Google Assistant

In the future, Google Assistant is gaining a wild futuristic feature where it can make phone calls to restaurants and hair salons, for example. In essence, users can have Assistant make a call on their behalf that sounds natural and understands nuance, while being able to fail gracefully if it cannot handle the call.

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Google is rolling out a ton of new features to its products today at I/O, and for Google Assistant, we’re getting the reveal of a few new voices, including a celebrity guest.

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At I/O 2018, Google is announcing a slew of new Assistant features. In addition to custom voices, Continued Conversation, Multiple Actions, and updated family features are rolling out in the coming weeks and months.

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The overwhelming theme of last year’s Google I/O keynote was machine learning. While Sundar Pichai and company will continue to tout AI advancements this year, the company is also focusing on “responsibility,” with Android adding new time management controls.

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In the past year, Android TV gained a new home screen interface with Oreo that prioritizes content, as well as the Assistant for commands and managing smart home devices. When connected to a sound system, this latter feature essentially makes Android TV a smart speaker. Google is now embracing this convergence with a series of hybrid Assistant and Android TV devices.

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Earlier this week, Google announced that Assistant on Wear OS would be getting a variety of new features. As promised, Google has now begun rolling out this update to users.

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Movie season is in full swing this month with the arrival of major blockbusters like Avengers: Infinity War taking over theaters around the world. Now, to make it easier to secure seats to your favorite flick, Google has just announced a partnership that makes it possible to order tickets from within Google Assistant…

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The latest beta of the Google app is rolling out this morning following last week’s update that made the Pixel’s “At a glance” widget available on other Android devices. Version 8.2 reveals work on setting a default Notes and List app for Assistant, some renamed sections, and other features.

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In recent weeks, Wear OS has undergone a lot of notable developments from the rebrand to the Android P Developer Preview. Today, just ahead of I/O 2018 next week, Google is announcing a number of updates to make Google Assistant more full featured.

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When it first launched, one of Google Assistant’s biggest weak points was the number of smart home devices and services it could connect to. While there are still a few services we wish it could integrate, Google has done a lot to round out the smart home functionality, now working with 5,000 different devices.

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With I/O 2018 less than a week away, Google has updated the official Android companion app with a more detailed map and better navigation tools for conference attendees. Meanwhile, earlier in the week, Google also launched an Assistant Action.

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This morning, LG officially unveiled the G7 ThinQ. While there wasn’t much new about the handset, the South Korean company did add a physical button to the handset’s left side that can be used to trigger Google Assistant and Lens.

Would you want Google to include a physical Google Assistant/Lens button on the Pixel 3?

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Hot off the heels of supporting Assistant Actions and hardware with a new investment fund, Google today also launched a new design guide for creating apps on its latest platform. Similar to the Material Design guidelines, it provides an introduction and walkthrough for both new and experienced developers.

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For Google, artificial intelligence and Assistant is frequently touted as the future of technology and the company. To keep its lead, Google often invests in startups through GV, while also maintaining a VC fund specifically aimed at AI investments. Today, the company is now investing in startups that work on the Google Assistant.

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LG officially unveiled its latest flagship smartphone today with the LG G7 ThinQ. The phone offers quite a few new features, but one of its most interesting aspects is how it integrates Google Assistant. Hidden in LG’s press release, though, is an interesting tidbit about Google Lens – we’re getting new features at I/O.

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We’ve been hearing about it for weeks, and now it’s finally official. Following an event this morning, LG has officially debuted the LG G7 ThinQ, it’s latest flagship smartphone…

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Google Assistant speakers come in all shapes and sizes as this point, but one form factor we haven’t seen much of is the “retro” look. There were a couple of options that launched back at CES, but it’s been quiet since. Now, Como Audio is bringing a new “SpeakEasy” Hi-Fi speaker to the market.

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Google Assistant continues to add new first-party capabilities and update existing functionality, like remembering podcast playback across devices. Its latest feature is slightly more minor and sees the addition of a “Stocks” section to Settings.

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