I have one of these in my smart home lab, have tested it since its beginning in 2015. No screen and only a primitive quality speaker, it gives you voice access to a broad range of knowledge. In many languages and forms. Still links as part the smart home to any 'google' enabled device. If you have not tried a device like this yet, well worth it. Details below.
Google's original Home smart speaker is on sale for $30
You're getting a better speaker than the Nest Mini for similar money.
Jon Fingas, @jonfingas in Engadget
....
Showing posts with label Google Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google Home. Show all posts
Sunday, May 03, 2020
Monday, November 18, 2019
A Look at the Smart Speaker Market
Been asked to look at how 'smart speakers' and Assistant market is evolving. And how changes in tech will influence. Useful stats below. Still lots of entry-level sales. Notable other results: Relatively little buying is being done with them. Though some 80K skills have been written for Alexa, but no major successes. (The Bloomberg article linked to here is a good look at this, where are the Apps that emerged with smartphones?)
Alexa devices maintain 70% market share in U.S. according to survey
More than 50% of sales are for entry-level devices: Echo Dot and Google Home Mini. By Greg Sterling on August 9, 2019 at 9:47 am
In January, 2018 Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) estimated that Amazon Echo/Alexa controlled 69% of the U.S. smart speaker market. Google Home owned the remainder, with a tiny percentage going to Apple’s HomePod. More than a year later, new CIRP data shows roughly the same breakdown, with Amazon maintaining a 70% market share.
76 million units. Based on its newest survey, the firm said “the US installed base of smart speaker devices is 76 million units, up from 70 million units in the March 2019 quarter and 50 million units in the June 2018 quarter.” Other surveys argue there are more than 100 million units in American homes.
U.S. smart speaker market share (millions) ... "
Alexa devices maintain 70% market share in U.S. according to survey
More than 50% of sales are for entry-level devices: Echo Dot and Google Home Mini. By Greg Sterling on August 9, 2019 at 9:47 am
In January, 2018 Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) estimated that Amazon Echo/Alexa controlled 69% of the U.S. smart speaker market. Google Home owned the remainder, with a tiny percentage going to Apple’s HomePod. More than a year later, new CIRP data shows roughly the same breakdown, with Amazon maintaining a 70% market share.
76 million units. Based on its newest survey, the firm said “the US installed base of smart speaker devices is 76 million units, up from 70 million units in the March 2019 quarter and 50 million units in the June 2018 quarter.” Other surveys argue there are more than 100 million units in American homes.
U.S. smart speaker market share (millions) ... "
Friday, July 26, 2019
Google Gives 100K Google Minis to the Paralyzed
Google is giving out free devices for the paralyzed. Great effort and also a way to illustrate the particular value of assistants for paralytics and other related accessibility applications. Read the below testimony to its value:
Google Nest: For individuals with paralysis, Google Nest gives help at home in Google Blog.
Editor’s note: Today's post comes from Garrison Redd, who shares how his Google Home Mini helped him regain independence, and how it can improve the lives of people living with paralysis.
It’s been nearly 20 years since my life changed—that’s two decades of learning to navigate life in a wheelchair. There are many obstacles for people living with paralysis, so I have to find creative ways to get things done. While I’m more independent than most, there have been times when I couldn’t join my friends for a drink because the bar had steep steps. Or I’ve been on a date where there wasn’t space between tables so everyone had to get up and cause a commotion.
But some of the greatest challenges and hurdles I face are at home. When you’re paralyzed, your home goes from being a place of comfort and security to a reminder of what you’ve lost. Light switches and thermostats are usually too high up on the wall and, if my phone falls on the floor, I may not be able to call a friend or family member if I need help. These may seem like simple annoyances but, to members of the paralysis community, they reinforce the lack of control and limitations we often face. .... "
Google Nest: For individuals with paralysis, Google Nest gives help at home in Google Blog.
Editor’s note: Today's post comes from Garrison Redd, who shares how his Google Home Mini helped him regain independence, and how it can improve the lives of people living with paralysis.
It’s been nearly 20 years since my life changed—that’s two decades of learning to navigate life in a wheelchair. There are many obstacles for people living with paralysis, so I have to find creative ways to get things done. While I’m more independent than most, there have been times when I couldn’t join my friends for a drink because the bar had steep steps. Or I’ve been on a date where there wasn’t space between tables so everyone had to get up and cause a commotion.
But some of the greatest challenges and hurdles I face are at home. When you’re paralyzed, your home goes from being a place of comfort and security to a reminder of what you’ve lost. Light switches and thermostats are usually too high up on the wall and, if my phone falls on the floor, I may not be able to call a friend or family member if I need help. These may seem like simple annoyances but, to members of the paralysis community, they reinforce the lack of control and limitations we often face. .... "
Saturday, June 01, 2019
Life Stories Can be Told to a Google Home
A colleague and I talked this recently. Everyone with a family has a history, can this effectively record them?
How AI could be used to record our life stories
Everyone has a story to tell. But not everyone has someone to listen. By Mark Wilson
More than a quarter of seniors in the United States live alone. That’s over 12 million people with few social outlets–people who have lived long, rich lives, who witnessed history as it happened and who want to leave a mark on the world after they’ve passed. But few of us will ever have a biographer sit with us for hours on end, asking us about our lives and transcribing our answers. Most of our stories get passed down by family piecemeal, or they’re lost entirely to time.
It doesn’t have to be that way. A new project out of Accenture Interactive for the Swedish energy company Stockholm Exergi has prototyped a voice app called Memory Lane. It runs on a stock Google Home speaker and, over the course of a natural conversation, it will piece together a highly detailed story of your life. When it’s done, you have an audio recording or a printed book that can be shared with family and friends. .... '
How AI could be used to record our life stories
Everyone has a story to tell. But not everyone has someone to listen. By Mark Wilson
More than a quarter of seniors in the United States live alone. That’s over 12 million people with few social outlets–people who have lived long, rich lives, who witnessed history as it happened and who want to leave a mark on the world after they’ve passed. But few of us will ever have a biographer sit with us for hours on end, asking us about our lives and transcribing our answers. Most of our stories get passed down by family piecemeal, or they’re lost entirely to time.
It doesn’t have to be that way. A new project out of Accenture Interactive for the Swedish energy company Stockholm Exergi has prototyped a voice app called Memory Lane. It runs on a stock Google Home speaker and, over the course of a natural conversation, it will piece together a highly detailed story of your life. When it’s done, you have an audio recording or a printed book that can be shared with family and friends. .... '
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Assistant Infrastructure
Good piece on assistant infrastructure. Much broader than just the question asked in the title. From my own experience, since nearly the beginning of assistants, start simple with one, and build others in. depending on need, or your interest in the concept. Read about skills/actions to extend capabilities. Use IFTTT. Read about the experience of others. Good to note that the investment of a single device works, since it can provide you with a vast variety streamed music more efficiently than any other way.
How many smart speakers do you need in your home?
As always, it depends.
in Wirecutter, @wirecutter via Engadget
Whether you're already one of the 20 percent of American adults who own a voice-controlled smart speaker or you're still on the fence about investing in an Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant device or an Apple HomePod, you might be wondering just how many of these intelligently attentive devices you'll need. A smart speaker can offer voice-controlled convenience throughout your home—but only if it can hear you.
The number of speakers you should buy depends on what kind of home you live in, and where and when you'll need your voice assistant to hear you. We have a few suggestions, depending on whether you want to build a smart-home setup, to listen to music and podcasts, to keep in touch with family and friends, or to use a digital assistant to boost your productivity. If you plan to buy multiple smart speakers, we recommend staying in the same family—although you could set up an Alexa-based speaker in one part of the house and a Google Assistant device somewhere else, you'd probably end up forgetting which platform has your to-do lists and which one controls the lights, or you'd have to do lots of redundant setup to get your smart home working with both platforms. .... "
How many smart speakers do you need in your home?
As always, it depends.
in Wirecutter, @wirecutter via Engadget
Whether you're already one of the 20 percent of American adults who own a voice-controlled smart speaker or you're still on the fence about investing in an Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant device or an Apple HomePod, you might be wondering just how many of these intelligently attentive devices you'll need. A smart speaker can offer voice-controlled convenience throughout your home—but only if it can hear you.
The number of speakers you should buy depends on what kind of home you live in, and where and when you'll need your voice assistant to hear you. We have a few suggestions, depending on whether you want to build a smart-home setup, to listen to music and podcasts, to keep in touch with family and friends, or to use a digital assistant to boost your productivity. If you plan to buy multiple smart speakers, we recommend staying in the same family—although you could set up an Alexa-based speaker in one part of the house and a Google Assistant device somewhere else, you'd probably end up forgetting which platform has your to-do lists and which one controls the lights, or you'd have to do lots of redundant setup to get your smart home working with both platforms. .... "
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Stats on Skills and Usage on Alexa vs Google Assistants
Considerable Details at the Link
Google Assistant Actions up 2.5x in 2018 to reach 4,253 in the US By Sarah Perez in TechCrunch
In addition to competing for smart speaker market share, Google and Amazon are also competing for developer mindshare in the voice app ecosystem. On this front, Amazon has soared ahead — the number of available voice skills for Alexa devices has grown to top 80,000 the company recently announced. According to a new third-party analysis from Voicebot, Google is trailing that by a wide margin with its own voice apps, called Google Assistant Actions, which total 4,253 in the U.S. as of January 2019.
For comparison, 56,750 of Amazon Alexa’s total 80,000 skills are offered in the U.S.
The report notes that the number of Google Assistant Actions have grown 2.5 times over the past year — which is slightly faster growth than seen on Amazon Alexa, whose skill count grew 2.2 times during the same period. But the total is a much smaller number, so growth percentages may not be as relevant here. .... "
Google Assistant Actions up 2.5x in 2018 to reach 4,253 in the US By Sarah Perez in TechCrunch
In addition to competing for smart speaker market share, Google and Amazon are also competing for developer mindshare in the voice app ecosystem. On this front, Amazon has soared ahead — the number of available voice skills for Alexa devices has grown to top 80,000 the company recently announced. According to a new third-party analysis from Voicebot, Google is trailing that by a wide margin with its own voice apps, called Google Assistant Actions, which total 4,253 in the U.S. as of January 2019.
For comparison, 56,750 of Amazon Alexa’s total 80,000 skills are offered in the U.S.
The report notes that the number of Google Assistant Actions have grown 2.5 times over the past year — which is slightly faster growth than seen on Amazon Alexa, whose skill count grew 2.2 times during the same period. But the total is a much smaller number, so growth percentages may not be as relevant here. .... "
Friday, February 15, 2019
Interpreter Mode on Google Home
Have now been using bilingual mode on a Google Home for some time. It works well, even picks up many expressions on the edge of slang. Now I see in the following article that you can turn on a translator mode, whether you are on audio only or visual Google devices. Makes it easier to do translation in batch or real time. Over 25 languages work now. Note its early testing in hospitality settings with real time interactions with guests. Like it, continuing to experiment. Implications for language study.
The following article outlines how its done, nice overview:
How to use Interpreter Mode on Google Home devices in DigitalTrends.
Language barrier? Psh. Here's how to make your Google Home an ace translator
There are more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world. In the U.S., Census Data indicates that roughly one in five people speak a language other than English in their homes.
Aware of the need for people to be able to communicate with others who might speak a different language, Google has come up with a new feature on Google Home devices and smart displays — Interpreter Mode. The search giant piloted Interpreter Mode at big hotels like Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Dream Downtown in New York City, and Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. The hotel staff use Interpreter Mode to converse with guests in real-time who speak a different language than their own.
Now, you can use Interpreter Mode at home on a Google Home smart speaker (like the Home or Home Mini), smart display (like the Google Home Hub), and on some speakers with Google Home built-in. You can use the mode to translate conversations in real-time, help you learn a new language, or even to help you out if you’re studying a second language.
On audio-only speakers, like the Google Home and Google Home Mini , you’ll get an audio-only translation. ... "
The following article outlines how its done, nice overview:
How to use Interpreter Mode on Google Home devices in DigitalTrends.
Language barrier? Psh. Here's how to make your Google Home an ace translator
There are more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world. In the U.S., Census Data indicates that roughly one in five people speak a language other than English in their homes.
Aware of the need for people to be able to communicate with others who might speak a different language, Google has come up with a new feature on Google Home devices and smart displays — Interpreter Mode. The search giant piloted Interpreter Mode at big hotels like Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Dream Downtown in New York City, and Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. The hotel staff use Interpreter Mode to converse with guests in real-time who speak a different language than their own.
Now, you can use Interpreter Mode at home on a Google Home smart speaker (like the Home or Home Mini), smart display (like the Google Home Hub), and on some speakers with Google Home built-in. You can use the mode to translate conversations in real-time, help you learn a new language, or even to help you out if you’re studying a second language.
On audio-only speakers, like the Google Home and Google Home Mini , you’ll get an audio-only translation. ... "
Saturday, February 09, 2019
Conversations in Assistants with Mood
Interesting points are made. Though the analysis of mood from text is fairly straightforward, wondering if there are liabilities once one classifies mood in real time? Good interview:
Google Home's Assistant could one day know your mood. Take that, Alexa in CNet By Richard Nieva
Google Home's Assistant could one day know your mood.
In an exclusive interview, a top Google exec says the AI could eventually recognize if you're frustrated or pick up conversations where you left off. ... "
Google Home's Assistant could one day know your mood. Take that, Alexa in CNet By Richard Nieva
Google Home's Assistant could one day know your mood.
In an exclusive interview, a top Google exec says the AI could eventually recognize if you're frustrated or pick up conversations where you left off. ... "
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Will Digital Assistants Live up to Hype?
Some good questions posed. Most interesting, will there ultimately be a single 'language' for their use? A set of reasonable standards of what we expect of them? Like in an automobile? Or will they ultimately all be using conversational language with common sense assumptions, and contextual memory, to respond for assistance. On my Google Home today, part of my home ecosystem, I can converse in German or English, and she does reasonably, not perfectly, in answering with either. That's a slight step forward, she can detect language and respond in the same. But still a long way to go. It has to be better than memorizing commands and formats, like in a coding language.
Some question if digital assistants will ever live up to the hype by Tom Ryan in Retailwire with additional expert comments.
Voice-activated digital assistants are again in the spotlight at CES as manufacturers work to embed artificial intelligence technology into everything from refrigerators to slow cookers, beds and toilets. The jury is still out, however, on whether they’ll become key to connecting smart homes.
David Pierce, personal tech columnist for The Wall Street Journal, noted that many other software-related tools already connect a variety of home devices. He harped on the complicated programming involved in pairing devices, including the multiple steps required and the need to memorize specific phrases.
“I don’t want a thousand commands for a thousand devices,” Mr. Pierce wrote. “In most cases, voice-controlled assistants have hit a wall where they perform a specific set of tasks well and not much else.”
Some question if digital assistants will ever live up to the hype by Tom Ryan in Retailwire with additional expert comments.
Voice-activated digital assistants are again in the spotlight at CES as manufacturers work to embed artificial intelligence technology into everything from refrigerators to slow cookers, beds and toilets. The jury is still out, however, on whether they’ll become key to connecting smart homes.
David Pierce, personal tech columnist for The Wall Street Journal, noted that many other software-related tools already connect a variety of home devices. He harped on the complicated programming involved in pairing devices, including the multiple steps required and the need to memorize specific phrases.
“I don’t want a thousand commands for a thousand devices,” Mr. Pierce wrote. “In most cases, voice-controlled assistants have hit a wall where they perform a specific set of tasks well and not much else.”
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Overview of Google Home Assistant Ecosystem
Good overview, largely non technical. Good point about motivation of the typical consumer. But it may ultimately lead to expectations that this is now a common part of the typical home. I have both Alexa and Google systems in place and continue to look at how the system supports the intelligence needed in the home.
The Google Assistant smart home ecosystem is slowly starting to take shape Can the Home Hub be part of a multiplier effect?
By Dieter Bohn @backlon in theVerge
At an event in San Francisco yesterday, Google gave the press a tour of a smart home featuring its Google Assistant products. Notably, the new Google Home Hub was there. It was, in many ways, pretty typical: here’s how you can turn on the lights, command a TV to play Stranger Things on Netflix (it’s always Stranger Things on Netflix), and start or stop a Roomba. But Google also showed off a handful of new features for both Assistant and its Google Home products.
On their own, none of these new features are particularly revolutionary. Taken together, they certainly don’t add up to a compelling case for why somebody who is already enmeshed in Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem should switch over. What they did do, however, was begin to present a coherent idea of how Google thinks its Assistant should work in a smart home and across its own products. .... "
See also Google's Holiday oriented positioning of the Google Assistant :
Create your smart home for the holidays with the Google Assistant
By Lilian Rincon
Product Management Director, Google Assistant
Published Nov 14, 2018 ... "
The Google Assistant smart home ecosystem is slowly starting to take shape Can the Home Hub be part of a multiplier effect?
By Dieter Bohn @backlon in theVerge
At an event in San Francisco yesterday, Google gave the press a tour of a smart home featuring its Google Assistant products. Notably, the new Google Home Hub was there. It was, in many ways, pretty typical: here’s how you can turn on the lights, command a TV to play Stranger Things on Netflix (it’s always Stranger Things on Netflix), and start or stop a Roomba. But Google also showed off a handful of new features for both Assistant and its Google Home products.
On their own, none of these new features are particularly revolutionary. Taken together, they certainly don’t add up to a compelling case for why somebody who is already enmeshed in Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem should switch over. What they did do, however, was begin to present a coherent idea of how Google thinks its Assistant should work in a smart home and across its own products. .... "
See also Google's Holiday oriented positioning of the Google Assistant :
Create your smart home for the holidays with the Google Assistant
By Lilian Rincon
Product Management Director, Google Assistant
Published Nov 14, 2018 ... "
Friday, November 02, 2018
iRobot and Google Assistant Partner
Home robotics has not been very successful, except in rather narrow domains. In particular in linking with the concept of a 'Smart Home', and requirements of spatial awareness. Now iRobot and Google are going in that direction.
iRobot and Google partner to make your smart home cleaner
When it comes to smart home products that keep your house clean, it’s hard to beat iRobot’s line of Roomba vacuums. They are basically synonymous with robot vacuums, and they’re about to get even smarter than they already are thanks to a little A.I. infusion from Google.
The two firms are teaming up to improve the functionality of Roomba vacuums to better fit into the overall smart home experience. The companies announced that they are working together to create new integrations between their platforms, though so far details are sparse. What we do know is iRobot and Google want to use the information gathered by their respective devices to better understand a user’s home. As an example, the companies suggest that spatial awareness from a Roomba could help simplify smart home setups and enable new automated processes. ...
iRobot and Google partner to make your smart home cleaner
When it comes to smart home products that keep your house clean, it’s hard to beat iRobot’s line of Roomba vacuums. They are basically synonymous with robot vacuums, and they’re about to get even smarter than they already are thanks to a little A.I. infusion from Google.
The two firms are teaming up to improve the functionality of Roomba vacuums to better fit into the overall smart home experience. The companies announced that they are working together to create new integrations between their platforms, though so far details are sparse. What we do know is iRobot and Google want to use the information gathered by their respective devices to better understand a user’s home. As an example, the companies suggest that spatial awareness from a Roomba could help simplify smart home setups and enable new automated processes. ...
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Extended Google Smart Home Ecosystem
Just today I extended out smart home ecosystem, which uses both Google and Amazon, to another room. My interest is always in ease of installation, use, extension and maintenance. And the resulting augmentation of the home and home office user. Things are always getting better, but still not completely transparent for the average home do it yourself user. Often this depends on other infrastructure. Like wifi, electrical system, manufacturers of basic installed devices.
Google's smart home ecosystem has arrived
It's not as robust as Amazon's, but it's a strong competitor.
By Devindra Hardawar, @devindra In Engadget
The building blocks of the "smart home" -- connected lights, plugs and other gadgets -- have been around for years. But they were strung together by a variety of confusing protocols. It wasn't until Amazon's Echo and its accompanying Alexa virtual assistant came along that the smart home started to make sense. We didn't need just smart devices; we also needed voice controls and seamless interoperability between devices. Basically, we needed a proper smart home ecosystem. ... "
Google's smart home ecosystem has arrived
It's not as robust as Amazon's, but it's a strong competitor.
By Devindra Hardawar, @devindra In Engadget
The building blocks of the "smart home" -- connected lights, plugs and other gadgets -- have been around for years. But they were strung together by a variety of confusing protocols. It wasn't until Amazon's Echo and its accompanying Alexa virtual assistant came along that the smart home started to make sense. We didn't need just smart devices; we also needed voice controls and seamless interoperability between devices. Basically, we needed a proper smart home ecosystem. ... "
Saturday, September 15, 2018
Alexa Wants to Simplify the Skill Experience
Some 50K skills, but many of them rather pointless. Now if only they could only work together to create something very useful. The unworldliness of all this will cause it collapse. Not to say the basics of playing music, managing lights and cameras isn't useful and even fun. But you can't just continue to chop the basic pieces up into smaller ones.
Its not much different in Google Home. There I found I could ask questions of the assistant in German, but she insisted on answering with snippets in English. I want things that can talk, converse, do useful things when they work together or with people. Insightful and coherent, so I come out of the interaction a little smarter. I would take a few hundred skills, if they were the right ones. So when are we planning delivery?
Amazon wants Alexa to figure out how to fulfill users’ without help from Skills By AJ Dellinger in Digitaltrends
Amazon’s wildly popular voice assistant Alexa has managed to make herself invaluable to many people because of the wide range of abilities available through Alexa Skills. Now, Amazon is reportedly getting ready to kill off the feature — well, kind of — in favor of a system that will simplify the experience for users. ... "
Its not much different in Google Home. There I found I could ask questions of the assistant in German, but she insisted on answering with snippets in English. I want things that can talk, converse, do useful things when they work together or with people. Insightful and coherent, so I come out of the interaction a little smarter. I would take a few hundred skills, if they were the right ones. So when are we planning delivery?
Amazon wants Alexa to figure out how to fulfill users’ without help from Skills By AJ Dellinger in Digitaltrends
Amazon’s wildly popular voice assistant Alexa has managed to make herself invaluable to many people because of the wide range of abilities available through Alexa Skills. Now, Amazon is reportedly getting ready to kill off the feature — well, kind of — in favor of a system that will simplify the experience for users. ... "
Thursday, September 06, 2018
Make Your Google Home Bilingual
Fascinating idea I plan to try. I am bilingual but not completely fluent. Could it be a step towards passive language training, improvement? Could it ultimately prod you into using multiple languages for practice? I have a Google Home in my Smart Home and plan to give this a try. Another element of the smart home. Will it be able to parse your second language as you speak it, adequately? Note the complexity of multiple forms of many languages.
Choose from a good selection of common US languages: English (U.S., United Kingdom., Canada, Australia, India, Singapore), French (France or Canada), German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish (Spain or Mexico). Nice idea for Google to leverage its language capabilities. Will be back with impressions. Article below is nicely detailed.
How to Make Your Google Home Bilingual in DigitalTrends
According to the Linguistic Society of America, there are around 7,000 spoken languages in the world today. In the United States alone, residents speak around 350 different languages, according to Census data, and about one in five residents speak a language other than English at home.
Some countries even have more than one national language, and many of the residents in those nations speak both official languages. It may surprise you to learn that more than half of the world’s population speaks at least two languages. As of July 2016, it’s actually more common to be bilingual in the world than it is to be an internet user.
Do you speak more than one language? Whether you’re bilingual or multilingual, you’re learning a new language, or the members of your household speak a different language than you do, it helps when your technology can do the same. Business and communication is now on a global scale, and the world is much smaller than it once was. ... "
Choose from a good selection of common US languages: English (U.S., United Kingdom., Canada, Australia, India, Singapore), French (France or Canada), German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish (Spain or Mexico). Nice idea for Google to leverage its language capabilities. Will be back with impressions. Article below is nicely detailed.
How to Make Your Google Home Bilingual in DigitalTrends
According to the Linguistic Society of America, there are around 7,000 spoken languages in the world today. In the United States alone, residents speak around 350 different languages, according to Census data, and about one in five residents speak a language other than English at home.
Some countries even have more than one national language, and many of the residents in those nations speak both official languages. It may surprise you to learn that more than half of the world’s population speaks at least two languages. As of July 2016, it’s actually more common to be bilingual in the world than it is to be an internet user.
Do you speak more than one language? Whether you’re bilingual or multilingual, you’re learning a new language, or the members of your household speak a different language than you do, it helps when your technology can do the same. Business and communication is now on a global scale, and the world is much smaller than it once was. ... "
Monday, September 03, 2018
Amazon Alexa Connects with 20K Devices
Impressive. But what is more important, the ability to be a working part of an IOT, or to be further along creeping towards conversational intelligence? In the latter, I believe that today Google Assistant is ahead. I have both installed and being used. And they are connected to some twenty devices in my smart home. Also more impressed with the support Amazon gives to skill developers. Thus probably their being advanced in the skill count. Though they do pay too much attention to quantity rather than quality of skill results. Send me skills that advance conversational intelligence, and can be connected with other skills to dive that. More from IFA show:
Amazon’s Alexa now works with 20,000+ different devices by Duncan Riley in SiliconAngle
Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa everywhere strategy is paying off. The company said Saturday that its smart assistant now works with more than 20,000 different devices.
Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon’s Smart Home group, revealed the number to an audience at the IFA tech show in Berlin Saturday along with a number of other insights into just how well the strategy has been working.
Just this year, Rausch is reported as saying, “Alexa has sung Happy Birthday millions of times to customers, and she’s told over 100 million jokes.”
Rausch said that Alexa-enabled devices have grown from working with an already impressive 4,000 devices at the beginning of the year to more than 20,000 devices while at the same time brands working with Alexa nearly tripled, from 1,200 to 3,500. ... "
Amazon’s Alexa now works with 20,000+ different devices by Duncan Riley in SiliconAngle
Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa everywhere strategy is paying off. The company said Saturday that its smart assistant now works with more than 20,000 different devices.
Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon’s Smart Home group, revealed the number to an audience at the IFA tech show in Berlin Saturday along with a number of other insights into just how well the strategy has been working.
Just this year, Rausch is reported as saying, “Alexa has sung Happy Birthday millions of times to customers, and she’s told over 100 million jokes.”
Rausch said that Alexa-enabled devices have grown from working with an already impressive 4,000 devices at the beginning of the year to more than 20,000 devices while at the same time brands working with Alexa nearly tripled, from 1,200 to 3,500. ... "
Friday, August 31, 2018
Google Home Links with GE, Electrolux Appliances
Not unexpected, assistants interacting with common appliances. Rather than build your own smarts, make you appliances work with others. Back to creating and adding to existing infrastructures in the smart home.
GE and Electrolux kitchen appliances get helpful with Google Assistant support in Digitaltrends.
We could all use an assistant in the kitchen. While an actual helping hand might be a little too much to ask for, appliance makers GE and Electrolux are looking to help keep your hands free with the introduction of voice-command features that will integrate with Google Assistant.
According to GE, the company’s full line of Wi-Fi Connect appliances will welcome Google Assistant support in the future. That will make it easier for you to communicate with your internet-connected devices through Google’s voice-powered assistant service. The new support will simplify the command process, allowing you to say things like, “Hey, Google, preheat the oven to 425 degrees” and trust that the A.I. will take care of the task for you without requiring any additional input. .... "
GE and Electrolux kitchen appliances get helpful with Google Assistant support in Digitaltrends.
We could all use an assistant in the kitchen. While an actual helping hand might be a little too much to ask for, appliance makers GE and Electrolux are looking to help keep your hands free with the introduction of voice-command features that will integrate with Google Assistant.
According to GE, the company’s full line of Wi-Fi Connect appliances will welcome Google Assistant support in the future. That will make it easier for you to communicate with your internet-connected devices through Google’s voice-powered assistant service. The new support will simplify the command process, allowing you to say things like, “Hey, Google, preheat the oven to 425 degrees” and trust that the A.I. will take care of the task for you without requiring any additional input. .... "
Friday, June 22, 2018
Google Assistant Smart Displays Coming
Breaking out the smart display makes sense, allows you to choose quality. The emphasis on work applications may well indicate a push in that direction.
Here comes BYOSD (bring your own smart display)
A new wave of Google Assistant-powered ‘home’ smart displays hits next month. And they’re coming to work. ....
By Mike Elgan, Contributing Columnist, Computerworld
Here comes BYOSD (bring your own smart display)
A new wave of Google Assistant-powered ‘home’ smart displays hits next month. And they’re coming to work. ....
By Mike Elgan, Contributing Columnist, Computerworld
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Google Home now Handles Three Requests at Once
Assistants getting more capabilities to multitask. Another step towards more complex conversations and dialog. How much will this be used? Looking towards more conversational memory and context awareness.
Google Home now handles three requests at the same time
Multitask with your voice.
By Jon Fingas, @jonfingas in Engadget
Google Home speakers can already perform two commands at the same time. But what if you live in a particularly connected household, where you may need to juggle more tasks? The company has an answer: support three simultaneous requests. So long as you form full queries with "and" in between, you can multitask like a pro using only the spoken word. This could be particularly helpful if you want to turn on the lights, increase the temperature and play some tunes without having a Routine in place.
The feature is only available in predominantly English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, the UK and the US) at the moment. Google told TechCrunch it's looking "forward" to supporting more languages, but there's nothing more it can say. ... "
Google Home now handles three requests at the same time
Multitask with your voice.
By Jon Fingas, @jonfingas in Engadget
Google Home speakers can already perform two commands at the same time. But what if you live in a particularly connected household, where you may need to juggle more tasks? The company has an answer: support three simultaneous requests. So long as you form full queries with "and" in between, you can multitask like a pro using only the spoken word. This could be particularly helpful if you want to turn on the lights, increase the temperature and play some tunes without having a Routine in place.
The feature is only available in predominantly English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, the UK and the US) at the moment. Google told TechCrunch it's looking "forward" to supporting more languages, but there's nothing more it can say. ... "
Friday, May 11, 2018
Google Duplex Calling Will Let You know its an AI
The presentation of the Google Duplex calling service, demonstrated this week and planned for this summer, impressed many as a great idea. A system that could construct a goal-driven interaction with other people or devices. So it could, for example, make a reservation at a restaurant, or make complex travel reservations. Even negotiate something online. Along the way it was hinted it might solve the Turing AI test, and appear to be human, with a pleasing voice and some contextual reasoning power. But others pointed out that this could lead to a kind of super robocalling capability, leading to potentially nightmarish results. Caution ...
Google: Duplex phone calling AI will identify itself ... You'll know if you're talking to AI -- we think. By Richard Lawler, @Rjcc in Engadget:
Google is then quoted as clarifying this:
" ... We understand and value the discussion around Google Duplex -- as we've said from the beginning, transparency in the technology is important. We are designing this feature with disclosure built-in, and we'll make sure the system is appropriately identified. What we showed at I/O was an early technology demo, and we look forward to incorporating feedback as we develop this into a product. ... "
Google: Duplex phone calling AI will identify itself ... You'll know if you're talking to AI -- we think. By Richard Lawler, @Rjcc in Engadget:
Google is then quoted as clarifying this:
" ... We understand and value the discussion around Google Duplex -- as we've said from the beginning, transparency in the technology is important. We are designing this feature with disclosure built-in, and we'll make sure the system is appropriately identified. What we showed at I/O was an early technology demo, and we look forward to incorporating feedback as we develop this into a product. ... "
Tuesday, May 08, 2018
Google Improves Conversation
This is always what I have wanted, an assistant conversation that starts with shared memory, uses the strongest context ongoing, and leads to actual goals. Google/Home assistant is not there yet, but moving in the right direction. Following with some experiments. Thoughts?
Google is making it easier to have a conversation with your Assistant
You don't have to say "Hey Google" over and over anymore.
By Nathan Ingraham, @nateingraham in Engadget.
The Google Assistant has been the star of the past few I/O developer conferences, so we're not surprised to see new features being announced today. One of the biggest is "continued conversation" -- which means, essentially, that you won't need to say "Hey Google" every single time you want to ask the Assistant a question. In a demo, Google showed someone asking what the score of the last Golden State Warriors game was. From there, he was able to follow up and ask "When are they playing next?" without having to say "Hey Google" again to activate it.
In the same vein, Google also talked about "multiple actions," which lets you ask more than one question or do more than one thing at once. For example, you could say, "Tell me the weather in New York City and San Francisco" or "Turn off my lights and turn on the popcorn maker."
Google also announced an update for Routines (which I tried out recently). My biggest complaint was that you couldn't build your own Routines; you were stuck with six pre-set options that you could customize. But now you can build a Routine from scratch, so you can basically throw any Google Assistant action into your new Routine. And later this year, Google will let you time up Routines as well. ... "
Google is making it easier to have a conversation with your Assistant
You don't have to say "Hey Google" over and over anymore.
By Nathan Ingraham, @nateingraham in Engadget.
The Google Assistant has been the star of the past few I/O developer conferences, so we're not surprised to see new features being announced today. One of the biggest is "continued conversation" -- which means, essentially, that you won't need to say "Hey Google" every single time you want to ask the Assistant a question. In a demo, Google showed someone asking what the score of the last Golden State Warriors game was. From there, he was able to follow up and ask "When are they playing next?" without having to say "Hey Google" again to activate it.
In the same vein, Google also talked about "multiple actions," which lets you ask more than one question or do more than one thing at once. For example, you could say, "Tell me the weather in New York City and San Francisco" or "Turn off my lights and turn on the popcorn maker."
Google also announced an update for Routines (which I tried out recently). My biggest complaint was that you couldn't build your own Routines; you were stuck with six pre-set options that you could customize. But now you can build a Routine from scratch, so you can basically throw any Google Assistant action into your new Routine. And later this year, Google will let you time up Routines as well. ... "
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