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Apple is using AI to make Siri smarter
Apple may have started the digital assistant craze with Siri, but it's largely been playing catch-up lately, specifically to Google and Mountain View's own Assistant. Now Apple's helper has more-expressive voices (both male and female, English and British) and in-app translation features. More than that, Siri can act as a task manager of sorts, offering access to banking in the Citi Mobile app or, for whatever reason, a QR code in WeChat.
Google Home will arrive in Canada on June 26th
Google is finally bringing its Home speaker to Canada. It took a while, but at least the tech titan didn't wait two years like it did with Android Pay, which just recently made its way to the country. If you're in Canada, you can now pre-order the smart speaker from the big G's online store or Best Buy for $179 CAD. Best Buy will throw in a free Chromecast, too, and is slashing $50 off the price of a Philips Hue starter kit if you order it at the same time. The Home comes loaded with Google's voice-activated Assistant, which will arrive in the region knowing both English and French. All you've got to do is start your sentences with "OK, Google" if you want to issue a voice command.
WSJ: Bixby Voice won't debut on Galaxy S8 until late June
To hear Samsung's Galaxy S8 ad campaign tell it, the company's Bixby digital assistant was already fully featured and ready to go at the handset's launch. The reality is quite a bit different, however. Bixby Voice, the would-be competitor to Siri and Google Assistant apparently won't be available until late next month, somewhat narrowing the "later this spring" timeframe from April. Wall Street Journal reports that the cause for tardiness has to do with how the assistant comprehends English syntax and grammar. To be fair, that's a sore spot for pretty much every artificial intelligence system at the moment.
IKEA's affordable smart lights will dim with your voice
Last month, IKEA launched its own line of low-cost smart lighting, called TRÅDFRI, and up until now, users have had to rely on a remote control or a proprietary app to use the product. But no longer. Today, the Swedish retailer announced that their IKEA Home Smart products will respond to voice commands from Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant starting this summer. Additionally, the product line will integrate with Apple's HomeKit. "With IKEA Home Smart we challenge everything that is complicated and expensive with the connected home. Making our products work with others on the market takes us one step closer to meet people's needs, making it easier to interact with your smart home products," said IKEA Home Smart's business leader Björn Block.
Soon you'll be able to pay friends by saying 'Ok Google'
Google will make it harder for that friend in your group to make excuses when chipping in for food. The tech titan's voice assistant will be able send personal payments for you in the coming months, just like its rival Siri can, so long you're in the US. Simply tell it to "Send John $10 for pizza" or something similar and authenticate the transaction with your fingerprint or password to send cash. Your recipient will then receive an email about your payment. The big G recently tweaked its API to make any card associated with your account available on all its apps and on third-party applications that use Google Payments. That's why all you need to do to be able send cash through Assistant is to link a debit card to your system.
Google Assistant on the iPhone is better than Siri, but not much
Google's Assistant is finally ready to take on Siri on Apple's own turf: the iPhone. Yes, you could already play around with the AI-powered chatbot if you downloaded Allo -- Google's mobile-only messenger app -- but its functionality was limited. Today, that changes thanks to a new standalone Google Assistant app available on Apple's App Store (though it's US-only for now). Eager to check it out, I downloaded it right away and spent some time commanding our Google-branded phone butler around. After a few hours, I'll say that while I find Google Assistant a lot friendlier and smarter than Siri, it doesn't quite replace it. At least, not yet.
Watch Google's I/O 2017 keynote in 16 minutes
If you missed out on Google's I/O 2017 keynote earlier today, don't fret. We've cut down all of the noteworthy news on Google Lens, AI, Google Assistant, Google Home, Daydream, Android O and more into a roughly 15-minute clip. Just sit back, relax and catch up on all of the news in way less time than we spend taking in the two-hour presentation this afternoon. For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2017, follow along here.
Google Assistant helps with chores on LG appliances
Google Home's voice platform will soon be supported by some LG smart appliances. Today, as part of the company's I/O 2017 developers conference, LG revealed that its Signature-branded washing machines, dryers, fridges, ovens and air purifiers are getting a Google Assistant update later this month in the US. This means you'll be able to use voice commands to do things like tell your fridge to make more ice, or get real-time air quality updates from your air purifier. LG says these kind of features are also coming to its connected air conditioners and robotic vacuums, such as the Hom-Bot Turbo+, adding that the goal is to make even more appliances compatible with Google Assistant down the road.
Android powers 2 billion devices around the world
Onstage at Google I/O today, CEO Sundar Pichai announced that seven of the company's core product platforms now reach more than a billion monthly active users each. According to Pichar, however, the most impressive statistic was Android, which as of this week now has more than two billion active devices.
Google Home is getting proactive assistance and visual responses
Google Home was a decent first stab at taking on Amazon's Echo, but there's clearly room for improvement. Today at during the opening-day I/O keynote, the company revealed that its smart speaker will soon be able to give you proactive notifications, like alerting you to traffic delays ahead of upcoming appointments. Google Home will light up to let you know it has an alert for you, so it thankfully won't just start talking without any prompting. Additionally, you'll soon be able to see visual responses to your Home queries on all of your devices. So, for example, if you ask for directions somewhere, you'll get that routed straight to your phone.
Google's voice-controlled AI Assistant comes to the iPhone
You no longer need to install the Allo messaging app on your iPhone to shoot the breeze with Google's AI Assistant. During the company's I/O keynote, Google's Scott Huffman announced that the Assistant is truly coming to the iPhone today, as was rumored earlier this week. With its standalone app, you'll be able to interact with the Assistant using your voice, whether that means asking it questions or controlling your smart home devices with conversational commands. Before now, you could only get limited Assistant functionality through Allo, which also required you to type queries and orders into the chat app.
'Actions on Google' lets app developers work inside Assistant
We've seen AI-powered chat bots spread across different services, but Google is opening up a way for more companies to get in on the action. With "Actions on Google," you can stay in your app (or talking to an Assistant-enabled device like Google Home) to do something like order food just by having a conversation. During a demo on stage at Google's I/O keynote today, the company showed off ordering delivery from Panera, without needing to enter your home address or payment information, or even create a specialized account.
Google Assistant now accepts typed and verbal cues
Google Assistant is becoming more conversational with better AI, but what happens when you want to ask a question that you'd rather not say out loud? Today, Google added the ability to type into Google Assistant, making it easier to converse with the AI helper -- even if you're in a loud (or extra quiet) environment. Even though the company says the new feature is available starting today, it doesn't appear to be live just yet. The ability to query Assistant with text has been part of Allo for a while, but this is the first time it's been enabled directly in Google Assistant, which is also now on your iPhone.
Google Assistant will speak in four more languages this summer
Google Assistant is getting all the attention so far at the company's annual I/O keynote. It can see, it can (finally) work on your iPhone and, starting this summer, Google Assistant will be able to detect and respond in French, German, Brazilian-Portuguese and Japanese. And that's not all. By the end of the year, the Assistant will also be able to speak Italian, Spanish and Korean.
Google Lens is a powerful, AI-driven visual search app
Google Lens is a set of vision-based computing capabilities that allows your smartphone to understand what's going on in a photo, video or live feed. For instance, point your phone at a flower and Google Lens will tell you, on the screen, which type of flower it is; or, aim the camera at a restaurant sign to see reviews and other information pop up. The new AI system is heading to Google Photos and Assistant first.
Google Assistant voice control comes to GE connected appliances
You may want to practice saying "Ok Google" if you have GE WiFi-connected appliances in your home. Just as Bloomberg reported a few days ago, GE worked with the tech titan to integrate Google Assistant into its system. Now, you can use the voice-activated helper through Google Home, a Pixel or other select Android phones to operate various smart appliances. Take note that the big G's Assistant can't exactly control the devices directly. Your commands work by going through Geneva, the skill GE developed when it launched Amazon Alexa integration for its appliances in September last year.
What to expect at Google I/O 2017
For the second year running, Google's massive I/O developer event will take place at the storied Shoreline Amphitheater, right around the corner from the company's Mountain View headquarters. Last year's conference had a host of major announcements worthy of such a high-profile venue -- it's where Google Home, the Google Assistant and the Daydream VR headset were all introduced. But this year, things seem like they'll be a little quieter, at least in terms of big consumer-facing hardware. It'll probably be a year of refinement, where big initiatives continue to be polished. We'll be there all three days this year, bringing you breaking news, analysis, interviews, videos and more. Without the benefit of a crystal ball, here's what we think we'll be talking about this week.
Google Assistant is expected to hit iOS and washing machines
Google's voice-controlled Assistant has only been available on Android and Home so far, but it might just spread its wings in the very near future. To start, Bloomberg tipsters claim that Google will use its I/O developer conference to launch Assistant on iOS as a free app. It wouldn't have the deep integration that comes with Android, but you could use it to access content available in YouTube and other Google apps. The app would only be available in the US at first, but you might not mind so much when the same sources also hint that Assistant will also provide a boost to Google Photos and appliances.
The best commands for Google Home
Researched and written by Libby Plummer The Google Home speaker finally went on sale in the UK in April and while it's a neat little smart speaker, it has some catching up to do. The Amazon Echo has already managed to garner more than 10,000 skills and the Home has very few. While the search giant works with developers to build up its selection, there are still some very useful things you can do with the smart speaker. Here's a selection of what we think are the best.
Google Home has 5 million recipe options for your next night in
Google has been rapidly adding new features to its Home connected speaker recently, and the latest will be handy for chefs. Google Home can now read out recipes step-by-step -- but it sounds like you'll need to kick off the process using your smartphone. According to a blog post that went up today, Home will be able to read back more than 5 million recipes from sites like All Recipes, Food Network, Bon Appetit, the New York Times and more. First, though, you'll need to find the recipe you want on your phone using either the Google Assistant on Android or Google search on your iPhone.
