Comcast Introduces Voice-Controlled Remote For Subscribers

Long gone are the days when you had to get up out of the chair to manually change the volume or the television channel, and if Comcast has its way, we'll one day consider having to manually press buttons on the television remote as equally archaic. The company has introduced a new voice-enabled remote that leverages Texas Instruments' RF technology to, according to Comcast, usher in what could end up being "the tipping point in a major revolution" for its subscribers.

The remote looks like any other remote, but there's a voice button — when holding that button, one can say a voice command rather than press buttons, and the box will then look for whatever the request is, or perform the command. Comcast promises the remote understands "plain English", so users won't have to remember commands, either.

Commands include things like "turn on XYZ channel", "turn on closed captioning", "find XYZ", and more. There are still buttons too, of course, for manual control when it is the most convenient option.

The remote works with the Xfinity set-top box, and Comcast is hoping that "soon" it will be used for things like searching the web and making dinner reservations (using that set-top box, of course). Comcast also teases having its set-top boxes one day be part of a home automation set up, lending control to Internet of Things devices as a central control hub.

SOURCE: Comcast