Continuations

Late in 2016 I wrote a blog post titled “Voice Platforms: Open Alternative is an Opportunity.” At the time I learned about a project called Mycroft. This project has just launched its second version, the Mark II, on Kickstarter. If you want voice in your home but are weary of Amazon and Google (and the other tech giants), this looks like an interesting alternative. Here is their intro video, which is super funny in a self deprecating way: I just went ahead and backed the project and look forw...

There is a lot of excitement among startups and other companies about building for Amazon’s and Google’s voice platforms. My reaction to this can be summed up as follows:Google and Amazon will have a perfect copy of every enduser interaction. So anything that takes off they can wrap into the core based on what they have learned. And something that can be accessed directly by saying just “Alexa” or “OK Google” will alway get more use then something where you need to add another provider’s name...