Voice-activated home speakers, commonly called “smart speakers,” arguably represent the most important new audio distribution platform since the smartphone.
Google Assistant has been updated with a new news feature for listeners. The voice assistant is adding a tailored playlist of news stories called Your News Update. It can be started by asking Google to play the news. Continue Reading
Canalys shared its third-quarter statistics about global smart speaker shipments. Amazon continues to lead the pack, while Google has ceded second place to competitors from China. Amazon saw 65.9% annual growth, with worldwide shipments numbering 10.4 million. Continue Reading
Entercom announced that RADIO.COM will be integrated with Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant. All of the sports, entertainment, news, and music content from RADIO.COM will be made available to U.S. listeners through a capsule in the Bixby Marketplace. Continue Reading
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) published an online whitepaper today as a guide to marketers for leveraging digital audio in non-screen environments such as smart speakers, and any delivery system for audio where the user might not be using a screen to see or interact with a marketing message. Continue Reading
Microsoft announced some updates to its Cortana voice assistant at its Ignite conference. The new features point to the company pivoting Cortana and focusing its uses on personal productivity and daily work tasks. Continue Reading
Sirius XM announced that its programming will be adding support for Google Assistant. The company said its audio content will begin rolling out on Google Nest smart speakers and displays over the next week. Continue Reading
Apple was already slow out of the starting gate when it belatedly launched the HomePod, but the company may be looking to revise its approach to be more competitive in the smart home segment. Bloomberg reported that Apple has been making hires for new projects in smart home software and hardware. Continue Reading
The BBC has introduced a new approach to providing news on voice-activated hardware. The broadcaster launched an interactive voice news service designed to let listeners have more control over what stories they hear. It is rolling out to Alexa-enabled devices initially, and the BBC expects to add other platforms in the future. Continue Reading
Smart speakers have been hit with several scandals over privacy and user protections this year, and now there’s a new, even riskier one unfolding. Whitehat hackers based in Germany developed eight apps for smart speakers that were able to eavesdrop on users and phish their passwords. Continue Reading
Google has rebranded its smart speaker collection, with the line now falling under its Nest brand. The latest addition is the Google Nest Mini, a second iteration of the Google Home Mini that launched in 2017. Continue Reading
Amazon has been bringing its Alexa voice assistant to a global audience, and now it is launching an option to better serve the diverse U.S. audience. Starting today, Alexa can speak Spanish in the U.S. Continue Reading
Nielsen released a report examining audio trends among black and Latinx consumers. These combined groups represent about a third of the U.S. radio audience ages 12 and up in 2019, with weekly radio reach hitting 32.7 million black Americans and 43.2 million Latinx this year. Continue Reading