voice-control
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Blue
Blue is a Y Combinator-backed (S25) startup building a voice-first way to operate an iPhone. Its shipping product is the Blue Smart Dictation Keyboard, an iOS keyboard that turns spoken thoughts into polished text and is pitched as roughly four times faster than typing. The longer-term product is a small USB-C dongle plus app that lets you speak a task - send a follow-up, book something, reply to a thread - and have Blue open the right app and carry it out hands-free. The founding team previously worked on Google Assistant, Google DeepMind, and Apple Vision Pro.
Brilliant Smart Home
Brilliant Smart Home (Brilliant NextGen, Inc.) makes smart home control simple by replacing a wall of light switches with an in-wall touchscreen that runs lighting, climate, music, intercom, cameras, and smart devices from one panel and one app. Founded in 2015 in San Mateo, California, the company sells control panels, smart dimmer switches, and smart plugs to homeowners, home builders, and multifamily property managers. After a 2024 bankruptcy and acquisition by Almeida Strategic Investments, it relaunched as Brilliant NextGen with a builder-and-integrator focus and a second-generation Power over Ethernet platform.