Digital marketing agency Stone Temple has released a study detailing the accuracy of the four big personal assistants: Google Assistant (via Phone and Home), Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana (via Invoke), and Apple's Siri. The team tested the services with 4,942 queries, monitoring the accuracy of the results to determine which assistant is the most accurate. Spoiler: Google won, but second place is surprising.
Amazon may have only announced its Echo Dot Kids Edition last week, but the colorful smart speakers are already in line for some deals. To make a regular Echo Dot into the Kids Edition, Amazon clads it in a child-friendly skin and then throws in its new FreeTime Unlimited on Alexa service, for some age-appropriate content.
Alexa is about to get better at handling more complicated, multi-step conversations, as well as acting more like a useful personal assistant. The new functionality was revealed by Amazon's director of applied science, Ruhi Sarikaya, who leads the Alexa Brain initiative trying to make AIs more natural to engage with.
Alexa comes in a new package as of this week, the Echo Dot Kids Edition, complete with three lovely kid-friendly color casings. This device is basically an Echo Dot with a few tiny differences. The hardware is literally the same - one speaker to blast out sound or Alexa responses, and 7 far-field microphones for top-notch listening for voice commands. What's different is the skin - with colors - and the services that come pre-activated with the product.
Amazon's next move in smart assistant domination may be a robot that moves around with its user. It doesn't hover, it doesn't wear an apron, and its name isn't Rosie - but it might as well be. Following along with the fire and flame theme Amazon's rolled with for years, this project's code-name is "Vesta." That's a Roman goddess of hearth, home, and family, most often represented as a sacred fire.
Amazon has already worked its way into homes around the world with Alexa, but now the company might be thinking bigger. New rumors today claim that Amazon is looking to launch something technophiles have dreamed about for decades: a consumer robot for the home. Many companies have tried and failed to create domestic robots before, but if there's one company that might have the resources to pull it off, Amazon definitely tops the list.
It's time to turn Alexa into a joke machine, using the first round of Alexa Blueprints to do some mischief. If you're a big fan of The Office, you know the episode cold open where Michael Scott figures out he can make his computer speak. Today, you can make all your Amazon Echo or otherwise Alexa-infused devices do what you want. Or at least answer all the questions you ask it, how you wish.
These days, it's not hip for a wireless speaker not to have some form of music streaming feature or a smart assistant. The best ones have both even. When we reviewed both the Ultimate Ears Blast and Megablast last year, were indeed disappointed in not seeing features like Spotify over WiFi included in these Alexa-powered speakers. Half a year later, Logitech is announcing that exact feature and is bringing even more to liven up your party.
I'm a luddite when it comes to our future AI overlords, but when I saw how fun Amazon Alexa Skill Blueprints were, I gave in. Or at least I expect to give in a little bit. When I'm able to customize Alexa's responses to my questions, that's where I change a tune. When I "see how easy it is to create a skill with blueprints," I sort of lose my mind and go into silly mode.
Amazon has announced Alexa Skill Blueprints, a new way for users to vastly personalize their Alexa experience. With Blueprints, users can create their on personalized skills and responses using templates, with a total of 20 Skill Blueprints being offered initially. The process is said to be simple enough for anyone to use, no coding skills necessary.
Alexa is already capable of doing a wide variety of things, thanks to the thousands of third-party skills that have been developed for the platform. Today, those skills expand to Call of Duty, with Activision announcing a new skill for Call of Duty: WWII. Not only will this skill give you statistics about your matches, but it could also help you get better at the game.
LG might not be as daring, or as obnoxious, as rival and compatriot Samsung when it comes to creating new technologies, but it has one admirable trait. It knows how to play nice with others. Instead of creating its own personal assistant like Bixby, it is instead leveraging the capabilities of existing ones like Google Assistant and, now, Amazon Alexa. Now it is bringing that sensibility to its SmartThinQ line of appliances, allowing users to control dozens of Wi-Fi connected LG home products with just their voice.