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Google Assistant for Android now supports Spanish and Italian
Google announced today that its virtual assistant will now support two new languages -- Spanish for users in the US, Mexico and Spain as well as Italian for those in Italy. These languages will be rolling out over the next few weeks, according to Google, and while initially they'll only be available for Android, the company says iPhone support will be released later this year.
Meet Alice: The virtual assistant from Russian search giant Yandex
Russian search giant Yandex has unveiled its virtual assistant Alice. Like Alexa or Siri, Alice provides users with directions, weather forecasts and news as well as incorporating access to other Yandex offerings like its music service. And, of course, it does all of this in Russian, which Yandex points out isn't an easy language for AI to tackle. "Speech recognition is especially challenging for the Russian language due to its grammatical and morphological complexities," Yandex it said in a statement. "According to word error rate measurements, SpeechKit provides world-best accuracy for spoken Russian recognition, enabling Alice to understand speech with a near human-level accuracy."
All 30 NBA teams will have their own Alexa skill this season
Amazon's Alexa is already helpful for broadcasting sports scores upon request. For the upcoming NBA season though, the virtual assistant will serve up more detailed information on every team in the league. All 30 teams will have their own Alexa Skills, which means you can ask for things like the date of the next home game, who your teams plays on a specific date, if they're winning, stats leaders, standings and the latest team news.
Harman's Cortana-powered speaker may go on sale soon for $200
Harman Kardon's Cortana-powered speaker might be hitting stores sometime soon. The Verge reports that a listing for the Invoke with Cortana has shown up in Microsoft's store alongside a $200 price tag.
Sonos One hands-on: Betting on voice control to evolve
After months filled with teases, rumors and speculation, Sonos has finally introduced its first speaker with built-in support for voice commands. Today, at an event in New York City, the company unveiled the Sonos One, a device billed as "The Smart Speaker for Music Lovers." As expected, the main attraction here are the voice features, which at launch will be powered by Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant. We say "at launch" because Sonos CEO, Patrick Spence, ended the presentation with the news that the One will also work with Google Assistant in 2018.
Astro's email app packs a virtual assistant you can talk to
Virtual assistants have been quick to invade our phones and our homes — is it any surprise that they're creeping into our email accounts, too? A startup called Astro built a chatbot (imaginatively named "Astrobot") into its email app earlier this year, and now it's taking things a step further: as part of a new update going live today, users can talk to Astrobot when they want to sift through their emails sans hands.
Amazon's Alexa lands on the HTC U11, and it works like it should
As promised, HTC is finally making it possible for owners of its U11 smartphone to install Amazon's Alexa. Starting today, those in the US who need yet another voice interface can download the HTC Alexa app from the Google Play Store -- we're told localized versions of Alexa are coming to other countries in the coming weeks. For those keeping count, that brings the U11's virtual assistant count to three: Google Assistant is also on-board, along with HTC's non-chatty Sense Companion.
Life with Bixby is equal parts futuristic and frustrating
In the future, the voice of Bixby -- Samsung's virtual assistant -- will ring forth from refrigerators and smart speakers and who knows what else. No wonder the company is taking its time with it. For those who really can't wait, Bixby's voice interface is available as a preview you can access now. I spent the last few days chatting with Bixby as often as possible. Our time together has been ... eye-opening, to say the least. It's definitely not ready for the wild, but despite the bad news surrounding it, Samsung's virtual assistant is starting to feel pretty capable. Emphasis on "starting to."
Amazon Echo Show review: Seeing is believing
Siri may have ushered in the era of the digital assistant, but Amazon's Echo (with Alexa) really took that concept and put it in our homes. The Echo wasn't an immediate, breakout hit -- but having Alexa around to ask questions, manage smart-home devices, play music and much more has turned out to be a pretty great thing. It's a concept Google and Apple are now chasing (to varying degrees), but Amazon isn't standing still. The $230 Echo Show is the first Echo with a touchscreen, and since it was announced, we've been wondering how much a display will really add to the Alexa experience. It depends on what you want to do with it and where you put the Echo Show in your home. But after a week with Amazon's latest, I'm convinced that yet another touchscreen in your life actually makes the Alexa experience better in a lot of ways -- and that's not to mention the special tricks the Echo Show brings.
Line’s cute AI speakers are unimpressed by your mindless requests
We knew Japanese messaging giant Line was working on an AI assistant called Clova, and that it would first inhabit a clever-looking smart speaker called the Wave. What we only just discovered, however, is that Clova's next physical avatars would include an unamused duck and a bear that always looks just a little disappointed.
Samsung's virtual assistant might live in your fridge
Whatever you think of the Bixby assistant in Samsung's Galaxy S8, you're about to see a lot more of it. According to Pulse, the company is outfitting its Family Hub 2.0 refrigerators with the AI helper, including both newly shipping fridges and existing units through an update. And while Bixby's voice control is still largely unavailable on the S8, it'll reportedly be a staple feature here -- you could ask about the weather, search for a recipe or play music while you're prepping your next meal.
Google turns Raspberry Pi into a dirt cheap Home competitor
If you've ever wanted to have a conversation with your own tiny home-made computer, then your prayers have just been answered. Raspberry Pi has teamed up with Google, bringing voice integration to the Pi with a clever combination of hardware and software. Packed with the same tech that powers Google Home, the companies have released a kit that transforms a regular Raspberry Pi 3 into your very own virtual assistant. The pack contains a Voice HAT (Hardware Accessory on Top) board with a speaker and a microphone, giving Pi owners everything they need to add-in voice integration. (For the uninitiated, a HAT refers to any physical hardware that needs to be added on top of a Pi.)
The Engadget Podcast Ep 34: Intergalactic
On this special all Samsung edition of the Engadget Podcast host Terrence O'Brien is joined by executive editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Chris Velazco. First all three will debate some of the most burning questions surrounding South Korea's biggest phone manufacturer. Should Samsung be using resources to build yet another virtual assistant? Is there anyone who wants to use their phone as a desktop? And, most importantly, can the Galaxy S8 save Samsung from itself? Then Chris Velazco will paint a picture of the event on the ground, before the crew dives deep on the finer point of the S8's design, interface and audio pedigree. Then, on The Wind Down, we discover that Dana failed to do her homework and Chris is contemplating picking up Dungeons & Dragons.
Amazon puts Alexa inside your iPhone
Now you can talk to Amazon's intelligent assistant whenever you use the Amazon app on your iPhone. Alexa will be able to do much more than just deal with your Amazon account, like play songs from Amazon Music, give you news updates, or even tell a (bad) joke or two. You'll also be able to use any of your previously enabled skills that are available within the Alexa ecosystem. According to Amazon, the one thing you won't be able to do just yet is to ask Alexa to open your door locks with your voice.
Motorola's Alexa mod is just the start of an important AI plan
Motorola might have lured people to its MWC press conference with the promise of new phones, but the real talking point came toward the end of the event. After hyping a pair of midrange devices and some fun Moto Mod concepts, the company confirmed that it's working with Amazon to bring Alexa to Moto phones. While the first steps of Motorola's Alexa partnership are now well-known, it's the stuff that Motorola later told Engadget about its plans that seems most exciting.
Starbucks' iPhone app lets you order by talking to it
Starbucks is continuing its efforts to stay on top of technological trends by adding new voice-ordering functions to its iOS app and Amazon's Alexa digital assistant. Called "My Starbucks barista" on iOS, the service is being rolled out to select customers today as an extension of the company's Mobile Order and Pay feature, which lets users send and pay for an order ahead of time. At the same time, the company is launching a Starbucks Reorder Skill to the Alexa platform.
Adobe demos a virtual assistant for voice-based photo edits
If CES was any indication, voice control and virtual assistants will rule in 2017. While some companies seem to be adding the tools just for the sake of doing so, others are finding some implementations that could actually be useful. Adobe falls into the latter category and the company is showing off what it calls "a first step" towards voice-controlled edits in its design apps.
Car makers can let Alexa ride shotgun later this year
Amazon's Alexa assistant can already communicate with some cars, but the conversations are a little one-sided. You can tell your home-bound Echo to start warming up your Hyundai on a frosty day, for example, or send directions to your BMW ahead of setting off. But when you're on the road, you're on your own. Later this year, though, car makers will be able to put Alexa in the passenger seat, giving drivers a virtual assistant that'll put on some tunes, load up an audiobook and carry out many other tasks while their hands are stuck to the wheel.
Google Home's new actions include food, news and more
Amazon's Echo line already has a truckload of skills that tap into Alexa's ability to lend a hand with tasks, and the company adds new ones on a what seems like a weekly basis. This week, Google announced Netflix support for its connected Home speaker through Chromecast alongside the ability to display images from Google Photos. It turns out that was just the beginning as Google revealed over 30 more actions for Home from third-party developers.
This virtual assistant looks like an anime girl trapped in a coffee pot
Gatebox AI is an unusual virtual assistant that involves a projected CGI character kind-of trapped in a jar -- with voice controls! The sales pitch is that this virtual assistant will give the sensation of living with a fictional character, or according to how creator Vinclu Inc. words it, "your heroes". Which is fine, if your hero is a non-spectacular CGI anime character with blue hair and excessively submissive temperament. Behind the virtual idol/slave gloss, Gatebox AI's assistant functions approach a bare-bones Amazon Echo.
