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Voice Assistant

Seven 'Voice Assistant' stories May 2013 - June 2016
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Ahead of WWDC, Siri spotted talking about the ‘Finder’ (Siri for Mac incoming?)

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Jun 11 2016 - 7:15 am PT
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Siri is widely expected to make up a big part of Monday’s WWDC keynote (alongside iOS 10, macOS 10.12 and more) but it seems like it is already inadvertently tipping the hat on what is going to be announce. Brian Roemelle found that by asking the voice assistant about “windows” on his phone, Siri would start referencing the “Finder” app in its responses.

Obviously, iOS doesn’t have a Finder app but OS X does. It seems like Siri is unintentionally leaking the unveiling of Siri for Mac ahead of schedule, or perhaps even a brand new Finder app for iOS 10 …


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Amazon releases new ‘Amazon Tap’ and ‘Echo Dot’, more competition for Apple’s Siri voice assistant

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Mar 3 2016 - 8:12 am PT
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The Amazon Echo has become somewhat of a hit success, with many users preferring Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant to Apple’s Siri because of faster speech recognition speed, reliability and overall better performance. Amazon is continuing to compete in the voice assistant space with the release of two new products today: the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot.

The new products focus on expanding Amazon’s voice assistant into more rooms of your house as well as on-the-go. It’s an interesting strategy to make Alexa-dedicated devices, whereas Apple currently offers Siri only as a feature of its existing iOS, Apple Watch and Apple TV products.


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Amazon announces Echo, a dedicated, Siri-like speaker system for quick information

Avatar for Mark Gurman Nov 6 2014 - 9:09 am PT
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOCeAtKHIc

Amazon today announced a new hardware product called Echo. It’s essentially a speaker unit dedicated to being a voice-control system. It kind of sounds like Siri but in a speaker for a single room instead of in your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

You can set alarms, control music, ask about the weather, search the web, ask questions, and access local news. It streams content via Bluetooth and WiFi, and connects to the Fire Phone (if you have one, lol), iOS via the browser, Android, and desktop computers via the web. Instead of “Hey Siri,” you say “Alexa” to start speaking the device. You’ll need a Fire OS/Android device to take full advantage, but music should work fine via iOS.

The whole concept is very futuristic, and it’s unclear how beneficial this will be to people with voice-controlled phones. But, hey, this comes from the developers of a faux-3D phone and delivery drones, so this is not completely out of left field. The Echo is $99 for Amazon Prime users, $199 for everyone else, and (for some reason) you need an invitation to receive the honor to buy one of these untested things.


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Creators of Siri launch next-gen Kasisto personal assistant technology for businesses

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jun 27 2014 - 10:46 am PT
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SRI International, the team behind the technology that later became Apple’s Siri voice assistant feature in iOS, today announced a new product that it says “aims to improve the consumer experience on mobile devices through intelligent conversation.” Kasisto will be a similar intelligent voice assistant but the company will open it up to business customers to integrate into their own apps:

“Virtual personal assistant technology has revolutionized consumer interaction with mobile devices,” said Norman Winarsky, Ph.D., vice president, SRI Ventures. “Now consumers expect a more human-like experience when interacting online. Kasisto represents a new user experience—one that is context aware, personalized, and more effective.”

The company says Kasisto will allow businesses to integrate the virtual personal assistant features into mobile apps in days or weeks intend of months while greatly decreasing the costs currently associated with similar technologies. “It is context-aware and provides text, touch, and speech modalities, and natural language understanding and reasoning. The platform also includes a powerful software development kit (SDK) for easy customization and integration into existing mobile applications.

You can learn more about Kasisto at the company’s website.

Siri takes initiative to learn how to pronounce names in iOS 7

Avatar for Scott Buscemi Jun 23 2013 - 10:37 pm PT
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When Siri first launched, many users found lots of names were pronounced incorrectly and couldn’t do much beyond adding phonetic spellings manually for each contact. With iOS 7, it appears that Siri can now take initiative for learning proper pronunciations.

As discovered by 9to5Mac reader RY, Siri will ask for help pronouncing a name if it has trouble understanding you the first time you pronounce a name. In addition, we have found that you can simply say, “That’s not how you pronounce [any name]” and Siri will go through the learning process.

In that phase, it will ask you to say the name then present a few options of how it thinks you said it. Once you choose an option, it will save and always (try to) correctly pronounce the name.


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Verizon’s My FiOS iOS app adds remote control, DVR scheduling, TV listings, more

Avatar for Jordan Kahn May 3 2013 - 7:15 am PT
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Verizon has just pushed out a nice update to its My FiOS app for Verizon FiOS customers that brings more integration of TV functions to the app. Version 3.3.2.8 of the app now includes the ability to view FiOS TV and VOD listings, set parental controls, and access remote control options for functions such as scheduling DVR recordings & more.

The update also includes Voice Assistant feature for the Verizon support tool and  the ability to opt-in to push notifications “for billing alerts, service outages, etc.”

What’s New in Version 3.3.2.8

Bug fixes
Integration of FiOS TV functions (TV Listings, DVR scheduling and Remote Control)
Enhanced Verizon Support tool – including Voice Assistant function
Support for opt-in Push notifications for billing alerts, service outages, etc.

The free Verizon My FiOS app for iPhone and iPad is available on the App Store now.

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