership. But in the long term, this lock in keeps the Big Five from innovating, their products leaning on the crutch of the ecosystem, alienating customers who will then abandon the ecosystem for third party services like Spotify, Dropbox, Whats. App, 1. Password, and Overcast. OS has a bunch of great podcast managers these days, but after testing all of them, our favoriteRead more Read. Historically, these ecosystems tend to open up, making way for the next battle. Macs and PCs didnt always run so many of the same apps. Internet Explorer and Netscape were much more mutually exclusive than Chrome and Safari. And for a while, your Internet came in flavors of AOL, Prodigy, or Compu. Serve. Even Android and i. OS used to have zero apps in common. But each time, interoperability won out, bringing most of each platforms strengths to everyone. But things could get worse before they get better. The Big Five are all racing to win at online payments, wearables, AI, AR, VR, smart homes, smart cars, and the growing Internet of Things. And as long as each company thinks it can win, it will try to push out the others instead of playing nice. Eventually there will be winners and losers, or decentralized cooperation. Every now and then, a new protocol will open up thats as decentralized as email or HTTP. And the giants of the day will move onto a new fight. In the meantime, theres nearly always some way to force the ecosystems to play together, at the expense of simplicity and not having your shit constantly break. Theres always some third option to jimmy into the gap and outperform all the defaults. And thats what Lifehackers all about. Knowing Where a Scotch Was Made Can Help You Know If Youll Like It. For years I was convinced I hated scotch. Then one day someone talked me into doing a massive side by side tasting of some single malts and I realized that I dont hate scotch, Im just not a fan of scotch from one specific region of Scotland and consequently blends that use a heavy amount of scotch from that region. Scotch, or just whisky yes, without the e in Scotland, is made all over the country, but where its made has a huge impact of what it tastes like. Think of it like the difference between a wine from France and one from Napa, except youre looking at the same country. Where a distillery gets its ingredients, the water it uses, and the weather while the whiskey is aging can all have an impact on the flavor of the final product and can determine whether or not youll like it. You can get super nerdy about this topic, but since this isnt a drink blog Im going to break down a few of the different regions on a super basic level read whisky connoisseurs, this post probably isnt for you. Depending on who you ask, the Islands and Campbelltown should also be included on this list, but since theyre exceptionally small and single malts from these regions are hard to find Ive omitted them for claritys sake. If youre just getting into scotch and know a brand youve already enjoyed, you might want to give another whisky from that same region a try. Likewise, if youre like me and think you dislike scotch, scope out some of the other regionsyou might be surprised at how much more you like them. Highland. Whiskies from this region are known for being full bodied, with notes of smoke and peat. When you taste these, they tend to have a sweet start, and then finish dry. Popular distilleries from this area include Aberfeldy, Deanston, Edradour, Royal Brackla, and Glenmorangie. Highland whisky tends to be my favorite. Speyside. Speyside is the king of the whisky regions in Scotland, and where the majority of distilleries are located in the country. While technically part of the Highlands, Speyside earned a region all of its own due to the distinctive taste of whisky made here, which are slightly sweet with fruit flavors and occasionally hints of smoke and peat. The region gets its name from the river Spey, which runs through the area. Popular distilleries here include Glenlivet, Macallan, Glenfiddich, Glenfarclas, and Aultmore. Islay. If you like smoke, then Islay is the region for you. The area is known for its smoky whisky, which is thought to be in part due to the high winds in the area. Whiskies from this area are dry and peaty, a flavor they get from the peat they use to malt the barley during the process of making the whisky. Popular distilleries in this area include Bowmore, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, and Port Ellen. Lowland. There are only a few distilleries operating in this region, and whisky tends to be light bodied with a dry finish. If youre just getting into scotch whisky, these can be a great way to get started. A lot of the whisky made in this region ends up in blends, but popular single malt options include Glenkinchie, Littlemill, Rosebank, and St Magdalene.