Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp have joined forces to let their voice-controlled virtual assistants talk to each other, offering users the ability to seamlessly tap into work, their homes and shop online.
The partnership is the first time the two companies open up their artificial intelligence-powered virtual aides to each other, and is to be aimed at outsmarting rivals Google Assistant and Apple Inc’s Siri.
The move in itself is rare, as most virtual assistants are known to use data from their own ecosystems and not talk to one another.
Photo: AP
Users of Amazon’s Alexa would be able to ask Microsoft’s Cortana to do a range of activities — from booking a meeting to reading work e-mail, and Cortana users would be able to call on Alexa to play music or turn on house lights.
Not to be left behind, Alphabet Inc on Wednesday said that Google Assistant will soon be available on third-party speakers and other home appliances.
“Starting later this year, with manufacturers like LG [Electronics Co], you’ll be able to control your appliances, including washers, dryers, vacuums and more from your Assistant on your smart speaker, Android phone or iPhone,” Google said.
Several technology companies are trying to grab a share in “smart” homes, which allow people to control various connected appliances, such as refrigerators and lights, from a central hub or a smartphone.
“In the long run it would seem that Amazon has more to gain ... as Cortana remains trapped within the PC ... while Amazon has won a powerful ally in its battle against Google,” Atlantic Equities LLP analyst James Cordwell said.
While Amazon introduced voice-controlled Alexa with its Echo speakers in 2014, Google launched Assistant on its Google Home speakers last year. Apple in June introduced HomePod, powered by Siri.
Amazon Echo devices would claim a 70.6 percent share of the US market this year, compared with a 23.8 percent share for Google Home, research firm eMarketer said in May.
Users will be able to turn to their Echo device later this year and say, “Alexa, open Cortana,” or turn to their Windows 10 device and say, “Cortana, open Alexa,” the companies said.
“It is surprising to me that these competitors have collaborated, that speaks to the quality of their respective CEOs,” Wedbush Securities Inc analyst Michael Pachter said. “They understand that they will benefit more by working together than trying to destroy one another.”
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day