Assistant

YC-backed productivity app Superpowered pivots to become a voice API platform for bots

Calendar apps are essential for productivity but it is hard to differentiate enough to have sustained growth from just the core usage. Y Combinator-backed Superpowered, which is an AI-powered notetake

Otter.ai slashes free monthly transcription minutes to 300, but opens recorder bot to all

There’s good news and bad news for users of the Otter.ai transcription service. The good news is that Otter Assistant — a bot that can be configured to record meetings automatically — will n

Google Assistant arrives on Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 (for real, this time)

Google Assistant’s arrival on the Galaxy Watch 4 has been like a look time coming, for a variety of reasons. First, Samsung’s attempt at its own in-house assistant, Bixby, was essentially a non-st

Google makes it easier to chat with its Assistant

Google today announced three new features for its voice-activated Assistant that will make it easier and more natural to interact with it. The first is about making it easier to initiate a conversatio

Google Translate adds 24 new languages, including its first indigenous languages of the Americas

In addition to improving Google Assistant’s ability to communicate with users in a more natural way, Google today announced improvements to its Google Translate service. The company said it&#821

Taxfix, the Berlin-based mobile tax filing app, raises $220M at a $1B+ valuation

Ben Franklin once famously said that in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. But that doesn’t make dealing with either particularly natural and easy. Tech is rus

Creative Juice launches a $50M fund to invest in creators

A banking app built for online creators, Creative Juice announced its $50 million fund to underwrite creator businesses. YouTubers and other social media stars can apply for upfront cash to grow their

Saiga aims to succeed where Magic and other concierge apps failed

It’s 5 p.m. on a Tuesday, and you’re running late for a flight to a corporate conference. While stuck in rush-hour traffic, it occurs to you that you’ve forgotten to book a babysitte

FBI operation aims to take down massive Russian GRU botnet

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has disclosed it carried out an operation in March to target a massive botnet controlled by Russian intelligence. The operation was authorized by courts in Califor

Russia’s App Store lost nearly 7K apps since its invasion of Ukraine, but some Big Tech apps remain

The Russian App Store has lost 6,982 mobile apps since the start of the Ukraine invasion, as numerous companies have now pulled their apps and games from Apple’s iPhone and iPad App Stores in th

Apple launches its Siri-only Apple Music Voice Plan with iOS 15.2

Apple is now rolling out access to its new, lower-cost Apple Music Voice plan, first introduced this fall at the company’s hardware event. The new service, designed largely for use with HomePod

Walmart acquires design tool Botmock as its invests in shopping by voice and text

With its latest acquisition Walmart is further investing in technology that will enable shopping via voice and chat. The retail giant announced it’s acquiring “select technology assets&#82

Google makes calling businesses less painful with features for seeing wait times, phone tree options and more

Alongside today’s release of the new Pixel 6 smartphones, Google has again upgraded one of the device’s most basic — but often overlooked — functions: the ability to make phone

Disney and Amazon partner on a custom voice assistant, ‘Hey, Disney!’ and Echo rollout to Walt Disney World Resort hotels

Amazon, for the first time, is making another voice assistant available on Echo devices. The company at its fall event today announced a new voice assistant, “Hey, Disney,” developed by Di

Demand Curve: How to get social proof that grows your startup

When people are uncertain, they look to others for behavioral guidance. This is called social proof, and using it effectively can lead to up to 400% improvement in conversion.

To commercialize, voice tech must first solve its ‘cocktail party problem’

Our voice technologies have not been engineered to confront the messiness of the real world or the cacophony of our actual lives.

Apple launches a new iOS app, ‘Siri Speech Study,’ to gather feedback for Siri improvements

Apple recently began a research study designed to collect speech data from study participants. Earlier this month, the company launched on the App Store a new iOS app called “Siri Speech Study&#

Google to introduce increased protections for minors on its platform, including Search, YouTube and more

Weeks after Instagram rolled out increased protections for minors using its app, Google is now doing the same for its suite of services, including Google search, YouTube, YouTube Kids, Google Assistan

Android announces six new features, emphasizing safety and accessibility

Android shared information today about six features that will roll out this summer. Some of these are just quality of life upgrades, like starring text messages to easily find them later, or getting c

Voice AIs are raising competition concerns, EU finds

The European Union has been digging into the competition implications of AI-powered voice assistants and other Internet of Things (IoT) connected technologies for almost a year. Today it’s put o
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