• 08-29-2021

• 2 min read

• Dasha Fomina

Weekly Digest: Facebook, Otter and Duolingo Expand Voice Tech

Facebook introduces Horizon Workrooms for virtual collaboration

 

Facebook has launched the open beta of Horizon Workrooms, a collaboration experience that lets people come together to work in the same virtual room. Designed to improve the team’s ability to collaborate, communicate, and connect remotely, Workrooms work across both virtual reality and the web. Horizon Workrooms are free to download on Oculus Quest 2 in countries where Quest 2 is supported. Via About Facebook.

 

 

Duolingo launches custom character voices

 

Duolingo, a linguistic education app, has introduced a text-to-speech tool to equip the characters who illustrate its lessons with unique voices. Each cartoon character will get a synthetic voice to match the fictional background and personality Duolingo has devised as part of an overall upgrade to the app’s AI and natural language understanding. Via Voicebot.ai.

 

Google Home enables users to set time intervals for Assistant routines

 

Google Home seems to have added a new option to delay Assistant commands. According to a screenshot from a Reddit user (u/Droppedthe_ball) the new Google Home app feature lets users adjust the time for a specific task in routines to start. Via Android Central.

 

 

Otter’s Secretarial Virtual Assistant is now available for Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex

 

Transcription AI startup Otter.ai has expanded its virtual assistant to Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Cisco Webex video conference platforms after originally debuting just for Zoom in May. The Otter Assistant integrates with a user’s existing calendar once it’s installed on the relevant meeting platform. The AI will, with permission, automatically join meetings marked on that schedule and start recording and taking notes in the background after it begins. Via Voicebot.ai.