voice control

In a recent interview with Apple's Phil Schiller, the SVP of Worldwide Marketing shared some thoughts on the state of voice assistant-powered home speakers and how they could be improved by screens, possibly hinting at Cupertino's own debut of a device to compete with the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices. There have been rumors for weeks now about Apple unveiling a Siri-powered connected speaker at WWDC in June, and Schiller's comments seems to indicate that the company has been thinking about a device for some time now.

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iPhone owners are probably most accustomed to using Siri for their voice-powered assistant needs, seeing as how well it's integrated with iOS. However, along with Google, Microsoft's Cortana is looking to make itself a serious alternative on Apple's platform, and the latest update brings it closer to matching iOS's native option. Released on Friday, the new Cortana for iPhone app has been overhauled with a new interface, and includes several new features that make it easier to use.

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Good news for Android users who don't own the new Google Pixel smartphone: the voice-powered Google Assistant is finally on its way to more Android devices, specifically those running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and 7.0 Nougat. Before now, the only way to try out the AI assistant was to own a Pixel, a Google Home connected speaker, or use the feature within Google's Allo messaging app.

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In an age where more and more connected devices are getting "always listening" capabilities, our greatest concerns have been about privacy and what's actually recorded. Turns out, what we should've been fearing is our devices listening in and following commands from the wrong thing. This exact scenario became a reality this week when Amazon Echo owners all over San Diego found their speaker ordering dollhouses after hearing "Alexa ordered me a dollhouse" from the TV news.

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Amazon's voice assistant Alexa is coming to a number of new devices this year — including the smartphone — but Ford will be the first to integrate it into their cars. The two companies announced at CES 2017 that starting later this month vehicles outfitted with Ford's Sync 3 infotainment system will begin working with Alexa from the home, while sometime this summer drivers will be able to speak to Alexa from the road.

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This week at CES 2017 I did not expect to see a robot lamp with a camera with which it could take photos. I also did not expect to see a smart camera lamp with the ability to take commands from its user. Regardless of my lack of imagination, that's exactly what the folks at Cerevo have brought to the halls of the future of technology this week in Las Vegas.

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The Amazon Echo connected speaker can turn a number of activities into passive ones, such as reading the news or e-books out loud for users, book travel plans, track orders from Amazon, and even send text messages. But one category where the device has been lacking is in looking up and reading cooking recipes. That's finally changing, and just in time for the holidays.

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Starting this morning Amazon is making certain Black Friday shoppers are spending cash as early as possible with "voice shopping weekend." To do this, they're running a deal in which Amazon Tap is a bit cheaper than normal, and a few more deals can be found by asking Alexa devices. Users that have an Alexa-enabled device should ask, "Alexa, what are your deals" each day - but make sure not to say "what is YOUR deal," because that means something different.

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Alexa, Amazon's digital voice assistant that powers the Echo connected speaker, has already been used in a number of homemade hacks, such as using it to control a power wheelchair, remote start a car, and even have a Tesla Model S back out of a garage. But none of those compare to developer and artist Brian Kane's latest use of the technology: getting Alexa to speak through a Big Mouth Billy Bass animatronic fish.

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Microsoft's messaging and video calling platform Skype has released two updates heading into the weekend, one each for the Mac and iOS. The first isn't technically an update, but a brand-new app for the desktop: Skype for Business, the platform's service that focuses more on inter-office communication and productivity, along with heavy Office integration. The second is an update the regular Skype app on iOS, which introduces the ability to send messages by dictating them to Siri.

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Now that Apple's iOS 10 has been out for over a week and is making its way to most users' iPhones, lots of popular apps are updating to take advantage of the software's new features. One such release is today's update for Skype, which allows the app make use of the new Siri API for third-party developers. Now users can ask Siri to place a Skype call to someone without even opening the app.

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Amazon may have flopped with its attempt to get into the smartphone game with its own Fire Phone, but the company has found a sure-fire hit in its internet-connected Echo smart speaker. Now others a rushing to play catch-up, including Google with its own Home device, and, if rumors are true, Apple has a product brewing that will use Siri to control a home's lights, appliances, and other connected products.

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