An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Several residential builders have stopped buying and installing Google’s Nest devices after the internet giant overhauled how Nest technology works with other gadgets. The Alphabet Inc. unit bought Nest in 2014 for $3.2 billion to enter the so-called smart-home market. Nest has become one of the largest makers of internet-connected thermostats, smoke alarms…
Tag: Google Assistant
Google Announces New Google Assistant With Huge Boost To Speed
Google has announced the second-generation version of its Google Assistant software, which promises new capabilities, a design overhaul, and a noticeable boost to speed. From a report: That last upgrade means the new Assistant can launch and return answers to queries much faster than before. The service is coming first to Pixel phones, and Google made the announcement onstage at its…
Microsoft’s New Surface Earbuds Work With Any Virtual Assistant, Not Just Cortana
At Microsoft’s annual Surface press event today, the company announced the Surface Earbuds to rival Apple’s AirPods and Amazon’s newly announced Echo Buds. What’s unique about the Surface Earbuds is that, unlike the other two wireless earphones, they can be used with Alexa, Bixby, Google Assistant, Siri, or any other competitor — not just with Cortana. VentureBeat reports: Like the Surface…
Google Launches Incognito Mode For Google Maps; Privacy-Focused Features For YouTube and Google Assistant
Google has announced today new privacy-centered updates for three of its services — namely Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Assistant. From a report: More specifically, Google Maps will be getting an incognito mode, YouTube is getting a history auto-delete option, and Google Assistant is getting support for voice commands that will help users manage the Assistant’s own privacy settings. In addition,…
Google is Bringing Its AI Assistant Service To People Without Internet Access
An anonymous reader shares a report: Google Assistant, the digital assistant from the global search giant, is available to users through their smartphones, laptops, and smart speakers. Earlier this year, the company partnered with KaiOS to bring Assistant to some feature phones with internet access. Now Google is going a step further: Bringing its virtual assistant to people who have the…
IFTTT Warns Its Users Not To Migrate To Google Accounts
Back in May Google announced it was phasing out its Work With Nest program in favor of a Works With Google Assistant framework, frustrating many users as it will break IFTTT tie-ins. Thankfully, IFTTT has some good news for concerned users: IFTTT applets designed for the Nest Thermostat, Nest Protect and Nest Cam will continue to work after August 31st, when…
BMW To Treat Apple CarPlay as a Subscription Service and Charge Customers an Annual Fee
BMW will turn Apple CarPlay into a subscription service beginning with its 2019-model-year vehicles. From a report: The German automaker currently charges a one-time $300 to add Apple CarPlay capability to navigation-equipped BMW models. Going forward, though, navigation-equipped BMWs will come with CarPlay at no charge for one year. Following that first year, customers will need to pay an annual fee…
Nokia 2.2 Brings Back the Removable Battery
HMD is bringing the latest version of the Nokia 2, called the “Nokia 2.2,” to the U.S. For $139, it features a notched camera design, a plastic body, and a removable battery. Ars Technica reports: HMD is delivering a good package for the price, with a fairly modern design, the latest version of Android, and a killer update package with two…
Google Admits Partners Leaked More Than 1,000 Private Conversations With Google Assistant
Google admitted on Thursday that more than 1,000 sound recordings of customer conversations with the Google Assistant were leaked by some of its partners to a Belgian news site. From a report: These conversations are used by companies such as Google and Amazon — which takes clips from the Amazon Echo — to improve voice responses from their smart assistants. They…
Google Assistant’s AI Is Actually Humans In ‘A White-Collar Sweatshop’, Complain Workers
This week the Guardian ran an expose on Google Assistant (Google’s version of Alexa or Siri) “Interpreting a spoken request isn’t magic, rather it has taken a team of underpaid, subcontracted linguists to make the technology possible.” “It’s smoke and mirrors if anything,” said a current Google employee who, as with the others quoted in this story, spoke on condition of…