Google Assistant update brings music alarms, the ability to look up TV schedules

Google Assistant adds a couple of handy new features into its arsenal. One is the ability to set alarms to music. So if you want some Beyoncé to wake you up in the morning, you can just say “Set an alarm for 6 a.m. that plays Beyoncé” and it’ll play you just that. It’ll work for whatever music service you’ve set Assistant to use as default, so whether that be Spotify, Pandora, or the songs you’ve uploaded to your Google Play Music library. Another is it can now look up TV schedules for you. So you can ask it things like “When is Big Bang Theory on next?” or like which channel airs a particular show.

Source: The Verge

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Amazon Alexa can now send out text messages, rolling out in the US first

Amazon Alexa can now send out text messages, rolling out in the US first

Amazon Alexa is playing a bit of catch up with other voice assistants like Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant with this latest update. Alexa can now send out SMS messages but with a few caveats. You’ll need to have an Android phone that’s linked to your Alexa device. But it send to any device that can receive text messages (including iPhones). Also, as mentioned in the title, it’s rolling out in the US first.

You just need to say, for example, “Alexa, text Jerry” and then dictate your message to your Amazon Alexa device. It’ll then “find the best way to send the message,” whether that be through SMS or the Alexa messaging service. If you want to send emojis, there’s no way to do that just yet. To turn on the feature, you’ll need to open the Alexa app and head to the Conversations tab, then Contacts, then My Profile to turn on the Send SMS setting. There’s no word yet when the feature is coming to Canada but what Amazon Alexa can do now is make phone calls to other Echo devices or most regular phone numbers in the country as well as in the US and Mexico.

Source: CNN

Intel tipped to be looking for a partner for its AR glasses unit

Google Glass

Intel, like a lot of the other big tech companies including Apple, Google, and Amazon, are working on their own versions of augmented reality glasses or those specs that project content straight to the user’s retina—which is similar to Google Glass. But it looks like Intel doesn’t want to work on this alone. The company is rumoured to be selling a majority stake of its AR glasses division, which is valued at US$350 million. The company is supposedly looking for multiple backers to invest in the project. They’re looking particularly for those “who can contribute to the business with strong sales channels, industry or design expertise, rather than financial backers.”

Intel is already working on these smart glasses that can be paired with smartphones via Bluetooth. They’re said to be working with Taiwan’s Quanta Computer Inc. to bring the product to life and “the technology is known internally as Superlite, but the business to be sold will likely be called Vaunt,” at least based on the report from Bloomberg. The product could be sold on the market as soon as this year but no word on the specific date or price. Intel is supposedly more concerned about showing off the technology to potential customers rather than selling actual units in big numbers. Some of the potential clients include the aforementioned companies already working on their own smart glasses.

Source: BGR