Technology
If there is a tech trend emerging for 2018, it is the rise of the smart speaker.
If there is a tech trend emerging for 2018, it is the rise of the smart speaker.
The Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple Homepod will invade thousands of Kiwi residences this year, letting you play your favourite music, make calendar entries or Google random facts with a voice command.
I’ve had the Amazon Echo Dot in my lounge and the Google Home Mini in my bedroom for a few months and I’ve warmed to them.
They use artificial intelligence and natural language processing to answer your questions as best they can and plug into existing services we are used to on our smartphones. I can tell Google Home Mini to “play David Bowie” and it will find and start playing my Ziggy Stardust Spotify playlist.
Amazon’s Alexa cloud-based voice service will tell me what is in my calendar and on my to-do list when it officially launches here next month, and will feature news bulletins from the likes of Stuff and Newstalk ZB and flight updates from Air New Zealand.
Google Home does a good job of interpreting Kiwi accents.
Eventually, booking a taxi, making free calls to other smart-speaker users and buying things online will all be done with these hands-free gadgets.
Yet smart speakers have their limitations. Google Home will pluck sentences from Wikipedia but is awkward at doing any deeper searches for facts, and asking Alexa to compare the prices of bananas at local supermarkets is hit-and-miss. Of course, it also wants to direct you to the Amazon online store.
All of that will improve as the services are adapted for local needs. Already, Google Home does a good job of interpreting Kiwi accents and properly pronouncing Māori words. Alexa will be trained by its official debut to enable it to understand te reo Māori.
It sounds a bit Big Brother and a hacker’s dream, considering the relentless attempts that are made to hijack our digital lives. So, how secure are these virtual assistant devices?
The short answer is they are probably no less secure than a smartphone, which, after all, is equipped with a microphone and features the same software: Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana.
The “wake” command (“Hey Google” or “Alexa”) puts your smart speaker in record mode, sending your words over the internet to a computer server for processing, and returning with an answer in seconds. The commands can be stored in your account, enabling the artificial intelligence system to learn to recognise your vocal patterns, but you can opt to not allow them to be kept and to delete recordings.
This is just a foretaste of the gadgets’ capabilities. Google Home can connect to my TV via another of the company’s devices, Chromecast ($68), letting me issue voice commands to Netflix and YouTube. Google Home and Amazon Echo also integrate with the Philips Hue smart light bulb range to give you voice control of your lighting.
More smart-home features are coming; for instance, voice-assistant technology is being built into such devices as Sonos audio speakers and Nest video cameras.
The larger smart speakers have audio quality similar to that of a midrange Bluetooth speaker, although the Echo Dot has the advantage of being able to plug into your home audio system for richer sound. Apple’s HomePod, not available here yet, is higher priced (A$499; $542) but delivers audio quality that will satisfy music buffs.
The low price of the entry-level smart speakers I’ve been using makes it cheap and easy to test to see if they are for you. If you want to try the technology for free, have a go with the version on your smartphone. Talking to gadgets is not for everyone.
These gadgets are cheap for good reason: to draw you into the world of Google, Amazon or Apple to use their services and buy their products. This is giving voice to the fight for your attention and your wallet. Amazon (Echo Dot $89, Echo $179, Echo Plus $279) Google (Home Mini $79, Home $179)