Items tagged with voice assistant
Voice assistants can be great for looking up the weather, playing music, and answering inquiries. However, consumers should use caution before asking their voice assistant to call a business or customer service line. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recently reported that voice assistants are accidentally dialing scammer phone numbers. According to the BBB, several consumers have recently used voice search to dial the numbers of customer service lines, but were taken instead to scammers. For example, one consumer asked their voice assistant to dial an airline’s customer service phone number. The scammer attempted to convince the consumer to purchase $400 in prepaid gift cards. Why are consumers...
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A new study published by Adobe Analytics that looks at the market for voice devices such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home. The study surveyed 1,000 consumers in the U.S. and looked at how people use the devices they own and what they use them for. According to the study, the most common use for voice assistant devices is music playback with 70% of owners using their device for that task. Weather forecasts came in a close second with 64% of owners using their device for figuring out what the weather will be like for the day. Asking fun questions was a common use for 53% of people along with conducting online searches, something that 47% of device owners have done. Getting news is a common activity...
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BMW has announced that it is putting a new proprietary AI assistant into its cars that it calls the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant. This AI is proprietary and aims to enhance the BMW driving experience. The AI is always on and will respond to the voice prompt "Hey BMW" and can perform a range of functions for the driver. Drivers can harness the AI to control vehicle settings, navigation, entertainment systems, explain vehicle functions, and conduct conversations. BMW plans to debut the AI in 2019 and promises that this will usher in a new era for drivers to operate their cars and functions via voice control. In the future, BMW claims that the AI will be ready to help drivers when they are...
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New research has come out that looks at the number of Americans that own a smart speaker along the lines of the Amazon Echo or Google Home devices. The research came from NPR and Edison Research, and found that 16% of Americans own a smart speaker, putting the figure at around 39 million people. That the figure is up 128% from January 2017, and the leading product in the segment is the Amazon Echo family. According to the numbers in the report, 11% of Americans own an Amazon smart speaker, with 4% owning a Google Home device. The number of people who received a new smart spaker during the holiday shopping season was very high according to the report, 7% say they acquired at least one...
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Samsung has announced the next major version of its Bixby voice assistant at Samsung Developer conference (SDC) 2017. The new voice assistant is Bixby 2.0 and Samsung promises that the intelligent assistant platform will bring a connected experience that is "ubiquitous, personal, and open." Samsung says that it sees a larger role for digital assistants in our lives, other than answering mundane questions, setting reminders, and setting timers. Samsung sees a world where digital assistants are intertwined with everything from phones, to kitchen appliances, to the sprinkler system keeping your grass green. Being able to preheat the oven to 425-degrees for your pizza without stopping your movie...
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Smart assistant devices are very common today with the most popular line of speakers and devices with a voice assistant inside being the Amazon Echo with 70% of the voice enabled speaker market. Mattel, the company who makes many of the toys kids go crazy for, was set to bring its own voice assistant to market in 2018 called Aristotle. The thing was that this speaker wasn't designed for placement in the kitchen or family room for adults to use; it was marketed as a device that could help take care of children and grow up with them. Mattel announced this week that Aristotle was being cancelled and would not be coming to market. The decision was made after a petition gathered over 15,000 signatures...
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If you want to beat the Las Vegas odds makers, you might want to look at the available software at your disposable. To wit, EA's Madden NFL franchise has correctly predicted the winner of the Super Bowl in 8 of the last 11 tries (but got it wrong this last time around), and Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant for Windows Phone 8.1 devices correctly pegged Germany to win the 2014 World Cup. That alone is somewhat impressive, but even more so is that Cortana was on a 14-game win streak before the digital assistant incorrectly blemished its once-perfect record by picking Brazil to beat the Netherlands. Instead, the Netherlands emerged victorious by snuffing out Brazil 3-0. We're sure Cortana would...
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