Amazon is giving its Fire TV Stick an upgrade. The company announced today it will now ship the Fire TV Stick with the new version of the Alexa Voice Remote launched last fall. The remote allows users to control other devices besides their Fire TV, thanks to its support for both Bluetooth and multi-directional infrared. […]
View More Amazon upgrades its Fire TV Stick with the new Alexa Voice RemoteCategory: voice assistant
Pandora launches a personalized voice assistant on iOS and Android
Pandora today announced the launch of its own, in-app voice assistant which you can call up at any time by saying “Hey Pandora,” followed by a request to play the music or podcasts you want to hear. The feature will allow you to not only control music playback with commands to play a specific artist, […]
View More Pandora launches a personalized voice assistant on iOS and AndroidXiaomi’s five-year plan is a $1.5 billion bet on smart homes
Xiaomi, the Chinese company best known for budget phones, is betting big on a future of connected homes. It plans to plough at least 100 billion yuan, or $1.48 billion, into the so-called “AIoT” sector over the next five years, founder and chief operating office Lei Jun announced on Friday. AIoT, short for “AI + […]
View More Xiaomi’s five-year plan is a $1.5 billion bet on smart homesThe next phase of WeChat
Thousands of people gathered Wednesday night in a southern Chinese city for Zhang Xiaolong, Tencent’s low-key executive who built WeChat eight years ago. It’s no longer adequate to call the app a messenger, for it now enables myriads of functions that infiltrate Chinese people’s private and public lives. It wasn’t just the tech circles tuning […]
View More The next phase of WeChatThis video of a voice assistant reading emoji out loud is honestly glorious
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Having a voice assistant read your texts aloud for you while you drive is really convenient, not to mention safer than trying to read them yourself.
But if your texts were sent to you by a child or anyone else communicating exclusively using emoji, you’re in for a wild ride.
On Twitter, creative director Aaron Reynolds shared a video of an assistant — which sounds like Siri, although it isn’t specified — reading out a text from his daughter. It’s basically just one comically long thread of emoji.
After concluding that the text consists of no less than 35 emoji, the assistant puts on a brave face and reads them all aloud. Read more…
More about Texting, Emojis, Voice Assistant, Culture, and Web Culture
View More This video of a voice assistant reading emoji out loud is honestly gloriousThe 2019 Mercedes CLA gets a major tech upgrade to make it the ‘ultimate wearable’
Mercedes-Benz has often reserved its best tech for its highest-class models — the S Class being the first vehicle to get the latest and greatest. Now Mercedes is bringing more tech, namely its new MBUX infotainment system, to other vehicles in its portfolio. Enter the new CLA Class. Mercedes-Benz unveiled Monday the new CLA at CES […]
View More The 2019 Mercedes CLA gets a major tech upgrade to make it the ‘ultimate wearable’Dish adds Google Assistant directly to its Hopper set-top boxes
TV provider Dish is more tightly integrating its Hopper line of receivers with Google Assistant by integrating the smart assistant directly into its set-top boxes. The company was already working with Google on an voice-controlled experience, having announced a year ago at CES that it would allow allow customers to control their Dish TV experience […]
View More Dish adds Google Assistant directly to its Hopper set-top boxesGoogle woos smart home device makers with launch of Google Assistant Connect
Google is making it easier for device manufacturers to integrate with Google Assistant technology, including those times when devices need to respond to voice commands without the benefit – or the expense – of being connected to Google’s cloud. To do so, Google is today launching a new set of tools called Google Assistant Connect […]
View More Google woos smart home device makers with launch of Google Assistant ConnectChina’s Baidu says its answer to Alexa is now on 200M devices
A Chinese voice assistant has been rapidly gaining ground in recent months. DuerOS, Baidu’s answer to Amazon’s Alexa, reached over 200 million devices, China’s top search engine announced on its Weibo official account last Friday. To put that number into context, more than 100 million devices pre-installed with Alexa have been sold, Amazon recently said. Google just […]
View More China’s Baidu says its answer to Alexa is now on 200M devicesThe NFL launches its first standalone voice app with ‘A Rookie’s Guide to the NFL’ for Alexa
The NFL is giving voice assistants a go. Earlier this year, the organization had tested the waters with the launch of a flash briefing called “NFL in :60,” but today the company is debuting its first standalone voice-enabled app. The new Alexa skill, “A Rookie’s Guide to the NFL,” is designed to serve as companion that […]
View More The NFL launches its first standalone voice app with ‘A Rookie’s Guide to the NFL’ for AlexaYou can now give your Google Assistant a British or Australian accent
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Now you can get your Google Assistant device to say “g’day.”
The voice assistant features two new voices for English speakers in the U.S., with the introduction of being able to choose an Australian or British accent.
You can access these accent in your Google Assistant settings, by selecting “Assistant Voice” in the menu.
From there, select either “Sydney Harbour Blue” for the Australian voice, or “British Racing Green” for the British iteration.
More about Google, Voice Assistant, Google Assistant, Tech, and Consumer Tech
View More You can now give your Google Assistant a British or Australian accentAlexa gains support for location-based reminders and routines, calling features and more
Amazon Alexa is gaining new capabilities, including support for location-based reminders and routines, the ability to call local businesses by voice and the ability to check your email, hands-free, on supported Alexa devices, among other things. These features were previously introduced this fall at Amazon’s Echo event in Seattle, alongside a host of other capabilities […]
View More Alexa gains support for location-based reminders and routines, calling features and more