How voice assistants have doomed the remote control

If there's one common theme at this year's CES 2019 – the Las Vegas tech expo we've been covering all week – it's talking. Not just chatting on the show floor (though there's been plenty of that too). By talking we mean the sheer avalanche of devices arriving with support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and so many other competing voice assistants. In fact, everything from motorcycle helmets, water bottles and phone chargers to doorbells, pianos and toilets at least now has the option of being controlled by voice. "Getting rid of the remote control is one of the strongest use cases for voice technologies," says Mark Lippett, CEO at XMOS, whose farfield voice tech is used in soundbars, Freebox and Skyworth TVs to allow them connect to Alexa.