AI Assistants
Title | AI Assistants PDF eBook |
Author | Roberto Pieraccini |
Publisher | MIT Press |
Pages | 290 |
Release | 2021-09-07 |
Genre | Computers |
ISBN | 0262542552 |
An accessible explanation of the technologies that enable such popular voice-interactive applications as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. Have you talked to a machine lately? Asked Alexa to play a song, asked Siri to call a friend, asked Google Assistant to make a shopping list? This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a nontechnical and accessible explanation of the technologies that enable these popular devices. Roberto Pieraccini, drawing on more than thirty years of experience at companies including Bell Labs, IBM, and Google, describes the developments in such fields as artificial intelligence, machine learning, speech recognition, and natural language understanding that allow us to outsource tasks to our ubiquitous virtual assistants. Pieraccini describes the software components that enable spoken communication between humans and computers, and explains why it's so difficult to build machines that understand humans. He explains speech recognition technology; problems in extracting meaning from utterances in order to execute a request; language and speech generation; the dialog manager module; and interactions with social assistants and robots. Finally, he considers the next big challenge in the development of virtual assistants: building in more intelligence--enabling them to do more than communicate in natural language and endowing them with the capacity to know us better, predict our needs more accurately, and perform complex tasks with ease.
Virtual Assistant - the Series (4th Edition)
Title | Virtual Assistant - the Series (4th Edition) PDF eBook |
Author | Kelly Poelker |
Publisher | Another 8 Hours Publishing |
Pages | 226 |
Release | 2010 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9780974279084 |
Virtual Assistant - The Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought VA stands alone as the leader in books on starting a virtual assistant business. As the longest standing book in the industry, it's often referred to as the VA Industry Bible, and cited as a "must have" tool for all VAs, new and aspiring. Leaving no stone unturned this book sets the stage for starting, operating, and growing a successful and PROFITABLE virtual assistant business. It has been instrumental in the success of administrative and executive assistants, word processors, and other corporate professionals realizing their dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. Along with their personal experiences, the authors also include words of wisdom, tips, and tricks from numerous industry professionals through the ever-popular "In Their Own Words" section at the end of each chapter and featured throughout the book. This will enable you to see how others are making their businesses successful and provide you with a blueprint on how to do the same with yours.
Virtual Assistant - the Series
Title | Virtual Assistant - the Series PDF eBook |
Author | Diana Ennen |
Publisher | Cork Hill Press |
Pages | 248 |
Release | 2004-08-01 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9780974279053 |
Ennen and Poelker set the stage for starting, operating, and growing a successful, profitable virtual assistant business by covering all the nuts and bolts, including financial planning, pricing services, billing, and setting up business.
Virtual Assistant Assistant
Title | Virtual Assistant Assistant PDF eBook |
Author | Nick Loper |
Publisher | Createspace Independent Publishing Platform |
Pages | 0 |
Release | 2013-08-03 |
Genre | Contracting out |
ISBN | 9781490477602 |
"Take control of your entrepreneurial life and learn how to effectively outsource your non-essential tasks. You'll free up hours every day to focus on what's really important. In the end virtual assistants can help you lead a happier, healthier, and more productive and stress-free life."--Page 4 of cover
Hire the Right Virtual Assistant
Title | Hire the Right Virtual Assistant PDF eBook |
Author | Melissa Smith |
Publisher | Createspace Independent Publishing Platform |
Pages | 146 |
Release | 2016-11-21 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9781539002192 |
Why are you doing EVERYTHING yourself? What would you do if you had even one more hour a day devoted solely to growing your business and making more money? Virtual assistants will make your life easier by taking the stress out of your business life. As a small business owner, you need more time so you can make more money and stay competitive in an ever-changing world. If you're spending less than 70 percent of your time on work that doesn't generate revenue, isn't building relationships, or isn't creating new products, then you're not spending enough time on your business. It means you're spending too much time in your business. This book will show you why Virtual Assistance (VA) is the answer. Hire the Right Virtual Assistant is the complete guide to: Know what a VA is and how they differ from Executive Assistants Understand the benefits and need of a VA - it's more than just outsourcing Hiring the right VA the first time in less time than you think Finally be able to use the VA right away to make the biggest impact in your business and free up your time If you had time right now to work on your business instead of in it, what could you do? Could you make a sale? Visit a client and earn more business? Make another 20 calls a day to land more clients? Work the pipeline? Network? Think about your proven method to gain more clients. Using that method, how many more clients could you have if you had more time? This is where you put a VA to work for you. They work in your business so you can work on your business. I promise that hiring a VA will be the best decision you make for your business. You will get back your time. Scroll up and pick up your copy today!"
The Smart Wife
Title | The Smart Wife PDF eBook |
Author | Yolande Strengers |
Publisher | MIT Press |
Pages | 317 |
Release | 2021-08-31 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 026254279X |
The life and times of the Smart Wife--feminized digital assistants who are friendly and sometimes flirty, occasionally glitchy but perpetually available. Meet the Smart Wife--at your service, an eclectic collection of feminized AI, robotic, and smart devices. This digital assistant is friendly and sometimes flirty, docile and efficient, occasionally glitchy but perpetually available. She might go by Siri, or Alexa, or inhabit Google Home. She can keep us company, order groceries, vacuum the floor, turn out the lights. A Japanese digital voice assistant--a virtual anime hologram named Hikari Azuma--sends her "master" helpful messages during the day; an American sexbot named Roxxxy takes on other kinds of household chores. In The Smart Wife, Yolande Strengers and Jenny Kennedy examine the emergence of digital devices that carry out "wifework"--domestic responsibilities that have traditionally fallen to (human) wives. They show that the principal prototype for these virtual helpers--designed in male-dominated industries--is the 1950s housewife: white, middle class, heteronormative, and nurturing, with a spick-and-span home. It's time, they say, to give the Smart Wife a reboot. What's wrong with preferring domestic assistants with feminine personalities? We like our assistants to conform to gender stereotypes--so what? For one thing, Strengers and Kennedy remind us, the design of gendered devices re-inscribes those outdated and unfounded stereotypes. Advanced technology is taking us backwards on gender equity. Strengers and Kennedy offer a Smart Wife "manifesta," proposing a rebooted Smart Wife that would promote a revaluing of femininity in society in all her glorious diversity.
How to be a Virtual Assistant
Title | How to be a Virtual Assistant PDF eBook |
Author | Catherine Gladwyn |
Publisher | Catherine Gladwyn |
Pages | 140 |
Release | 2018 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9781527222243 |
Do you dream of running your own successful virtual assistant business? Do you want a better work-life balance? Do you want to be your own boss? Do you want to be in control of your health, time, and be there for loved ones? If you’re looking for a book that can give you the tools and the courage you need to change your life… you’ve found it! How to be a Virtual Assistant is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to start and run their own successful business as a VA. This book will guide you through everything you need to be a successful virtual assistant.With an abundance of insider tips on what to do - and more importantly, what not to do - she has included the kind of detail that can make or break a new business, including: •How to find clients •Building your reputation •What to charge •How to network •Working with associates •What to do when you lose a client •How to find your niche Catherine Gladwyn, founder of Delegate VA – Virtual Assistant, went from PA to thriving business owner - and you can follow in her footsteps. Gain insights into every step of the process and practical advice on subjects from finding your niche to finding clients, what services to offer and what to charge, to how to prepare for losing clients and avoid running out of money. ‘Written with honesty, directness and a large pinch of Catherine’s trademark humour, How to be a Virtual Assistant will not only give you vital techniques for building your business but the self-belief you need to step out of your comfort zone and do it! ’Catherine is passionate about cheerleading people who are unappreciated and unsatisfied in their jobs to create a happier, healthier lifestyle for themselves. As she says: “I’ve looked high and low for the definition of work where it says ‘unbearable, depressing, thankless, soul-destroying’, but it doesn’t because it’s not supposed to be!” Voted Most Popular Book for VAs in the Virtual Assistant Voice Awards (2020 and 2019) Amazon bestseller in the Home Based Business category (2020, 2019 and 2018) Amazon bestseller in the Small Business & Entrepreneurship category (2020 and 2019) Listed one of ten best business books in The Independent (2018) Finalist in Wiltshire Business Awards (2017) Nomination for Business Mum of the Year (2018)