'Alexa, play my kid a podcast.' Parents look for screen-time alternatives
As a way to get away from using screen time as a "crutch", parents are getting drawn to podcasts and smart speakers. Audio-based options...
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How Home Assistants are Changing the World
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Virtual Home Assistants
What they're doing, how they're thinking and where they're going.
Learn about the exciting ways that virtual home assistants are utilizing Artificial Intelligence to make the world around them smoother and more efficient.
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How Growing Up with Voice Will Change Assistant Design
Also, 22 percent of parents consider their devices “like another part of the family,” according to a 2017 BabyCenter survey.
In 2018, Amazon introduced Amazon FreeTime on Alexa alongside kids edition Echo Dot devices. It provides a way to control content accessibility, and access activity review and time limits. They also introduced ‘Magic Word’ as a way to encourage children to speak with Alexa devices using polite words, such as please and thank you. Google has a similar feature called ‘Pretty Please’ mode, as part of its Family Link set-up.
The privacy landscape around kids' engagement with voice assistants requires a clear definition. Some providers created devices built specifically on the premise that they are more secure than mainstream tech companies.
Voice Assistants are set to be used by 36.6% of the US population by 2021.
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“AI doesn't have to be evil to destroy humanity – if AI has a goal and humanity just happens in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it, no hard feelings." – Elon Musk,
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How Voice Assistants are Transforming the Way Business Gets Done
Voice detection systems, before voice assistants, "failed to replicate a true human voice experience and lacked proper integration mechanisms with business systems."
Voice application services are expanding their horizons by offering open architecture platforms, APIs, integration solutions, and tools, as a way for businesses to build their “Skills” (customized applications).
Voice for Business
Voice Assistants are useful for ITSM, operations, management, business management, IT functions, office management, and HR management. These functions are very helpful during this COVID-19 pandemic due to business offering services via Alexa. Some of these businesses include JP Morgan & Co, Capital One Financial Corp., and New York Life Insurance. New York Life Insurance stated that close to twelve thousand agents are going to be availed with Alexa's abilities, including scheduling, preparing for meetings, and collecting policy-related information.
Voice for Marketers
Voice-enabled chatbots are the most popular example. These allow customers to do their online shopping conversationally, but without going anywhere and can be functional on all devices. Consumer data collection is the main beneficiary. By categorizing the data, it can be used to offer a more personalized marketing effort. These voice assistants can go so far as even distinguishing voices in a household. From that, it can create different user profiles per voice authentication.
Smart Home Users
Major players in home appliances are getting their devices pair with voice assistants. Many of these are commonly used, such as LED smart bulbs that are compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home Kit, and Google Assistant.
Whirlpool has equipped most of their appliances with smart technology. They also enabled the devices to work through voice, either google voice assistant or Alexa.
GE launched Kitchen Hub, a complete smart kitchen.
Nest launched Nest Learning Thermostat, while already a smart thermostat it can also learn and be controlled by an Alexa App on a mobile device.
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Increasing Integration
Home Assistants are becoming more and more a part of our daily lives
With technology improving every day, we are integrating home assistants into our daily lives. As people get used to using these devices, especially at a young age, Home Assistants could one day be just as common as smartphones, which was a bold thing to say 15 years ago.
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7 Key Predictions For The Future Of Voice Assistants And AI
EMarketer forecasts that nearly 100 million smartphone users will be using voice assistants in 2020. Another survey states that smart speakers are the main way voice is being used, but experts predict that nearly every application will integrate voice technology in some way in the next 5 years.
7 Key Predictions:
Streamlined Conversations – Instead of having to use the “wake” words, such as saying Alexa’s name before asking a question, you can just have a streamlined conversation.
Compatibility and Integration – This idea is the technology for manufacturers to be able to create custom devices that serve specific functions and be integrated with the virtual assistant.
Search Behaviors Will Change – Not having a visual interface unless the device is connected to the Alexa or Google Assistant app is the main problem.
Individualized Experiences – This goes back to the voice device being able to differentiate between voices. Google Home can support up to six user accounts and be able to detect each unique voice.
Voice Push Notifications
Touch Interaction – These displays can show the weather, local traffic information, or calendar events. CES 2019 is continuing to prove that voice a visual displays are merging into one.
Security Will Be a Focus – For example, speaker verification and ID to be involved with the voice assistant experience.
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Alexa, Cortana, & Your Employees
The Business Benefits of Voice Assistants
All of these voice assistants started as a computer application before evolving into what they are today. 72 percent of voice assistant owners use it as a part of their daily schedule, according to a Google survey. 52 percent of those consumers want to receive information and updates on new products and brands via their virtual assistant.
In a recent study by the Global Banking & Finance Review, 88 percent of enterprise leaders believe their businesses can gain an advantage by integrating voice assistants into their daily operations.
Voice assistants can improve marketing by personalizing systems and providing marketers with enhanced consumer insights, according to Marty Weintraud, founder of Aimclear marketing agency. It can be used to increase bottom-line revenue by enabling voice-driven chatbots to upsell and cross-sell to your audience.
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Advertisements and Commercials
A few of our favorite funny and informative videos about Virtual Home Assistants
Click the link below to watch a Superbowl Ad from 2020 about what life was like before Alexa
The next video is about What happens when Alexa loses her voice from the LII Superbowl
The following is a spoof done by Saturday Night Live. It details what a specialized Amazon Echo would look like for the older generation
Ever wonder what the classic Christmas movie Home Alone would be like if it were set in modern-day? Watch this ad by Google to find out
Need a personal assistant? Make Google Do It.
This last video details what your Google Home Mini can do for you
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Do Voice Assistant Devices Have a Place in the Classroom?
Bill Fitzgerald, an Amazon representative, said in a tweet on June 25, 2018 that the company’s voice assistant devices are not intended...
The History of Virtual Home Assistants
Virtual home assistants date all the way back to the 1960’s with the IBM Shoebox that could recognize 16 words and 9 digits. In the...
Fun Things To Do With Your Home Assistant
By enabling skills from the Alexa skills stores and Google Home Commands, you can access even more ways to enhance your experience. You...
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Voice and the Screen-TIme Paradox
A voice assistant in the hands of a child who has grown up with technology can reduce screen time by not having to search for things physically on a device. Children are already accustomed to asking questions, so devices like Alexa, Cortana, and Siri, for example, create a new way for children to learn.
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Home Assistants as a Tool
Devices offer multiple ways to use them
Outside of just Alexas and Google Homes, home assistants can be applied to different appliances and uses throughout the home. These devices could be connected to security, lights, and even fridges.
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iHome- AI The Future of Modern Homes
It is no secret, and not a new concept, that home technology has been improving over the years, but it is only over the last few years that it has really begun to burst into fruition in the most uplifting, evolutionary ways imaginable.
In years past, home technology has often been executed using less-than-subtle designs, leading to the effect of many homeowners going out of their way to hide such devices in and behind other products in the home.
Seemingly simple innovations like supreme windows installation that save the average homeowner in Canada up to 20% on their energy bills annually, to wireless phone charging points designed into pieces of furniture, are the gateway to future innovations that are, frankly, set to blow the minds of even the most technically-proficient individuals.
The basic rule of thumb for any innovation is that if one can and does control and have power over the operating system, they have complete control over the system in its entirety.
While now we are already seeing the implementation of apps that can control lighting and music in the home, in the future we are going to find ourselves having home technology such as AI-powered systems that assist us with anything around the house, from cooking in the kitchen and cleaning the floors, to monitoring security in and around the home and from afar via real-time video surveillance, effectively transmitting the live feed directly into the palms of homeowner’s hands as they sit at work.
Nonetheless, the true test of home technology advancement will be how the companies in the playing field go from designing and creating home technology devices that function solely as their own product, to creating home tech products that can be used in seamless alignment with other companies within the industry.
The likelihood that someone is going to wire their entire home with home technology products and devices from the same company is very unlikely, even more so when one takes into account cost and personal requirements – we purchase things that cater to both needs, not simply for the sake of having them align with one another in perfect harmony.
Seemingly simple innovations like applications that control lighting and music have changed the way that we interact with and exist in our homes, and with technological advancements such as AI and appliance improvements, the stage is set to only get bigger, better, ad brighter than ever before.
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So What ?
There are many benefits associated with Virtual Home Assistants and the possibilities are endless. Did you know that using a Home Assistant can save you money while saving the planet. That's right ! Home AI’s are able to save an enormous amount of electricity. On top of saving your wallet, Virtual Home Assistants can provide unrivaled convenience for busy people.” Alexa make me a sandwich” or how about “Alexa schedule my meeting for 7pm tomorrow.” Alexa can even act as your watchdog protecting your house and providing home security. There's no doubt that Virtual Home Assistants will provide value for anyone.There's no doubt that Virtual Home Assistant will provide a piece of mind for busy minds alike for many years to come.
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