Smart home
Amazon’s Alexa May Soon Mimic Any Voice, Confirms Senior Vice President
The online retailer is developing a system to let Alexa mimic any voice after hearing less than a minute of audio, said Rohit Prasad, an Amazon Senior Vice President, at a conference the company held in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The goal is to “make the memories last” after “so many of us have lost someone we love” during the pandemic, Prasad said.
Amazon declined to share when it would roll out such a feature.
The work wades into an area of technology that has garnered close scrutiny for potential benefits and abuses. For instance, Microsoft recently restricted which businesses could use its software to parrot voices. The goal is to help people with speech impairments or other problems but some worry it could also be used to propagate political deepfakes.
Amazon hopes the project will help Alexa become ubiquitous in shoppers’ lives. But public attention has already shifted elsewhere. At Alphabet‘s Google, an engineer made the highly contested claim that a company chat bot had advanced to sentience. Another Amazon executive said on Tuesday that Alexa had 100 million customers globally, in line with figures the company has provided for device sales since January 2019.
Prasad said Amazon’s aim for Alexa is “generalisable intelligence,” or the ability to adapt to user environments and learn new concepts with little external input. He said that goal is “not to be confused with the all-knowing, all-capable, uber artificial general intelligence,” or AGI, which Alphabet’s DeepMind unit and Elon Musk-co-founded OpenAI are seeking.
Amazon shared its vision for companionship with Alexa at the conference. In a video segment, it portrayed a child who asked, “Alexa, can grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?”
A moment later, Alexa affirmed the command and changed her voice. She spoke soothingly, less robotically, ostensibly sounding like the individual’s grandmother in real life.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
Noise Tag 1 Price in India
Noise Tag 1 price in India is set at Rs. 2,999. It is currently available at Rs. 1,499 as part of a limited period offer, according to the company. The company says its pre-bookings will begin soon and the Bluetooth tracker will go on sale starting January 28 via the brand’s website.
It will be available for purchase in three colourways — Charcoal, Ivory, and Midnight.
Noise Tag 1 Specifications
One of the standout features of the new Noise Tag 1 is its compatibility with both Android and iOS. It can work in tandem with Apple’s Find My network which enables iPhone users to locate lost or stolen items such as keys, luggage, wallets, and even pets. The same functionality is also available for Android devices (Android 9 and above) supporting Google’s Find My Device Network.
The Bluetooth tracker is also claimed to be compatible with Google’s Fast Pair technology, which simplifies the connectivity process for Bluetooth and BLE devices.
As per the company, the Noise Tag 1 comes equipped with a Ring Mode which can help locate misplaced items by activating a 90dB sound. Meanwhile, its Lost Mode automatically sends notifications to the smartphone if the tag disconnects after a specified duration.
Another feature of the Noise Tag 1 is the Network Mode, which is claimed to leverage the vast number of Android and iOS devices in the network to locate lost or stolen items, even if they are out of the immediate range.
The device offers 1 year of battery life and it has an IPX4 rating for splash resistance, according to the company.
For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who’sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.
Noise Tag 1 Price in India
Noise Tag 1 price in India is set at Rs. 2,999. It is currently available at Rs. 1,499 as part of a limited period offer, according to the company. The company says its pre-bookings will begin soon and the Bluetooth tracker will go on sale starting January 28 via the brand’s website.
It will be available for purchase in three colourways — Charcoal, Ivory, and Midnight.
Noise Tag 1 Specifications
One of the standout features of the new Noise Tag 1 is its compatibility with both Android and iOS. It can work in tandem with Apple’s Find My network which enables iPhone users to locate lost or stolen items such as keys, luggage, wallets, and even pets. The same functionality is also available for Android devices (Android 9 and above) supporting Google’s Find My Device Network.
The Bluetooth tracker is also claimed to be compatible with Google’s Fast Pair technology, which simplifies the connectivity process for Bluetooth and BLE devices.
As per the company, the Noise Tag 1 comes equipped with a Ring Mode which can help locate misplaced items by activating a 90dB sound. Meanwhile, its Lost Mode automatically sends notifications to the smartphone if the tag disconnects after a specified duration.
Another feature of the Noise Tag 1 is the Network Mode, which is claimed to leverage the vast number of Android and iOS devices in the network to locate lost or stolen items, even if they are out of the immediate range.
The device offers 1 year of battery life and it has an IPX4 rating for splash resistance, according to the company.
For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who’sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.
Google Home Is Reportedly Getting New Features
Android Authority reports that the tech giant is working on increasing the usability of the Google Home app, by adding new tools. These new features were spotted by the publication on the Google Home beta 3.29 release, during an Android application package (APK) teardown. None of the features are visible or available for beta testers to try out at the moment.
The most notable feature in development is the AI-powered Insights functionality, which is said to be displayed using a new floating action button (FAB) that suggests steps users can take based on their app usage and interactions with smart home devices. This feature is still in development and if it makes the cut, it will become the first AI feature in the app. The AI feature uses both in-app data and information from the sensors of the devices to provide tips and feedback.
The reported features that could come to Google Home in the future
Photo Credit: Android Authority
Additionally, the publication spotted several new tools and a redesigned interface for the routines and automation section. The new UI is said to follow the design language of Android’s Material 3, and opens new cards with suggestions for users.
Apart from the aesthetic changes, a new Conditions section is also being added to the Starters and Actions options in the routines menu. Notably, Starters allow users to set start times for any routine and Actions define the tasks the smart home devices need to perform at the scheduled time. The new Conditions option is said to let users set specific scenarios to turn on a routine.
As per the publication, Conditions will let users set time ranges for actions as well as utilise a new Presence option. The latter is said to be an advanced tool that activates a routine only when the sensors on the smart home devices detect if someone is in the house or not. Presence is said to be available within both Conditions and Starters.
A new toggle button with Active and Inactive as options was also spotted during the teardown. The new feature is said to let users set a routine as inactive, temporarily disabling it. Finally, Google is also said to be working on a vacation mode where users can set up routines and automation for when the home is empty for an extended period.
Notably, all of these features are said to be under development, and it is not confirmed whether they will all be launched or not.
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