Category: Google Home

Google is rolling out some cloud-side change to Google Assistant that will be great additions.  The new updates were announced today with the headliner being that you can now set alarms to sound off with music instead of the default beeping.  To do this, just say “Hey Google, set an alarm for 6 tomorrow morning that plays (insert artist name)”.  This is a much more personal experience but also should prove to be far less jarring when you are woken up by your favorite artist instead of a harsh beeping.

Improvements have also been made in Google Assistant to help you find your favorite television shows.  This builds on some of the functionality that Assistant already has, including the ability to start playing a show from your Chromecast enabled television on Netflix or Google Movies & TV.

In an unannounced updated, Google and Netflix have been partnering to give Voice Match support to the streaming service when using Google Assistant.  With Voice Match you can now have your Netflix profile linked to your voice for your personalized content on the service when you invoke it from Assistant.

Voice Match is aimed at personalizing information for you when you interact with Google Assistant.  For example, if I speak to Assistant through my Google Home, I will get my personal information (like my calendar) while if my wife speaks to it, she gets her personalized information.  Think of this addition to Netflix as an extension of that same service.

For the first time in many years, Google will be at CES in Las Vegas this coming week.  It is the first time the company has had any real presence at the massive electronics show since 2015 but it has been a lot longer than that since they have had a booth.  Not only will they have a booth, a massive one in the Central Plaza, but it looks like they are going to be heavily focusing on Google Assistant during the show.

The company made a blog post yesterday, highlighting the growth of Google Assistant and Google home over the course of 2017.  Assistant is now available on 400 million devices and in a doze different countries.  But the takeaway from the post was the last paragraph.

No matter where you are, the Google Assistant is here to help you make the most of 2018. And next week, we have even more things in store for the Assistant at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. If you’re at CES, stop by the Google Assistant Playground (Central Plaza-21) to check out some of our new integrations, devices, and the newest ways you can use your Assistant

It would appear that next week, we are going to see some announcements about Assistant and, potentially, some new hardware.

One of the best features of Google Home when it comes to audio is one that I suspect many have not heard of or used.  It is called Home Grouping and it allows you to put your Home and Chromecast audio devices into a logical group inside the Home app.  Once done, you can give the command to play music on that group and it will play across all of your Home devices.  It is a great feature and is easy to setup.

First, make sure you have the latest Google Home app on your phone.  Next, make sure that your phone and the Home, and the Chromecast devices you want to add to your group are all on the same network.  In other words, you can’t do this while you are on a business trip or on holiday.  You have to be home to do it.  Finally, make sure all of your Home device and Chromecast devices are turned on so they can be found.  With that, let’s get to the How To.

Of all of my Google devices, Google Home is quickly becoming my favorite.  I use it for everything from catching up on the morning news, listening to music or podcasts, and getting information with a simply command.  With Google Assistant built-in and Google continually adding functionality, we are only now seeing the tip of the iceberg of what Google Home could be doing for us and our smart homes in the future.

Normally Google Home is $129 but through the month of December, at the Google Store, you can pick one up for $79.  That $50 savings would effectively let you buy a Google Home Mini (nearly two in fact) so you can have Google Assistant available to you in multiple rooms in your home.  The Home Mini is down to just $29 right now at the Google Store.

Google Assistant on Google Home has picked up a nice new feature that allows you to give it two commands at once.  To this point, when you wanted to ask Assistant for something, you had to ask it one command at a time, even if they were associated with each other.  For example, you could ask, “What is the temperature outside?” but you would have to wait until it gave you the temperature information before you could tack on, “Do I need a rain coat?”   Now you can issue those commands as one single command joined with the conjunction “and”.  Now I can ask, “What is the temperature outside and will I need a rain coat?”

Not all commands work this way yet and not everyone is seeing this new functionality.  It is a cloud-side change on Google’s part so it is a matter of it making its way to Google Assistant on your account.