Samsung's virtual assistant might live in your fridge
Ask Bixby about the weather while you're making breakfast.
Whatever you think of the Bixby assistant in Samsung's Galaxy S8, you're about to see a lot more of it. According to Pulse, the company is outfitting its Family Hub 2.0 refrigerators with the AI helper, including both newly shipping fridges and existing units through an update. And while Bixby's voice control is still largely unavailable on the S8, it'll reportedly be a staple feature here -- you could ask about the weather, search for a recipe or play music while you're prepping your next meal.
Don't count on Bixby reaching a fridge near you in the immediate future. A spokesperson tells us that Samsung has "nothing to announce" about its Bixby plans right now, so you may have to stick with the Family Hub 2.0's original software for a while.
You might not be thrilled at the prospect of this update if you see Bixby more as a redundant Google Assistant alternative than anything else. However, it does make sense for Samsung's business strategy. If Samsung is going to compete with Amazon, Apple and Google in the virtual assistant space, it needs to make Bixby as ubiquitous as possible. That means having it always available, whether it's in your kitchen or your pocket.
