SamsungSVoice
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It's too easy to trick your Echo into spying on you
The main reason most people get an Amazon Echo, with its onboard AI servant,Alexa, is convenience. But, after a family in Oregon found out Alexa recorded at least one private conversation and sent it to a contact in their address book, you might want to sacrifice convenience for privacy and personal security. Or, maybe you should at least keep the microphone turned off when not in use. Not very convenient, I know.
Apple calls for an early ban on Samsung Galaxy S III, isn't amused by S Voice
Samsung might have been right when it said lawyers didn't design the Galaxy S III, because it's in legal hot water again. Apple has moved to add the new Android 4.0 flagship to the same request for a preliminary US ban that would stop the Galaxy Nexus. Cupertino believes the Galaxy S III violates at least two patents, one the data tapping patent that's also being leveled against HTC and the other a unified search patent that covers Siri; not surprisingly, Apple isn't keen on that strangely recognizable S Voice interface. A hearing was already scheduled for June 7th and is now taking on a new sense of urgency, at least in Apple's mind: it's arguing that the rumored nine million pre-orders (still unconfirmed) are evidence of the potential damage if the US court lets the dispute slide. Samsung has already said that the injunction call won't affect its rapidly approaching US launches. The company had better hope it's right, or it risks disappointing a lot of early pre-order customers.
Samsung submits patent application for speech-recognizing robot
Samsung will soon launch its Siri-style S Voice software on the Galaxy S III, but in the more distant future it could bring speech recognition technology to standalone robots. A patent application from the company details an automaton that can adjust its voice detection capabilities to account for ambient noise, letting it recognize when people are talking even in loud locations. It remains unclear just what the robot will do for you once it hears your commands -- maybe it will be on call for cooking you dinner and the like. Judging by that pic, at least, the concept looks like a good time for all involved.
Samsung Galaxy S III S Voice APK leaked online
If you find yourself with nothing better to do this weekend, then you might have a bit of fun playing around with Samsung's soon-to-be-released S Voice application on your rooted Android 4.0 smartphone. The APK has now made its way into the wild, and we couldn't help but take it for a spin on our Nexus S. First off, while we can't vouch for the security of the file, we can confirm that it's indeed functional. Secondly, while some of the S Voice features work just fine -- such as search or contact queries -- other requests such as navigation repeatedly caused the app to crash. In other words, if you're expecting this app to behave as it should on the Galaxy S III, you might be in for a disappointment. If you're merely looking to poke around with the S Voice functionality, however, the download seems quite worthwhile. At this point, we're most curious to know whether non-Samsung owners have similar luck. If you're willing to give 'er a go, let us know your experience in the comments below. Update: We've also now tested the leaked APK on our Galaxy Nexus, and are happy to report that S Voice works quite flawlessly. As always, your mileage may vary.
Samsung announces SmartStay and S Voice features for the Galaxy S III
In addition to announcing its newest flagship, the Galaxy S III, along with some nifty photo-sharing features, Samsung has just revealed two more human-friendly features that aim to further differentiate the phone on the software side. These include SmartStay, which cleverly keeps the display from timing out by using the front-facing camera to detect when you're looking at the screen. Meanwhile, S Voice ushers in voice commands, and is the closest thing we've seen to a Siri competitor since Apple introduced that feature on the iPhone 4S. And we have to say, though Android users have long been reveling in voice-activated dialing and Google searches, the list of possible use cases here is quite impressive. In addition to initiating calls, you can wake the phone, request songs, send emails and text messages, use the calendar app, adjust the volume, capture photos, snooze the alarm and inquire about the weather. For now, Samsung says this feature will support eight languages, including, among others, Spanish, German, Korean and American / British English. Still, we wouldn't put it past Samsung to teach the GS III a few more languages once it gets that whole "launching in 145 countries" thing out of the way.
