Just last month, Google was forced to limit Nest and Home devices to one Speaker Group in response to the Sonos lawsuit. The underlying patent has now been ruled invalid by a US judge.
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If you’re a Sonos user on Android, a useful feature is going away. Local media files will soon no longer be supported by the Sonos app on Android.
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The saga continues this week, as Google has just filed a new lawsuit against Sonos just months after an unfortunate ruling that saw Sonos win and force Google to disable or break features for many of its products.
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Back in January, Google had to make changes to Speaker Groups because of the US ITC ruling in favor of Sonos. Another “interruption caused by Sonos” is now responsible for some Pixel phones in the United States and Canada being unable to to set-up Google Home devices.
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The US International Trade Commission today found that Google infringed on five Sonos patents relating to smart speakers and audio. This could lead to an import ban of Google speakers, phones, and Chromebooks that violate those patents.
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Google and Sonos have been engaged in a semi-public feud over the past couple of years, which has seen some legal battles as well. Following a lawsuit started in early 2020, a preliminary ruling has been passed down that accuses Google of infringing on several Sonos patents.
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As a court case between Google and Sonos rages on, an interesting tidbit has recently come out. Google says that there are technical issues preventing Google Assistant and Alexa from running side-by-side on the same device, but Sonos claims they’ve figured it out.
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The tech behind Chromecast, once known as Google Cast, is available in everything from TVs to soundbars and speakers from variety of different brands. As a result of an ongoing lawsuit with Sonos, though, Google may soon need to stop selling smart speakers and other cast devices in Germany.
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Google Assistant is available on devices of all shapes and sizes, but the vast majority of useful smart speakers that support it are designed to be used in one place, indoors. I’ve been wanting a solution to bring Assistant and, in turn, Chromecast audio around my home wire-free. As it turns out, the Sonos Roam is exactly what I’ve been looking for.
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Earlier this year, Sonos sued Google alleging patent infringement related to smart speakers. In a countersuit, Google is alleging that it contributed “substantial Google engineering resources” to help Sonos in the past.
Before Sonos sued Google in January, the two companies worked closely to bring Assistant to Sonos speakers. Despite that lawsuit, the integration continues to get new features, including the highly desired ability to set Sonos as the default speaker on the Nest Hub, Google Home, and other Assistant devices.
Sonos is suing Google over alleged theft of its smart smart speaker technology, The New York Times reports. Sonos is filing in two federal court systems and seeks financial damages for the alleged theft of smart speaker technology across 5 patents. The alleged theft reportedly originated with a Google Play Music-related partnership in 2013.
As confirmed last week, Google Assistant is finally coming to Sonos speakers after being delayed last year. A software update rolling out today will allow users to say “Hey Google” to issue commands, ask questions, and control their Assistant smart home on the Sonos One and Sonos Beam.
Sonos speakers are a step up for most home audio systems and the just added Google Assistant support makes the products even more appealing. The Sonos One and Beam are now frustratingly close to being a better Google Home, but ultimately are not direct replacements, especially if you’re already invested in the Google ecosystem.
Google Assistant support on Sonos was originally scheduled for 2018, but delayed last November to this year. At CES 2019, Google reiterated that timeline, with the functionality finally coming next week.
Since launching last year, YouTube Music has slowly added new features like Top 100 Charts and design tweaks earlier this month on Android and iOS. Today, Google’s latest streaming service is adding Sonos speaker integration.
Sonos spent most of last year promising that their otherwise acclaimed Sonos One smart speaker would be getting Google Assistant support. Today, at CES 2019, Google has announced that the Assistant is finally arriving on not only the Sonos One, but also the Sonos Beam smart soundbar.
Sonos has been promising the arrival of Google Assistant on its “One” speaker since its launch, but over a year later, there’s still nothing. Today, the company revealed in a blog post that Sonos Google Assistant support is being pushed back to 2019.
Nearly a year ago, Sonos debuted the Sonos One speaker. The high-end speaker company said at the time that Assistant would eventually arrive on that speaker, but now we’re finally getting a timeline for that functionality.
In addition to promising Google Assistant support next year, Sonos has unveiled its latest wireless speaker: the Sonos One. The new model replaces the Sonos Play:1 in the lineup at the $199 level with models available in both white and now black. Sonos One is the company’s first wireless speaker with built-in voice control.
The popular media streaming server Plex is announcing support for Sonos today, meaning you’ll now be able to access your Plex library from within the Sonos app for streaming to your Sonos speaker system.
Plex detailed how the integration works on its blog:
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The Chromecast Audio was announced with the ability to basically replicate the functionality of a high-end Sonos system, but at a much cheaper price of $35. An update rolling out starting today further fulfills that with multi-room and Hi-Res audio support…
I don’t own a Sonos speaker – I used to, and an update today to the Sonos Controller really makes me wish I still did: Spotify users now get access to a ton a great discovery features that were previously missing.
Sonos is beta-testing a remote controller for its music systems on Android Wear. A user in the Sonos support forum noticed controls showing up on his Moto 360 watch while running a beta version of Sonos Controller for Android.
Sonos already works on my Moto 360 !!
OK, only pause, next and back. No volume control.
Sonos owners can sign up for the Beta Program here.
Google recently rolled out an update to Android Wear which included support for both offline music–allowing music to be stored on a smartwatch–and GPS.
Via Zatz Not Funny
