Sunday 12 July 2020

Siri, Help Me!

For a while, voice assistants (not virtual assistants, or actual human beings who are based somewhere in the world and do secretarial jobs) are the toast of the town, romanticized, and a sign of promising times ahead. With movies like Spike Jonze’s Her (remember the movie where Joaquin Phoenix fell in love with Scarlett Johansson’s voice), people were getting so excited about making this technology a part of their everyday lives (perhaps some of us also thought we could be experience love with a voice assistant as well?). But then, there was the backlash of these assistants being dumb as rocks, when all it came down was the technology hasn’t advanced that much to the point that it can decipher requests from all accents.

But that didn’t deter all gadget firms from developing voice technology and integrating them into their gadgets. Fast forward to 2020, we have Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and other voice assistants experiencing a new wave of popularity. Then, COVID-19 happened. Just when we thought that voice assistants have finally arrived, now they are proving to be indispensable.  So, the question now is, do we buy into the hype and have all our devices be equipped with a voice assistant?

Thanks, Coronavirus, From Alexa

Voice assistants are at the forefront of the surge in demand for technology that requires little or no physical contact at all. With everyone fearing for their health, it is sure preferred for people to operate stuff with their voices instead of touching surfaces. And voice assistant advocates rejoice!

Yet in recent weeks, another motivation for using hands free technology has come sharply into focus, as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is on all of our minds. It has made us acutely aware of how often we use our hands and touch surfaces. We have been following guidelines for social distancing, washing hands, and not touching our faces, as advised from multiple global resources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

(Via: https://www.mobiquity.com/insights/hands-free-technology-takes-on-new-meaning)

The Surge a Virus Helped Immensely

With Google’s and Amazon’s huge push for Google Assistant and Alexa in the late part of 2019, many have found voice assistants to be a trendy must-have. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic where everything hands-free is encouraged, voice assistants have turned from things that can be great to have to things that are needed to have. Of course, having a face mask while giving instructions to Siri might muffle your voice and cause a bit of confusion, but it is a small adjustment to make when operating them.

Given those numbers, it seems likely that consumers will have more interest in using voice-activated devices on commerce. For instance, reports are emerging about the expansion of voice technology in hotels and cruise ships.

(Via: https://www.pymnts.com/voice-activation/2020/pandemic-drives-interest-in-voice-assisted-commerce/)

Continuous improvement is the way to go

Because these voice assistants are now must-haves, it has become important for the tech giants behind them to assure users that these voice assistants get updated regularly. Besides, these regular improvements to their product also work to their advantage, lest they deliberately want to get left behind by the competition.

Google Assistant Smart Displays will be able to access AMP web articles starting later this summer, Google says. Alongside the AMP news, Google has also announced a number of improvements for its voice assistant, which it says will make interactions with it faster and more seamless and yield more accurate responses to queries.

(Via: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/17/21294003/google-smart-displays-amp-articles-voice-assistant-news-developer-tools)

Raise the value of everything

With voice assistants and other hands-free technologies installed in your gadgets, appliances, and even your entire house, you not only get the benefits of having a more convenient way of doing things, but you also get more security. With added security, everything you own with a voice assistant installed will increase in value, making you thank the gods of technology you have this nifty technology in everything you own.

The great thing about one integrated system that connects all of the smart features in your home is that it means you are in total control at all times. This is hugely appealing to potential buyers who will be able to imagine the ease and convenience that a smart home would bring to their lives.

(Via: https://roboticsandautomationnews.com/2020/06/12/3-reasons-why-smart-home-features-increase-your-homes-value/32963/)

What's great about these voice assistants is that they may just help you with almost everything, although you might still be in trouble if you cannot locate important files on your laptop anymore. But we have expertise on data recovery, as written here: https://www.harddriverecovery.org/mac-data-recovery. Allow us to assist you with things a voice assistant may not be able to. Get in touch with us and we're ready to help.

The blog post Siri, Help Me! was initially published on Hard Drive Recovery Group



source https://www.harddriverecovery.org/blog/siri-help-me/

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