OK, a Fuchsia question rather than Android, but it's all Google ecosystem.

I have several Chromecast and Nest devices, including a 1st Gen Nest Hub
with screen as my "alarm clock"

A couple of days ago, the voice that it uses changed from a very
synthetic sounding female voice to a quite natural (though rather flat)
sounding male voice, the firmware date is 2024-08-05 so not /that/ recent.

Anyone else notice a similar change? Is it Gemini/AI?

On 2024-12-05 14:31, Andy Burns wrote:
> OK, a Fuchsia question rather than Android, but it's all Google ecosystem.
>
> I have several Chromecast and Nest devices, including a 1st Gen Nest Hub
> with screen as my "alarm clock"
>
> A couple of days ago, the voice that it uses changed from a very
> synthetic sounding female voice to a quite natural (though rather flat)
> sounding male voice, the firmware date is 2024-08-05 so not /that/ recent.
>
> Anyone else notice a similar change?  Is it Gemini/AI?

In Spain, the voice of the alarm clock changed, from that of a voice
actress, Nikki García, to another voice that sounds more serious and
flat. We don't know who is the new voice yet, or if its artificial. The
map voice changed earlier, September I think (I don't use it, so I did
not notice).

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On Thu, 5 Dec 2024 13:31:39 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:
>
> OK, a Fuchsia question rather than Android, but it's all Google ecosystem.
>
> I have several Chromecast and Nest devices, including a 1st Gen Nest Hub
> with screen as my "alarm clock"
>
> A couple of days ago, the voice that it uses changed from a very
> synthetic sounding female voice to a quite natural (though rather flat)
> sounding male voice, the firmware date is 2024-08-05 so not /that/ recent.
>
> Anyone else notice a similar change? Is it Gemini/AI?

I can't say whether there was a change, because today I used
Assistant for the first time. But I did hear that flat male voice in
response to a request for tomorrow's weather.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

On 05.12.24 14:31, Andy Burns wrote:
> OK, a Fuchsia question rather than Android, but it's all Google ecosystem.
>
> I have several Chromecast and Nest devices, including a 1st Gen Nest Hub
> with screen as my "alarm clock"
>
> A couple of days ago, the voice that it uses changed from a very
> synthetic sounding female voice to a quite natural (though rather flat)
> sounding male voice, the firmware date is 2024-08-05 so not /that/ recent.
>
> Anyone else notice a similar change? Is it Gemini/AI?

My Google-Navigation-System in my EV was updated and showed the same
effect. The aural guidance is still this lovely girl's voice once the
trip started.

--
"Roma locuta, causa finita." (Augustinus)

In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 5 Dec 2024 19:24:28 +0100, Jörg Lorenz
<hugybear@gmx.net> wrote:

>On 05.12.24 14:31, Andy Burns wrote:
>> OK, a Fuchsia question rather than Android, but it's all Google ecosystem.
>>
>> I have several Chromecast and Nest devices, including a 1st Gen Nest Hub
>> with screen as my "alarm clock"
>>
>> A couple of days ago, the voice that it uses changed from a very
>> synthetic sounding female voice to a quite natural (though rather flat)
>> sounding male voice, the firmware date is 2024-08-05 so not /that/ recent.
>>
>> Anyone else notice a similar change? Is it Gemini/AI?
>
>My Google-Navigation-System in my EV was updated and showed the same
>effect. The aural guidance is still this lovely girl's voice once the
>trip started.

I have voice turned off in my phone's navigation, but yesterday, a voice
chimed in to say that there was a report of a cop at the place coming
up, and it let me tap yes or no that he was still there. I haven't
heard a voice in years, even when I've gotten stuck in trafffic on the
xway.

They have 6 or 8 examples of kinds of road delays. I wonder if cops are
a special category, and in general, if anyone has complained about
google warning drivers about cops. After all, their preesence should be
a suprise.

I didn't see a cop.

micky wrote:

> I have voice turned off in my phone's navigation, but yesterday, a voice
> chimed in to say that there was a report of a cop at the place coming
> up, and it let me tap yes or no that he was still there.

I have alerts like that set to silent, I also had a "police ahead"
pop-up yesterday for the first time, I was travelling to the county
police HQ at the time.

They do seem to be pushing Waze features across to Maps, the directions
of which lane to be in at junctions is comically inaccurate though.

In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 5 Dec 2024 23:07:22 +0000, Andy Burns
<usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

>micky wrote:
>
>> I have voice turned off in my phone's navigation, but yesterday, a voice
>> chimed in to say that there was a report of a cop at the place coming
>> up, and it let me tap yes or no that he was still there.
>
>I have alerts like that set to silent, I also had a "police ahead"
>pop-up yesterday for the first time, I was travelling to the county
>police HQ at the time.
>
>They do seem to be pushing Waze features across to Maps, the directions

That's right. I forgot tha the cop information it said came from Waze.

>of which lane to be in at junctions is comically inaccurate though.