Google Home
As October’s Made by Google event nears, more and more devices are hitting the FCC for regulatory approval ahead of retail availability. Following this week’s leak, a Home device that is likely the Google Home Hub has arrived.
Google has long been rumored to be launching its own first-party Smart Display, and now it looks like we have our first solid leak of the device. It’s called the “Google Home Hub” according to images and details shared today by MySmartPrice, and it’s essentially a tablet-esque 7-inch display mounted on a speaker base with a design similar to other Google Home products.
User feedback is an important part of improving any service, with all Google apps on Android featuring a quick way to do so. However, getting feedback on a product with a voice interface is slightly harder. Google Home and Assistant does so by asking users how satisfied they were using a one to five scale.
Digital Wellbeing is a company-wide initiative that Google announced at I/O 2018. So far, it has launched in YouTube and Calendar, with a launch on Android set for this fall. Google is now preparing to bring Digital Wellbeing to Google Assistant and Home smart devices.
The Internet of Things is rapidly growing in popularity, and Google has played a big part in expanding that. Now, the company is announcing a partnership that will bring connected devices to the home from the moment it is built.
Google announced bilingual support for Assistant back in February, and at IFA 2018 it’s beginning to roll out the functionality in six languages. Users can speak to Assistant in two default languages with phones and smart speakers able to understand and reply back in either.
Earlier this year, Google Home began visualizing responses to certain queries when connected to a television via Chromecast. Google Assistant is now expanding the number of visual responses that will be overlaid on a big screen, while making voice Casting more seamless.
Earlier this month, the Google Home Max finally became available outside of North America following an Australian launch. Today, the premium Assistant smart speaker is coming to a handful of European countries and doubling its global availability.
Google Assistant was announced two years ago at I/O and quickly made its way to Home smart speakers and Android devices. Just last month, the first Smart Displays were released with Google today detailing what it has learned about Assistant usage since the launch.
Pandora has been one of the longer-standing streaming options on Google Home, but it’s been limited to just automated radio stations until now. Google has today announced that Pandora Premium, the web radio company’s on-demand streaming service, is now available on Google Home devices.
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In time for back-to-school, the Google Store is hosting another seasonal sale on Made by Google hardware. Given the rumored proximity to new products, the deals are on the more generous side. The most sought after devices go on sale today, with a number of Home and Chromecast deals going live later in the month.
One of the top use cases for a smart speaker like Google Home is controlling smart home devices. Now, thanks to a quiet update, Google is making that feature a little bit smarter…
International availability for Google’s hardware is still limited and involves a slow process even after three years. The latest launch is for the Home Max, with Google’s premium Assistant smart speaker coming to Australia on August 9th.
At I/O 2018, Google announced a number of new features for Home smart speakers including six new voices, Continued Conversation, and Multiple Actions. Custom Routines were also introduced to replace Shortcuts and today the feature is gaining the ability to schedule the macros to trigger at set times.
Last week, the latest version of Google Home rolled out with a rename of Backdrops to Ambient Mode. Besides the new branding, the Chromecast screensaver now features redesigned in-app settings and more customization options.
Last month, we learned that the Google Home is preparing a Material Theme redesign with a handful of new features. Till that launches, version 1.30 is rolling out this evening with support for Assistant Smart Displays and other smart home devices.
Amazon Echo owners have been able to control their Dish Hopper DVRs over a year now using Alexa voice commands. If you’ve been living in envy, the wait is now over as the Google Assistant can now help you watch your favorite shows all without picking up a remote.
Since I/O 2018, major Google apps like Account settings, Maps, and Podcasts have been updated with the Material Theme, while we’ve enabled a revamped Android Messages. The latest app to test the new look is the Google Home app for managing smart speakers and Cast devices.
Following yesterday’s widespread Google Home outage, Google’s VP of Home products Rishi Chandra has sent an email to all Google Home customers apologizing for the incident.
If you’re an avid Google Home and or Chromecast user, there’s a chance that you’ve encountered an error message this morning or just found that your device isn’t working. Don’t worry, you aren’t alone and Google is working on a fix.
After first rolling out to some earlier this month, Google has today officially announced that the Google Assistant on Google Home can now understand and speak Spanish.
At I/O 2018, Google announced and immediately launched a slew of new Assistant features like six new voices, Multiple Actions, and Custom Routines. Today, the Google Home will no longer require that you repeat a hotword for every command thanks to Continued Conversation.
Continued Conversations is a new Google Home feature that allows users to ask the Google Assistant follow-up questions without having to repeatedly say the “Ok/Hey Google” hotword. Unfortunately, new and old Google Home users alike will need to manually turn Continued Conversations on for the feature to work. Here’s how.
A new survey of smart speaker owners found that only 6% of them are currently using the device to control smart home devices like lighting and heating.
Interestingly, playing music was only the third most common use …