From PC Magazine:
Amazon wants to push Alexa-powered devices into as many areas of our lives as possible. That’s why we have multiple Echo-branded devices to suit different areas of the home, why Alexa is on smartphones, is being integrated into wireless earphones, and why there’s an Alexa Voice Service Device SDK for easy integration with other commercial products.
But Amazon wants Alexa to be available everywhere, at all times, and without the need to even take a device out of a pocket to use it. To achieve that, Amazon is apparently working on perfecting Alexa smart glasses.
According to the Financial Times and The Verge, Amazon is hard at work on a pair of glasses.
. . . .
Forget about a built-in display or a camera, Alexa smart glasses will be extremely simple. They are thought to be as close to a standard pair of glasses as you can get while still integrating Alexa functionality and the necessary power for the voice assistant to function. A lack of camera or display not only cuts costs, but bypasses any privacy concerns.
Hearing what Alexa says is expected to be done through bone conduction, meaning people will be seen talking to themselves in the street and receiving responses no one else can hear. I think we’re all used to seeing that already thanks to hands-free gadgets.
Link to the rest at PC Magazine
PG expects the world to look like a better place when one is wearing Amazon glasses.
He can hardly wait for vision-based Amazon orders. Forget the Dash button, just look at a box of laundry detergent and the UPS driver will drop it on your porch the next day. Look at a diamond ring . . . .
They’re missing a bet. What the world really needs is a smart (or, rather, magic) mirror. You set the parameters and when you look in it, you’re suddenly thinner/bulkier, younger/older, taller/shorter, or whatever you choose.
Perfect for store dressing rooms!
A reminder not to put the phone against your chest when you don’t want someone to hear: bone conduction through your sternum and ribs actually makes the sound transmit better.
When I recorded dialogue on indie movies, they said to aim the mike at the chest rather than the mouth, because you get better sound that way.
Now I have to go test that.
“Bone conduction” doesn’t sound ominous at all…
And actually unneeded. There are already tons of bluetooth ear pieces (my brother has one that I swear is grown into his ear like a first-stage Borg device), Just have Echo link to it and away you go.
Ahem… On behalf of the old geezer contingent, let me just point out that those of us with hearing aids can’t exactly incorporate bluetooth devices into our other ears…
“Look at a diamond ring . . . .”
And a mail-order bride shows up? 😛
And you’ll realize it knows you’re having a bad day when the 2-hour service suddenly delivers extra TP and a bottle of Imodium A. D. …