VoiceRecognition
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Motorola's newest mod puts an Alexa speaker on your phone
Ever wanted to have an Amazon Echo speaker with you wherever you are, rather than relying on your phone's built-in voice assistant? Motorola is betting you do. As promised, it's releasing an Alexa-powered Moto Mod (the Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa, to be exact) that slaps an Echo-like device on the back of compatible phones like the Moto Z2 Force or Z Play. The key, as you might guess, is that it delivers that across-the-room voice control in a way your phone can't by itself.
Control YouTube's live TV service with Google Home
You can already use a Google Home speaker to control regular YouTube videos if you have a Chromecast device, but what about YouTube TV? You're set from now on. Google has enabled voice control over its cord-cutting television service from Home speakers, making it possible to change channels without touching your remote. You can ask Google Assistant to play a specific channel or show, and it's smart enough to recognize fuzzier requests. Tell it to "play the MLB game" and it'll switch to baseball without needing a specific channel or team, for instance.
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.
Google Home Mini is a basic $49 smart speaker
If you feel the regular Google Home is overkill when you just want to ask about the weather, you're in luck: As rumored, Google has introduced the cut-down Home Mini. For all intents and purposes, it's Mountain View's take on Amazon's Echo Dot. The puck-sized, fabric-covered device drops music-grade speakers in favor of a narrow focus on Google Assistant voice commands (including a Find My Phone feature) and, as you might imagine, a lower price to match. At $49, it's competitive with the Dot and decidedly more accessible than the standard Home. Pre-orders start now, and it ships October 19th to all seven countries where Home sells today.
Sonos One is the company's first speaker with built-in voice control
Sonos wasn't shy about promising a voice-controlled speaker at its October 4th event, and it's delivering. The Sonos One will support Alexa out of the box, but Sonos says it's open to using other voice assistants -- in fact, Google Assistant will be coming in 2018. The company says this is the first smart speaker for music lovers. It looks like a Play:1 on the outside (not a bad thing), but it has a six-microphone array to pick up your spoken commands and lighting to indicate when voice control is active.
Google hints Assistant is nearly ready for Chromebooks
Google's October 4th event might include more for Chrome OS fans than the rumored Pixelbook. David Cannon and 9to5Google have spotted multiple app references to Google Assistant coming to Chromebooks. Google's Home app notes that some Assistant apps will work with Chromebooks, for instance, while the Chat with your Assistant app recently started listing compatibility with the Chrome machines alongside the usual gaggle of Android releases. There was code hinting at Assistant support in the past, but these public nods suggest that support is imminent.
BMW will offer Alexa voice control in its cars next year
Amazon isn't content with Alexa pervading every corner of your home -- now, it's bringing that technology to your car. BMW has announced that it's making Alexa available in all its 2018 model year cars (including the Mini brand) starting in mid-2018 for the US, UK and Germany. You can use the voice assistant for typical Alexa tasks like the news or smart home control, as well as driving-oriented features like navigation or finding businesses. In many instances, voice responses will include relevant "visual cards" on your car's control display.
Television with built-in Fire TV makes better use of your voice
One of the Element Fire TV Edition set's main hooks is clearly its Alexa voice control, so it stands to reason that the entire television stands to benefit the more you can use it, doesn't it? Sure enough, Element is trotting out an update that makes better use of voice recognition. You can enter text into fields using your voice instead of the keyboard, which could take a lot of the pain out of filling out forms and certain search boxes. Also, you can rename inputs to more familiar terms and use Alexa to switch to them -- you can specify that you're jumping to your PS4 instead of "HDMI2."
Nest's outdoor Cam IQ brings facial recognition to your backyard
Nest's latest media event could be big news if you're interested in spotting burglars before they break into your home. It's introducing the Nest Cam IQ outdoor, a rugged take on the regular IQ that's designed to watch over your yard. As you might guess, it applies the same facial recognition technology to a weather-resistant (IP66-rated) and tamper-resistant body that's always plugged in. In theory, it won't raise an alert if it sees your kids playing in the back, or a locked-out spouse frantically looking for a way in. The camera can automatically zoom in and follow people as well. And the speaker is 15 times louder than on the indoor model, so you can shout at trespassers if you catch them in the act.
Amazon's $150 Fire tablet summons Alexa hands-free
To date, Amazon's devices with hands-free voice control have been decidedly static. At last, though, they can go where you do. The internet shopping giant is launching an updated Fire HD 10, and it's the company's first tablet with hands-free Alexa built-in. If you want to turn down the lights or check the weather, you don't have to tap the screen or wander within earshot of an Echo. This is far from new in the mobile world (just ask anyone familiar with "hey Siri" or "OK Google"), but it's definitely helpful if you want access to Alexa's skills when your tablet is across the room.
Robots learn to understand the context of what you say
It can be frustrating when telling robots what to do, especially if you aren't a programmer. Robots don't really understand context -- when you ask them to "pick it up," they don't usually know what "it" is. MIT's CSAIL team is fixing that. They've developed a system, ComText, that helps robots understand contextual commands. Effectively, researchers are teaching robots the concept of episodic memory, where they remember details about objects that include their position, type and who owns them. If you tell a robot "the box I'm putting down is my snack," it'll know to grab that box if you ask it to fetch your food.
Sonos will unveil a voice-controlled smart speaker on October 4th
After all that talk about voice control, Sonos is finally ready to put its money where its mouth is. The connected speaker company has sent out invitations to a New York City event on October 4th where it has some "news to share." The invitation (below) has virtually no details, but the open mouth on the front is a not-so-subtle hint as to what's coming -- it's that smart speaker that popped up in an FCC filing earlier this month. Based on the description, the device will use far-field mics to accept commands from "multiple voice platforms," which suggests that the expected Alexa support may be just the start.
Samsung says it's building an Echo-like smart speaker
Samsung is spilling the beans on more than just its smartwatch plans in the wake of its Galaxy Note 8 event. In an interview with CNBC, mobile division chief DJ Koh has confirmed that his company is working on a smart speaker. He's shy on details, as is usually the case with teases like this, but he hints that Samsung might announce it "soon." That doesn't necessarily mean a debut at next week's IFA show, but it's not some distant prospect.
Google may be readying its own smart headphones
Google might be planning a foil to smarter-than-usual headphones like Apple's AirPods or the Bragi Dash line. After some sleuthing inside the Google app, the team at 9to5Google has found references to headphones that would use Google Assistant to augment the usual physical controls. Nicknamed Bisto, they would let you hear and reply to notifications using your voice -- you wouldn't have to reach for your phone to punch out a reply. Other details are scarce, but a mention of a Google Assistant button on a left earcup suggests these are over-ears (possibly wireless) instead of earbuds.
Start Genesis luxury cars with your voice and Google Assistant
Hyundai definitely isn't limiting Google Assistant support to its mainstream cars. Its upscale Genesis brand has introduced Google Assistant support that gives you voice control over your vehicle as long as it's hooked into Genesis Connected Services. If you need to warm up your car on a winter morning, send a destination for your trip or lock the doors, you just have to talk to Assistant (through Home or your phone) instead of venturing outside.
LG's V30 will unlock when it recognizes your face or voice
Until your phone or tablet is set up just the way you want it, a brand new device feels kind of foreign. With the V30, LG is giving you more options for making the phone your own. You can match haptic feedback to the ringtone of your choosing, for starters. Customization applies to security as well, with a handful of ways to make sure you're the only one unlocking your phone. Its face recognition apparently works "instantaneously" without the need to turn the screen on first. More than that, you can set a voice password as well. Biometric security!
Google adds voice recognition for Indian and African languages
For quick reminders and messages, it is a lot faster and more convenient to simply talk to your phone, rather than pull up an app and type on a keyboard. That's part of the reason Google has been updating Gboard for Android with voice support for more international languages, working with native speakers to train machine learning models. Today, Google announced that it's supporting an additional 20 languages and also adding English dialects for four African countries. This means language support for a total of 30 new international locations, mostly centered on the Indian subcontinent and Africa.
Microsoft shows off a Nest-like thermostat based on Cortana
Microsoft isn't content to let Amazon or Alphabet dictate the future of the smart home. The software giant has unveiled a smart thermostat from Johnson Controls, GLAS, that promises to one-up what you see from the likes of Nest. The slick-looking control packs both a translucent touchscreen and, more importantly, Cortana voice controls -- you don't have to talk to a speaker or your phone to change the temperature. The promo video (below) doesn't go deep into the feature set, but the Windows 10 IoT Core-based hardware is known to detect both your presence in the room as well as air quality indoors and out.
Any Alexa device can control your Fire TV
You'd think that Amazon would have made it possible to control a Fire TV from external Alexa devices as soon as it was an option, but no -- you've had to use the Fire TV itself if you wanted to play a video using your voice. At last, though, sense has prevailed. Amazon has updated all versions of the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick to add support for voice control from another Alexa-enabled device. If you want to skip to the next episode of a show, you can talk to your Echo or smartphone instead of scrounging for the Fire TV's remote.
Smart home gadget ends a violent dispute by calling police (updated)
Inadvertent smart speaker commands aren't always bad. New Mexico police report that a smart home device (incorrectly labeled at first as a Google Home) intervened in a domestic violence incident by calling 911. When Eduardo Barros asked "did you call the sheriffs?" as he threatened his girlfriend with a gun during a fight, the device interpreted it as a request to call emergency services. They overheard the altercation and called both negotiators and a SWAT team, who arrested Barros over assault, battery and firearms charges after a stand-off.
