Blink Security and Amazon Echo

Have thought about how you could compare snippets of a video to infer security status.  Digital Video Analysis.   Blink appears to be doing this.  Though Google has the tagging smarts to be put in Home.  Now to be connected to Alexa.

Blink security system integrates with Amazon Alexa by  Chris Burns
Asking Alexa about the security of one’s home can bring on system status as well as both the time and location of the system’s last recorded motion clip. This can be especially helpful for the times when we’ve lost the cat inside the house and the cat will only come out to visit when we’ve gone away for the day.

Asking Alexa where the cat is might not work quite yet, but asking Alexa to consult Blink to tell us the last time the cat was spotted could very well be a situation we’re in in the near future.

According to the CEO of Blink, Peter Besen, “We live in a world where convenience is king and simplicity wins.”

“link’s seamless setup and easy-to-use interface provided a catalyst for our product’s explosive growth and the addition of voice control through the Amazon Alexa platform marks the next, bold step in Blink’s progression as an industry-leading home security and monitoring system. Whether it is a parent with a handful of kids to keep track of, or someone coming home with two arms full of groceries, it is vital that our consumers receive a hassle-free home security experience.”

Blink systems are available starting at $99 USD – that including one single camera. Two-camera systems are $169, while three and five camera systems are also available. Users that purchase a set of cameras and need just one more, (at the time at which they’re purchasing the first set), will be able to purchase additional cameras for $75 apiece.  ... " 

Kasisto Virtual Assistant

My continued look at virtual assistants "  ..... AI-Driven Virtual Assistant from Kasisto Powers India's First Mobile-Only Bank ... Asian banking innovator DBS Bank makes strategic investment in Kasisto ... "  Some good details in the press release.

Sony Xperia Agent

A product that will challenge the Amazon Echo?    In Business Insider: 

" ... Sony showed off a prototype of its Experia Agent, a smart home that would compete with the Echo, at Mobile World Congress 2016. And when the time comes, it could surpass Amazon's product.

The Experia Agent has some capabilities superior to the Echo because it can do more than simply listen, according to WIRED. Sony designed the Experia Agent with multiple sensors, a projector, and a camera in order to offer a different product and experience from the Echo.

Sony's product also has gesture recognition technology that allows users to control it with their hands rather than their voices. Users can also tap on the projected display to control the projector. ... "

More.

Smart Talking Toys as Virtual Assistants

A kind of extension to the virtual assistant idea.   Toys that can engage, inform, aid, teach.  It is already here with advisors like Cortana, Alexa and Siri on a phone or tablet.  But is a toy a different kind of channel that requires more care?  Yes, I believe.   Will also get kids used to the idea of using virtual assistants.

In the WSJ:  (Registration, etc)
Talking Toys Are Getting Smarter: Should We Be Worried?
Internet-connected talking dolls like Hello Barbie that can actually converse are bewitching kids but unsettling parents. Are they really the menace critics have made them out to be? ... " 

One of the toy examples, a dinosaur called Dino, from Cognitoys, is said to be based on some Watson technology, and claims to provide a 'true companion'.   The article talks to MIT device psychology commentator Sherry Turkle about how such toys can mislead children.  The article discusses how the conversational data provided by children could be mis used.

Consider also the strong engagement factor formerly seen by the Tamagotchi toys.  Or from attempts at leveraging apparent intelligence in the toy.  With little help from biomorphic forms .   Previously talked about here.

Will Training for New Skills Have No Value?

Posed in CWorld: An interesting premise.  As we learn to augment people with new skills using virtual assistants,  will these first replace the most valuable and difficult skills?    I covered a number of these issues in recent months while examining how segmented tasks can augment people using assistants (VDAs).  As was suggested a long time ago, is it the skilled knowledge worker that may now be ripe for replacement?  Any task you may have wanted to train yourself for,  may already be under cognitive automation.  Consider the data science case,  where there are now attempts underway to automate many elements of analytics.

IBM Watson Community using Gamification

Continue to be impressed by the progress of Watson Analytics.  Here is their community, for both personal and business applications.  Lots you can experience and test for free.    Seem to be adding a badge based, gamification method as well.   Examining that more closely. Constructed such an idea to promote sharing and competing with alternate analytical methods, long before Watson Analytics.

Intelligent Personal Assistants

At today's CSIG meeting Jim Spohrer pointed us to the growth of the intelligent personal assistant,  aka VDA,  and that the Wikipedia article on the topic had a good list and links to work under underway.   The article contains much more.   The idea continues to grow.   Items marked with a * have been covered here.  Here is the list:

(This post is NOW continually updated with new links, hundreds of posts)

*Accenture's MyWizard'
*Accenture's Amelia
*Alibaba Tmall Genie
*Alibaba using AliGenie 
Braina
*Microsoft's 'Cortana'
*Microsoft's 'Invoke'  With Harman-Kardon Using Cortana
*Microsoft Home Hub
*Enterra Aila
*Amazon Echo
*Amazon Show   Amazon Echo with screen
*Google's 'Google Now'
HTC's 'Hidi'
Maluuba Inc's 'Maluuba'
*Cognitive Code's 'SILVIA'
*Cisco's Spark Conferencing Assistant
*Apple's 'Siri'
*Apple's HomePod
*IBM Watson Analytics
*IBM Watson Assistant
*Wolfram Finance
*Wolfram Alpha
Nuance's 'Vlingo'
*Samsung's 'S Voice'
*Samsung's Otto
*Samsung's Bixby  (S8 Phone Assistant)
*BlackBerry's 'BlackBerry Assistant'
*LG's 'Voice Mate'
*LG's Hub Robot
*Baidu's Duer.
*Baidu's Little Fish
*Pepper Retail Robot by Softbank
* Facebook M
*Mattel Aristotle by Nabi  (Baby Monitor)
*Jill Watson  - TA at Ga Tech
*Mycroft
*Kasisto Financial Assistant
*Kuri by Bosch
*Ginger by Intel  (unknown since its acquisition)
*Otto by Samsung
*Viv by Viv Labs
*Google Home   by Google
*Google Assistant by Google
*DingDong by LingLong
*Einstein by Salesforce (links to current collaboration with Oracle?)
*Project Evo by Microsoft
*Connie by Hilton/IBM
*Smart Assistant by Lenovo
*SoundHound for Hyundai
*Essential Home


See also Virtual Personal Assistants.  In Wikipedia.