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A closer look at Sony's Xperia Ear voice assistant
Sony has been teasing its Xperia Ear voice assistant since last year, but now we know the concept will be an actual consumer product later this year. At IFA 2016, the tech giant announced that the tiny Bluetooth- and NFC-powered device is set to arrive in November, though it still hasn't said how much it's going to cost. Still, unlike at MWC 2015, Sony's now letting people try the device here in Berlin, as opposed to only showcasing it behind a glass box.
UE adds Google and Siri voice integration to its Boom speakers
Today, Ultimate Ears is pushing out a software enhancement that's available for both the UE Boom 2 and Megaboom Bluetooth speakers. With an app refresh and OTA update, users will now be able to access Google Now or Siri by pushing a button on the speakers themselves, as long as they're connected through the UE app on the host device. Since the Boom 2 and Megaboom are both IPX7 water resistant, this could be perfect for beach or pool time, letting you keep your phone or tablet out of harm's way. Friends can also use this to find a song they want without hassling you for your phone or lock screen code. This new feature puts the speakers in competition with devices like the Amazon Tap, which also requires a button push to access Alexa, its on-board smart assistant. I had few hours for a quick preview of the update using both of the compatible UE speakers and an Android device, and while the service works, there's certainly room for improvement.
Cortana will soon make suggestions throughout your day
Cortana has come a long way since debuting nearly two years ago. As time goes by, Microsoft's virtual assistant keeps getting smarter, with features like helping you scan emails to keep track of deadlines. It's also expanded its reach to Android and iOS, the two most popular mobile platforms. Now, as part of the upcoming Windows 10 "Anniversary Update," Cortana will start making proactive suggestions throughout the day.
AT&T voice assistant helps you control your smart home
AT&T's Digital Life home automation service is supposed to make your life easier, but it's been lagging a bit in the control department. While Apple and Google let you command your home through your voice, Digital Life has required that you tap buttons... like an animal. Thankfully, the carrier is catching up: it's prepping a Digital Life Voice Assistant that controls some parts of the system through voice. You can ask if your security system is armed, for instance, or turn on the lights when you walk in. Optionally, the app can provide voice feedback if you want audible confirmation of what you've done. Just be prepared to wait, as the app won't be ready until sometime in the first half of this year. [Image credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Cortana is available on Xbox One, if you know the right tricks
Microsoft won't officially bring its Cortana voice assistant to the Xbox One until 2016, and it's not even supposed to be available if you're using the console's interface preview. However, that isn't stopping you from trying it ahead of schedule. Gamers have discovered that you can access Cortana in the latest preview simply by visiting the settings menu, going up and mashing the A button multiple times. It doesn't offer the full range of Xbox commands just yet, but you can access any information that's already available in Cortana on other platforms, like your calendar. Think of this as a cheat code for the operating system -- you're getting a peek at something that most preview users won't see for weeks.
Microsoft's Cortana comes to Android through a hack
Microsoft is already poised to bring Windows' Cortana voice assistant to other platforms, but the duo behind the OrangeSec team isn't willing to wait that long. They've developed and shown off Portaña, a simple Android adaptation of Cortana that uses a proxy to talk to Microsoft's servers. While it's nowhere near a complete recreation of the official software (you have to speak in Italian, for one thing), it does work -- you can ask a question and expect an answer back. Portaña is sadly likely to remain in a rough state as is, though, so you'll want to tinker the source code if you just have to speak to the Halo-inspired helper before there's an official solution.
Apple files patent application for 'intelligent automated assistant,' sounds like Siri
Siri's managed to make it into several Apple devices now, so it doesn't shock us to spy the company's attempt to patent the polite (somewhat frosty) tones of its voice navigation system. A pretty deep patent application filed today describes an "intelligent Automated Assistant," with the claims describing an application that is guided through the user's speech -- and all wrapped in a "conversational interface." So far, so Siri. The filing elaborates on Apple's earlier filings, explaining how this digital assistant furthers the users' demands with additional requests for speech-based information -- hopefully resulting in that map location or a movie booking you were after. This "user intent" is then put to use, launching an additional app or performing the specified function, while non-speech input (presumably like the ability to correct your requests in text form) get a brief mention. We do get plenty of description on commands though, with some pretty thorough response tables and examples of "anchor text" -- something that the automated assistant tries to pluck from your ramblings in order to make sense of them. The full version resides at the source below, if you're looking for 51 verbose pages explaining Siri's inner workings.
Google to challenge Siri with its updated Google search app
Google's Search app for iOS will soon receive an update that'll improve the voice assistant component and bring it on par with its Android Jelly Bean counterpart. The upcoming version of the search app takes advantage of Google's experience with speech recognition and its Knowledge Graph, which tries to make connections between different pieces of information. For iOS users, the updated Search app will let you ask a question using natural language and receive a spoken answer. You can ask Google whether you need an umbrella, and it will tell you the current weather conditions. The range of information available via voice search spans everything from local movie listings to the height and weight of your favorite sports star. It's a small improvement, but one that Google says is vital in building the search engine for the next generation. This is a sentiment echoed by developer and entrepreneur Ndav Gur, who says that queries based on concepts, not keywords is the future of search and that apps like Siri and Google Search are "on the cusp of an entirely new thing."
Voice assistant 'Nina' lets any app obey commands, makes speech your password
Voice recognition technology from Nuance is all over the place -- in everything from Smart TVs to Beemers. But today, in response to the growth of device-specific voice assistants like Siri and S-Voice, the company wants to take things down a different route: launching a mobile SDK for iOS and Android that any third-party app can employ. Baptized "Nina," the voice assistant won't only be able to understand instructions, but will also identify the speaker using vocal biometrics. That means Nina could potentially pay a bill, arrange a bank transfer, book a vacation or even interact with government services without ever requiring you to enter a password. The video after the break shows just how intimate things could get -- assuming you're able to find a spot where the two of you won't be overheard.
Apple sued over Siri in China
After settling a US$60 million lawsuit with Chinese company Proview, Apple now faces yet another costly lawsuit in China. This time the complaint focuses on Siri and is initiated by Zhizhen Network Technology, a Chinese company with its own voice assistant software. According to a report in M.I.C. gadget, Zhizhen claims that "Apple's Siri infringes on one of Zhizhen's patents so-called 'ZL200410053749.9', which is a patent for 'a type of instant messaging chat bot system' called Xiaoi Bot." The lawsuit currently is in pre-trial negotiations. You can read more about Zhizhen and the Xiaoi voice assistant on M.I.C. Gadget's website.
Unofficial S-Voice app gets gagged, Samsung waits for its flagship hero
Did you get a chance to download Samsung's voice assistant APK over the weekend? Don't bother trying now, as Samsung (or Vlingo, which is behind the app) has locked down access for unauthorized devices -- namely anything that isn't a Galaxy S III. According to xda-developers, S-Voice's command requests are being rebuffed once Vlingo's servers detect any phone that's presumably not inspired by nature. There's just over a week to go, however, and soon you'll be able to shoot the breeze with your new smartphone love all you want.
Study: 87% of iPhone 4S owners use Siri monthly
Parks Associates surveyed 482 iPhone 4S owners and found that 87 percent of respondents use voice assistant Siri at least once a month. Most people (55 percent) are satisfied with the service and use it to make phone calls and send text messages. About a third of users, however, are not using all of Siri's features like playing music, sending email and scheduling appointments. If you fit the above profile and you're not sure what else you can do with Siri, check out this lengthy primer to the service by our own Erica Sadun. [Via The Wall Street Journal]
Siri's Japanese performance not as good as DoCoMo's voice assistant
Apple added support for Japanese in iOS 5.1, but the roll out isn't going as smoothly as expected. According to a Kotaku report, Apple's voice assistant can apparently only handle simple and universal Japanese phrases. When it comes to complex phrases, Siri stumbles while its competitor Shabette Concier performs flawlessly. Shabette, a recently-launched voice service from wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo, is targeted specifically for Japanese customers and supports maps and local content. It is supposedly faster and less rigid than Siri. You can check out the Japanese video below and head to Kotaku for a phrase-by-phrase analysis of Siri's performance against Shabette.
iPhone owner sues Apple over Siri
Sure, Apple's Siri voice assistant isn't perfect. Sometimes there's network connectivity problems, sometimes background voice interferes and sometimes Siri is just plain wrong. It's for those reasons (and others) that Apple launched the service as a "beta." Despite the beta tag, at least one iPhone customer is not happy with Siri and is taking Apple to court, says a Wall Street Journal report. The suit was filed by Robbins Geller on the behalf of Brooklyn resident and iPhone 4S owner Frank M. Fazio. The lawsuit says Siri is "at best, a work-in-progress" and claims that Apple falsely advertised the service in its commercials. The complaint says, In many of Apple's television advertisements, individuals are shown using Siri to make appointments, find restaurants, and even learn the guitar chords to classic rock songs or how to tie a tie. In the commercials, all of these tasks are done with ease with the assistance of the iPhone 4S's Siri feature, a represented functionality contrary to the actual operating results and performance of Siri. The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages. As expected, Apple has not publicly responded to this complaint.
Siri may pose 'competitive threat' to Google, Eric Schmidt tells Senate subcommittee
Back in September, Google chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt sat down before a Senate antitrust subcommittee to discuss his company's competitive practices. As you would expect from anyone in his situation, Schmidt spent much of his time defending Mountain View's position atop the search industry, and cited several competitors as evidence of its fair play. The exec's list of "threats" featured some of the usual suspects, including Bing, Yahoo and Amazon, as well as Siri. "Even in the few weeks since the hearing, Apple has launched an entirely new approach to search technology with Siri, its voice-activated search and task-completion service built into the iPhone 4S," he wrote, pointing to a handful of publications that characterized Apple's voice assistant as a "Google Killer" and Cupertino's "entry point" into the search market. "Apple's Siri is a significant development -- a voice-activated means of accessing answers through iPhones that demonstrates the innovations in search," Schmidt explained. "Google has many strong competitors and we sometimes fail to anticipate the competitive threat posed by new methods of accessing information." Granted, it's not terribly surprising to hear Google talk up its competition -- especially before a panel of politicians devoted to rooting out anti-competitive practices. Yet Schmidt's comments do mark a noticeable shift from the stance he assumed last year, when he denied that Apple and Facebook posed a "competitive threat" to Google's search operations. As he admitted, "My statement was clearly wrong." Check out the full hearing at the source link below.
Siri co-founder Kittlaus leaves Apple
According to a report from AllThingsD, Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus has left Apple to pursue his own interests. The departure was supposedly amicable and Kittlaus will use his newly-found free time to spend time with his family in Chicago and explore new entrepreneurial ideas. He reportedly left Apple right after the launch of the iPhone 4S and the debut of new and improved Siri speech recognition assistant. His departure won't affect the future development of Siri as other members of the Siri executive team are expected to stay at Apple. Once a stand-alone iOS application, Siri was acquired by Apple in early 2010. The voice assistant is now integrated into the version of iOS 5 that ships on the iPhone 4S. It offers a conversational voice interface that lets you send and receive text messages, search the web, add reminders and appointments, navigate using Apple Maps, get the weather forecast and more.
