Tag: Voice Control

Amazon has just released two variants of the Echo, a personal assistant and Bluetooth speaker. Both these variants – the Tap and the Echo Dot – are significantly cheaper than the $180 (USD) Echo. But makers can save even more money by tapping into Amazon’s Alexa voice service using a single board computer. This DIY solution is possible because Amazon allows registered developers to access its Alexa for free. 

A couple of years ago, I talked about Supertoy, which claimed to be an interactive talking kid’s toy. Sadly, it seems that the development of the toy has stalled, leaving many of its backers frustrated. This week a similar product called CogniToys popped up on Kickstarter, boasting the technology of no less than IBM’s Watson supercomputer. CogniToys work just like today’s virtual personal assistants such as Siri or Google Now.

Owners of the iPhone 4S have their own virtual assistant in the form of the helpful and mostly respectful Siri. But if Corey Thomas gets his way, all PC users can have their own voice-activated virtual assistant too.

What kind of game do you think would be awesome to play using voice commands only? Probably a military-type game, where you play a commanding officer. Or maybe a D&D game. I could think of a couple more, but I wouldn’t think of a voice-controlled shooter.

In theory, controlling things with your voice is a great convenience. For instance, my Mustang has Ford’s Sync system in it, and being able to tell the car who I want to call is a great thing.

If you thought that buying the new iPhone 3GS was the only way to get voice control on an iPod, you’re wrong. Thanks to this new accessory, you’ll be able to add voice command to other iPod models too. Aibelive’s AITALK controller snaps onto the bottom of iPods, and provides complete voice control, letting you search for song, artist or album with the dulcet tones of your voicebox. Aibelive claims their technology is 90% accurate (does this it’ll play the wrong song 10% of the time?)