Top use cases for smart speakers revealed
We’ve seen a lot of these studies delving into what people are actually using their voice assistants for. They’re useful to check whether anything has changed. Whether there are any emerging use cases rising. The first one of 2020 comes from Sunny Radio in the US. Here’s the top 5 use cases they found […]
Google Assistant: 500m active users, popular Alexa skill: 300,000 daily users
At Project Voice in Chattanooga, TN, we saw some light shed on just how many people are using the Google Assistant, and some updated numbers on the kind of traffic one of the most popular Alexa skills handles. Cathy Pearl, Head of Conversation Design Outreach, Google, towards the end of her presentation shared some numbers […]
Introducing the latest Alexa Champion: Dustin Coates
Every once in a while, the Alexa team at Amazon give a select few people a badge of honour.🥇 It’s called the Alexa Champions programme and it commends individuals within the Amazon Alexa community who’ve done great work in helping push the voice first agenda forwards. Drumroll please… In the most recent batch of […]
Google Assistant will replace Google Search in its entirety within 5 years
Here’s a prediction for you: Google Assistant will replace google search entirely within 5 years. Sooner, even. Think about it. What is Google’s ultimate aim? To find THE right result for the user. That’s why it’s taken on the burden itself of finding hotel rooms, flights, deals and just about anything else it can […]
The dormant potential of Apple Watch
I realised the dormant potential of the Apple Watch yesterday. It’s full of apps and functionality, but I never use it. I have the Dominos app, Uber, Trello, Evernote, you name it. It’s all on there. Yet, whenever I need any of those things, I pull out my phone. Why is that? What’s missing? You […]
Why aren’t more people making Google Assistant actions?
When thinking about launching an app for a voice assistant, most people, most of the time, will create an Alexa skill instead of a Google Assistant action. But why? There are over 100,000 Alexa skills and only a few thousand Google Assistant actions. Now, Google do claim that Assistant has over 1 million actions, and […]
Not so bold predictions for voice in 2020
So, here we are. The end of 2019. And it’s time for some click bait regarding 2020 voice-first industry predictions. I told you to prepare for this a few weeks back. While forecasting can be inspiring and encouraging, it could also be perceived as a holding message. It’d be easy to hear about how advertising will […]
How to create Alexa skills using agile
What’s the best way to approach the development of a hashtag voicefirst experience for Alexa, Google Assistant and voice assistants?
Introducing ‘VTA’: Voice-to-Action
Introducing the VTA: Voice-to-Action which is the same as a call-to-action, only one that is served and acted on in a voice first environment.
Siri’s biggest threat? App-le.
Is the visual and industrial design culture at Apple hindering Siri? Is Siri actually an assistant or a voice interface? Will Siri ever reach its potential?