GADGET SPECIAL ....Your wish, your gadget’s command

Your wish, your gadget’s command

Beyond setting reminders and reading texts, here are six useful tasks you can ask a voice assistant to perform for you

Apple paved the way for interactive, human-like digital assistants with Siri back in 2011. Today, we have a handful more, like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Microsoft Cortana, that aim to get things done by just being asked to do so. By now, most of us are probably aware of the primitive functions of a voice assistant — things like setting alarms and reminders, sending messages, or asking general knowledge questions. Lately, these assistants have started integrating with third-party services to extend their functionality. Let’s take a look at some cool, useful things you can do with a voice assistant today.

1 Call a cab

It is possible for assistants like Siri and Amazon Alexa to hail a cab from a ridesharing service like Uber or Ola. All you have to do is ask for it by saying something like “book me an Uber”. This is great if you typically book cabs regularly from your home or office, as it can remember frequently-used pickup points. You can choose which type of cab you want, check the ride status, and cancel it.

2 Listen to the news

Alexa, which is found on all of the Amazon Echo smart speaker products, features integrations (known as Skills) from leading news publications around the world, including India. Simply ask, “what’s in the news”, or “what’s my flash briefing”, and it starts playing back the latest news from sources you’ve chosen. You can also add, delete or rearrange your sources from the Alexa smartphone app. Google Assistant also has a similar feature, but unfortunately it isn’t enabled for India yet.

3 Navigate to a place

Google Assistant integrates well with Google Maps, which probably is the best mapping service available in India (and possibly worldwide). The Assistant understands words of Indian origin (like Swami Vivekananda Marg), and all you have to do is say the “navigate to...” command. You can also choose if you want to travel by public transport or by car. And before you start, you can also ask the Assistant for traffic conditions. Just say “how much time will it take to reach…” and it will speak out the ETA based on live traffic information.

4 Play games

Using a voice assistant doesn’t always have to be serious — it can be fun too. Google Assistant comes built-in with quiz-based games on topics like maths, entertainment, geography, cricket, vocabulary, and Bollywood — just say “let’s play a quiz”. Amazon Alexa has over 3,000 skills in the games and trivia category. This can be a lot of fun — especially for kids — playing the game by simply talking to a speaker.

5 Track flights

This is yet another useful feature present on many of these assistants. On Google Assistant, simply speaking the flight number presents relevant information like the departing time, the estimated time of arrival, and the terminal it’s arriving at. It will also inform if there are any deviations from the scheduled time of arrival. Microsoft’s Cortana also behaves similarly on all the devices it’s available on (Windows, iOS, Android). And on Amazon Alexa, airlines such as Jet Airways have officially created skills that help track flight statuses. Beyond these, there are other skills for checking information about the Indian Railways too.

6 Translate to another language

Google Assistant is fairly good at translating sentences from one language to another. For instance, asking “how do you say nice to meet you in Mandarin” will result in a spoken as well as visual translation of that sentence. Siri has a similar feature since iOS 11, but it isn’t available for the “English (India)” language yet. Microsoft’s Cortana also works similarly, while Alexa has some third-party skills that support translating from some languages.

They’re not perfect, yet

Voice interfaces are in a nascent stage today. The missing visual feedback on devices like the Amazon Echo or Google Home puts a tremendous responsibility in understanding appropriate context from natural speech, and then accurately executing the task. In our experience, there are still many kinks that need to be ironed out before the experience of computing via voice becomes seamless. But as these products continue to evolve with user feedback, we’re confident they should become much better to use in the near future.

| Rohan Naravane
MM11DEC17