Category: smart speaker
Smart home payments to exceed $164 billion by 2025
A new study from Juniper Research has found that the total transaction value of smart home payments - those that occur via smart home devices - will exceed $164 billion in 2025, up from $22 billion in 2020. Increasing use of voice assistants via smart speakers for eCommerce, propelled by rising user and merchant acceptance, will…
Number of voice assistants set to overtake world population by 2024
The number of voice assistants is set to overtake the world population, reaching 8.4bn units by 2024. A new report from Juniper Research has found that consumers will interact with voice assistants on over 8.4 billion devices by 2024; overtaking the world’s population and growing 113%, compared to the 4.2 billion devices expected to be…
Ofcom report reveals increasing online concerns
More parents than ever feel their children’s online use now carries more risks than benefits, according to the latest Ofcom report into children’s media and online lives. Parents and carers are becoming more likely to trust their children with greater digital independence at a younger age. But far fewer believe the benefits of their child…
BBC launches interactive voice news for Alexa
The BBC is launching an interactive voice news service for Alexa, allowing people to skip stories or ask for more details about the items they are interested in. From Wednesday, Alexa-enabled devices can ask “Give me BBC News” and take control of their news agenda, unlike the existing radio-like flash briefing bulletin offered by the…
Amazon products coming to UK – including Echo Buds, Echo Studio
Amazon has announced a number of new Echo smart speaker and Alexa-enabled devices as the company continues to expand the ways in which users can interact with the virtual assistant. Here is a closer look at all the new devices which are coming to the UK. Echo Buds (Amazon) The first Alexa product to be…
‘Alexa, help me find a job at McDonald’s’
People looking for a job at fast food chain McDonald’s can now start their application using Alexa or Google Assistant. The global chain is hoping to attract new staff with increasingly popular voice-powered assistants taking answers to a few basic questions such as name, job area of interest and location. With the Apply Thru skill…
Google to reduce stored voice data from AI assistants
Google has said it will reduce the amount of voice data it stores, following a scandal linked to AI assistants and how audio data from users was being listened to by human reviewers. The technology giant said that while its own Voice and Audio Activity (VAA) programme has always been opt-in, it will now ask…
Amazon Alexa users can now ask it to speak more slowly
Amazon Alexa users can now ask the digital assistant to speak more slowly as part of efforts to make the virtual helper easier to interact with. The artificial intelligence-powered assistant is behind Amazon’s line of Echo smart devices and can be found in a number of smartphones. Amazon has announced that users can now say…
Parents ditch Alexa as a baby name!
It has become a near-ubiquitous virtual assistant, responding to the voice commands of householders around the globe. But the emergence of Alexa-enabled gadgets in UK homes in the last two years has also coincided with a decrease in the name’s popularity. After all who wants their baby's name to be associated with that of a…
BBC to launch Alexa rival
The BBC is developing its own Alexa-style digital voice assistant for next year which it claims is capable of understanding regional accents. ‘Beeb’ is being considered as the wake-word used to get the attention of the voice-activated technology, which is designed to work on existing devices such as smart-speakers, mobiles and TVs instead of launching…
