Nest Doorbell owners in France and the UK report that visitor announcements have suddenly switched to a US English accent, even though every other Google Home device in their homes still speaks in their local language and accent. The glitch appears isolated to doorbell announcements within Gemini for Home, which otherwise supports ten languages and multiple accent options. One affected user says support staff suggested temporarily adding US English as a secondary language, then deleting it, as a workaround.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-21
Apple's built-in Voice Memos app includes lesser-known features accessible by swiping up during a recording, including pause, rewind-to-replace, and multitrack recording on iPhone 16 Pro and newer. Users can also choose between Mono, Stereo, and Spatial recording modes in Settings, and access transcript copying, trimming, playback speed control, and noise-reduction tools from the recording screen.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-20
Iceland-based Treble, founded in 2020 by acoustic engineers Finnur Pind and Jesper Pedersen, has closed an $18 million extension to its Series A round led by Paladin Capital Group, with backing from KOMPAS VC, Frumtak Ventures, EIC, and Omega ehf. The funding brings Treble's total raised to over $40 million, following a $12 million round in 2024, and the company already counts Amazon and Logitech among its customers.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-17
Google has broadened NotebookLM's real-time voice conversation feature to support close to 100 languages, letting users talk with their notebooks beyond English. The update also adds audio recording capabilities and interactive Learning Overviews to help users engage with their materials in more ways.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-16
Google unveiled two new Gemini models focused on real-time voice interaction: Gemini 3.8 Live, designed for scalable, cost-efficient conversational AI, and Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, aimed at complex multi-step reasoning tasks. Both models are meant to power more natural voice agents and improve spoken interactions across the Gemini app, Google Workspace, and Search.
blog.google
· 2026-09-15
Jexxa is a new dictation tool that runs its speech recognition model entirely on the user's device, converting speech to text in any application while holding a key to talk. It avoids uploading audio or transcripts, sending only subscription and update checks, and can correct and learn from misrecognized names or jargon over time.
jexxa.org
· 2026-09-15
A viral clip shows ChatGPT's Voice feature confidently miscounting the letter 'e' in 'seventeen,' claiming there are three when there are actually four. When the user, a content creator called Husk, corrected it, the chatbot repeatedly refused to concede the point even after spelling out the word itself. An OpenAI employee later clarified the voice assistant was running on an older model, GPT-Live-1, not GPT-6 as the bot itself claimed, and that it failed to delegate the query to a more capable model.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-15
Voicemod has released the Key Pocket, a USB-C hardware dongle that lets Android and iOS users apply real-time voice changing and sound effects during calls, streaming, or mobile gaming. It works as an external audio bridge, routing microphone input through Voicemod's app before passing it to other apps like Fortnite, Discord, or calling apps, sidestepping mobile OS restrictions on altering live mic audio. It costs $99.90 alone or $129.90 bundled with a lifetime Voicemod Pro license.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-15
Five men accused of leading a Black Axe cybercrime cell—Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Osagiede, Osariemen Clement, Collins Otughwor, and Musa Mudashiru—have been extradited from South Africa to the US to face wire fraud and money laundering charges. Prosecutors say the group ran romance scams and advance-fee schemes targeting American victims from Cape Town between 2011 and 2021, using fake identities, dating sites, and VoIP numbers, and blackmailing victims with threats to leak intimate photos when they resisted paying.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-15
New research indicates that scammers using AI-generated voices that mimic a target's own accent are more effective at deceiving victims than generic synthetic voices. The findings suggest that accent-matching adds a layer of perceived familiarity and trust that makes fraudulent calls more convincing.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-13
Amazon now offers five distinct personality styles for Alexa—Brief, Chill, Sweet, Sassy and Original—that change the tone of responses without altering Alexa's functionality. Users can switch styles by voice command or through the Alexa app's device settings menu, with the Sassy option requiring an age confirmation due to its cheekier, more colorful responses. Each Echo device must be configured separately, since the personality setting is not shared across a household's devices.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-12
LG issued a detailed statement pushing back on a Gamers Nexus investigation alleging its smart TVs capture audio and network data even while asleep or offline. The company said voice processing only activates via a wake word or remote button press, and that features like Automatic Content Recognition and ad targeting are opt-in, not default.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-12
GoKawiil