Jalada and Sefran discuss voice-activated home assistants. We have a chat about what they are, how they work, and where we think the technology is going in the future.

• The two main devices we talk about are Amazon Echo* and Google Home.
• We also reference Apple Siri and Google Assistant.
• For more information about why understanding speech is hard for computers, read about “AI-complete” problems.
• We almost forgot to mention Microsoft Cortana.
• Amazon Echo can be used to control Nest and Tado thermostats.
• Sefran pointed out that banks like HSBC and First Direct already use voice pattern detection.

Intro & outro music: JACKS – Runaway Fashion

*Links are affiliate links. Proceeds go towards helping out OctalFM.

In this episode of Octal FM, Jalada tells Sefran what he thinks of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD for the Wii U.

Spoiler warning: Contains minor spoilers about Twilight Princess and a general discussion of the Zelda timeline.

Related reading from the show:

• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and The Wind Waker HD.
• Zelda teaser trailer from Spaceworld 2000 (linked video is actually a longer cut than the one we used to watch).
• The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia (affiliate link).
• Copy of the Hyrule Historia timeline.
• Jadusable Wiki, the official database for the Haunted Majora’s Mask Cartridge story (Elegy of Emptiness creepypasta).
• Twilight Princess Wii, Gamecube and Wii U graphics comparison.
• Issues when you force Dark Souls to run at 60fps on PC.

Music:

• Intro: JACKS – Runaway Fashion.
• Outro: Life of a Bowling Pin by Hylian Lemon for ocremix.org.

Welcome to Octal FM! After introducing your hosts, we dissect the PS4/PC game No Man’s Sky.

Related reading from the show:

• Freelancer
• Star Citizen
• Elite: Dangerous
• Journey
• Spore
• Procedural generation
• No Man’s Sky stats on SteamSpy
• Diablo 3
  • Diablo 3’s loot 2.0 patch (sample of media coverage for context)

Please let us know what you thought by Tweeting @octalfm, or using the email address in the show.

Intro & outro music: JACKS  – Runaway Fashion