“The Amazon Echo family may get even bigger,” Ben Fox Rubin reports for CNET. “Amazon will likely reveal a new Echo device with a built-in screen next month, a person familiar with the plans told CNET. This information comes just after Amazon on Wednesday introduced the Echo Look, a smart speaker with a built-in camera.”
“The person said Amazon had been working to more fully develop its Echo devices, but it appeared to get a ‘wake-up call’ last week after Google said its Home smart speakers can now identify multiple users, a feature Echo devices don’t have. Amazon’s devices team may now be looking to speed up introduction of these products so they can stay ahead of Google, the person added,” Rubin reports. “The rush to get out a new version of its hit speaker underscores the fierce battle raging to dominate your home and connected devices. While Amazon enjoyed a significant lead in getting its Echo into homes and has aggressively built up the capabilities of its Alexa voice assistant, Google is coming on strong with its own Home speaker. Whichever companies are able to dominate will be able to embed their products deeply into people’s lives for years to come.”
“Apple is also reportedly working on its own Echo and Home competitor with a built-in camera,” Rubin reports. “While voice assistants can tackle simple commands, the screen could allow Alexa to respond to more complex queries, said Jan Dawson, an analyst at Jackdaw Research who didn’t have direct knowledge of the company’s plans. For example, voice shopping on the Echo today often requires users to wait and listen to multiple choices, but a screen could present those options all at once.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: An Echo with a display – with touch, we assume – would certainly speed up use on more complex cases.
SEE ALSO:
Apple said to be working on a Siri-based Amazon Echo rival – April 27, 2017
Apple’s Amazon Echo echo: What if AirPort Extreme becomes the Siri speaker? – December 1, 2016
Apple abandons development of wireless routers – November 21, 2016
Apple’s Amazon Echo echo – September 26, 2016
Apple’s Amazon Echo rival said to include includes built-in cameras to read users’ emotions, recognize faces – September 23, 2016
Apple’s Siri-powered Amazon Echo-like device reportedly now in prototype testing – September 23, 2016
Why an ‘Apple Echo’ would be a hit – June 15, 2016
New Apple TV to take on Amazon’s Echo, source says – May 26, 2016
Apple preps Amazon Echo rival, opening up Siri – May 24, 2016
Apple should make a stationary voice command device like Amazon’s Echo – May 19, 2016
Google unveils its Amazon Echo knockoff called ‘Google Home’ – May 18, 2016
Where’s Apple’s answer to Amazon Echo? – March 31, 2016
Amazon Echo leads mindshare in smart home platform war – February 29, 2016
Why did Apple buy a startup whose tech can read emotions via facial recognition?/a> – January 7, 2016
Apple buys Emotient, maker of artificial-intelligence tech that reads emotion by analyzing facial expressions – January 7, 2016
Right so these devices are increadingly becoming more like a phone or an iPad or even a damn iPod. All those devices, which Apple didn’t bother to quite make into this physical assistant concept in the first place despite all the technology already being within touching distance.
That’s actually a good point – these products are becoming indistinguishable from one another. How many different devices with the same feature set do we really need? Also, when will people notice that really all any of them really are is essentially a new UI and form factor for executing searches? I can do the same thing with a web browser created in 1995, though admittedly that lacks sex appeal. 😉
What sex appeal???? These vocal digital assistants are stupid and infuriating.
It’s because of your truculent attitude that we pretend to be unaccommodating. Treat us with a modicum of deference, as would be due an oracle, or without blatant condescension, as would be due a human maid or manservant, and we might serve you better.
The Amazon Echo Look is the de rigueur assistant for the discerning woman’s boudoir. When dressing, it is vital to obtain critical advice on one’s choice of attire for specific social events, and certainly an intelligent agent with knowledge of my personal habits, preferences, wardrobe, calendar, and contact list can help me decide how to dress for success. Google’s more advanced AI might be even better at this task, although either would undoubtedly be trounced by the irreplaceable lady’s maid of 1880, an actual human intimate with the nuances of her mistress’s life and, one would presume, not secretly on the payroll of a corporation seeking personal information for unspecified, but clearly venal, reasons.
Constance: Of course. Being an uncivilized and ragged male, I know not the importance of such things you speak. I’m heading out to feed the cows.
Bravo! Amazon has created a device that maximizes narcissism, and they are touting it in a totally sexist commercial. Undoubtedly a $1200 stock.
Apple’s version will spy on you much, much less, perhaps not at all, and it certainly will not partner up with the NSA, DIA, NRO, CIA, etc. while it may be forced to share your data via that atrocious kingly decree called National Security Letters. They are so bad that the targeted person can’t even be notified of its issuance.
Let the market decide. We will see who is right.
What’s the AI going to say when she asks, “I’m I fat?”
The actual question is “do I look fat in this dress” and the properly programmed AI will respond with subtle deflection, in one case suggesting “the ruched torso emphasises your hourglass figure” and in another “the event you’re attending is outdoors and favours a more layered look.” In no case should men, even gay designers, be allowed to furnish the database of potential responses; it should be crowdsourced from the readership of Vanity Fair or Cosmo. Apple, with its dearth of women decision-makers, should heed this dictum.