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Alexa & Cortana

Amazon's Alexa

What is Amazon Alexa?


Alexa is the name of Amazon’s voice-based smart home assistant. Alexa is actually the name of just the AI—not the product.
              Like Apple’s Siri  the U.S., Alexa has a female voice. She only responds when summoned, and you can talk to her using normal sentences.
            Once you’ve got an Echo device, you download the Alexa app on your phone to go along with it and complete setup
Recently, Amazon also gave iPhone owners the ability to access Alexa without an Echo device, though. You can access her simply through the Amazon app.


 Alexa :   Amazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant AI technology developed by Amazon, first used in the Amazon Echo smart speakers developed by Amazon lab 126.
Operating system: Fire OS 5.0 or later, iOS 11.0 or later; Android 4.4 or later
Initial release: November 6, 2014; 5 years ago
Available in: English; French; German; Japanese; Italian; Spanish; Portuguese; Hindi.
Platform : Amazon Echo, fire OS, ios, android, linux.

How does Alexa work?
  1. By default, echo device uses Alexa as their wake word.
  2. Device constantly listening you but it tracks or analyzes your words, what you say next after if and only if it hears "Alexa" and then pulls the relavant results.
  3. You can change the wake words to something else.
  4. Amazon calls each of his different capabilities as "skills". One of his newest skill is the ability to work as an intercom system in your home.
  5. you can ask Alexa all sorts of questions: You can ask her to play music, ask about the weather, or ask her to convert measurements for you. You can also use her to shop for products on Amazon or to control other smart home devices in your home. A number of third-party apps and services work with Alexa, so you can do things like order a Domino’s pizza.
How to enable Alexa ? 

While enabling to Amazon's Alexa,simply saying "Alexa" triggers the start of the service. It will then begin (or attempt) to interpret what you are saying. At the conclusion of your question/command, Alexa sends that recording over the internet to Amazon's Alexa cloud-based servers, where the AVS ( Alexa Voice Service).
            The Alexa Voice service then converts your voice signals into computer language commands that can execute a task,or convert the computer language back into sound signals so that Alexa's voice assistant can provide you with information verbally.
              Using an Alexa-enabled Amazon device, Alexa can also pass commands to other compatible third-party devices.
             Amazon's Alexa is a device that strictly revolves around WiFi to access everything from Google to various music-streaming services. Without WiFi it is simply impossible to connect to these applications and features.
          

When differentiating with others like siri, Cortana etc,
  • Alexa is great for simple commands and ordering off Amazon.
  • Being part of the Amazon ecosystem, Alexa can easily connect with Fire TVs and tablets as well as many other Bluetooth speakers in a variety of designs — unlike Google Assistant’s cookie-cutter aesthetic — and provides an excellent base for those interested in developing a smart home.,
  • Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri enjoy setups that only require a username and password and take less than a minute to initialize.

Alexa compatible devices :

  1. Amazon smart plug.
  2. Philips Hue starter kit 
  3. Fitbit versa 2
  4. Ecobee smart thermostat
  5. Ring video doorbell
  6. Blink indoor security system
  7. Samsung smart things hub V3
  8. Insignia fire tv
  9. Acer spins laptop
  10. Caavo universal remote


Microsoft's Cortana

Cortana :
Cortana is a virtual assistant developed by Microsoft, which uses the Bing search engine to perform tasks such as setting reminders and answering questions for the user.
Operating system : windows, ios, android, Xbox os 
Developers : Microsoft
Developed by : Microsoft corporation
Available in : English, French and more.


The virtual assistant is named after the artificially intelligent (AI) system in Microsoft's Halo video game. In Halo, this fictional AI character provides gamers with the the backstory and tactical information needed to play.  Jen Taylor is the voice actress of Halo's Cortana and is also the voice of the digital assistant.
  Cortana can answer a variety of questions and respond to a range of requests. And best of all, Cortana can sync the same information and settings between your mobile phone or tablet and your Windows 10 PC.

How does Cortana work?
  1. Cortana's features include setting reminders for yourself, recognising the device user's voice, and answering questions using information gathered from Bing.
  2. you can summon Cortana by simply saying “Hey, Cortana” out loud, and then she will offer her help.
  3. You'll need a microphone on your device for this feature, and you can change Cortana's settings to learn your own voice and respond to only your verbal commands.you can always type your commands to Cortana too.
  4. Cortana can check your emails and calendar through the Notebook, as well as push alerts and notifications to you before you even ask for them.

How to enable "Hey Cortana!" 

To enable "Hey, Cortana", click or tap the search button in the taskbar, which is right beside the Start button and then click the Settings cog icon on the bottom left. 
           Enabling  "Hey Cortana" is the second option down. 

Cortana features
  • With access to data on device and in the cloud, Cortana serves as a smart hub of sorts, connecting a user’s needs to relevant data and adding context to daily tasks. Users can create reminders based on time and location, and Cortana will automatically suggest reminders when the service is connected to Office 365, Outlook.com or Gmail.
  • It can now read an overview of new emails or read high-priority emails from specific people and allow the recipient to dictate replies by voice. Cortana can also help users find the best time for a meeting with someone in their company – all using voice commands.
  • Cortana’s other core features include making lists, pulling helpful information from LinkedIn like the professional backgrounds and company details for participants in an upcoming meeting, and creating a leisure planner that tracks upcoming travel reservations and recommends activities.
When differentiating with others like Alexa,Google Assistant etc,
  • Microsoft claims Cortana has a good understanding of context, but it struggles much more than the other two in actually hearing what you’re saying.
  • Cortana uses Microsoft’s own Bing search engine, while both Siri and Google Assistant use Google.
  • Cortana and Google Assistant work just fine with Spotify and music stored on your device.
  • Cortana is much the same, with a wide range of hardware and software platform support. It’s integrated into  windows 10 and of all kinds including all Windows 10 PCs, the now-defunct Windows 10 Mobile, and the Xbox One console.
  • When it comes to how easy it is to get your home assistant up and running, the only one that will take a significant amount of time is Cortana,Cortana will make you jump through several hoops.
  • Cortana works great on Windows. 
  • To even begin testing out Cortana, you will have to log in to your PC, provide an email account that is not associated with a business or school, and wait to receive a verification code,But when it comes to platform availability and hardware integration, Google Assistant and Cortana are better than the rest.
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