Tag Archives: Assistant

Facebook’s Aloha AI Voice Assistant, Portal Smart Speaker Mention Spotted in Messenger App

Facebook’s smart speaker ‘Portal’ and voice assistant ‘Aloha’ have been spotted in a new leak HIGHLIGHTS Facebook’s rumoured Aloha AI assistant leaked again The new feature was found inside Facebook and Messenger Android apps It can connect to external Wi-Fi or Bluetooth devices Facebook has already been quite late in joining the voice computing revolution, but it might just be ready ... Read More »

Telefonica rolls out personal assistant ‘Aura’ in data focus

The telecom carrier is set to release Aura in six countries, a key plank of chief executive officer Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete’s data-focused strategy. Photo: Reuters Madrid/London: Apple Inc. has Siri, Amazon.com Inc. has Alexa and now Telefonica SA is promoting its own digital personal assistant with a voice, Aura. The telecom carrier is set to release Aura in six countries, a ... Read More »

Facebook to Shut Down ‘M’ Virtual Assistant Messenger Bot by January 19

HIGHLIGHTS M is a bot that was available through Facebook Messenger It reportedly was only available to about 2,000 people Facebook said it has learnt what users wanted from bots Facebook is shutting down its text-based virtual assistant called ‘M’ that helped researchers train an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system. According to a report on The Verge, ‘M’ was available through a bot on Facebook ... Read More »

Facebook Acquires AI Assistant Startup Ozlo to Make Messenger Smarter

HIGHLIGHTS Ozlo specialises in understanding text-based conversations The startup has raised $14 million from a number of investors It has 30 employees, majority of which will be joining Messenger To build out a more elaborate personal assistant for the Messenger users, Facebook has acquired an artificial intelligence (AI) startup Ozlo that specialises in understanding text-based conversations. The four-year-old startup claims that its virtual assistants can understand ... Read More »

Microsoft’s First Digital Assistant, Cortana, Is Here

Sometime ago buzz began about a new digital assistant that would be available with the unveiling of Windows Phone 8.1. Now, Microsoft’s first assistant, Cortana, is here. Microsoft has made the new Windows Phone 8.1 available to developers which means your carrier will have the phone available very soon. The name Cortana apparently comes from a holographic character in Microsoft’s ... Read More »

Microsoft’s First Digital Assistant, Cortana, Is Here

Sometime ago buzz began about a new digital assistant that would be available with the unveiling of Windows Phone 8.1. Now, Microsoft’s first assistant, Cortana, is here. Microsoft has made the new Windows Phone 8.1 available to developers which means your carrier will have the phone available very soon. The name Cortana apparently comes from a holographic character in Microsoft’s ... Read More »

Creepy or Not? Personal Assistant App Snips Wants All Your Data

We live in world that has led us to believe increased connectivity will give us more value, but as it stands now it is not the case. Having more connected devices means you will be interrupted throughout the day responding constantly to your email, thermostat, security system, mobile device and more. That’s unless you turn it all over to a ... Read More »

Google Assistant Gets IFTTT Support; Makes Voice Commands on Pixel, Google Home More Powerful

Google unveiled its smart home speaker called Google Home at its Made by Google event on October 4. The speaker, like the Google Pixel smartphones, is powered by the Google Assistant. At the time of launch, Google Home did not have many integrations to work with, but that should change when the Assistant SDK becomes available. Now however, IFTTT has ... Read More »

Google Assistant to Launch With Hinglish Support; Allo and Duo Availability Detailed

Google Assistant to Launch With Hinglish Support; Allo and Duo Availability Detailed HIGHLIGHTS Google Assistant to support Hinglish and English upon launch. Allo and Duo app to hit the market between June and September. Android N will be released earlier than ever. Even though Google unveiled a host of things at first day of I/O, there was little to no ... Read More »

Google Pixel Is the First Google-Branded Phone, Comes With Google Assistant

HIGHLIGHTS Google Pixel smartphone has been priced starting Rs. 57,000 in India It is now available for pre-orders in select countries. Pixel will be up for “pre-sales” in India on October 13 At an event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Google unveiled the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL, first Google-branded smartphones. As we’d reported in August, India is one ... Read More »