Smartphone sounding a little different? Google picks up a new and improved voice

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

The voice assistants on our smartphones wouldn’t be possible without advanced speech-synthesis tech, allowing the software behind these systems to turn responses into natural-sounding spoken replies. And while today’s Cortanas, Siris, and all their peers do an admirable job, there’s always the desire to add a little more of a human-sounding element to the process, keeping them from sounding like robots. Google’s been working on just those kind of improvements, and in ...

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Google Search makes it easy to follow the US presidential race

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

Unless you’ve been living under a very remote rock, you’re probably aware by now of the Iowa Caucuses’ outcome in both the Republican and Democratic presidential nomination competitions.The contest for the overall final is more evenly matched than ever, as Bernie Sanders lost the first provisional battle to Hillary Clinton by a measly five delegate votes, and Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio’s hopes for ultimately getting elected remain alive and well.In case you need some online help keeping track of the heated races going forward, Google hooks you up with a number of ...

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Google Now just got answering machine-like functionality – here’s how to use it

Posted on by Joe Levi

“‘OK Google’ is the magical key-phrase that unlocks all the wondrous potential of your Android-powered device – and drives you nuts when someone on a podcast says it and all your Android’s wake up and wait for your instructions.”Now that my new house is built, my daily commute is over an hour long – each way. That’s okay with me. I love to drive, the scenery is beautiful, Waze helps alert me to upcoming hazards, and thanks to Audible I’m “reading” more now than I ever have before.When a phone call comes in, thanks to the ...

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Google Now on Tap gains six languages and more contextual features

Posted on by Jules Wang

While Google Now is pretty darn smart already, it usually has to take its time or come across incidental information and churn on it before letting you know in a Now card. With Google Now on Tap, it’s putting out what it gets in with a

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How the smartphone will die in five years, according to Google and Ericsson

Posted on by Jules Wang

Ericsson used to have a larger footprint in the mobile technology space. In this decade, we’re lucky if we hear from them once or twice a year. This time around, our luck may have run out if we’re talking about smartphones. It’s a hardware field that Google

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Microsoft Clip rumored as upcoming Cortana-powered wearable

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

What gadget geek doesn’t want his or her own combadge? Somewhere at the intersection between virtual digital assistants and wearable hardware there’s the dream of being able to access a powerful voice-controlled computer wherever you go; just ask it something, and it answers. We’ve already got shades of that with Android Wear and the Apple Watch, and now Microsoft may be planning its own spin on the idea, as a source discusses the company’s plans for

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Google gives love to beta testers on Android

Posted on by Jules Wang

From Google Now to the search engine function itself, the Google app serves as the core of most major Android experiences. But as an app that you tap on or consciously go into, you don’t really seem to notice it as much. After all, the whole Google thing gets kind of ubiquitous ad nauseam on Android.But if you want to ...

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Want to see what’s next for the Google Android app? Public beta welcomes testers

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Google’s presence within the world of Android is so pervasive that it almost seems a little weird that we even have a specific “Google” Android app. But if you find yourself interacting with a Google search bar on your home screen, taking advantage of Google’s voice search, or having Google Now lend you a hand, you’ve done so with the help of the Google app. If you’re interested in getting a ...

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Every “OK Google” request you’ve made can be listened to — and deleted

Posted on by Jules Wang

This is the place where you and only you can listen to every single request you made. Well, supposedly. And if supposedly is what you’re worried about, read on to find out how to protect yourself.Each utterance of “OK Google,” every tap of that red mic icon, your phone records a clip of you saying whatever you’re saying (savory or not). It then sends it off to Google’s servers to process your command ...

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Google Now, Siri and Cortana need to be more human

Posted on by Jules Wang

No, I’m not talking about their sound. I mean, sure, developers can definitely help relating voice assistants’ with the average user by fine-tuning their voices to sound like people and not cyborgs. I think, though, that they should retain some robotic quality so that users clearly know what they’re interacting with as opposed to who.How Google Now, Siri, Cortana, or any other voice service interacts with you is more important. Important to you, the person who wants data from the internet. It’s most important to the companies behind the services which gain income ...

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How Does Hound Stack Up To The Rest? (Video)

Posted on by Hayato Huseman

Hound is SoundHound’s new voice assistant to compete with the likes of Google Now, Siri, and Cortana. It, like the others, can launch apps, run search queries, identify songs, and more, but one thing that’s caught wide attention for this service is its ability to process complex, multi-part queries in a manner similar to Wolfram Alpha. Questions like “What is the population and capital for Japan and China?” work without a hitch, and very quickly at that.But rarely will most people ask a voice assistant such complicated questions. Instead, most people use these ...

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Hound First Impressions: Google Now Competitor? (Video)

Posted on by Hayato Huseman

Nearly every member of the Pocketnow team uses digital personal assistants in some way. Whether it’s Google Now, Siri, or Cortana, these systems offer voice commands, as well as personalized recommendations based on contextual information like location or emails. But while each service has its own unique features that set it apart from the others, none of them offer the same kind of fully fledged, natural language-based voice interface found on services like Wolfram Alpha.SoundHound recently demoed a new product, simply called Hound, that seems to offer similar functionality to ...

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Who do you trust with your data privacy?

Posted on by Adam Doud

At WWDC, Apple introduced a host of new features to iOS 9, including its new Proactive feature. This is a very Google Now-like service that will give contextually aware reminders, take actions without prompting, anticipate what you want, etc. This is all a really nice upgrade for the iOS experience. And if Apple had left it at that, this article would not exist.It’s your dataBut Apple was quick to point out that unlike some other personal assistants out there, Apple’s does everything on device and there is absolutely no access to your personal data. What happens on the phone, stays ...

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Google Now and Now on Tap could keep me on Android

Posted on by Adam Doud

I’m a Windows Phone fan who has been on Android for about nine months now. Ever since I got the Moto360, then the Pebble, I have been pretty much addicted to smartwatches, and Windows Phone just doesn’t have them. Ok, it has the Band, but I don’t really count that. So I’m left with Android. But I don’t want that to sound like a bad thing – it’s not. I’m doing just fine on Android thank you very much, and a big reason why is Google Now.A hard sellGoogle Now is one of those services that’s hard to describe. Actually, it’s not really hard to ~describe~ so much as it’s ...

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Google brings Now support to third-party apps

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Android users already know that Google Now can be a hugely powerful tool, reminding you about important appointments, helping you navigate to your next meeting, advising you of upcoming weather alerts, and more. But for all that great stuff Now offered, it also put a lot of pressure on Google to deliver relevant content; one company can only do so much, right (yeah, even Google)? Well, the floodgates are about to open, ...

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