Voice assistants make our lives easier and streamline our relationship with technology. Much of that evolution can be credited to the developments in neural network software and new hardware that allow the use of voice technologies in low-power applications.
I was disappointed in CES this year. Aside from minor tweaks, virtually everything on display in 2018 was also on display in 2017. Although I did see the world’s first “mixed reality dimensional guidance device,” I’m not sure what it is, but with that name I want it! Evidently, I’m not the only one whose…
Amazon Web Services’ re:Invent is a massive and fast-growing event. Estimates for this year’s attendance range between 40,000 and 50,000 people, and it was sold out nearly two weeks before the first day. This year there are over 1000 breakout sessions covering a dozen or more tracks, as well as workshops, certification classes, hands-on labs,…
Here’s a quick rundown from a tech perspective of what Google announced last week at its I/O conference: Google.ai Google bases most of its service model on artificial intelligence (AI). In this year’s I/O, they announced some really cool new data-center clusters called Tensor Processing Units (TPUs): huge, heavy-duty number-crunching machines that each provide up…
One small step for man, one giant leap for robot-kind? Well, sort of. After years, we are starting to see AI technology become more enjoyable to interact with. Amazon released five new language nuance enhancements to the Alexa API last week. The Semantic Syntax Markup Language (SSML) is what Amazon has defined for performing text-to-speech…
Amazon’s Alexa was the darling of CES, and it’s easy to see why. The Echo and Echo Dot devices that run Alexa are relatively inexpensive, and a tremendous number were sold over the Christmas holiday period helped along, no doubt, by an aggressive marketing campaign and widespread markdowns. But, beyond being well marketed, Alexa has…
Like possibly everyone else who grew up watching Sesame Street, I loved Apple’s new ad featuring the Cookie Monster using Siri to help make cookies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCbWyYr82BM And the behind-the-scenes follow-up is possibly even funnier if you haven’t seen it. The pairing of the childlike Cookie Monster and Siri is pure genius. Great as these ads…
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clark Working in the IoT industry and being a technology enthusiast, I am always playing with the latest IoT gadgets. While many of these devices have beautiful apps, I’m starting to feel like the IoT industry is not living up to Arthur C. Clark’s…