What Just Happened Today

I don't like to think of myself as an Apple fanboy. However, I always look forward to and watch the Apple presentations for the reason that they show the direction of things to come. Apple makes the innovations happen and then other developers are sure to follow.

So what happened today? With the new version of the Apple TV, Apple came out with the simplest yet most advanced remote: a remote that follows voice command. We've been experiencing early versions of this for some time now. In the car, I plug my phone into the car stereo system and tell it what music to play. It works seamlessly -- expect for when the artist or song is in a foreign language -- which requires some goofy and odd Anglicising to get the desired results. I think the point here is that Apple is moving forward with speech recognition and artificial intelligence to make a BETTER remote. Now, we would no longer need to browse through shelves of records or CDs nor approach the BeoSound 5 and scroll until we find what we need. We don't even need to type letter by letter the name of what we need on a remote control. We just TELL the system what we want. 

So what can we envision for the future of B&O in terms of an interface? Could we see a future version of the Essence wall remote where we touch a button on the the Essence wall remote and tell it what artist, album, or song to play? B&O needs to be paying attention to Apple. They usually get it right and show what the future will be.

Good insights.

And unfortunately this remote starts to chisel away at the imbedded "smart" TV functionality

I say "unfortunately" not because I care about LG, Samsung, etc but because I care about B&O who stands a risk of being caught in the cross fire.

And I was "saddened" that the stereo rotation of B&O's A3 was brought to the iPad Pro today as if it was new and innovative. Whereas we got our A3s in 2012 .....

The new Apple TV certainly got my attention. 

Interesting thoughts. Got to admit, I never use Siri on my phone - ever. I tried it out a few years ago and it got everything wrong ;) and haven't needed it since.

I like the remote. HOWEVER there is some debate as to whether the new ATV has the home sharing option which allowed it to stream from your iTunes on your computer. For me, that's essential. 

I like Siri very much, and I use it frequently even if I'm not a native english speaker - both on my iPhone and AppleWatch.

Works so well it's amazing. Looking very much forward to use it with the new AppleTV too.

AnalogPlanet:

I like Siri very much, and I use it frequently even if I'm not a native english speaker - both on my iPhone and AppleWatch.

Works so well it's amazing. Looking very much forward to use it with the new AppleTV too.

slightly off topic but I use the Dragon speech to text app and impressed how accurate it is... this technology is really evolving ...

I don't really know what to think about Siri.

i guess my wife would say, that I talk more with/to this Siri, than to her :;-(

MM

I've just watched it again, and I think it's going to negate the need for any TV to have any smart features whatsoever. Those that aren't vehemently against Apple for whatever reason that is.

After all the tech that was released, it's this little TV box that will again put them on top of something rather big. Not Macs or phones, a TV box!

Chris Townsend:

I've just watched it again, and I think it's going to negate the need for any TV to have any smart features whatsoever. Those that aren't vehemently against Apple for whatever reason that is.

After all the tech that was released, it's this little TV box that will again put them on top of something rather big. Not Macs or phones, a TV box! Beovision 7-55 Mk2, Beovision 8-32, Avant RF 28, Beolab 9, Beolit 15, Beoplay A2, Beocom 2, Beotime, H6, Form 2.

Just to go further using beo moment to search music or through Siri via atv on Apple music?

Chris Townsend:

After all the tech that was released, it's this little TV box that will again put them on top of something rather big. Not Macs or phones, a TV box!

That really depends on the apps running on it - and they may even vary from country to country.

MM

Chris Townsend:

After all the tech that was released, it's this little TV box that will again put them on top of something rather big.

I think the iPad pro is a bit of a game changer too to be honest. Processing power, screen size and quality, speaker set up, etc etc. plus the fact that Apple had two guys from Microsoft (the enemy) presenting MS Office on the iPad pro shows how seriously MS are taking it.

vlohjr1:

Just to go further using beo moment to search music or through Siri via atv on Apple music?

Well the moment has pattern play so that's is USP - but I am not paying 4K on the chance it might be useful for me

As for mood wheel, that might satisfy me, however I am really enjoying what the Apple Music curators are recommending me - I read the "liner notes", see the different covers within the playlist

so no need for Siri although I use it/her/ze daily

What I find most interesting is what this means in terms of the direction that we will see remote controls and user interfaces following in the near future. While the BeoRemote One has some customization, it's still quite limited in what it can do. Neither the BeoRemote One nor the Essence remote provide a way to easily and directly access the video or music content that we want. I still have never been able to figure out how to search for specific tv shows on my cable box! When the Essence came out, I instantly saw it as being just too limited in functionality. It can give very basic operations, but that's it. No search capability. In the past, Siri required that we open our smart phone or tablet. Now, there will be a true remote control with Siri built in. While B&O might not be using Siri itself, Siri shows that the technology is now becoming available and is improving. Why SHOULDN'T B&O incorporate some sort of voice recognition search function in its future remotes and user interfaces? I would love to have something as simple as an Essence wall remote in every room, and for that wall remote to provide easy access to any music that I want.