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There's a new The Bard's Tale game on Android, and you play it with your voice
But something's not working right
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The Bard's Tale is a classic RPG from 2004 that made its way to Android as a port in 2012, published by its creators, inXile entertainment. Sadly the game hasn't been updated since 2015, but there's a brand new The Bard's Tale that just popped up on the Play Store, published by Wanderword, and it's called The Bard's Tale – Warlocks of Largefearn. You may have heard of this game as it was initially released on smart speakers as a voice-controlled game. Well, graphics have been added to the title, and so it's now available on the Google Play Store as a legit mobile game.
Siri voice commands come to third-party smart home gadgets later this year
The WWDC showed off an Ecobee thermostat responding to Siri commands
Apple's WWDC 2021 keynote is nearly two hours long, because Apple has a lot in common with Zack Snyder. Nestled in the presentation on HomeKit was an interesting nugget of information: Siri will be available on third-party devices later this year. That's a little less exciting than it sounds. It's not as if you'll be able to install a Siri app on Windows or Android: Apple's only extending this functionality to devices that are compatible with its HomeKit smart home technology. During the keynote, Apple demonstrated a Siri voice command working with an Ecobee thermostat (which indeed, includes its own microphone for voice commands).Third-party smart home appliance manufacturers will be able to integrate Siri commands into their HomeKit functionality later this year, assuming they have the hardware to support it. But you may need a HomePod or HomePod Mini in order to use it: the presenter said that commands go to your HomePod over your home's network without going to a third-party server. Based on the demo, it looks like it should be possible to add Siri voice command functionality via a software update, so those who want it won't necessarily have to buy all-new smart home gadgets.
A little over a year back, Spotify was found testing its own voice bot with the "Hey Spotify" wake phrase, akin to Google Assistant. Since then, we haven’t heard much about the new voice feature, though it now looks to be rolling out as a wider public release.
YouTube Music just made queue management on Chromecast much better
Songs added via voice will show up on your phone
Google will discontinue Play Music this month, and as such, the company is hard at work improving YouTube Music. One of these enhancements revolves around casting and Google Assistant. Songs you ask the Assistant to play while you cast will now show up in your YouTube Music queue on your phone, and when you start playback via the Assistant, you can tap into the queue by casting to the speaker or display in question.
Chrome OS 83 released with Assistant media playback control and renameable virtual desktops
A welcome collection of comfort features
The coronavirus pandemic ruffled Chrome and Chrome OS releases quite a bit, so Google paused updates for a short time, even omitting version 82 altogether. But now the company is getting back on track and has announced the release of Chrome OS 83. It'll start rolling out to first people this week, and it brings a whole slew of neat improvements to the table. None of them are as big as the addition of gesture navigation we've seen in version 81, though.
Google Assistant adds support for router and network control
You'll soon be able to voice-control third-party networking equipment
These days, you can control most of your smart home using only your voice — Google Assistant lets you adjust your bed, mow the lawn, open your closets, start your Xbox, control your TV, and so much more. Routers and networks are the latest new addition to the Assistant's library of natively supported actions, allowing for things like reboots, software updates, and parental controls on third-party networking devices.
Spotify is testing an in-app 'Hey Spotify' voice assistant
It could be useful for Spotify's Car View interface
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With Google Assistant pre-installed on any Android phone (and Siri on iPhones), you should think you already have all tools at your disposal when you want to yell at your phone to control your audio playback. However, Spotify seems to think that it needs its own solution. App reverse-engineer Jane Manchun Wong managed to activate a hidden settings panel in the music app that will let you enable a "Hey Spotify" feature you can use while the app is open and on your screen.
Over time, major TV, movie, and video service providers have been rolling out Google Assistant voice support so that users can access their favorite content on Chromecasts and Google Home smart displays simply by speaking. Just last month, Sling added its service to Google's growing list of companies, and today, Hulu has officially hopped onto the roster, as well.
Cutting the cord is a difficult decision, but Sling makes it easier. Its service offers live TV so there's no need to give up on football, your local stations, or the 24-hour news cycle. Sling has supported Chromecast for some time now, and today the company is adding voice control options as well as the ability to stream on your Google Assistant smart displays.
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- As part of the November 2019 Xbox One update that's rolling out today, Xbox Action for Google Assistant is graduating from beta to a full-fledged feature. You'll still need to follow the official setup instructions to get it running, but once that's all taken care of, you'll be able to invoke Assistant to do things like turn your Xbox on and off, open a specific game, adjust volume, and more. Xbox Action for Google Assistant is available in all countries where the Google Assistant is supported, but the Xbox team is quick to note that only English commands are available today with additional languages coming soon.
We've known since June that Microsoft was working on integrating Alexa and Google Assistant with Xbox in lieu of its own voice assistant, Cortana. With Alexa support already up and running on Xbox One, it's now time for Google Assistant to get in on the action.
The Ecobee4 has been our go-to smart thermostat here at Android Police for quite a while. Its connectivity with various smart home protocols and integrated Alexa voice controls round off the device's temperature regulation capabilities, making it one of the best smart thermostats around. Today, Ecobee has announced the successor to its successful two-year-old product, and true to the proverb "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," not much has changed. The thermostat comes with a modest redesign, the same Alexa integration, improved processing power, and better sound.
Roku's Google Assistant integration was promised a few weeks ago along with Logitech Harmony and NVIDIA SHIELD. And while those two have already been announced, the Roku integration is now following suit.
IFA 2018 may be over, but there are still some interesting tidbits of news worth mentioning. One of the stands we visited briefly in Berlin last week was that of German Autolabs to see an interesting new product. It may resemble a Nest Thermostat, but Chris is actually a digital assistant for your car.
As the battle of the smart personal assistants continues to simmer, Amazon has just fired another shot, adding support for SMS messages to Alexa's feature list. You can now command your Amazon Echo device to send a text message to one of your contacts, provided you have an Android phone.It's been possible to send voice messages from one Echo device to another for quite a while, as well as make voice calls, but this adds a whole new dimension. You require an Android phone (5.0 Lollipop or higher) with the Alexa app installed. Then follow these instructions to get it set up:
You can already get Alexa in phones, speakers, and a few accessories. Amazon wants more, though. The handful of Alexa-powered accessories on the market were developed with standalone smart features, but that's tough to do. Now, Amazon is looking to strengthen Alexa's position by making it easier to get the virtual assistant integrated with accessories like headphones, smartwatches, and more. These devices will, however, require a phone connection.
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You might have lost track with all the Google happenings, but Sonos had a little event in NYC today. It announced something we've heard rumored a few times—an Alexa-equipped speaker. The Sonos One goes on sale in a few weeks, and it's priced at $199. That's not bad for a Sonos speaker.
The Astro email app launched earlier in the year with the promise of helping you to clean up your inbox using AI. It's available for Office 365 and Gmail accounts and had garnered praise from users of both services. There's an integration that lets you manage your emails from Slack, and since June it's been possible to manage your emails with Astrobot Voice via an Alexa Skill on Amazon's Echo speaker. That same voice assistant functionality is now available directly from the app.
As the Google Assistant matures, it's gaining more and more abilities to help make our lives easier, but if there's one area it lags behind Amazon's Echo, it's shopping. That's unsurprising since it's Amazon's bread and butter as a company. A new partnership has just been announced that aims to help Google play catch up in this area. The company is joining forces with Walmart to offer quick and easy voice shopping through Google Express, which is also putting an end to membership fees.
A few months ago, Logitech released beta versions of its Ultimate Ears companion apps for the BOOM 2 and MEGABOOM on the Play Store. The key difference between the betas and their stable cousins was the ability to integrate with Amazon Alexa. The stable apps have now been updated to include the same functionality.