Voice-First News Roundup: 5/16/19
Every week we bring you a selection of the most buzzworthy headlines on voice-first and related topics. Here's the news roundup for May 8-16.
Samsung makes huge strides with big developer programs announcements: Bixby Premiere Developer Program as well as three developer sessions in San Francisco (June 8th), Los Angeles (June 15th), and New York City (June 22nd). For more on both programs see Voicebot.ai.
Google gave away over 19K Google Home Minis at the Warriors – Trail Blazers NBA Playoff Game on May 14th. Various sports news sources reported that Google partnered with the Warriors for what has been "the largest and most expensive sporting event giveaway of a Google product in history" according to a tweet by Front Office Sports. Voicebot.ai addresses the importance of such an action in the Voice-First ecosystem, writing "Many people have suggested that the value of having a consumer choose your voice assistant over any other is so valuable that device makers should just give them away."
An Adobe Analytics Study reveals that 91% of the 401 business decision-makers surveyed are investing in voice. 94% said they plan to increase their investments in the next year. The No. 1 priority for voice moving forward is enabling customers to make purchases, according to 45% of survey respondents. (CMO.com by Adobe)
Last week's Google I/O announcements dominated tech headlines, with revamped and new products ranging from new phones and a smart display to Google Maps Incognito mode and more Google Assistant. Among the exciting announcements were Google's accessibility initiatives, such as Project Euphonia, which helps make speech tech more accessible to people with voice impairments.
This month Harvard Business Review has had a series of digital articles on the topic of voice-first technology. Among these are: How Voice Assistants Could Change the Way We Shop by Kane Simms; Machines that Speak and Write Will Make Misinformation Worse by Amy Stapleton; Voice Recognition Still Has Significant Race and Gender Biases by Joan Palmiter Bajorek; and Why Tech Giants Are So Desperate to Provide Your Voice Assistant by Bret Kinsella. Make sure to check them out!
Podcasts
Dylan Zwick joined Carl Robinson on Voice Tech Podcast to discuss Usability Testing for Voice - Voice Tech Podcast ep.027
Save the Date
ICYMI: Amazon's re-running Alexa Live this Saturday, May 18 starting at 6am PT / 1pm UTC!
Chicago: Dylan Zwick, Pulse Labs CPO, will be speaking on "How to Integrate Voice in Your Total Customer Experience" at NEXT 2019, June 13-14 in Chicago. Register with the Promo Code: NEXTSPEAK to save $100.
Dylan Zwick, Pulse Labs CPO, will be a speaker and panelist at VOICE Summit, July 22-25 in Newark, NJ. Use the code DZ83 for 15% off: http://bit.ly/2YxOpLp
Thanks to those of you who joined us and our friends from Jargon earlier this week at the Seattle Alexa Meetup!
We're reaching the end of an era with the epic conclusion of Game of Thrones. You can distract yourself while you wait by trying out these Alexa Easter Eggs:
"Alexa, What happens when you play the game of thrones?"
"Alexa, You are in the great game now."
"Alexa, What does Jon Snow know?"
"Alexa, Is winter coming?"
"Alexa, I am the watcher on the walls."
"Alexa, is Jon Snow dead?"
"Alexa, The night is dark and full of terrors."
Need a recap? Ask Alexa, "give me a Game of Thrones recap."
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