Amazon’s Echo Auto just skilled up.
Developers can now make skills just for the Auto, which works with your phone or with some in-car infotainment systems. What’s it for? It’s basically an Alexa digital assistant device made specifically for th…
Category: Voice Assistants
Creative agency Virtue introduces genderless voice Q to challenge biases in technology
Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana and Bixby–almost all virtual assistants have something in common. Their default voices are women’s, though the role that plays in reinforcing gender stereotypes has been long documented, even inspiring the dystopian romance “Her.” Virtue, the creative agency owned by publisher Vice, wants to challenge the trend with a genderless voice […]
View More Creative agency Virtue introduces genderless voice Q to challenge biases in technologyAmazon upgrades Alexa with newscaster voice
If you’re in the US and ask Alexa to reel off the latest news today through your smart speaker, she’s going to sound a bit more professional than on previous days. That’s because Amazon performed an upgrade and gave her a professional newscaster spea…
View More Amazon upgrades Alexa with newscaster voiceSmart speakers hit critical mass in 2018
We already know Alexa had a good Christmas – the app shot to the top of the App Store over the holidays, and the Alexa service even briefly crashed from all the new users. But Alexa, along with other smart speaker devices like Google Home, didn’t just have a good holiday — they had a […]
View More Smart speakers hit critical mass in 2018eMarketer: Amazon took 2/3 of smart speaker sales in 2018, but Echo will feel the squeeze in 2019
Smart speakers that let you control services and other connected devices in your home will continue to be a popular gift choice during the holiday season and into next year, when usage is set to rise by 15 percent, to 74.2 million people in the U.S., working out to 26.8 percent of the U.S. population, […]
View More eMarketer: Amazon took 2/3 of smart speaker sales in 2018, but Echo will feel the squeeze in 2019Amazon launches ‘Alexa-hosted skills’ for voice app developers
Amazon on Thursday launched a new service aimed at Alexa developers that automatically provisions and helps them to manage a set of AWS cloud resources for their Alexa skill’s backend service. The service is intended to help developers speed the time it takes to launch their skills, by allowing them to focus on their skills’ […]
View More Amazon launches ‘Alexa-hosted skills’ for voice app developersVolkswagen drivers can unlock their cars with Siri
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Fumbling for your keys is no fun.
Volkswagen has introduced Siri integration on its Car-Net app, allowing owners to unlock and lock their cars with a voice command.
SEE ALSO: Virtual reality training for car assembly line workers feels like a game — but it might work
It works with Apple devices on iOS 12, and once you’re logged into the Car-Net app, you can simply say, “Hey Siri, unlock my car,” to do just that.
Additionally, there are new Siri Shortcuts which allow you to check estimated mileage with your current fuel level, or the amount of charge left in the vehicle. You can also turn on alarms, set the defroster, adjust the temperature, and find out where your car is parked with a command. Read more…
More about Apple, Cars, Transportation, Siri, and Voice Assistants
View More Volkswagen drivers can unlock their cars with SiriSamsung’s Bixby may finally get more third-party integration soon
Poor Bixby. We admittedly haven’t had a lot of nice things to say about Samsung’s smart assistant since launch — but that’s not for lack of potential. The company has promised great things since day one, but has been slow to deliver on, well, just about everything. Third-party integration was supposed to be one of […]
View More Samsung’s Bixby may finally get more third-party integration soonAmazon is beefing up Alexa with real-time election data
Alexa can’t vote, but Amazon’s digital assistant can help you do it.
In the run-up to election day in the U.S. (Nov. 6, if you weren’t sure), Amazon is giving Alexa a more civic mind by beefing up the assistant’s knowledge base of election data, incl…
Microsoft wants Cortana to do for the workplace what Alexa did for the smart home
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In the span of a few short years, voice has taken center stage in the smart home. Thanks to advancements in natural-language processing that spawned digital assistants like Siri and the breakthrough gadget that was the Amazon Echo, it’s now a totally normal thing to talk to your house — for tasks as varied as setting timers to arming security systems.
In the workplace, however, voice is way behind. A recent survey found that just 28 percent of businesses use voice in their workflows at all. This isn’t for lack of interest: The same survey said 85 percent of businesses plan to integrate voice within the next year. And while Alexa and Google Assistant dominate the consumer smart speaker market, businesses are looking very expectantly at Cortana, since many of them are already Microsoft customers. Read more…
More about Microsoft, Enterprise, Cortana, Voice Assistants, and Tech
View More Microsoft wants Cortana to do for the workplace what Alexa did for the smart homeAmazon brings Alexa into the car with Echo Auto
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The Amazon Echo is taking a road trip.
Amazon already announced plans for car makers to integrate the online retail giant’s digital assistant Alexa into car infotainment systems. But if that’s too far off, a new product was unveiled Thursday that might satiate your appetite: Echo Auto.
As part of a bevy of product announcements at Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Echo Auto was announced as an in-car Echo device that sits on your car dash.
And here’s Echo Auto, Amazon’s in-car Alexa gadget, coming later this year (will be invite only to start) pic.twitter.com/hvBzv0Qarj
— Karissa Bell (@karissabe) September 20, 2018 Read more…
More about Amazon, Alexa, Voice Assistants, Tech, and Big Tech Companies
View More Amazon brings Alexa into the car with Echo AutoEinstein Voice gives Salesforce users gift of gab
Salespeople usually spend their days talking. They are on the phone and in meetings, but when it comes to updating Salesforce, they are back at the keyboard again typing notes and milestones, or searching for metrics about their performance. Today, Salesforce decided to change that by introducing Einstein Voice, a bit of AI magic that […]
View More Einstein Voice gives Salesforce users gift of gab