WEARABLES WITH SMART ASSISTANCE
Smart assistance is coming to wearables as well. Alexa powered Vuzix Blade glasses come with a built-in camera, microphone and side-mounted touchpad; as you speak to Alexa, the information is projected on the lens. Amazon has also released the Alexa Mobile Accessory kit, allowing manufacturers to integrate Alexa with wearables. Last year, Bose announced QC35II with built-in Google Assistant.
enable users to launch apps, control their smart homes and get content recommendations, among other things.
There is also a world of smart connected baby gadgets to make life easy for parents. Netgear’s Arlo Baby monitor, compatible with Apple HomeKit, lets parents view live footage from the monitor through Siri. Owlet’s Smart Sock 2, when wrapped around a baby’s foot, tracks heart rate and oxygen level, and sends real-time stats to the paired smartphones.
To make the interaction with voice assistants more meaningful, companies are embedding displays with smart speakers. Last year, Amazon announced the Echo Show with a seven-inch display, and now Google has announced the Smart Display platform. The smart display will continue to respond to your voice commands and simultaneously fetch relevant information on the screen. For instance, instead of Google Assistant telling you what the day looks like, it will fetch all the appointments from the calendar, check the traffic conditions and suggest what time you should leave. You could even place the Smart Display on the kitchen counter for a quick video of the recipe you are cooking or check the security camera footage with a simple command. In a nutshell, the Smart Display platform will make your busy lives a bit more organised.
Manufacturers are extending the comfort to cars as well. Say ‘Hey Mercedes’ or press a button on your Mercedes’ steering wheel and the in-car personal assistant comes alive. One can issue voice commands to adjust cabin temperature or lighting, play your favourite music and such. MBUX (Mercedes-Benz user experience) has been built to learn and respond to the TO MAKE THE INTERACTION WITH VOICE ASSISTANTS MORE MEANINGFUL, COMPANIES ARE EMBEDDING DISPLAYS WITH SMART SPEAKERS user. It will arrive in the new A-Class that is slated to be launched later this year. You don’t have to necessarily own a Mercedes to experience these smart features. Smart assistance enabled dongles such as Muse, an Alexa voice assistant for cars by Speak Music, can turn your existing car into smart wheels. Google has also announced that the Google Assistant with Android Auto can be used to control home lights or lock the home as you step into your car.
Soon, you can have a voice assistant to work as well. Amazon is bringing Alexa to Windows 10 PCs. This would mean hands-free access to Alexa on PCs making it simpler to interact with your smart home, get news or weather updates, set timers and more. Acer and Asus are the first to announce the launch of PCs with Alexa integration along with Microsoft’s Cortana.
The number of gadgets and appliances supporting Alexa outnumber those that go with Google and Apple because Amazon launched the voice assistant for home much earlier, in 2014. However, Google and Apple are catching up quickly and the ecosystem is only slated to become more robust.