GoKawiil
Tech News
Sonos announced that its new voice assistant, called Sonos 27voice, will open for early access testing on November 6 as part of this week's software update. Users must request access through the Sonos app and be approved to try it ahead of a planned full release in 2027.
Sonos has rolled out a new System Health page inside its iOS app that gives users a consolidated view of their speaker systems, including network status, room counts, and detection of 'Double Network Address' issues that cause dropouts and missing-speaker errors. The company's blog post also previewed upcoming updates for both iOS and Android, including volume presets, expanded miniplayer controls, and spoken voice prompts for the Ace Ultra headphones.
Sonos has released an app update introducing Presets, which let users save a specific volume and room combination for one-tap playback from the homescreen. The update also opens a US waitlist starting November 6th for Sonos' new 27voice AI assistant, with access beginning November 12th, letting users control playback, group speakers, set timers, and make natural-language requests.
Rivian disclosed in its Q3 investor presentation that it is licensing elements of its AI voice assistant to Volkswagen Group, broadening their existing software and electrical architecture partnership. Financial terms were not disclosed, and Rivian did not specify which VW models will get the technology, though the ID EVERY1 hatchback is a likely candidate as the first VW vehicle built on Rivian's platform.
A review highlights how AI-enabled smart glasses can outperform headphones and earbuds in everyday tasks like reading incoming messages aloud and handling phone calls, since they remain on the wearer's face at all times. The piece notes that glasses avoid issues like ear fatigue from holding a phone, overheating from over-ear headphones, or isolation from noise-canceling earbuds, while still allowing awareness of surroundings during calls.
An article comparing smart home lighting options highlights a key drawback of smart bulbs: when someone flips the physical wall switch out of habit, the bulb loses power and Wi-Fi connectivity, becoming unresponsive to apps or voice commands until the switch is flipped back. Smart switches avoid this by staying wired into the home's electrical system, letting anyone operate lights normally without an app, while still enabling smart control.
A hobbyist project called R2D2 replaces a webOS smart TV's stock interface with a locally hosted home screen, a private sandboxed browser, and a push-to-talk voice assistant. The system works by pairing the TV with a separate Linux compute host that renders Chromium and runs speech-recognition models, streaming output back to the TV over the local network. The creator has published the source code along with detailed warnings that the setup requires rooting the TV and patching vendor system services on one specific firmware build.
Greenlight has introduced a proprietary voice assistant on its Family Hub, a digital wall calendar device that syncs with Google, iCalendar and Outlook calendars. The feature sits behind the product's $10-a-month membership, alongside existing tools like meal planning, chore tracking, financial management for teens, and family location tracking via the Greenlight app or a separate GPS tracker.
Google is rolling out Gemini integration in Google Maps for Apple CarPlay, letting drivers ask multi-step questions, request route changes like avoiding tolls, and report traffic incidents by voice while navigating. The feature is accessed via a Gemini icon that appears during turn-by-turn navigation. It's live now in the US with a global rollout underway.
Google has launched its Gemini AI assistant within Google Maps for Apple CarPlay users in the US, with a wider global rollout underway. Drivers can tap a Gemini icon on their car's display to ask multi-step, hands-free questions, like finding a place and then getting directions there while avoiding tolls, or reporting traffic issues.
Meta has released an audio-only version of its Ray-Ban smart glasses that drops the camera entirely, offering Bluetooth audio, calls, and a voice AI assistant in Clubmaster and Burbank frame styles. A reviewer who tested the glasses over several days reported that no one noticed them being worn, since they look like ordinary eyewear, and found setup now includes more prominent privacy disclosures about how AI voice and visual data are handled.
Atticus is a new open-source macOS voice assistant activated by holding Control+Option+Space, letting users control windows, search files, read on-screen content and run apps by voice. It runs through an existing Claude Pro or Max subscription via Claude Code rather than requiring a separate API key, and it caches learned actions so repeated requests execute instantly without invoking the AI model.