There are a number of Google Home Essentials that we want to uncover and build as we delve into the power of the Google Assistant and its services over time. And that includes the growing library of Assistant apps.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Not too long ago, I was able to treat the Google Assistant with a level of respect due to the entity that fits comfortably between “faceless voice” and “future robot overlord.” Something happened over the holidays though. With the launch of Pretty Please, being nice to the Google Assistant suddenly became an annoyance.
One of the more popular, modern conspiracy theories is that your phone is always-listening to serve advertisements. The advent of smart speakers has done nothing to stop that “theory,” but a pair of designers have now created a physical accessory to disrupt Google Home from always recording.
Smart home tech began for me with Wi-Fi controlled lighting, and there are a few companies that really shifted my own expectations of what I could do within my home with just a little bit of IoT tech. When the Google Home Mini entered my home over 18 months ago, I didn’t ever anticipate that I’d be spending upwards of $45 on a smart bulb but here we are with a thorough LIFX Mini review and it makes it a key addition to our Google Home Essentials series.
Smart speakers help provide answers about the world in a quick and conversational manner, with Assistant devices particularly excelling due to Google Search. At CES 2019, Google is making every Home and Smart Display into a translation device with Interpreter Mode.
With CES 2019 underway, Google is kicking off the Las Vegas trade show by recapping the last year in Assistant. Google also provided some key availability and usage stats for its smart assistant, while teasing developments for the week ahead.
While beneficial for your health, food logging is a particularly time-consuming task that requires finding the meal and then entering the precise amount eaten. Lifesum aims to make this process easier by letting users do it by voice through Google Assistant.
Christmas time is here and one of the most treasured aspects is about to kickoff when St. Nick leaves the North Pole to deliver presents around the world. Since 2004, the Google Santa Tracker has followed that journey and this year is no different. Google has added more features over time, like fun educational games and even the ability to Call Santa.
Made by Google is well into its third year with the hardware business especially benefiting from the holidays. A lot of Google Home speakers, Home Hub Smart Displays, and other Assistant devices will likely get unboxed tomorrow morning following a flurry of deals. One investor predicts that Google will make approximately $3 billion in profit this year from hardware.
The Google Home Hub is one of the best Smart Display options on the market, albeit there are very few options. It might not have a camera, however, oddly, makes it one of the best options available especially as you have fewer privacy concerns.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Over the years, Home Alone has become a staple Christmas movie, and Google is taking advantage of that nostalgia with a hilarious new ad. “Home Alone Again” features Macaulay Culkin reprising his role of Kevin McCallister, but this time in a smart home powered by Google Assistant.
It’s hard for anyone to argue against Google Assistant being the best voice assistant at answering queries. Assistant has proven time after time that it’s superior. Recently though, one test found that the gap between Assistant, Siri, and Alexa is starting to close quite a bit.
Getting an overview of your daily routine from a Google Home smart speaker is super convenient, but for those of us using G Suite calendars, it simply hasn’t been an option. Now, it appears Google is making it possible for Google Home to read events from shared G Suite calendars.
At I/O 2018, Google introduced six new voices for Assistant based on DeepMind’s WaveNet. This allowed users to customize voice interaction on Android phones, Google Home, and now Smart Displays. Google Assistant today is gaining an Australian-accented and British-accented voice for even more customization.
At Made by Google 2018, the Google Home companion app for Android and iOS was revamped with the Google Material Theme and a focus on controlling all your Assistant smart home devices. Google Home 2.8 continues work on that with a new Routines shortcut to manually invoke macros, and more options for devices.
Following deep Black Friday discounts that led to equally deep consternation among early adopters, the Google Store is continuing its holiday offers on the Pixel 3, Home Hub, and Nest smart home bundles. These deals on Made by Google 2018 products start today, with some ending on Christmas Eve.
As smart speakers proliferate and enter people’s homes, voice as a platform continues to develop and mature. Google is now exploring the “future of audio news” on Assistant with Google News and publications around the world. Asking for news on phones or Google Home will become more personalized and better at delivering updates throughout the day.
With the holiday season underway, Google is announcing a slew of new features for Assistant speakers and Smart Displays. This includes the Pretty Please feature for families announced at I/O 2018, Assistant notes and lists integration, Broadcast Replies, and visual lyrics for the Home Hub.
If you don’t have a Google Home Mini in your bathroom yet, now might be the time to get on that. Google Home Mini is now available in a fourth color, one that Google says is a “blue” — the same color as the “ocean waves.”
Google makes some of the best and most popular smart home devices on the market. From Google Home Hub to the Nest x Yale door lock, the ecosystem is one of the — if not the — most comprehensive out there. The prices this holiday shopping season, but particularly this Black Friday 2018 weekend, make now a better time than ever to go all-in…
Black Friday isn’t slated to officially start until the end of this week, but the deals have already begun to populate at 9to5Toys. This year is set to be one of the biggest Black Friday’s that we’ve ever seen. We expect to see deals on Google-friendly gear at Best Buy, Target, Walmart and many others this week. We’re putting in the long hours at 9to5Toys to make sure you don’t miss the best offers out there. Head below for all of our top Google Black Friday deals and more.
Google’s Chromecast ecosystem makes it easy to get your tunes going around your entire home with speaker groups. By adding compatible devices such as Google Home speakers, you can play the same music in sync across devices. Now, Google is finally making Chromecast speaker groups available.
Amid a series of hardware unveils at 10/9, Google announced several new features for Assistant. The Home View dashboard launched on the Google Home Hub and made its way to other Smart Displays, along with Digital Wellbeing. Google Assistant is now adding Broadcast replies, cooking cards, and more.
Smart Displays allow Assistant to provide visual feedback, but the clear benefit of the screen is as a digital picture frame for Google Photos. An update to the Google Home companion app today preps a “Minimum brightness” setting for the Home Hub, while there are a handful of minor Material Theme tweaks.
