voice

Dispatch from an advertising future #248

Amazon previews Alexa capability that synthesizes a person’s voice from less than a minute of audio https://www.geekwire.com/2022/amazon-previews-alexa-capability-that-synthesizes-a-persons-voice-from-less-than-a-minute-of-audio/ There must be something here. There are photos: albums full of slightly fading prints and then USB sticks and a hard drive shoebox of images probably not sorted but with metadata we can use. Diaries, notebooks, sketchbooks. So … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #154

https://chromeunboxed.com/google-assistant-patent-human-like-interactions It used to be easy. The customer just used the right word and I searched around and connected them to the service. I didn’t have to think or make any decision or judgement call. Yes, it was pretty mindless but it meant I was just left alone to do the job. I was pretty … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #152

https://www.ft.com/content/c653e977-435f-4553-8401-9fa9b0faf632 My mum was worried when I first got her. I was only little of course and she’d read the scare stories about grooming and hacking the smart home. I’m sure she had visions of a Chucky-doll turning the thermostat up and watching us boil. She calmed down after a while, particularly when my grades … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #148

https://www.pcgamer.com/noveto-soundbeamer-sci-fi-speaker-brainhole/ He remembered the city. Deeper than a normal Sunday. The tyres of his bike echoed on the tarmac. He’d heard birds. The sound of the few bits of litter. Zombie. Post-apocalyptic, the tabloid cliches weren’t outrageous. An urban anechoic chamber. But that was then. Now the traffic was back. Footsteps. Mobile halfalogues. Even the … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #147

https://voicebot.ai/2020/11/17/bbc-releases-synthetic-voice-newsreader-for-online-articles/ Ever since the election it has become more and more difficult to “fan the flames”. The platforms are running scared and getting better at catching so-called “inflammatory” posts. They still only put warning stickers on them but getting something going and getting people going is becoming harder. At least as far as content is … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #136

https://www.engadget.com/ai-covid-19-cough-detection-from-recordings-213858299.html He should be used to it by now. Trying not to look at his own image in the corner of the matrix; raising his electronic hand; remembering to unmute and then… starting. He’d not been particularly confident in The Before. He knew he often stumbled and always felt every other word was “erm”. And … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #88

https://voicebot.ai/2020/08/24/facebook-shares-software-to-teach-robots-how-to-navigate-by-sound/ He wasn’t lazy. After a hard day at the kitchen table, he deserved some downtime, and besides The Owl (™) made the house safer. Noises from the baby’s room? Silently pop in and check. Delivery at the door? Hover over, unlock and take the parcel – socially distanced delivery. The homedrone was a silent … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #83

https://voicebot.ai/2020/08/17/apple-patents-context-sensitive-hearable-technology/ The music dimmed as she waited for the selfdrives to pass, electric silence retuned as bicycle bells – her chosen option. She pushed the buggy past the store. SmartShuffle (™) reordered tracks that were also in her workout playlist up the queue. She glanced at the latest athletech clothing but she was late. But … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an advertising future #80

https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/08/the-bbcs-new-drama-uses-all-your-device-speakers-for-extra-immersion/ They were short stories. Fragments. “Dispatches” the author called them. Like reports from the frontline they were imagist miniatures. They’d drop day-by-day in her feed forming a patchwork of pictures. But now, like the eyes in a renaissance portrait, they followed her. The bedroom speaker woke her with a tale. The fridge picked up … [Read more…]

Dispatch from an Advertising Future #47

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615302/how-coronavirus-turned-the-dystopian-joke-of-faceid-masks-into-a-reality/ Life was more difficult since the outbreak. She’d had to reprogramme the phone security apps and the algorithms were taking some time to recognise her muffled speech. But where she really noticed it was when she was out. She’d got used to being recognised. Knowing her coffee would be ready when she got to … [Read more…]