Universal Electronics (UEI) will supply a voice-enabled remote control for Liberty Global’s 4K Mini TV set-top box, said the control company Wednesday. The Bluetooth Low Energy remote has automated setup and control through UEI’s cloud-based QuickSet platform. Customers can search by voice for content on Liberty’s Reference Design Kit-based Horizon 4 platform. The box is made from 35% recycled material and said to cut energy consumption by 77% versus previous set-tops.
Voice control company Josh.ai introduced Fiji OS, a redesign of its configuration portal interface with “friendly customization tools” at virtual CEDIA Expo Tuesday. Dealers can configure advanced conditional macro operations using simple text, said the company. The reworked platform has new user roles and permissions structures for granular privacy settings, IR configuration of set-top boxes for channel access and navigation of nonnative video sources, an intuitive new portal layout and a natural language scene editor. Fiji OS introduces natural language to the programming of the system itself, it said, so clients can simply speak or type out what they want a scene to do without complex programming, a graphics user interface console or having to configure tiles. The Fiji update has been pushed to all active Josh.ai systems and will be the standard going forward, at no additional charge, it said. Fiji also introduces IR control for cable boxes.
Amazon announced an Alexa service for apartment property managers that lets them set up and manage Alexa-based smart home experiences in their buildings. Alexa for Residential doesn't require tenants to have an Amazon account or set up a device to use the service, Amazon blogged Thursday. Tenants can ask Alexa to remind them when it's recycling day, play the news and weather every morning or control their apartment's smart home features. Iotas, Stratis and Sentient Property Services are the first smart home integrators to use Alexa for Residential; they're due to open multiple smart apartment residences this fall. Installing voice-enabled experiences for apartment complexes has been time-consuming and costly for property managers, who had to reset each device individually, or buy new ones, when a resident moved, Amazon said. Under the Alexa for Residential program, devices are permanent fixtures, and property managers can remotely reset devices to default settings when residents move. Property managers don’t have access to any customer data, and voice recordings are automatically deleted daily, Amazon said. Customers who link a personal account will have full control of their privacy settings “as if the device was their own, and their preferred privacy settings will be automatically applied,” it said. Residents can unlink their account at any time; at move out, in-unit devices can be reset along with the rest of the smart home devices.
Half of MLB’s 30 teams will launch Google Assistant voice capability using Satisfi Labs technology, said the search engine company Wednesday. The functionality will enable fans to ask their favorite teams about statistics, schedules, scores and standings using a Google Assistant smart speaker or display, it said. "Voice is the future of communication, and we believe expanding to Google Assistant will allow fans of all ages to access us on their terms,” said Steve Fanelli, vice president of the Oakland Athletics, one of the 15 teams participating.
LG launched Alexa voice control for eight 2020 models in its OLED and NanoCell ThinQ smart TV lines. A software update allows customers to speak to Alexa directly through their TV to play music, hear news, check weather, set timers and reminders, control their smart home and play Alexa games, without needing a remote control, said the company. Users can register Alexa by “long-pressing” the Prime Video button on the TV remote or going through the Alexa app on the TV home screen, LG said. Free Pluto streaming launched in the U.S. on 2020 LG smart TVs, said the companies Tuesday. The service will be extended in the fall to LG models dating to 2016. Availability in other global regions will be announced later.
With 30% of U.S. households using a smart speaker, consumers are gravitating toward an integrated ecosystem with a voice assistant at the core, reported NPD Thursday. Of those homes, the biggest increases in connected technology adoption are in home automation products and use cases (+152%), smartwatches (+120%), smart TVs (+60%), smart gaming consoles (+60%), streaming media players (+44%) and tablets (+26%), it said. “As consumers become more adept at integrating their devices to enable smart home technology, they are looking to make the use of that technology as easy as possible,” said analyst Eddie Hold. Loyalty to a vendor’s ecosystem plays a role in that, he said. “Once a consumer starts using their voice assistant consistently, they are becoming far more focused on making sure all of their devices work seamlessly with it,” he said.
Smart speakers can be a gateway to smart home adoption, blogged Parks Associates Wednesday, saying 16% of broadband households bought a voice-enabled speaker before buying a smart home device. Three-quarters of the 29% of U.S. broadband households that own both said the speaker motivated them to buy a smart home device. “By bundling smart speakers with smart plugs, smart light bulbs, or smart thermostats, companies can deliver a guided introduction to the smart home experience,” said analyst Brad Russell. The combination helps encourage self-installation, “which is becoming significantly more important following the COVID-19 outbreak.” With so much shopping now shifting online, self-install options are important to trigger sales, said Russell. Companies can deliver support via smart speakers through do-it-with-me or do-it-together services that use real-time chat, he said. Some 77% of networked camera owners self-installed the devices in 2019 vs. 68% in 2018.
Vuzix now has hands-free voice support for Skype for Business, Zoom and Zoom for Healthcare, for its M400 smart glasses, said the company Wednesday: An operating system update lets users access the apps, enter passwords and join meetings by voice.
Sixty-one percent of consumers rank smartphones and smart TV remotes (45 percent) as top devices for voice control, said a Thursday Syntiant report based on a Caravan survey. Over a quarter of consumers, led by Generation X and baby boomers, cited smart thermostats, doorbells and microwave ovens as devices they control by voice vs. touch screens or other tactile interfaces. Millennials (28%) and Generation Z (18%) consumers control gaming devices and smartwatches by voice. Privacy (27%) is the top concern consumers have about voice control, followed by security (23%), functionality (19%) and ease of use (15%). The survey was done April 22-24.
Amazon approved Spirent as an authorized test lab for Alexa Built-in products, said the testing company Tuesday. It will work directly with manufacturers at its Maryland facility to perform audio and acoustic tests for products seeking Amazon certification. Examples in support of Alexa Voice Service requirements are functional testing, near-field and far-field testing, wake word detection delay testing and manual subject testing. Devices that pass will receive certification test results in the form of Alexa Qualification Tool reports.