VoiceOS Briefing

The Alexa Conference

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 17:40:33 GMT

Mari talks from the Alexa Conference just ahead of presenting at the panel of Podcasting in the age of Alexa at The Alexa Conference,

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Your Google Assistant can connect families to the North Pole

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 12:30:53 GMT

A new set of family experiences was announced by Google in their Canadian blog yesterday. Which are they, why it matters at the heart of this episode.

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Advancements in speaking styles in TTS

Tue, 20 Nov 2018 12:30:48 GMT

Amazon announced yesterday their advancements on Varying Speaking Styles with Neural Text-to-Speech. In this episode I talk about synthesized speech before this, why it matters, and what the (not that far) future might look like. This is one of the topics on voice technology I'm most passionated about.

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A court with a voice: Montgomery County conversational services

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 12:30:59 GMT

In this episode, I talk about the automated virtual assistant and chatbot that the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Office developed to answer many of the most frequently asked questions received by the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Office by email and phone. Details on the announcement and of Microsoft cognitive services.

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It’s time small businesses had big business capability.

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 12:30:09 GMT

In this episode we have a guest for the first time in the show. Enjoy my conversation with Brendan Roberts about the challenges of selling an AI product to small business and how Aider can help boost your productivity.

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Alexa voice activated smart glasses available

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 12:30:04 GMT

North, a Canadian company introduced their brick and mortar store of smart glasses with Alexa built-in. This is the episode you need to know everything about the announcement.

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How receptive are smart speaker owners to advertising?

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 12:30:34 GMT

Survata surveyed 2000 US smart speakers owners and here is the data

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More on Bixby and SDC18

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:20:55 GMT

I was at SDC yesterday and saw more of Bixby, here are my takes.

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Samsung opens Bixby to third party developers

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 12:30:48 GMT

Samsung announce yesterday at the Developer Conference in San Francisco that the Bixby platform was open to developers. The Bixby developer Studio was until so far in private beta. We were part of the beta program and created two capsules. Here are the details of the announcement and our capsules!

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The Guardian Voice Lab

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 12:30:28 GMT

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Global Web Index Voice Search Trends Report Summary

Mon, 05 Nov 2018 12:30:47 GMT

Mobile Web Index released a report on voice search trends that covers more than voice search. In this episode I talk about the main take aways and future implications from the report. Also, I just make an appearance introducing a guest presenting the content. Enjoy

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Alexa in office equipment

Sun, 04 Nov 2018 12:30:06 GMT

Alexa everywhere keeps giving on

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The Alexa Presentation Language

Sat, 03 Nov 2018 21:42:00 GMT

For developers and anyone involved in the mobile revolution around 2010, anything that promises to work in different devices seamless is like a dream. That’s what Alexa Presentation Language is seducing us with: build interactive, multimodal Alexa skills and customize them for different Alexa-enabled devices.

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Is Siri an enterprise product

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 08:35:54 GMT

Siri made an appearance, briefly, in this episode talking about Siri as an enterprise product, is it, is it not what other questions this might lead us to?

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Conversational forms or adios web forms

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 11:30:21 GMT

How does the future of forms - including lead forms, government services forms- will look like, how collecting data will change when conversational interfaces are more mainstream among users? This is a question that has been in my head for a few months now. But today's episode is about the present and not the future.

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Oracle voice assistant and voice in the enterprise

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 11:31:12 GMT

Voice tech presence in the enterprise and predictions realizing after 2 years

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Read along with Google Home Mini and Disney's Little Golden Books

Tue, 30 Oct 2018 11:30:43 GMT

Google announces interactive stories in partnership with Disney

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Book your next travel through Google Assistant

Tue, 16 Oct 2018 11:30:47 GMT

Google and Expedia new partnership

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Real time translation is coming to all Assistant-optimized headphones and phone

Sun, 14 Oct 2018 22:10:23 GMT

Google Translate is available on all Assistant-optimized headphones and Android phones.

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Voice across industries

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 16:42:02 GMT

Every Thursday 9:50 PT we send the weekly issue of the ultimate newsletter in voice technology. We will soon add an audio version of it as well.

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Add voice to your mobile app with ease

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 11:30:13 GMT

AppSheet, a service to create mobile apps almost without coding announced last week a new feature that allow creators to add a new user interface that acts like a digital business assistant. In this episode I talk about why this is relevant and the voice dichotomy.

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What you didn't hear on the Portal announcement

Tue, 09 Oct 2018 11:30:30 GMT

On Snapchat and messaging payment patents

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Recap of Google Assistant's latest updates

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 11:30:13 GMT

Summarizing the most important announcement for Google Assistant

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Chatbot solving hard problems for students in Australia

Sun, 07 Oct 2018 11:30:32 GMT

Hard problems chatbots are solving today, an example

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Parenting with Alexa

Sat, 06 Oct 2018 18:48:55 GMT

Latest update of Alexa has children in consideration for responses of hard questions

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Skill connection in Alexa

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 11:30:00 GMT

What I think about the skills connections available and where I see it impact the most

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Omega voice assistant and Surface headphones

Thu, 04 Oct 2018 11:30:25 GMT

Will.I.am smart assistant

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Reboot the web with voice

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 11:30:00 GMT

A new web was announced by the creator of the WWW and it has a voice already

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Amazon Alexa and sports stats

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 09:30:19 GMT

Alexa is getting smarter about sports stats, why do I care, even if I do not like football

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Cortana Skills Kit for Enterprises

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 09:30:44 GMT

More enterprise movement with voice tech

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How voice is changing software development

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 09:30:35 GMT

I’m very passionate about the process of software development and how the process affects the product cycle. I read a blog post about people with physical disabilities using voice tools to program, so I was excited when found this article about the influence of voice technology in software development. Let’s see some of the ways software development is being affected by voice.

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Is Podcast media dying?

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 09:30:00 GMT

Happy Thursday! Today is newsletter day! Every Thursday at 9:50 Pacific Time, our weekly issue is sent to your inbox. It filled with my commentary of the best of the week and stuff I find interesting even if it didn’t make mainstream media in conversational interfaces, voice technologies and voice strategy and branding. If you haven’t subscribed yet do so at voicefirstweekly.com.

Alright, moving on to today’s business.

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Amazon ahead in monetization options for voice platforms

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 09:30:53 GMT

Amazon is the one pushing the most for monetization options. This is not that strange, because Bezos, and by extension, Amazon understand incentives very well.

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Strategic partnerships are driving the voice revolution

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 11:30:25 GMT

Salesforce and Apple, Amazon with Microsoft and vendors and Facebook

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Shortcuts: jobs to be done .. by me?

Sun, 23 Sep 2018 11:30:22 GMT

It's episode 100!! What a ride, everyday more in love with bringing this episodes to live. Thank all of you who connect and listen.

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Hands-free call from Alexa with Skype

Sat, 22 Sep 2018 21:54:04 GMT

Presenting the feature and why is a smart play by both companies

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Amazon bet on more Alexa powered devices

Fri, 21 Sep 2018 21:17:36 GMT

Amazon introduced a set of new Alexa enabled devices and I look a

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Conversational CRM at enterprise scale

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 11:30:50 GMT

Salesforce voice enabled two cents

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Voice Control Becomes a Concern for Broadcasters

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 11:30:50 GMT

“As a content provider we have no control over this service,”. “We have to actively defend ourselves.” Why, and why Amazon TV voice control is a threat to broadcasters is my take in this episode.

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The most human like chatbot

Tue, 18 Sep 2018 11:30:13 GMT

Mitsuku has taken home the Loebner prize 4th times, the international contest for the most human like chatbot. What's behind his success? Tune in !

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Voice apps contests that you can participate right now

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 11:30:51 GMT

Here from Amazon, Samsung and Google to know in which contests you can participate now.

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VoiceFirst Weekly mashup: branding in voice

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 11:30:24 GMT

Today's episode, I did a compilation of some of the content we have on the show about branding in voice. Enjoy!

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The future of Voice First Technology and older adults

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 11:30:00 GMT

As we continue to live longer and healthier, assisting older adults is one of the ways companies can leverage voice technology to provide better care.

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Apple's position in voice after special event

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 11:30:22 GMT

A little of paradigm shifts

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The VoiceFirst Weekly VR with synthesized speech first look

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 11:30:26 GMT

Following our the revolution will be synthesized episode, we present a first look

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The conversation is the voice app

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 11:30:27 GMT

Reflecting on a post by Google Head of Design Outreach

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Is voice more creative or technical

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 11:30:33 GMT

I have said voice platforms is about creatives and i have said the key are the developers, in this episode I make up my mind!

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Will Voice Technology be polluted with ads?

Sun, 09 Sep 2018 11:30:34 GMT

A question asked in Instagram and this is my (short) take on it

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How to get your website picked up by Alexa and Siri when a person ask a question

Sat, 08 Sep 2018 11:30:53 GMT

Do you know how Alexa and Siri decides which website to pull when they are asked a question? Some tips to optimize your site for it from research agency iProspect.

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China strong stance on voice technology and conversational interfaces

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 11:30:28 GMT

Today, I want to focus on the strong stance Chinese companies have on voice technology and smart assistants and how they are driving a low cost smart assistant market.

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Power up your apps with cognitive services. An analysis - part 2

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 11:30:42 GMT

In this one we continue comparing cognitive and we close comparing Amazon AWS and Google Cloud language and speech API offerings.

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Power up your applications with cognitive services. An analysis Part 1

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 11:30:12 GMT

Voice apps does not have to be only smart assistants apps, you can power your web and mobile applications with intelligent services for speech and language recognition. But what are the main services, what are their trade off and which one should I choose? Follow me along in this first part of a two part cognitive services analysis

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The Revolution will be synthesized

Tue, 04 Sep 2018 11:30:28 GMT

In this episode I went ahead and did some research on synthesized media. I'm sure we will be hearing more of this in the coming years. Here is a prime of what it means.

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Developer attention is the currency for platforms-Amazon 50 000 skills

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 11:30:02 GMT

During the 2018 IFV conference in Berlin last week, Amazon announced that Alexa has 50 000 skills worldwide, 20 000 devices and it’s used by 3500 brands. Big numbers, what does it tell us, though? Explore this plus other announcements of the end of last week to start your week in voice.

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Alexa’s Contact and motion sensor APIs use cases

Sun, 02 Sep 2018 11:30:15 GMT

Uses cases for the contact sensor API in Alexa.

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Automatic transcription to video and audio files stored in OneDrive

Sat, 01 Sep 2018 11:30:09 GMT

Microsoft will be adding "later this year" automatic transcription to their OneDrive for business and SharePoint storage service.

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VoiceFirst Infinity stones

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 11:30:52 GMT

FYI: No spoilers ahead. Are you a fan of Marvel? Even if you are not you have probably heard of Thanos and the gauntlet and the infinity stones. He is on the search to get them at all cost. For voice developers and creators, this are the infinity stones you should be searching for, plus one bonus!

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It's Thursday newsletter day, here's a preview

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 11:30:37 GMT

Catch our weekly newsletter preview read by one of the Google synthetic voices

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Google release of natural sounding voices

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 11:30:53 GMT

Google announced the general availability of Cloud text to speech, new audio profiles that optimize sound for playback on different devices, enhancement to multichannel recognition and more. And just the same day of the announcement we tested the voices! It's in this episode, check it out

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The next wave in chatbots

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 11:30:37 GMT

What will be the 3 main points driving the next wave for chatbots? Where are chatbots now, and a look at the future.

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What you need to know to start your week in voice

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 11:30:09 GMT

Google Shortwave app for spoken-word content is being developed by the company and the GOV.UK website release voice apps features as part of their digital strategy

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Extended Alexa Fellowship program

Sun, 26 Aug 2018 11:30:23 GMT

Amazon is extending their fellowship program to 18 universities

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Branding in voice is a necessary challenge

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 11:30:29 GMT

Branding in voice is going to be the biggest challenge for voice since the internet. The key will be to bring branding in a way that is seamless to the user experience. Why is a challenge and tips to be present in the platforms.

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5 Insights in voice technology

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 11:30:03 GMT

Scott Huffman, Google Assistant VP of Engineering, wrote an article outlining the 5 insights of voice technology they have gathered since launching Google Assistant 2 years ago.

Here they are, for you today, commented by me, your companion in the discovery of the rise of voice and conversational interfaces.

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This week in smart devices

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 09:27:51 GMT

Two relevant news for this week devices market

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Voice space fragmentation

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 11:30:38 GMT

As more devices and smart assistants are being added, it got me thinking, the voice is space is diversifying really quickly, my thoughts on what does it mean, and how this makes voice so different than mobile and websites eras.

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Aloha Facebook voice assistant

Tue, 21 Aug 2018 17:02:40 GMT

Is Facebook launching a smart device? Or is it only voice capabilities in Messenger and Instagram? This is the big news of the day and certainly of the week and we are here for it.

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Voice technologies applications in the workplace

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 18:26:19 GMT

Happy Monday! Following Forbes article 12 exciting ways to use Alexa on the workplace I decided to build from that and talk about 5 (because we are have short episodes) applications of voice technologies in the workplace.

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Does insurance has a voice

Sun, 19 Aug 2018 11:30:30 GMT

The state of voice in the insurance industry

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Introducing The Voice Job Board

Sun, 19 Aug 2018 01:48:19 GMT

Announcing our new Job Board along with educational resources to help you hire for your voice applications the different backgrounds you'll need from designers to creatives to engineers. And for those looking to enter the field from different industries.

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Exploring modalities in voice

Fri, 17 Aug 2018 11:30:18 GMT

If we are talking multi modalities and multi devices, which are they and how they come together?

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Text to speech services analysis

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 16:57:32 GMT

A comparison of text to speech services. Features and prices down to suggestions of the best.

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Internationalization of voice apps

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 10:23:55 GMT

During the past months availability of either Google Assistant and Alexa to different languages and regions has been constant news. The race to win in every language has never been greater.

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What's next in conversational AI

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 08:27:24 GMT

VentureBeat published a few weeks back an article by Martin Reddi from PullString about what’s next on conversational AI. I have had the article open on my tabs since then and I wanted to share it here and comment on it. And that day has arrived!

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What you need to know to start your week in voice

Mon, 13 Aug 2018 11:30:06 GMT

3 news and one announcement from our team to start your week in voice. Don't miss it to stay on top on the most relevant in the space right now. There's nothing like this for your ears every day.

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Content flow on smart speakers platforms

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 18:09:40 GMT

Maybe you don’t need an app to be in voice platforms, you can just repurpose your content for smart assistants platforms. This is one of the things VoiceFirst Labs does for companies, repurpose their existing content for smart speaker platforms to reach millions of users. But what are the ways to do it and how can it be done?

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Google Built-in intents

Sat, 11 Aug 2018 11:59:57 GMT

This one is for devs of Google Actions. What are built in intents, how can you use them, why do they matter.

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Investing trends in voice tech

Fri, 10 Aug 2018 11:30:22 GMT

Two major trends in current investment that caught my attention and are outlines in this episode.

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The state of voice search

Thu, 09 Aug 2018 11:30:44 GMT

If you still haven’t optimized your website for voice search, you’re losing a fair share of the online marketing potential.

If that doesn’t convince you, just take a look at these voice search statistics:

325 million people are searching through the internet using voice search
20% of Google searches are done through voice search with 95% accuracy of answers
4 million Amazon Echo devices are sold during one holiday season

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Audio branding for a voice-first future

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 11:22:45 GMT

Audio branding is not new, it comes since the Golden Age of Radio, but it were never a time where it was more important to know how you brand sounds like in today’s times.

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Surprise no one wants to buy things via Alexa

Tue, 07 Aug 2018 11:47:40 GMT

The Information released today an article echoed by TechCrunch reporting numbers revealing that very few owners of Alexa-powered devices use them for shopping. Small stats on this and the question: are we gonna continue seeing these types of articles based on the Is the technology there yet for voice? I think we will. Join the debate on Twitter and share your opinion with the voice-first community,

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It's not voice-only

Mon, 06 Aug 2018 11:47:30 GMT

Lately I have been hearing a lot of voice only or voice and, this is my take on why voice first is about the interface and not the only medium.

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App Actions

Sun, 05 Aug 2018 11:31:04 GMT

Google has an announcement in their Google Actions on Google about repurposing android mobile apps into actions. We reflect on it.

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Can Alexa help your guests in your wedding?

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 11:49:48 GMT

An interesting and simple use case of an Alexa skill

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Snapchat launches speech recognition lenses

Fri, 03 Aug 2018 17:03:17 GMT

Snapchat launched two days ago new lenses that respond to voice commands. Lenses are animations on top of your photos and videos in the snapchat mobile app. While the company has offered lenses that involve audio before, this is the first time it has created lenses that actually recognize words. What does this means and why is a trend to follow.

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Voice, language and user interfaces

Thu, 02 Aug 2018 11:36:48 GMT

The duality between Voice and Visual interfaces basically comes down to age old question of visual communication versus audio communication. “Language need not have started in a spoken modality; sign language may have been the original language. This shift is leading companies to ask the question of whether they should continue to invest in the visual interface or should budgets shift to voice?

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Amazon Alexa introduced customer contact access for skills

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 11:30:30 GMT

New ways to interact with users from skills

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Is voice about care

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 11:26:49 GMT

@hculbertson tweeted during the weekend that the concept of jobs to be done about shortcuts got her thinking about cares to be given in voice, and that got me thinking.

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Sneak peak to VoiceFirst Weekly tooling and processes!

Mon, 30 Jul 2018 11:33:22 GMT

Hello there, I got asked some deal on voice summit how we put our flash briefing on Google Assistant. It’s not as straightforward as in Alexa, and it require some coding, but it can be done! So today’s episode is gonna be a little meta and we are gonna talk about the tools and processes we follow to produce VoiceFirst Weekly content.

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Voice Summit wrap up

Sun, 29 Jul 2018 11:29:56 GMT

Voice summit 2018 held this week in Newark, NJ

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Alexa and wine!

Sat, 28 Jul 2018 11:30:53 GMT

How is Alexa going to help you to pair wines

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Voice in medical education

Fri, 27 Jul 2018 08:18:06 GMT

This week we learned that Rockpointe is launching a medical education program on Amazon's Alexa for doctors that they say is the first for the voice technology.

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Voice first for the visually or physically impaired

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:08:51 GMT

My uncle has been fighting a disease that he knows is gonna left him blind, soon. One of my best friend is blind. Of all our technological advantages to date, none of them have been particularly helpful for blind or physically impaired. Navigating internet today for my uncle or my friend is a daunting task. Booking flights, a relatively easy task for you or me, is a long process of calls with operators for them. Now imagine how voice applications can change that.

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The next big thing in voice - a rant

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 08:06:39 GMT

We see a lot of what's the next big thing in voice, is it there yet

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Voice for learning

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 10:20:32 GMT

Amazon and Microsoft called the assistants apps skills. And there’s a reason for it, the assistant is supposed to learn from the skills, be enhanced by them. Can smart speakers enhance learning and education?

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Other smart assistants in the market besides Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple’s

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 11:34:47 GMT

Alexa, Google Assistant, Bixby, Cortana are not the only smart speakers, they all have something in common: created and baked by a big company. But they are not the only assistants in the market. In this episode we dive into some of the other players.

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In the road to Voice Summit

Sun, 22 Jul 2018 11:27:27 GMT

Just wishing you the best week! Today we are traveling to Voice Summit, so there is no episode but I needed to log in and wish you the best week ahead.

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Don't let your chatbot get rusty

Sat, 21 Jul 2018 11:12:40 GMT

Some guidelines for chatbots maintenance.

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Voice commerce in mobile

Fri, 20 Jul 2018 11:08:52 GMT

According to a recent study conducted by audio and AI company Voysis, more than half of voice commerce is conducted on mobile phones with assistant programs like Siri or emerging platforms that are enabling audio conversions.

However, the rise of mobile voice sales is also a result of retailers investing more heavily in voice-activated mobile apps and technology, according to Ryan Macinnis, director of marketing at Voysis.

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Monetization strategy for voice platforms

Thu, 19 Jul 2018 15:01:40 GMT

What are companies doing today to generate money from voice platforms and what else can be done.

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Voice in publishing industry

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 11:25:36 GMT

Just like every other brand on the market, publishers are waking up to the reality that voice is rapidly changing the way people interact with products and services. Platforms like NYT, BBC, Reuters and Evening Standard are experimenting with the formats to understand where the audience is, the frequency in which the content needs to be delivered and times of the day people listen in these platforms.

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Prime Day, deals on Alexa enabled devices

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 11:10:27 GMT

All the echo lines deals on Prime Day

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The App Store turns 10 years, is voice where mobile was 10 years ago?

Mon, 16 Jul 2018 08:36:16 GMT

The App Store turned 10 years this month. How does voice technology and skills compare to mobile apps 10 years ago?

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Voice terminology

Sun, 15 Jul 2018 08:21:42 GMT

What is the basic terminology is voice tech that it's important to know?

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Voice investments and your trash can voice commands

Sat, 14 Jul 2018 11:23:21 GMT

The voice world keep getting the monies. Bespoken announced yesterday that it raised 2.4 million dollars in seed funding round. Bespoken, a developer focused tool we featured as a voice resource a couple of weeks ago in our newsletter, allows you to test and monitor your Alexa skills. Storyline, Sensible Object, list of voice focused companies who have raised money in the last months.

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Voice in Healthcare

Fri, 13 Jul 2018 11:29:43 GMT

In a recent episode we talked about coming events in voice ecosystem. One of this conference is the Voice of Healthcare Summit taking place in August. These are real life examples of voice applications in hospitals or medical institutions.

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Voice is not about voice (only)

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 07:04:28 GMT

We have been waiting on the rise of bots for years now. I remember how in 2015 people were going crazy on chatbots and that it will be the “Next big thing”. Revolutions in technology are multi stepped. It has been quiet, but it’s growing. Now what happen with voice and chatbots? With aggregated together, you can provide a seamless experience, transparently to the end user of communication between a voice app and your chatbot. Following voice command prompts, inter-related services will communicate to provision requests, such as booking a preferred airline, hotel and transport services for a meeting taking place in two weeks’ time. A multimodal, context based interface powered and started by voice; is what we see when we think of a voice-first world. All of those mediums needs to be aware of the other, the chatbot, the smart assistant, the skills, plus all the services we have available today to know when a plane is landing in Chicago, to make reservations to restaurants, everything that is powering the web today.

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Utterance is magic

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 08:33:39 GMT

Today's episode is different to other themes we talk here, which are more strategy driven. Today is about art, and how one artist sees speech, sound and communication. It's a quote that stood with me, and I want to share it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

I like the intersection of technology and art, and everything else. And in terms of voice-first Ursula Le Guin paints the best picture: "Sound is event. Speech, the most specifically human sound, and the most significant kind of sound, is never just scenery, it’s always event. This event of speech is the most potent form of entrainment we humans have and the intimate tango of speaking and listening is the stuff of great power and great magic.

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Apple AirPods Bloomberg article commentary

Tue, 10 Jul 2018 09:15:59 GMT

Apple is improving the AirPods, but what about the HomePod? Or is their strategy different to a SiriPods, then that would be cool and game changer.

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Challenges when building voice applications

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 12:04:47 GMT

What are restrictions you need to know about building voice apps

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Is Cortana a productivity assistant or a personal one?

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 11:00:09 GMT

Cortana has among their featured skills like tips on saving money, location reminder, check your email, send texts, etc. I was surprised not to see more skills directed at productivity. It would make a lot of sense for them to present themselves as the enterprise assistant, effectively repurposing Cortana as the workplace assistant more than a personal one. According to an article, the assistant is being redesigned to provide a more refine user experience for consumers, promoting a typing based-experience rather than a verbal one. This is being referred to as conversation canvas by Microsoft. The canvas is meant to be a thread with all you have said in the past. This is not news for Android phone users with Google Assistant since they already have this service for some time now. Microsoftwill be looking to reposition it to other areas of Windows where it can become a more productivity-focused assistant rather than a personal one. The trail that left the lost of smartphone war can still be savored by the Redmond company. Having lost that war, Microsoft is struggling to position in the assistant space specially without a smart speaker.

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Coming events in voice technologies

Sat, 07 Jul 2018 11:03:23 GMT

If you are a voice enthusiast, might that be a developer, designer, entrepreneur or an investor you should be aware of the events and conferences, to flourish ideas and connect with fellow voice first enthusiasts. In this episode we are bringing you the most important events in voice that you need to know. Disclaimer: we are not sponsored by or in association of any kind with any of the organizers of the conferences listed here.

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Questions you need to answer for an effective voice strategy

Fri, 06 Jul 2018 22:17:16 GMT

What are the questions you need to answer for a effective voice strategy and sound identity?

When a client comes to you would you advise them to be as disciplined visually as sonically?

So here is 3 things you should have into account for your sound / voice strategy.

Find the full transcript at voicefirstweekly.com of all of our episodes with references.

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Voice-first: mobile vs smart speakers

Fri, 06 Jul 2018 01:03:55 GMT

From stories with kids expecting Alexa to tell them the weather at a camping, to one yelling Bike stop! We can infer that voice is heading for ubiquitousness.

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Siri at the British parliament

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 07:09:19 GMT

The British secretary of defense was interrupted by Siri while delivering a statement to the parliament. Funny isn’t.

The response of the twitterverse was that this was a high security concern that he has a voice activated device with the listen on all the time in parliament sensitive meetings. Would it make sense that parliaments have a smart speaker/intelligent assistant in their meetings? I can see that will happen eventually. For sure we’ll have first to sort out the security concerns and privacy issues. It might sound too sci-fi now, but I don’t see it that far away.

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Generation V

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 11:06:42 GMT

Every once in a while, I see a tweet of a parent stating something like my kid was trying to talk to Alexa in the amusement park or a kid asking for the weather in a tent at camp or concerned with Alexa being alone in the house. Are kids that interact with smart speakers already living in a voice-first world?

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You will be able to translate Sign Language to Voice

Mon, 02 Jul 2018 10:41:00 GMT

An Italian startup is developing a glove and an app that translates sign language to voice.

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Jurassic World review

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 11:00:21 GMT

We played the free version of Jurassic World and it’s really good. It’s voice actors, it’s engaging, letting you feeling you’re inside a game. You are prompted fairly frequently, keeping the attention at all times, since you need to know what to answer. However for me some of the decisions felt light, it had little to no weight in the course of the story. I went back and chose differently just to try this. But the biggest hurdle for me was how fast the free version ends, leaving me with no desire to continue to the premium version.

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Google available in Spain and Mexico

Sat, 30 Jun 2018 11:00:31 GMT

Google announced that users can now query their assistant in Spanish. It was already available in the Assistant in Android phones. And now, Google Home and Google Home Mini are also available in Spanish in both Mexico and Spain. We ask it “Cual es el clima (What’s the weather)” and it replied with the weather information in English, presumably because my default language is English. They also introduced continued conversations, where you can ask more than one question without saying the invocation word.

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The possibilities of voice for city governments

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 11:00:25 GMT

I'm gonna play near future oracle here. It seems to me that in time it makes a lot of sense that every city has a voice assistant in every main attraction area where visitors and locals can ask questions about the city and the different services that are link to the government. It would be really useful for tourists finding their way around the city, asking for schedules of theaters, city hall, museums.

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Jobs posting for voice applications

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 11:06:26 GMT

Someone asked this week in the voice entrepreneur group

We need category headings for job types & Skills applicable to the world of Voice Development/businesses needs. Think: Roles, Skills, Technologies.

Voice is so new as a platform that we haven’t defined yet common domain for applicants and jobs. What’s so interesting and attractive to me about voice is not only the technical side of it, but the psychology and understanding of human communication that it’s so core to the whole technology.

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Google launches Podcast app or Google is becoming Apple

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 11:12:36 GMT

Continuing with the trend in naming service as literal as possible the app is called Google Podcasts and will recommend shows that users may like based on their listening profile. Google is predicting a lot of growth for podcast listeners. The coolest part, for us anyway, is that the app will come integrated with Google Assistant meaning you can search for and play podcasts wherever you have Assistant enabled.

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Best practices for welcoming experience in voice apps

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 07:15:28 GMT

In voice, as in life, there are not second chances to make first impressions. Particularly at this stage in a technology that has not gained all users attention. To increase engagement with your voice app – start with the welcoming experience.

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Flash briefing 11 - Connected cars, Lexus ES 2019 will have Alexa

Mon, 25 Jun 2018 11:00:26 GMT

Your car will talk way before it flies. We were promised flying cars instead we got talking, connected cars. And that might be a good thing. We are not ready for flying cars.

In the late 2017 Smart audio report by NPR and Edison Research, is said that 64% of Smart Speaker owners are interested in having Smart Speaker technology in their car. Mercedes Benz, Tesla and Lexus, some of the companies leading the way in voice technology in cars.

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Flash briefing 10 - What Voice Search Optimization Means For Your Industrial Marketing

Sun, 24 Jun 2018 08:11:19 GMT

For industrial marketers the advent of voice search could change how their potential customers look for parts and services. Imagine a procurement manager who holds up his phone and shouts out a keyword like this (formatted the way a search engine would process it): “Ok Google search for aluminum suppliers.” Or maybe it would be “Alexa show me CPVC pipe manufacturers.”

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The role of conversational interfaces on your decision making process

Sat, 23 Jun 2018 11:03:09 GMT

You decided to enter voice tech and smart speakers market. You want to be ahead of the game and you took the leap to create Alexa skills and Google Actions, now what? How are you going to use the data you get to your strategic advantage?

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Alexa on the Apple Watch

Fri, 22 Jun 2018 11:17:00 GMT

Voice in a Can app allows you to have Alexa in your wrist. It will fully support the smart home features of Alexa, you’ll be able to trigger your lights or other devices like an Alexa-enabled coffee machine while you’re out of the house. However, as this is a third-party Alexa app, it also means you won’t be able to use it to make calls, play music, or do Echo announcements.

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Top trending skills and Google Actions analysis

Thu, 21 Jun 2018 07:20:44 GMT

What are the most popular Google Assistant Actions and Amazon Alexa skills and what does it means for you as a creator or brand. What people is choosing to engage with it's the ultimate metric.

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Voice Interfaces are Making Banking and Finances Less Frustrating

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 11:00:45 GMT

There is no doubt of the convenience of voice for a lot of everyday tasks. And banking and finance institutions are quickly adopting voice technologies. Saying Alexa send 500 from my checking account to John Doe is faster and easier than to log in into your banking app, look for transfers, confirm amount and transfer the money. Granted, there are security concerns and you probably won’t like other people present in the house to hear your balance of zero, but there’s no doubt of the convenience of using voice for everyday money management. Listen to know which are the companies already taking a leap into voice in banking and finance.

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Board games arriving to Alexa

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 06:21:14 GMT

Alexa, play when in Rome. Company Sensible Object announced on Monday it has raised $3.2 million to grow its experiences that combine Alexa with board games. "The company’s first game, When in Rome, will go on sale July 2 on Amazon in Australia, Canada, the US, and UK."

When in Rome is a multiplayer game that uses Alexa as your guide and provider of a multimedia experience. The game introduces players to locals in cities around the world through trivia questions and was created with the help of a team of creatives that includes writers, composers, and theater directors who managed the dialogue of local voice actors. The experience, which visits 20 cities, can be tried for free by speaking with the When in Rome Alexa skill in the US.

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It's time for small businesses to take voice search seriously

Sun, 17 Jun 2018 11:08:51 GMT

Google has stated that voice search accounts for 20% of its mobile queries. For context, half of all search queries originated on mobile devices. This frequency of voice search use shows how relevant this technology is to brick-and-mortar locations, altho it’s worth noting that elsewhere in the cited research it’s clear that consumers are using voice search to get information on businesses of which they’re already aware, rather than discovering new ones. For now. We still have to see how advertising and promotion will work in voice assistants, however it’s a good strategy to start on voice search today and evolve as the platform grows. Remember that it’s more important to be the first that it’s to be the best.

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How can your business leverage voice tech today

Sat, 16 Jun 2018 10:29:47 GMT

Voice technologies reduce friction for consumers and you could make the most of the new voice platforms. We recommend start thinking about your voice strategy today, how do you want to sound and what’s your sonic identity. Here is some ways where you could leverage voice tech.

Find more at http://voicefirstweekly.com/flashbriefing/flashbriefing-3-how-can-you-leverage-voice-tech-for-your-business-today/

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Resources to create voice apps without knowing how to code

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 05:25:46 GMT

Creating voice apps can be easy even if you are not a developer. In this flash briefing we list resources you can leverage when building for voice first platforms like Alexa and Google Home. Find the full transcript and links at http://voicefirstweekly.com/flashbriefing/flash-briefing-2-resources-to-create-voice-apps-without-knowing-how-to-code/

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Gendered voices for brands

Sat, 09 Jun 2018 05:07:54 GMT

Should brands have a persona in voice platforms or keep neutral? In this flash briefing we discuss two conflicting views on the matter.

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