Google eliminates hundreds of jobs across hardware, engineering teams
Google on Thursday confirmed it has cut several hundred jobs across hardware, core engineering and Google Assistant teams.
Google has announced that it will discontinue singer and musician John Legend’s cameo for Google Assistant voice on March 23.
“#HeyGoogle, serenade me one more time.” Enjoy @JohnLegend’s cameo Google Assistant voice before it comes to an end on March 23,” the company said in a tweet on Friday.
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The company unveiled celebrity voices for Assistant at I/O 2018 with musician John Legend.
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As per the reports, the Google Assistant was aimed to be on the platform only for a limited time period. However, the company never clarified how long it would last.
These celebrity voices in Google Assistant can respond to a set of queries including asking for a forecast and other everyday questions.
As of now, those who really want a celebrity voice as your Google Assistant over the standard selections, Google will continue to offer comedian Issa Rae as an option.
Additionally, Google has started rolling out its article-reading feature ‘Read Out Loud’, which works with 42 languages, to all the Android smartphone users across the globe.
To use the feature, one ca imply say: “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page” for the Assistant to read the text on the screen.
The screen will also highlight the text that Assistant is currently reading so users can follow along on the page as it is being read out loud.
One can also alter the reading speed and choose from multiple voices.
(With input from agencies)
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