Orb is a new virtual assistant that uses artificial intelligence to help users complete tasks, find information, and manage their lives. Some of the key uses and capabilities of Orb include:
Personal Assistant
One of the main uses of Orb is as a personal assistant that can help you with everyday tasks and errands. For example, Orb can:
- Schedule meetings and appointments in your calendar
- Set reminders and alarms
- Find contact information
- Make phone calls
- Find and book reservations at restaurants
- Order food delivery
- Hail rides from services like Uber
- Check traffic and commute times
Having a personal assistant like Orb can save you time and simplify your day by automating common tasks.
Information Finder
Orb uses natural language processing to understand questions and provide answers. This makes it useful as an intelligent information finder. Orb can:
- Answer general knowledge questions
- Provide weather forecasts
- Define words
- Do quick math and unit conversions
- Lookup facts and figures
- Find local businesses and services
- Provide directions
Instead of opening multiple apps to find information, you can simply ask Orb once to quickly get an answer.
Smart Home Control
Orb has integrations with popular smart home devices and can help control your connected home. You can use Orb to:
- Turn smart lights on/off
- Adjust smart thermostats
- Lock/unlock smart locks
- Control smart switches and outlets
- Check smart security cameras
- View video doorbells
- Monitor smart sensors
Orb allows hands-free control and automation of your home using just your voice.
Entertainment
Orb provides entertainment options to help you relax and enjoy your time:
- Play music from streaming services like Spotify
- Control playback on TVs and media devices
- Tell jokes and funny stories
- Recommend movies and shows to watch
- Lookup movie information like ratings and showtimes
- Play radio stations
- Play games
Orb offers hands-free entertainment so you don’t have to find your phone or remote.
Productivity
Orb includes productivity features to help you stay organized and efficient:
- Create and manage to-do and shopping lists
- Set location or time-based reminders
- Find files on your computer
- Take notes and quickly capture thoughts
- See your calendar and create events
- Get the news, weather forecast, and traffic conditions
- Control other smart devices like robot vacuums
Orb aims to save you time by streamlining productivity tasks in one place.
Health and Fitness
Orb supports leading you a healthier lifestyle:
- Track fitness and sleep data when connected to apps and devices
- Log food and water intake
- Set reminders to move, exercise, or take medication
- Look up nutritional information for foods
- Find recipes and meal suggestions
- Connect with fitness trainers
- Play workout videos
Orb can help encourage healthy habits and routines.
Shopping
Orb makes shopping easier by letting you:
- Create and manage shopping lists
- Get product recommendations
- Find nearby stores and check hours
- Compare prices across retailers
- Track orders and shipping status
- Clip digital coupons
- Checkout and pay through integrated services
- View purchase history and manage rewards programs
Orb aims to simplify shopping by bringing it all into one application.
Travel
For travel, Orb helps with:
- Booking flights, hotels, rental cars
- Getting destination recommendations
- Checking travel and flight statuses
- Viewing itineraries
- Tracking reward points
- Translating words and phrases
- Converting currencies
- Finding local attractions
Orb can be a useful travel assistant and companion.
Finance
For managing your money, Orb lets you:
- Check your account balances
- View transaction history
- Set spending goals and budgets
- Pay bills
- Transfer money between accounts
- Track investments and watch stock prices
- Find ATMs
- Monitor loans and credit scores
- Manage rewards programs
Orb aims to be a financial assistant to simplify money management.
Communication
For communication, Orb offers:
- Messaging through common apps
- Placing and answering calls
- Listening to and responding to emails
- Managing your contacts list
- Scheduling social events and gatherings
- Sending gifting and payments
- Coordinating shared grocery/shopping lists and notes
- Broadcasting messages to groups
Orb can help streamline communication by integrating with the messaging apps and systems you already use.
Education
For learning, Orb provides:
- Dictation and transcription services
- Translation for over 100 languages
- Definitions, spell check, and grammar help
- Calculations and math problem solving
- Tutoring in select subjects
- Flashcards and quizzes
- Research assistance
- Scheduling classes and tracking assignments
Orb aims to assist with educational activities for students of all levels.
Business
For work, Orb offers:
- Scheduling meetings and managing calendars
- Joining video conferences
- Taking notes and dictating emails
- Setting reminders and to-do lists
- Retrieving files
- Performing research
- Completing common tasks like Excel functions or PowerPoint slides
- Integrating with business apps like Salesforce, Slack, Trello
Orb aims to be a virtual assistant to help with business tasks and workflows.
Automation
One key feature of Orb is the ability to automate tasks through:
- Scheduled actions like calendars, reminders, to-dos
- Triggered actions based on location, time, detected presence
- Chained actions to complete multiple steps
- Conditional actions for smarter responses
- Integrations with other apps and services
Automation helps simplify repetitive tasks and streamline your routines.
Customization
Orb offers customization so you can:
- Train the assistant to recognize your voice
- Optimize responses based on your preferences
- Create personalized routines and automations
- Add your own notes and data
- Select your preferred apps and services to integrate
- Customize Orb’s name, personality, and voice
Customization allows you to mold Orb to best suit your individual needs and usage.
Privacy
Orb states that privacy is a key priority, with features such as:
- Local computing to keep data on device when possible
- Encrypted data transmission and storage
- Ability to delete your data
- No audio or transcript recording by default
- No sharing of data to third parties
- Parental controls and access restrictions
- Secure device pairing
Orb promises to be transparent about its privacy practices and keep your personal information safe.
Accessibility
Orb offers various accessibility features like:
- Voice control capability
- Text-to-speech and speech-to-text
- Customizable font sizes and themes
- Screen reader support
- Voice shortcuts and hands-free control
- Compatibility with assistive technologies
- Fall detection and emergency response (on certain devices)
- Reminders for medications, appointments, etc.
Orb aims to provide an inclusive and accessible experience to all users regardless of abilities.
Downsides
While Orb has many potential uses, some downsides include:
- It may not always provide accurate information
- The AI could misunderstand requests
- Too much dependence on Orb could inhibit learning and memory
- Privacy and security issues around data collection
- It lacks human nuance in communication
- Performance is limited by internet connectivity and power
- Potential for misuse through unauthorized access
Users should approach Orb with informed caution, setting appropriate expectations on its capabilities.
Pricing
Orb offers various pricing tiers depending on features:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $9.99/month | Limited integrations, basic assistance |
| Pro | $24.99/month | Expanded capabilities, automation |
| Business | $49.99/month | Team collaboration, business integrations, priority support |
There are also optional add-ons for expanded services or capabilities.
Conclusion
Orb aims to be an all-in-one life assistant that integrates a wide range of services through AI capabilities and automation. It has potential uses across personal, home, work, travel, finance, communication, education, entertainment, shopping, productivity, health/fitness, accessibility, and more. However, users should balance its convenience with informed privacy and security considerations. Overall, Orb represents the next evolution of virtual assistants as they become smarter, faster, and more integrated into our daily lives.