(February 25, 2024) We keep up with Josh.ai announcements throughout the year as its tech tiptoes in and out of the home theater space. This is the ninth year of existence for the Denver-based company, which has aggressively spread its wings to offer high-end installers access to products that combine AI, machine learning, and intuitive designs for privacy-focused, voice-controlled home automation. Recently, several new innovative products were revealed at its Winter Launch Event.
“We are not just announcing one or two big updates today, but five unique launches that each will have a resounding impact on our industry. Between transformative new hardware experiences, advancements in AI interactions, and a new integration framework with Nimble, Josh.ai aims to be the most innovative company in the professional channel,” said Alex Capecelatro, CEO of Josh.ai. “The Josh.ai team is hyper-focused on working closely with our dealers to offer simple, elegant, and desirable solutions for all of their projects. We cannot wait to see how the industry benefits from what we have announced today and how we will collectively offer more impactful solutions to our customers.”
To bring the Josh.ai vocal interface closer to a real-life home assistant experience, the company used the event to roll out nineteen new AI-generated voices. Leveraging recent advancements in synthetic voice technology, Josh.ai is updating all systems with an array of new gender, tone, and accent-oriented options. In doing so, a new preferred default voice is delivered, and more diverse and personalized interactions are enabled in every home.
If this conjures visions of HAL, to reference the iconic AI system in 2001: A Space Odyssey, we're thinking the same. Josh.ai says its new voices carry humanistic sound qualities with a variety of personalities to choose from, boosting the system's original ten voices to nearly 30 different customizable interactive experiences. Yes, this advancement is a bit creepy, yet totally fascinating.
Other announcements included tweaks to the Josh App and its 5.0 operating system, an interactive touch screen that's expected to begin shipping this fall, and a new integration platform called Nimble DevSuite that will expedite integration and development with a range of products, including Anthem receivers.
Now, on to the home theater realm where Josh.ai says it's continuing to expand its AVA Cinema Remote integration. By leveraging the remote’s three-dimensional Dynamic Keypad across its adaptive video, music, lighting, shading, and climate device controllers, the remote's role in smart home functionality is now bigger than ever.
For TV control, users will enjoy seamless media navigation with tactile mechanical click feedback across supported satellite, cable, and streaming video sources. Cinema Remote also empowers owners with a dedicated “Speak to Josh” microphone icon to access all of their connected devices across their whole home. Whether owners choose to interact with their surroundings via a natural voice command, by triggering a scene, or its user-friendly dual-screen interface, Cinema Remote is always aware and reflects the status of its surroundings.
Cinema Remote ships with a customized software experience, exclusively available to Josh.ai dealers. Out of the box, it's been upgraded with a software package that simplifies installation and provides clients with a dedicated Josh.ai experience for every TV in their home – future improvements can be obtained by no-hassle over-the-air software updates.
For more information about Josh.ai and these exciting improvements, visit https://www.josh.ai.
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