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Apple’s HomePod – Is this the next big thing? A robot without legs?

By Paul B. Kaiser on June 15, 2017

As expected, Apple has announced their version of the Amazon Echo and Google Home, a voice assistant – called the HomePod (releasing in December). Announced at the WWDC 2017 show, Apple has added quite a few hardware to their ecosystem besides the Homepod, but that’s for another story. The voice assistant, HomePod, will hopefully put Apple in the game. While they missed all the excitement of this technology, the question is can they do it better? One would hope so with all the money Apple can throw behind it. However, their voice activation software “Siri,” has fallen from grace since it first debuted in 2011. I mean you could make the case that Apple had the voice activation technology in the household first, but it had no purpose. Amazon had provided more purpose, Google has provided more depth in data, and maybe Apple will combine the 2 and wrap it in a futuristic look.

So to be clear, Apple has released this technology as a great “connected speaker,” and not a voice activated command center. This rivals the Sonos type speakers that have been out for some time and connect well throughout the house. Sonos is expensive and so is Apple unfortunately – $349. Although, the smart marketer in me says this is a way to incorporate it into your home under the guise of a speaker with a purpose. And then let the concept of a sound device become a necessity for the home. I mean who can live without 7 tweeters?

At the end of the day this supports Apple iTunes which has been falling out of favor as well. But those die-hard Applers who live for Apple’s ecosystem, this will provide a new channel for the consumer to interact with the ecosystem. And of course buy stuff. I think this is a big question for Apple. Can someone use it outside the ecosystem? Or does this divide the Apple/Android market even more?

“Apple is a technology company that leads innovation with their products and software platforms, providing seamless experiences across devices, and empowering people with breakthrough services.” – Interbrand 2016

The answer is yes and no. For music, it will be tied into iTunes and the apple store. Control of your home can use third party devices but Apple will make it very attractive to use everything tied into their Home Kit. And again when you stay in the Apple ecosystem it can be a great experience. One that usually edges them over the competition from a user experience standpoint. My gut feeling is that Apple will won the race on sound and compatibility.

If Siri, doesn’t get way better, Amazon and Google will continue to dominate the information/data feedback to consumers. People love to ask questions to their robots. Even silly stupid stuff. In 2016 it was “What is Pokemon Go?” But there is so much more you can do with your robot without legs. Here is a list of commands from a previous story.

So, to all the robots without legs out there, “there’s a new sheriff in town.” Well in December anyway. The HomePod will add a rich sound in your house, provide answers to those silly questions, and lock the doors on your house. For me, this Apple utopian ecosystem and robot that controls my life – this idolizes the future as described in Ray Bradbury books. We’ll reconvene in December to ask Siri the hard questions.

HomePod as explained by Apple

HomePod Sexy Pictures

Amazon Echo Show meet the Jetsons

By Paul B. Kaiser on May 11, 2017

Amazon announced their latest device this week called the Echo Show – see here for ordering. It is basically a communication device to humans and your home. Control the house, chat/video a friend, view the news, and see the world (I could be their new copy writer). You can even get your doctor to make a visit. I think some people will like the video chat aspect, but others will be bothered by “being on demand” 24/7. Meanwhile, users of that newest Echo, the Echo Show, which has the screen and video feature, will get added services, it seems. One new feature is called “Drop In” — which lets you make a call to someone without them even answering the phone first. Kind of like someone coming to your house and either peeking through the window as they’re knocking, or maybe just walking straight in.

So has the Jetsons future finally come to fruition? (Here is all the info about the Jetsons for the youths of this blog). I think it has really already been here, but Amazon has repackaged technologies we’re already using. But to their credit they are becoming experts at these devices and marketing them. Amazon has quite a line up of devices using Alexa, including the new Echo Show or Echo Look).

But it has its uses. For example, you can check in on elderly relatives, or letting your family in another room know it’s time for dinner — or perhaps making sure you kid is really doing homework and not watching YouTube.

Here are a few more day to day uses for the Amazon Echo Show:

Make phone calls (basically, landline calls)

Just when you thought house phones were dead, Amazon is keeping them alive, except you can do it over Wifi. However, you will need the Alexa App on both ends.

Control your home

Controlling your lights, door locks, appliances, switches and other smart home devices is probably what Alexa is best at doing. You can browse the smart home compatibility devices to see what you can control.

Control your lights. You can ask Alexa to turn lights on or off. She’ll even change the color if the lights are color-changing.
Open or close your garage door. Smart garage door openers like Garageio work with Alexa.
Change the temperature. “Hey Alexa, set the temperature to 68.” Honeywell, Nest and Ecobee are just a few thermostats that work with Alexa.

Click here for all Alexa compatible devices

Control your TV

Stop looking around for the remote – Alexa can control your TV “almost” entirely by voice. The setup takes some money and time, but once you’re set up, you can say things like:

Alexa, turn on the TV.
Alexa, turn on Netflix.
Alexa, tell Harmony to pause

I just don’t know if voice activated devices will be popular forever. While I think it’s very cool, it is also annoying. And not practical in every situation.

Use Spotify to play music

By default, Alexa plays music through Amazon Music, but if you use Spotify, you can change this setting so that Alexa uses Spotify as the default player. Here’s how.

Visit from your doctor

Again this is a technology that has been around, but somehow having this Amazon device as a the centerpiece, it seems natural to invite your doctor into the house. One of the telemedicine companies doing this now is MeDoc.

At the end of the day, Im not sure if Im bought into this eco-system from Amazon. If you’re a Prime member, it may be a no brainer, it connects the Amazon world. But I think there still a few more bugs to iron out, mainly that it needs to work outside the Amazon eco-system. Rumor has it that Apple and Microsoft have similar products to unroll, so we’ll see who can do it better.

Jetsons cartoon show opening

Smile, the Echo Look is in your bedroom

By Paul B. Kaiser on April 29, 2017

Introducing the Echo Look.

You can kick your significant other out of the bedroom and make room for the “Echo Look” camera to tell you how you look. I’m not sure who will be more honest but the Echo Look will buy you new clothes. Amazon announced Wednesday that will be releasing the “Echo Look,” a camera that will rate your outfits based on data from “machine learning algorithms with advice from fashion specialists.”

Echo Look can be asked to take full-length photos of you and can record videos of you turning or walking so you can see how you look from angles that you can’t normally see. It also integrates an app called Style Check that will compare the two different outfits for you and let you know which is more flattering. Only artificial intelligence knows best.

Of course all this leads to Amazon growing its fashion retail. Your information will be stored and the store will recommend outfits that suit your style. This whole concept has a lot of legs for retailers. Basically anything you do could be watched by the look and make recommendations – cooking, exercise, presentation skills, yard work and maybe even get your own therapist.

Amazon continues to be the leader in e-commerce and has been able to balance the tolerance people will allow a company to have their personal information. This is yet one more dataset of information that will be stored by Amazon. Hopefully its all for good and won’t be misused.

Full-length photos and short videos allow you to see a 360-degree view of your outfit. The app can create a personal lookbook, where you can browse your outfits, and blur out the background to make your outfits pop.

The Echo Look is available by invite only for $199.99. You can request one here.

Tech Companies are Redefining Themselves in Silicon Valley

By Paul B. Kaiser on March 30, 2017

Silicon Valley real estate is on fire again. Tech companies are reinventing themselves through architecture. While the Apple spaceship has caught the eye of everyone recently, many other tech companies are setting up new digs for their headquarters too. Google, not to be outdone by Apple, is building a new headquarters in Mountain View, as well as Nividia, Google West, and Facebook which was just completed. Check out the new Silicon Valley.

Google Headquarters

The whole project is a part of Mountain View’s North Bayshore Precise Plan — an environmentally-focused effort to revitalize the underdeveloped area along Highway 101. The final campus will be nearly 600,000 square feet. There will be 45,000 square feet of interior landscaping and nearly 20,000 square feet of public walkways.

Incorporating designers and architects from New York, London, and Santa Monica, the campus is intended to have fully developed indoor and outdoor spaces that incorporate “native habitats and vegetation.” What’s being called a “Green Loop” will run through the campus, pathways that will snake through parks lined with cafes and shops. Google is designing this section with the public in mind — a sort of National Mall to its Washington Monument.

Facebook HQ

With Facebook recently topping 10,000 employees, growing its ranks 48 percent in the past year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg needed a new building. In March, Facebook opened the doors on the new space, which Zuckerberg partnered on with Frank Gehry—and it opened the doors to CNBC’s cameras for the first time.

Gehry created the world’s largest open floor plan in the world, and Facebook commissioned local artists to decorate it. The 430,000 square-foot space fits 2,800 employees, and Zuckerberg has a desk right in the middle.

The goal of the building—MPK20 (for Menlo Park Campus building 20)—was to be to create a space that’s eco-friendly and reflects Facebook’s mission to connect people.

Nividia HQ

Nvidia, a graphics chipmaker, has put grand plans for a Gensler-designed facility across from their current Headquarters on hold for an undetermined period of time. If built, the triagular-shaped structures will yield 1M square feet of office space, and bring bold architecture to cookie-cutter Santa Clara.

Google Bay View Campus

Google has pushed back plans to build a massive new “Bay View” campus on the former site of the NASA-Ames research center in Mountain View. The project is now scheduled to be built in three phases, with construction wrapping up by 2022. The new buildings will house between 3,500 and 5,000 employees, and will feature stunning views of the Bay and surrounding wetlands.

Bonus round HQ – Amazon

Amazon.com this week revealed plans for three verdant bubbles in downtown Seattle, joining Apple’s circular “spaceship,” Facebook’s Frank Gehry-designed open-office complex and a new Googleplex on the list of planned trophy offices. This is being built in Seattle but check out this design.

Voice commands to use with Google Home, Alexa and Siri

By Paul B. Kaiser on March 25, 2017

Voice activated devices like Google Home, Amazon Echo and Apple’s Siri are seeing a big rise in popularity this year. So while 2016 proved to show a increase in voice commands or queries every day, it has set up 2017 to be a pivotal year to make both these things work together. More devises and Apps will be voice activated and the commands need to be refined – made easy to use.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that 20 percent of queries on its mobile app and on Android devices are voice searches. He spoke about this in the context of introducing Google’s new Amazon Echo competitor, Google Home. 20 percent may not sound like much, but that equates to 7 million voice searches a day!

Google says “20 percent of mobile queries are voice searches.”

But you may be struggling how to use voice activated machines or Apps. What kind of information can you really get? Below are more ideas than you can imagine, but it is meant to stress the point that you can ask just about anything.

Ideas for using voice commands in your day

Just note that the items below are ideas and you’ll need to apply some of the rules based on the technology you have. For instance if you are using a Google product you have to start with “OK Google”. Or with the Amazon Echo you need to say “Alexa”.

Getting personal info

Voice Search works hand-in-hand with other services on your phone or on Alex to give you personalized information. It can pull up info based on confirmations and receipts in your inbox or calendar, for instance. Try asking things like:

“What’s my flight status?”
“Is my flight on time?”
“When will my package arrive?”
“Show me my purchases”
“Show me my reservations”
“Where’s my hotel?”

Getting your stuff

Let Voice Search do the heavy lifting when you need to find something you’ve saved in email, your photos, Google Drive or on your computer:

“Show me my latest email”
“Show me email from Saul Hudson”
“Show me emails about spring break”
“Show me my photos from London”
“Show me my photos of sunsets”
“Show me pictures I took at concerts”
“Show me my documents”
“Show me my documents on taxes”
“Show me my spreadsheets on income”
“Show me my screenshot files”

Getting organized

You can use Voice Search to access info from your Calendar or To Do list. Try variations on these commands:

“What are my plans for tomorrow?”
“When is my anniversary event?”
“When is my appointment for training?”
“When is my meeting with Dan?”
“When’s my next haircut?”
“What’s on my agenda for September 30th?”
“What’s on my calendar for Friday?”
“When is my next meeting?”

Connecting with people

Want to communicate without all the finger tapping? Try prompts like these:

“Call Carly Rae Jones”
“Call Mom mobile”
“Call Bob Stellano home”
“Call Jay Reids work”
“Call McDonald’s on Third Street”
“Call the Hilton in Downtown Chicago”
“Send text to Dad — running late, be there in 10 minutes”
“Send email to Jan Fredericks — what you doin’ tonight?”
“Send email to Jan Fredericks — subject ‘Your dreams have finally come true,’ body ‘I’m in New York'”
“What’s Mom’s phone number?”

Navigating and looking for restaurants

Need some help finding your way? In a new city and looking for a place to eat? Let Voice Search be your guide. Some sample queries to keep in mind:

“What’s a good Thai place near me?”
“Where’s a museum around here?”
“Where’s the closest bowling alley?”
“Where is the nearest Burger King?”
“When does Office Depot close?”
“Is the Metropolitan Museum of Art open now?”
“How long will it take me to drive to Olive Garden?”
“How far is Red Lobster from my location?”
“Navigate to Empire State Building”
“Take me to Bank of America by foot”
“Go to Wal-Mart with public transportation”
“Where am I?”

Getting your weather

You can ask your device for detailed forecast info in almost any way you want:

“Is it going to rain this weekend?”
“How hot is it gonna be on Sunday?”
“Do I need an umbrella today?”
“When is it going to rain next?”
“What’s the weather in San Francisco?”

Playing music or a movie

Voice Search can serve as a hands-free remote to play music or start a movie. It can also play movies and other videos and get you detailed info on entertainment-related topics.

“Listen to The Beatles”
“Listen to ‘I Am the Walrus'”
“Play me songs from 21 Pilots”
“What’s this song?” (Or just activate Voice Search and say nothing; if music is playing, it’ll automatically detect it and identify the tune.)
“What channel is ‘The Big Bang Theory’ on?”
“Play Life of Pi”

Getting calculations and conversions

Voice Search can handle any math-related question you throw its way:

“What’s 5812 times 247?”
“What’s 19.4 percent of 240.37?”
“What’s 14 inches in millimeters?”
“What’s 12 in hexadecimal?”
“What’s 78 U.S. dollars in Euros?”

Getting healthy

Voice Search can give you nutritional info:

“How many calories are in popcorn?”
“How much protein is in a banana?”
“Is there sugar in apples?”
“How many carbs in corn?”

Voice commands for Honda vehicles

Voice commands for Lexus vehicles

Voice commands for Ford vehicles

Merck Uses Amazon Echo to Develop Voice-Enabled Solutions for Diabetic Patients

By Paul B. Kaiser on March 10, 2017

Healthcare devices have been making big strides over the last few years. And the announcement below from Merck is no exception. Merck plans on using Amazon Web Services to develop voice-enabled solutions for patients. They will be starting with Type 2 Diabetes and then venturing out to other chronic diseases. It’s good to see that Pharma is stepping outside the box to help patients use technology in a smart and intuitive way. The press release below goes into the current details of the project.

“Analysts estimate Amazon will sell more than 110 million Amazon Echo devices over the next four years, and many are already pointing to healthcare as an important item on Alexa’s eventual to-do list.”

It looks like people will soon go far beyond turning on lights or calling an Uber. As we venture deeper into healthcare, helping people better manage their diseases will create effective outcomes. Reminding people of their nutrition intake, or scheduling their insulin dosages, are all great ideas. The Merck-sponsored Alexa challenge will call on developers to push the boundaries of voice technology for people with diabetes.

Merck Press release:

Merck is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to explore the creation and delivery of innovative digital consumer solutions for people living with chronic disease by using Amazon Lex, the same deep learning technologies that power Amazon Alexa. Merck will initially focus on diabetes, a chronic, progressive disease that currently affects 415 million people around the world.

“We have a deep heritage of tackling chronic diseases through our medicines, and we have been expanding into other ways to help, beyond the pill.” said Kimberly Park, vice president, Customer Strategy & Innovation, Global Human Health, Merck. “We are excited to leverage the AWS Cloud to find innovative ways to leverage digital solutions, such as voice-activated technology, to help support better outcomes that could make a difference in the lives of those suffering from chronic conditions like diabetes.”

“We are pleased to work with Merck to explore how Merck can use the AWS Cloud to help create new solutions within health care that can connect people with information to help improve management of their own health” said Steve Halliwell, director of health care and life sciences, AWS.

This collaboration will leverage the expertise of both organizations — Merck’s expertise in epidemiology, drug development, observational research, medication adherence and patient education programs, and Amazon’s expertise in web services, connected devices and voice interfaces.

In addition, Merck is sponsoring an open innovation challenge that calls on developers to create a skill for Alexa, the cloud-based voice service that powers the Amazon Echo, to help support people living with diabetes. The Merck sponsored challenge will be independently developed and run by Luminary Labs and members of the challenge team from Luminary Labs will be at the 2017 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition.

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