voice-control
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Amazon's Fire TV Blaster brings voice control to entire home theater setups
Amazon is adding even more hands-free functionality to your TV viewing experience. The company has announced Fire TV Blaster, an infrared (IR) companion device that extends voice control beyond streaming features to TV and cable control, too.
The latest Xbox One update adds Google Assistant voice controls
Xbox One's November update is here, bringing with it a bunch of new features and tools designed, as always, to improve your gaming experience. First up, and probably most notable, is the roll-out of Google Assistant voice controls. We've known this was coming for a while, and after a brief spell in beta, it's now available to all Xbox users. If you've got a Google Assistant Home-enabled device, you'll be able to turn your console on and off, launch games and apps and control videos using your voice, and the usual "Hey, Google..." command.
Traeger adds Alexa voice control to its line of WiFi-enabled grills
Traeger's WiFi-enabled grills have a lot of handy features that are made possible through wireless connectivity. You can control or monitor the temperature and more remotely, so you don't have to venture outside unless you want to visually inspect your progress. Today, Traeger is taking the connectivity tools a step further by adding voice control through Alexa to its WiFire-equipped grills.
Alexa can use smart lights to wake you or lull you to sleep
It's getting a bit easier to fall asleep or wake up in sync with your lights -- if you have an Alexa-powered device. Amazon has introduced a trio of Alexa options that can gradually adjust smart lights to suit your daily habits. Wake-up lighting brightens the bulbs grouped with your Alexa device when you tell the voice assistant to set an alarm "with lights." You can add lights to sleep timers if you want them to gradually dim as you call it a night. And if you want Alexa to gradually change lighting as part of a larger action, you can add brightening or dimming bulbs to routines -- say, a morning routine that plays the news and ramps up the lights as you struggle to get out of bed.
Netflix's '3%' gets its own voice game on Alexa and Google Assistant
Following the success of its Stranger Things and Dark Crystal games, Netflix is adding another title to its gaming catalog: The 3% Challenge, based on hit Brazilian series 3%. The free-to-play episodic game, coming to Amazon Alexa today and Google Assistant later this week, is a prequel to the Netflix series, taking players into a dystopian future where citizens of the impoverished Inland have a lethal chance to make it to the affluent "Offshore" society.
Amazon enlists 30 companies to improve how voice assistants work together
Just because you have an Amazon device doesn't mean you should be limited to interacting with Alexa -- or so Amazon believes. Today, the company announced a new Voice Interoperability Initiative. The goal is to work with other companies so that users can access multiple voice services -- from Alexa to Cortana and Salesforce's Einstein -- on a single device.
Alexa’s Show and Tell feature IDs objects for blind and low-vision users
For people with vision impairments, figuring out what's in a can or jar of food without opening it can be difficult or impossible. Amazon thinks it has a solution to that and other daily challenges that its blind and low-vision users face. Today, the company unveiled a new Show and Tell feature that allows users to hold an item in front of an Echo Show and ask "Alexa, what am I holding?" Using computer vision and machine learning for object recognition, the Alexa-powered device will respond with its best guess.
Facebook contractors are listening to Portal voice commands again
Facebook may have halted human review of Messenger voice chats in August, but that didn't mean it was putting the brakes on everything. The company has revealed to Bloomberg that its contractors will go back to reviewing Portal device voice commands (what you say after "hey Portal") after quietly pausing them around the same time as Messenger reviews came to a halt. It's bringing the practice back now that there's "more transparency and control," hardware lead Andrew Bosworth said. You now have an option to stop sharing the audio with Facebook.
Alexa Auto adds offline capabilities that work in tunnels and parking garages
Having an Alexa-enabled car is convenient if you want to make a call, check the weather or order groceries while you drive. But that convenience quickly disintegrates when you drive through tunnels, parking garages or remote areas and lose signal. Amazon wants to fix that. Today, it released version 2.0 of its Alexa Auto SDK, which now comes with a bunch of offline functions.
‘Jeopardy!’ fans can now answer trivia questions while they drive
Jeopardy! fans can now test their knowledge while they drive. To celebrate the 36th season of Jeopardy!, which premieres tonight on CBS, Sony has partnered with Drivetime. Starting today, fans can answer trivia questions from seasons 1-35 through the in-car Drivetime app. Like other games on the app, Jeopardy! will be voice-based and hands-free.
The first Braun speakers in 28 years are unexpectedly modern
When the news broke in July that Braun Audio's speaker line was making a comeback, pretty much everyone at Engadget was immediately hooked. Thanks to a deal with Proctor & Gamble, Pure Audio now has the rights to the iconic speaker name. While many of us expected a similar aesthetic to the Dieter Rams-designed devices from 1959, Pure is taking a decidedly modern approach with the revival of the LE line. They still have a minimalist look, but have been entirely redesigned both inside and out. This means that all the modern features are along for the ride. And it means the company is taking direct aim at Sonos.
LG's smart home app adds voice control through Google Assistant
Many smart appliance makers' apps still require that you tap buttons to control your home, but not LG's. It's introducing Google Assistant-powered voice control to its ThinQ app (previously SmartThinQ) to steer all its connected appliances, whether it's an oven, fridge or washing machine. Yes, you can already use Assistant outside of the app, but this gives you more flexibility -- you have both voice and manual control in a central place. You could check the exact time left on the washer while telling the AC to set a new temperature.
Fitbit's next smartwatch could pack Alexa and an OLED screen
Fitbit said it would shift back to more innovative smartwatches after the Versa Lite floundered, and now we have an idea of just what it meant. Well-known leaker Evan Blass has obtained images of a future "Versa-class" smartwatch that clearly goes beyond the features of the standard Versa. Most conspicuously, it would support Amazon Alexa -- you could talk to your wrist much like you can with watches from the likes of Apple and Samsung.
Google Assistant finally comes to Dish's receivers
It only took half a year, but Dish's receivers are finally ready to work with Google Assistant. The satellite TV provider has started rolling out an update for Hoppers that lets you use the voice remote to check the weather, control your smart home and, of course, steer the Hopper itself. The update works with all Hopper generations as well as Joey and Wally devices.
Apple's Voice Control is important for accessibility, and you
"Open Photos. Scroll up. Show numbers. 13." Over the years, Apple has frequently highlighted its accessibility work in commercials, but the ad that ran for a minute and a half during game 5 of the NBA Finals was particularly powerful. In it, a man in a wheelchair — Ian Mackay, a disability advocate and outdoor enthusiast — issued the commands above to a waiting iMac. With hardly any delay, the computer did as it was told.
All you need to control your Mac or iOS device is your voice
Accessibility has become a popular avenue for tech companies lately, and today Apple revealed its latest push: Voice Control. With macOS Catalina and iOS 13, you'll be able to control your devices completely with your voice. At WWDC, Apple showed that this can be used to do things like launch apps and select emoji thanks to a system of labels and grids. You can also ask it to simulate actions like a long press or access things typically done with swipe or gesture -- like the app switcher. Most importantly, the company says your voice is processed on the device. Nothing is sent to, or stored by, Apple.
Bose adds Google Assistant to its smart speakers and soundbars
When Bose debuted its smart speakers and voice-controlled soundbars last year, the company promised support for other voice assistants besides Alexa was on the way. Today, it makes good on that promise. Bose says starting tomorrow in the US, an automatic software update will bring Google Assistant to all existing smart speakers and soundbars. That list of devices includes the Home Speaker 500, Soundbar 500 and Soundbar 700. The company also announced a new, smaller smart speaker today: the Home Speaker 300.
Spotify's first hardware is a voice-controlled device for your car
Spotify will begin testing its first hardware device today. Dubbed "Car Thing," it's a voice-controlled music and podcast assistant that reportedly plugs into a car's 12-volt outlet and connects to both the car and the user's phone via Bluetooth. The select group of Premium users who will test Car Thing will be able make requests by saying "Hey, Spotify." And the device will tap into the user's Spotify account for easy access to playlists.
Samsung updates Galaxy Buds with Bixby voice controls
Thanks to a recent firmware update, Samsung's Galaxy Buds now work with the company's Bixby voice assistant. In addition to having hands-free control of music and audio, users can now use voice controls to request a battery status update, change to a different equalizer setting and lock the earbud touchpads. Unfortunately, the new firmware only supports English and Korean commands, and you'll still have to use the earbuds with a Galaxy phone or Android device.
Alexa can finally control Apple Music on Sonos speakers
Amazon may have been a little optimistic when it said Alexa would "soon" control Apple Music on third-party speakers, but that feature is here at last. Listeners in the US, UK and Ireland can now use Alexa to steer Apple's service on Sonos speakers like the One and Beam, giving you the convenience of voice control while providing more oomph than most Echo speakers. Think of it as a more frugal alternative to owning a HomePod.