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An important BIG pic item...it about Amazon's smaller tap unit....I will highlight the important part
Amazon Tap portable speaker gains always-listening option
02/09/2017 at 3:00 PM by Brad Linder Leave a Comment
$130 Amazon Tap speaker. It also supports the Alexa voice service, but the Tap is a portable, battery-powered speaker that didn’t have an always-listening mode… until now.
Previously you had to press a button before talking. But a new software update gives you the option of going totally hands-free.
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/liliputing.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/tap.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Of course, if you don’t like the idea of a speaker that’s always listening to you, it’s nice to have the option of using a model that only works when you press a button, and the Amazon Tap still has that. Hands-free mode can be turned on or off.
Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot were always designed to stay plugged into a wall outlet, but the Amazon Tap has a battery, which is one of the reasons it wasn’t always-listening.
So it should come as no surprise that enabling the new feature will take a toll on battery life. But it’s not a very big toll: Amazon says you should get about 8 hours of battery life when using an Amazon Tap speaker with hands-free mode enabled, compared with 9 hours with the feature disabled.
And what would it do IF it switched to the QUIK EOS S3?....8 hrs to wks or months? No I don't know for sure but WE want these things as Brian Faith said....
Sprinkled......
QUIK the adjacent possible is headed right your way!
The Amazon move
Previously you had to press a button before talking. But a new software update gives you the option of going totally hands-free.
The cc with Ricks Q.....
Rick Neaton
Okay. Can you explain how you and Sensory facilitate the deployment of Alexa since it already is pretty useful in its current form. What – since I didn’t get to Las Vegas, what was the demo that you used to approve your concept and how does that make Alexa and other voice applications better?
Brian Faith
Yes, good question. So Sensory has voice recognition technology and they’re behind a lot of these triggers they’ve used, say like, Galaxy, okay Google. They also have the Alexa trigger, which is the Amazon’s products. And the nice thing about what Amazon is doing from an ecosystem point of view is, they’re actually enabling other peoples to build products, they have their Alexa trigger, which is why we thought all over CES from fans to refrigerators to cars.
So what we demonstrated at CES was a home automation, example, where we had our EOS S3 on a very small board, running the Alexa trigger, and we actually hacked into the light in the hotel room. So when somebody came in, they could say, hey, Alexa, turn the light on and the light will come on, and say turn the light off, and it turns off. And so the reasons why we’re showing that demo is, yes,
Alexa is out there today and it’s functional. But what if it could be battery powered and you could sprinkle around your house. You don’t have to go buy under $50 Amazon battery, $250 Amazon Achelous and turn the light of your house.
If the trend is going to be more competing at the edge, it’s going to be sprinkling these things around with batteries not line powered, that’s the big difference of what we enable at EOS S3, not just a functionality from a voice point of view, it’s the ability to do that at batter powered applications is the big difference.
The other thing I will mention is that, the typical Alexa trigger if you were to plug in your house like a light example. it goes up with the cloud to figure out what light you need to turn and off and there’s a lag. And if you’re walking through your house at night, you probably don’t want to have a lag, you want to have the light turn on into the room. And so what we’re doing is, we’re running Alexa deeply embedded on our device, you don’t have to go to the cloud, you can immediately do whatever you tell us to do like turn the light on or off. And so, the fundamental difference here that we’re enabling more real-time and we’re enabling it to be done in battery.
Commentary
Amazon by taking a step toward loosing the ON button, for Tap is foreshadowing things to come, for Samsung.....there will be a BIX button that is like the tap, use it to turn it on listening mode.
Amazons tap has a NO TAP mode. Samsung WILL loose the BIX button down the line.
Subjective probabilities are shifting our way & little things like this show that with this shift, that most will not notice, they are getting closer to
wanting the EOS S3 in their NO TAP 2.
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Sunday at 7:25 AM
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Its nice to look for phrase matching from disparate sources.
Here is one...
Amazon talking about Tap
Previously you had to press a button before talking. But a new software update gives you the option of going
totally hands-free.
l8er this wk in London, Dr Saxe
smart home and IoT
2.10pm Break
2:25am
What if Your House Understood You?
If your hands are busy, or dirty, you can ask a family member to turn on a light, or oven. What if you could talk to your house and appliances?
Speaker:
![[IMG]](https://www.iotconnectshow.com/images/icon_speaker.png)
Dr Timothy Saxe, CTO, QuickLogic
So its voice UX in focus. Voice controlled connected home
Amazon's Tap needs the LPSD of Eos S3.
Samsungs Galaxy needs a LPSD.
Waze needs a LPSD
Waze needs to go totally hands free.
etc.
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So S Johnson says expect multiples.....here is one attempt at it..
Sensory, DSP Group, STMicroelectronics Produce New Voice Activation SiP
Posted on March 2, 2017
Semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics, wireless chipset provider DSP Group, and voice and speech technology specialist Sensory Inc. have announced a jointly-developed System-in-Package device that could enable sophisticated voice interaction in new products.![[IMG]](https://mobileidworld.com/assets/47280552_thumbnail-1-e1455306435620-300x210.jpg)
Each company has brought technology to the table to help make the device a uniquely capable voice interaction technology. A microphone using STMicroelectronics’ MEMS technology to pack considerable performance in a low-power, light package, aided by DSP Group’s processor technology, which can detect certain instructions without activating the central processing system – a capability that both saves power and enables faster response times, the companies say. Sensory, meanwhile, offers the speech recognition technology enabling the system to ‘understand’ user commands.
The development follows previous collaboration between Sensory and DSP Group, with the companies having also worked with Vesper to produce a low-power, rugged voice activation system unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Such technologies appear to be facing rising demand as voice interaction rises in prominence as a key interface of the Internet of Things.
So its perfect S johnson. They have used what they have on the bench.
For casual readers...it is NOT an SoC.
It has NO MCU.
The algos run in a DSP. Maybe 10x the power of the LPSD in the Eos S3.
It won't do for the IoT(?)
So for any DSP maker this is what they will do for a while...
Nice. 
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Today at 7:25 AM
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Sensory says.....
STMicroelectronics, DSP Group and Sensory Create Keyword-Smart Microphone for Voice-Controlled Devices
• Ultra-low power voice processing and MEMS microphone circuitry enables sound detection and keyword recognition in a miniaturized single package
• Combines ST’s MEMS microphone and packaging know-how with DSP Group’s voice-processing expertise and Sensory’s voice-recognition firmware
Barcelona, February, 27 2017 – STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications and a top MEMS supplier, DSP Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DSPG), a leading global provider of wireless chipset solutions for converged communications, and Sensory Inc., the leader in voice interface and keyword-detect algorithms, have revealed details for a highly power-efficient, voice-detecting and -processing microphone that delivers keyword-recognition capabilities in a compact package.
The small System-in-Package (SiP) device integrates a low-power ST MEMS microphone enabled by DSP Group’s ultra-low power voice-processing chip and Sensory’s voice-recognition firmware. The solution leverages ST’s advanced packaging technology to achieve a powerful yet lightweight package, extremely long battery runtimes, and advanced functionality.
Although typical wake-on-sound microphones eliminate the need for users to touch the device to wake it from sleep mode, they suffer from limited processing power and wake the main system processor to recognize the received instruction. Using the powerful computation capabilities from DSP Group, ST’s microphone detects and recognizes instructions without waking the main system, enabling energy-efficient, intuitive and seamless interactions for users speaking to voice-operated appliances like smart speakers, TV remotes and smart home systems.
The new microphone solution taps DSP Group’s HDClear ultra-low power audio processing chip to significantly reduce energy consumption, extending the lifetime of battery-operated equipment for several years without the need to recharge or replace battery. Responses to voice commands are also faster because the system acts on the instruction immediately without first having to recognize it.
So maybe I'm wrong on t power of their LPSD?
“Unlike previous existing solutions, this microphone doesn’t just listen to voices – it immediately understands the commands, too, without using the power and computation resources of the main processor,” commented Andrea Onetti, MEMS and Sensors Division General Manager, STMicroelectronics. “This smart integration step is a key enabler for the voice interfaces that are being added to IoT objects and applications, including those contributing to Industry 4.0.”
“As voice becomes the default user interface, more and more innovative products embrace smart voice-processing technology. Our solution combines a small footprint, high integration, and the low-power consumption needed to enable seamless and effective voice user interfaces in battery-operated devices,“ said Ofer Elyakim, CEO of DSP Group. “Collaboration with industry leaders ST and Sensory on this smart microphone brings to market a powerful yet energy-efficient solution with best-in-class performance, which makes it a perfect match for any smart system that needs to incorporate high-quality voice capabilities.”
Todd Mozer, CEO of Sensory, added, “Voice activation has the potential to transform the way people interact with all kinds of electronic equipment in the home, while on the go, or at work. ST’s new highly integrated solution, leveraging our latest-generation firmware, is an important enabler for OEMs seeking to deliver a natural and fluid user experience.”
First prototypes of ST’s new command-recognition microphone will be
with volume production in early 2018.
The timetable here make QUIK look top notch/ nimble in time to market? Perhaps being small and intensely focused and connected to the immersive experiences has been a factor here?
Use this as a mental model of solid execution by QUIK, that they listened in the coffee house of sensor fusion very well.
This is at least the 2nd such like this. Knowles has the this 2, mic DSP, Sensory. Expect any Mic guy to do this.
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Today at 7:39 AM
Snips on one pageSamsung's big picAccording to a report from Business Korea, it seems the company sees more growth potential in the wearable health sector
Gear Fit Pro trademarkSimband protoThe Simband is equipped with six sensors, though its modular design means developers can add their own proprietary sensors as well. The six sensors it comes with can keep tabs on your daily steps, heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, and how much sweat your sweat glands are producing.Trends, monitor and spot checkThe home screen displays the time, date and shortcuts to the device's three main functions: trends, monitor and spot check. Trends is the aforementioned dashboard that displays your data over time, monitor is a real-time tracking mode when all of the band's sensors are activated and spot check allows you to quickly check your heart rate and blood pressure.BIX angle has GEEKs very curiousIt's oddly in Samsung's Gear Fit Pro trademark where they introduce "Digital Assistant" .................. Specifically for watches the trademark filings states: "Watches that communicate data to personal digital assistants,Brian Faith in cc
Gary Mobley
Okay. I’m trying to think about the most sensitive way to ask this question. It’s been well documented that one of the Tier 1 smartphone OEMs has postponed the usual timing of their next generation flagship phone for various reasons and well documented reasons, but is that the reason for maybe the push out by a few months of this EOS S3 win for this tracker tied to this Tier 1 OEM. And do you still view the opportunity annually potentially somewhere between $2 million and $4 million a year?
well phrased question Gary. So the reason for the push out from where we thought we could have been into December of last year was really this customer going through with a fine tooth comb, the user experience that they want people to have with this watch.
This watch is not going to be like the other ones that have been shipped in the market.
So they wanted to pay particular attention to all those details with regards to the sensors and user experience and most importantly the battery life, which is what we’re enabling them to achieve longer.
Brian Faith
Bayesian analysis is real time, the probabilities were changes by this question and Brian Faith's answer to it.
One detail ; this sort of explains where all the time went on a Tier 1 wearable that could not be glimpsed Quarter after quarter. We are conditioned to conclude it got the axe....but in this case it was to raise the bar on this segment of Wearables...it also helps to remember that Wearables are considered a segment of the IoT.
It will be fun to see what parts of the Simband proto are on the Fit Pro.
One day it will just be FUN to own part of this business.
We have been dancing around the words "Samsung" and "Watch" so long it was almost shocking to hear one.
Yes, that was a sweet moment of the cc. An Apple site has some interesting Samsung tidbits.......
Samsung Files U.S. Trademarks for 'Galaxy S8' and 'Gear Fit Pro' where 'Digital Assistant' is First Introduced
![[IMG]](https://www.patentlyapple.com/.a/6a0120a5580826970c01b8d261abeb970c-800wi)
Mobile World Congress kick starts on February 27, 2017 in Barcelona. While Samsung will not be launching the Galaxy S8 at the event, the U.S. Patent Office reveals that they filed for the Galaxy S8 trademark in January 2017 as noted below. The more interesting trademark that was discovered today was one filed on January 26 for Gear Fit Pro which is the first Samsung trademark to mention 'digital assistant.'
It's oddly in Samsung's Gear Fit Pro trademark where they introduce "Digital Assistant" in context with Bracelets, Watch Bands and Watches. Specifically for watches the trademark filings states: "Watches that communicate data to personal digital assistants, smart phones, tablet PCs, PDA, and personal computers through internet websites and other computer and electronic communication networks." You could view the rest of what's covered by the trademark below.
Patently Apple first covered Samsung introducing their Viv / digital assistant team back in November in a report titled "Samsung Confirms AI is coming to the Galaxy S8 in Late February Courtesy of Viv." Last week we posted another Viv related report titled "Samsung's Digital Assistant for Galaxy 8 to Support 7 Languages."
The AI market is important to Samsung so that they could remain competitive with Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft's digital assistants as well as those being worked on by Chinese smartphone vendors like Huawei working simultaneously with Amazon's Alexa and their own digital assistant for the Chinese market.
Over the next ten days Patently Apple will stay on top to new trademark being filed just prior to the Barcelona trade show should they be able to provide us with more clues as to what Samsung may be introducing in the first half of 2017.
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New
THis is new for all QUIK holders. THe GEEK sites are so interested now with the Gear FIt pro and the Bixby digital assist angle.
They are more than curious.
THis thing gets taken apart the day they get one and lets see whos MCU is in this thing. NXP, ST, Samsungs own....
wait a minute Eos S3. WHat is this, never ever heard of it.
THis watch is NOT like all the others....So Bixby may be the BIG news at MWC...and Samsung will try to show how Bix is across their platform(?) and that platform has
a health device unlike any before and it can talk to- BiX.
https://www.wareable.com/samsung/samsung-bixby-voice-assistant-release-date-3911
Samsung's Bixby logo may have been uncovered in trademark filing
But bigger questions still remain about AI-powered voice assistant
![[IMG]](https://static4.wareable.com/media/imager/21069-44926a0a64aea13444ab674bd507b620.jpg)
Monday
February 13, 2017
By Conor Allison
@conorallison95
With rumours swirling in the build-up to MWC 2017, the logo for Samsung's upcoming digital assistant Bixby appears to have leaked.
According to a new report from Neowin, an application filed with the European Trade Mark and Design Network houses a 'B' logo, potentially pointing towards Samsung launching the Bixby moniker alongside future devices.
Read next: How Viv plans to beat Siri and Alexa in the AI assistant game
And while one of those devices will be its Galaxy S8 smartphone, the assistant is also likely to see support through the company's throng of smartwatches andfitness trackers, too.
The report also notes how this could be the logo for the S8 flagship, though this would appear unlikely considering the filing indicates it will involve "interactive computer software enabling exchange of information".
![[IMG]](https://www.wareable.com/media/images/2017/02/bixby-1486989689-4Wuq-column-width-inline.jpg)
Samsung Bixby story so far...
With the branding to the assistant seemingly cleared up, the biggest mystery surrounding Bixby still remains what tech is actually behind it. After Samsung revealed the acquisition of Viv Labs (an AI company owned by the creators of Siri) way back in October, it appeared a foregone conclusion that the technology would be implemented into the new assistant.
Recent noise indicates that Bixby will, in fact, be based on the company's existing voice command service, S Voice.
And if it does happen to provide minimal input from Viv and feature the guts from the original S Voice instead, expectations may have to be tempered. After all, this was a voice companion pre-emptively tipped to be on a different level to its peers.
That was also before further leaks suggested Bixby — or Kestra, depending on if you opt for the female alternative — will only initially support eight languages, which, while more than Google, pales in comparison to Siri and Cortana.
Expect Bixby to make its debut during Samsung's appearance at MWC before the end of the month.
So I will track alomg with BIX at MWC and listen carefully for BIX and wearables, BIX and Health.
PMCW has that really great post on Data on the Apps n wearables thread. THe same thing applies to this new device. WIth MORE sensors it will have MORE data. If that data gets crunched it is possible that BIX can become a LIFE coach. THe more BIX knows the better couch he can be.
Positive reinforcement is so great when you hear it. Bix juxt knowing some key bits of info with this FIt Pro allows him to become MORE than ALexa, who know none of that.
THis is potentially so cool. Can Samsung use the FIT Pro to make its Digital Assistant know someone very well and advocate for them?
THe few snips we have suggest they are all over this. Nice.
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New
Let curiosity get you to reade from VIV of one yr ago,
"VIV is NOT FOR sale he said last yr"////
How Viv plans to beat Siri and Alexa in the AI assistant long game
SXSW: The co-founder of Siri thinks his current project is even smarter
![[IMG]](https://static4.wareable.com/media/imager/11269-35b008f0c29ca68905e48f5c25f017dd.jpg)
Sunday
March 13, 2016
By Sophie Charara
@sophiecharara
AlphaGo, Google DeepMind's AI program, is now up 3-1 against 18 time world champion Go player Lee Se-dol. It lost its most recent game, in the five game challenge, but in the previous round, AlphaGo made moves that the champion human just couldn't believe.
AI is here and though it's chess and now Go that are making the headlines, Dag Kittlaus, the founder of Siri, thinks his latest AI assistant can be the first one to provide us with "limitless" knowledge.
The global brain
Viv, the "global brain", still doesn't have a release date but Kittlaus, speaking to Backchannel's Steven Levy at SXSW Interactive, says that 2016 will be a big year for the Siri rival from the three year old startup which he co-founded after Apple bought Siri.
Read this: First look at Sony N smart neckband at SXSW
Why is Kittlaus so sure Viv can usurp Siri and Alexa and Cortana and Google Voice? Because these assistants are limited to both hardware - specific phones, wearables or smart home devices - and specific functions.
Even tech companies like Apple and Amazon have only been able to focus on a limited set of features and requests that use conversational voice commands. Viv will be an open platform, available on a bunch of different devices, and it wants the world to teach Viv what we want it to know.
Opening up AI
![[IMG]](https://www.wareable.com/media/images/2016/03/amazon-tap-charing-650-1457023642-jmtv-column-width-inline-1457890934-IMCa-full-width-inline.jpg)
"When the iPhone came out, there were only the basic apps," said Kittlaus. "When they opened up the App Store to over a million apps, that's when the magic happened and it changed the world.
"We feel like that's exactly where we're at in AI right now. AI is a very closed system so we've been sitting in a room for three and a half years with one of the best teams that has ever been put together on this, we're building a system that is more open. It allows third parties, in a Wikipedia sort of way, to teach it whatever they want and that is going to scale the usefulness and capabilities to orders of magnitude of where it's at today."
You choose how much it knows
When Viv arrives, Kittlaus wants its logo to become a symbol so that people know you can talk and interact with that device, app or website. As it has so much hot competition already on wrists and in homes, it is focusing on things that existing AI assistants can't do - so for instance, you could even say to Viv "I'm drunk" and it would know to order you a taxi home.
The key is contextual information that it learns over time but privacy is key. "It will be user focused so Viv will say I learned these seven things about you this week and it will be up to you to allow the system to use that information or change your preferences so it forgets. Everyone will have a different threshold."
Insert the DATA BIX can learn from a device like FIT Pro into the above comment
What remains to be seen is how much common sense Viv has. All natural language and AI assistant programs eventually get stuck so it will be very interesting to see how this problem will be solved.
Viv isn't for sale
Not right now, anyway. Kittlaus was pretty clear that his company has had "multiple acquisition offers" but he and his team believe that Viv is the most important work any of them will do in their careers.
WHat is the Biggest news item for Samsung last yr? Not the Note, not the scandal unfolding, its this.
The CEO, who wrote a dystopian novel about an out of control Siri after he left Apple, wants to see some kind of limits built into AI. That's partly because the estimates of when we could reach the point where AI programs like Viv won't need humans to teach it any more gets closer every time experts are polled.
So while DeepMind concerns itself with winning the last game of the Go challenge, Kittlaus thinks that while we should be thinking about the dangers of AI sooner rather than later, the potential of Viv is worth it.
So use this as a mental model of Gear FIt Pro DATA + machine learning, + BIX.
PS, frustrations with $$ are understandable, but on the Tier 1 wearable use the Fit Pro as a mental model. THey have been working on this thing for 3 yrs; from 14 till today.
It is ambitious, it will raise the bar, the combination of this device, the DATA it generates, that gets plugged into BIX...will be worth the time it took.
It is slow because it really is a WHOLE lot more. THat is what the adjacent possible told me this morning. I always listen to what AdjP says.
