3 Devices You Might Not Have Known You Can Control With Your Voice

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Voice-activated devices have let us live out some of our Tony Stark dreams over the last several years. Superhero ambitions aside, using a voice assistant to control devices throughout your home offers numerous practical benefits. With voice-control devices, you can reduce screen time, multitask, and streamline your daily routine. However, you might not realize there are various devices and gadgets outside of basic home appliances that you can also control with your voice, such as wearables and upgrades for your vehicle.

This technology offers more than a chance to pretend you're living in "The Jetsons." For example, voice tech is ideal for people with mobility issues, blindness, or similar conditions that might otherwise prevent them from easily using certain devices and appliances. Although the items here may seem like fun applications of an exciting technology, it's worth remembering that these innovations have the potential to make a positive difference in many people's lives. Even if you don't experience any of the above conditions, these gadgets could still make your day-to-day life a little more convenient.

Various types of smart glasses are currently available on the market. Although the specific capabilities of these devices vary somewhat from one model to another, they all generally resemble sleek and stylish eyeglass frames that offer tech-enabled features. Several models also let wearers chat directly with voice-activated assistants and bots to take advantage of said features.

For example, depending on the model they have, someone out for a walk wearing a pair of these smart eyeglasses could ask a voice assistant to play their favorite music. Or, they could ask an assistant to set an important reminder. If a pair of smart glasses includes voice access to Meta's AI assistant, as the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 1) models do, a user can even ask the device to provide them with more information about what they're looking at in front of them. This example demonstrates how the combination of wearable tech and voice-activated tech can take an everyday item and turn it into something uniquely helpful.

Equipping your vehicle with a dashcam can offer various benefits (particularly if you know how to avoid certain common mistakes when installing and using a dashcam). For example, a dashcam can provide proof of good driving to show your insurance company. If you're ever involved in a collision, a dashcam can also ensure there's video evidence indicating who is at fault.

Those are just two reasons the average driver might want to install one of these devices in their car. However, for obvious reasons, adjusting a dashcam while driving is highly discouraged. This can make it difficult to turn on the dashcams in the middle of a drive, ensure that important video gets saved immediately after it's recorded, or make other adjustments on the fly.

Companies like Vantrue address this limitation by offering dashcams that let users operate them through voice commands. With this feature, a driver can turn the screen on or off, turn audio on or off, save video, take photos, and more, all without having to divert their attention from the road. This adds a degree of safety to using a dashcam that models without voice tech might lack.

If you're not a glasses wearer and you don't want to wear non-prescription lenses, you can still enjoy the perks of voice-enabled wearable tech. Just as multiple companies offer voice-activated smart glasses, there are also several rings on the market that let wearers interact with them through voice commands.

For example, the ORII ring gives users the option to check messages, make short phone calls, and navigate their digital music library or streaming service just by talking to a voice assistant via a ring worn on the finger. This might be ideal for someone who doesn't want to constantly take out their phone to complete these tasks.

These rings and the other products on this list aren't just novelties. Because they offer practical value, there's reason to believe voice tech will become increasingly common across more and more gadgets as more users get comfortable with interfacing with their devices this way. In the meantime, if you're just getting started experimenting with these types of tools in your life, familiarize yourself with some of the more helpful voice assistant commands you might not be using yet. The more you learn about this technology, the easier it is to determine what types of voice-controlled devices are right for your needs and lifestyle.