Amazon rumoured to be developing Echo version with touchscreen display

In an attempt to supposedly keep at bay Google Home and Apple’s rumoured entry into the smart home speaker market, Amazon is reportedly working on a new “premium” version of the Echo speaker that has a 7-inch touchscreen display. Veering away from the cylindrical look of the Echo speakers, this rumoured device will be larger and “tilt upwards” so the screen can be read when sitting on a desk or kitchen counter. The exact design hasn’t been specified yet. But it’ll supposedly respond mostly to Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant and run on an optimized version of Amazon’s Fire OS. Adding a display is said to make it easier to access content. Audio quality will also supposedly be improved with this version. There is no confirmation yet about this plan but we’re keeping our eyes open for it.

Source: MacRumors

Amazon Echo can fact-check politicians

Amazon Echo wants to keep the US presidential candidates and possibly any other politician in check with its new feature: fact-checking. Duke Reporters’ Lab introduced the new Echo skill that’ll make it easier for you to check if the candidates are just speaking lies. Echo gets its data from PolitFact, FactCheck.org, and the Washington Post. It isn’t a perfect feature and you’ll have to go through an opening spiel to get right to asking it questions. Duke emphasizes that you need to mention major keywords to get a correct answer from it.

Source: Engadget

‘Actions on Google’ to open Google Assistant to third-party developers

If Google plans to unseat the Amazon Echo in its own category, it’ll need all the help it can get. And that’s what it is planning to do with the Actions on Google program launching in December. This program will allow developers to build “Actions” for Google Assistant (akin to the 3,000+ “skills” of Amazon’s Alexa). There will be two flavors to this: Direct Actions and Conversation Actions. Direct is similar to what you can do with Siri, Alexa, and even Google’s own Google Now voice assistant. You ask it for information, schedule a meeting, etc.

Conversations, on the other hand and as its name suggests, is more of a back and forth. One example given at the Google event is when Scott Huffman tried to get an Uber and had Google Assistant pass the conversation off to Uber to finalize the request. And that’s where developers would need to work with Google. Aside from the Google plans to release an Embedded Google Assistant software development kit to let tinkerers load Google Assistant on things like Raspberry Pi as well as for other hardware manufacturers to have Assistant in other products.

Source: The Verge

Amazon looks to fill many more positions on its Alexa team

Amazon is getting even more aggressive with developing the Alexa voice assistant technology with its current hiring spree. At the moment, Amazon is looking to fill 399 positions for different locations. Some of the jobs include data engineers, product managers, and machine learning scientists with locations ranging from Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, to Tempe, Arizona, to Sunnyvale, California, among others. The hiring push comes on the heels of the expansion of Amazon’s voice-controlled Echo speakers.

Source: Recode