Google Assistant

Virtual assistants aren’t really a new technology, but over the past couple of years, they’ve become more and more important to our daily lives. Amazon had a big head start with its Alexa platform, but Google quickly caught up with its own Assistant. Now, a study is confirming what we already knew – Google’s is better.

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Podcasts are a great way to keep up with topics you care about, but it can be hard to keep up with a bunch of them. There are dozens of apps out there, but one of the most convenient has been the one built into Google Assistant. Now, that podcast manager is finally getting an upgrade that allows it to remember your progress.

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Google Assistant is a powerful tool, but some of its best tricks are only handy if you can access them in time. On LG’s upcoming flagship, the G7 ThinQ, the company wants to solve that with a dedicated button for launching the Assistant…

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Beyond a brief ill-fated “experiment” involving Beauty and the Beast last year, Google has yet to monetize its Home smart speakers with ads. However, this may soon change as the company plans to debut a new “How To” video format for Google Assistant at I/O 2018.

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A Google Home user recently asked the Assistant about the current weather and was greeted with a response about checking it with a third-party service. If this has happened to you, don’t worry, this isn’t an ad…

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Coachella and YouTube have long been partners with the latter livestreaming the concert series. This year, the rest of Google is joining with an Assistant Action for Home and phones, while the Made by Google team is continuing its advertising blitz with Pixel photo booths.

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Since its launch in 2016, Google Assistant has undergone several redesigns to the primary interface, settings, and Explore. The latest introduces a new UI for the initial onboarding experience that welcomes users to Google’s smart assistant.

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Security is really important in this day and age, and that’s true both in our online lives and in our homes. To make home security a breeze, Nest has become a hub for everything from security cameras to video doorbells. Last year, it also launched the Nest Secure alarm system, and now that’s getting integration with Google Assistant.

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One of the most common uses of Google Assistant, especially on smart speakers, is home control. Being able to adjust lighting with your voice is super convenient, and it’s actually one of our favorite features of Google Home devices. Now, that functionality is getting an upgrade with official support for Philips Hue scenes.

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Starting today, you will be able to send and request money with just your voice using Google Assistant. First announced last year, this feature works on Android or iOS and integrates with the recently rebranded Google Pay.

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With the first Routines launching yesterday, Assistant is now adding another feature that Google announced last month. Meanwhile, text selection in Google Lens for Assistant is now widely available.

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In our APK Insight of the Google app beta on Friday, we spotted Assistant adding new menus for “Purchases” and “Reminders.” Those additions now appear to be a part of an upcoming redesign that removes Assistant’s “Your Stuff” tab.

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Announced at last year’s October 4th event and reconfirmed last month, Google Assistant Routines are finally beginning to roll out. This feature, which allows a single phrase to initiate multiple commands, is launching in the United States and replaces the existing “My Day” feature.

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After being teased last summer, ecobee has officially announced pricing and availability for its new Switch+ smart home accessory. Switch+ is available for pre-order starting today and ships on March 26 for $99 in the US and $119 in Canada. Like other smart light switches, Switch+ includes Alexa integration as well as Google Assistant support for controlling lights  — but Switch+ takes integration with Amazon’s voice assistant a step further by building it in to the light switch.

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We’re here in Austin at the famed South by Southwest music and film (and “interactive”) festival, and Google once again has a significant presence this year, as expected. Besides its Assistant telephone booths and electric cabs, though, the biggest showcase is the Google Assistant Fun House.

If you’re not as fortunate as us and aren’t in Austin right now (sorry for the not-so humble brag), there’s still a good chance you might want to check out the house. Well, you can. We took dozens of photos (and a couple videos, too!) so you can see everything we saw…

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Last month, Google announced that Routines would finally be rolling out in the coming weeks. First unveiled at last year’s 10/4 event, this new feature allows Assistant to do multiple actions with a single command. In version 7.23 of the Google app, we’ve been able to activate the functionality in its entirety.

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