Google Home

Google’s next generation Pixel and Pixel XL have been thoroughly leaked feature and design-wise over the past few weeks. A new rumor now suggests that Google will also launch a new Chromebook Pixel and smaller Google Home alongside its new phones later this fall.

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Google Home has come a long way since it launched back in October of last year. The air freshener-shaped Assistant speaker was initially criticized for being a little lacking in features compared to Amazon’s competing Echo collection. However, ten months of software updates have made it a much more capable product than ever before.

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Google Home can already do a lot of things, but one of the most anticipated upcoming features is the ability to make hands-free phone calls with the smart speaker. Google announced this functionality back at I/O in June, and it’s now officially going live for all users.

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When someone buys a car from Genesis, they’re given three complimentary years of the company’s “Connected Services.” These services include the ability to remotely lock, unlock, start the vehicle, and much more. Announced today, users will now be able to control their Genesis cars through Google Assistant on smartphones and Google Home…

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We told you earlier this month that Google was rolling out a new Preview Program for the Google Home, and now it appears that some users are finally able to access the program. When it’s available for you, you should see a “Preview Program” option in the “Device settings” page of the Home app…

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Back at Google’s developer conference, it was announced that the company would update the Home to allow for phone calls to be made through the smart speaker. Thanks to a teardown of the most recent Google app, we know that we are now one day closer to that functionality becoming available.

Do you plan to use your Google Home to make phone calls?

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Google Home’s list of compatible features and services has been steadily growing ever since its release, and the latest addition to Google’s smart speaker is Deezer – the fifth music streaming option – which joins Google Play Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, and Spotify.

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The latest beta of the Google app rolled out last night and brings along with it a number of new strings. Announced at I/O, there are more references to making calls through Google Home. There are also mentions to the proactive notifications that are coming to the device later this year.

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Last year, Google introduced a Preview Program for the Chromecast that provided devices with the latest features ahead of time. The company is now expanding the program to include Google Home devices.

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Although Nest may be the first name that comes to mind when thinking about smart thermostats, Honeywell is another popular brand that’s known for its Lyric and Lyric Round offerings. Today, Honeywell has announced that its entire Lyric lineup of thermostats is now fully compatible with Google Home.

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Last year, Facebook poached Regina Dugan, the head of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects, to lead a new hardware group. Building 8’s first products are now coming into light as a new report notes the development of a Google Home smart speaker competitor and a video chat device.

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Google Home has received fairly regular updates since its launch last fall, with one of its latest additions allowing users to play songs that they had either purchased from (or uploaded to) Google Play Music. This allowed Home owners to still listen to tracks on Play Music even if they didn’t have a subscription to the streaming side of the service. Unfortunately for some people, this update has been pretty bumpy since its launch.

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The exodus of talent at Essential continues as it was revealed today that the head of UX for the Andy Rubin startup has joined Google. Liron Damir retains a similar design position as he held at Essential with his new role as head of user experience for Google Home.

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Google Home is capable of a multitude of things, and for a lot of users, one function of Home that’s the most helpful is using it to control smart home devices. Philips Hue light bulbs are the most popular connected lights on the market, and according to numerous reports on the Google Home Help Forum, they simply aren’t working for a lot of people.

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