Firefox makers working on voice-controlled web browser called Scout

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Mozilla, the organization behind Firefox, is exploring a very different web browser called Scout that’s operated by voice rather than keyboard, mouse or touch-screen taps.

The nonprofit revealed the Scout project in an agenda item for an all-hands meeting taking place this week in San Francisco. “With the Scout app, we start to explore browsing and consuming content with voice,” Mozilla said. A sample command shows how it might work: “Hey Scout, read me the article about polar bears.”

Voice control over electronic devices, once a sci-fi idea, is increasingly common as we talk to our digital doodads to make calendar appointments, dictate messages and search for TV shows. New artificial intelligence technology is key to letting computing devices understand us — and communicate back to us with voice. Services like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri sound ever more human.

For Mozilla, a voice-controlled browser could open up a new way to use the web, and provide a possible source of growth and relevance for a browser maker that’s struggled to compete with Google’s Chrome. Chrome accounts for 58 percent of web usage compared with Firefox’s 5 percent, according to analytics firm StatCounter.

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Curated by (Lifekludger)
Read full article at Source: Firefox makers working on voice-controlled web browser called Scout – CNET