An update to the Google Assistant has been released that makes entertainment content more accessible to voice control. The announcement was made on February 1, and it allows users to set alarms to play a favorite song, playlist or radio station instead of a noisy, unpleasant alarm sound. It’s possible to invoke this by speaking, “Hey Google, set […]
With the latest in a growing number of studies on virtual assistants and voice search, Adobe Digital Insights (ADI), found that the sales of “voices assistants grew about 103% in Q4 versus a year ago. 79 percent of these sales took place in the fourth quarter. Data from both ADI and other third-party analyst firms justify the […]
On the Google Research blog, Google has published the search quality raters guidelines, contractors guidelines to evaluate Google’s search results, specifically pertaining to the Google Assistant and voice search results. It has it’s similarity to the web search quality guidelines, the difference is that there isn’t any screen to look at when evaluating such results. Rather, you’re evaluating the […]
Google announced that the search engine has expanded the Google Assistant software development kit to support additional languages. Now, Developers can bring Google Assistant applications to more people. Google Assistant now supports these languages and regions – English Australia, English Canada, English UK, English US, French Canadian, French France, German and Japanese. Having a lack of support for […]
There is quite a battle going on right now. A battle between smart speakers and home assistants, which is now in full swing. For Google and Amazon, gaming and fun will help provide a competitive edge. In September, Amazon introduced Echo Buttons, enabling families to play Alexa-based games together. on October 24, Google announced a collection of games for […]
In an announcement by Google, there has been a nationwide expansion of its Google Express relationship with Target. Those users who are in the Continental US can now buy from Target through the Google Assistant and receive Google Express delivery. The voice-commerce relationship extends to Google Home devices. These features and capabilities are quite similar to those that was announced […]
In an event set for October 4, Google is ready to reveal the Pixel 2 smartphone and possibly even other hardware. This will be just in time for holiday shopping. Even though the Pixel 2 will be the main focus at the event, there will be a prominent support for the new “Google Home Mini.” It […]
On the morning of August 30, Amazon and Microsoft announced that their virtual assistants are going to be working together. The two devices will have the ability to access each other: Alexa customers will be able to access Cortana’s unique features like booking a meeting or accessing work calendars, reminding you to pick up flowers on your […]
On August 30, at the German consumer electronics and appliances show IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) in Berlin, it was announced by Google that the Google Assistant is going to be coming to new smart speakers and home appliances. This is Google’s more aggressive move to compete with Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana for third party hardware […]
Google and Walmart have announced a partnership to bring Walmart voice shopping to the Google Assistant and Google Home. Free delivery will also be available through Google Express, which is changing its pricing structure. Even though it wasn’t discussed in either of the company blog posts, the move is possibly a response to Amazon voice shopping via […]