Today you can buy a DIY device from Google that'll let you build your own tiny computer. These little kits are called AIY Voice Kit and AIY Vision Kit, complete with "Made by you with Google" stamped on their sides. But wait, didn't you just delete your Facebook because they weren't up front about all your data they were using to serve you advertisements? Hold on here just a minute!
Mobile devices come and go, sometimes faster than we would like. A new model is released every year, sometimes twice a year, and software updates often end two years after launch. As it becomes its own man, Google seems to have also adopted the practice of its OEM partners. Barely two years after it’s highly successful debut, the original Pixel and Pixel XL phones have been removed from the Google Store, perhaps making room for the recently spotted Pixel 3.
I just read about a user of a Galaxy Note 8 whose update to Android Oreo re-activated "OK Google." Or at least it seemed as though OK Google worked again after he'd previously turned off Voice Detection in settings via the Google app. This can certainly happen - but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. It's probably just a mistake, right?
Google has a rather curious strategy when it comes to hardware products. On the one hand, it partners with other manufacturers and licenses them technologies or software to use. On the other hand, it has also started to create its own hardware to compete with those partners. At CES earlier this year, some of those partners revealed their take on a budding new device category called “smart displays”. Curiously, Google didn’t come out with its own. That, however, doesn’t mean it won’t. It might just be letting others test the waters for it first.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Google finally launched routines for Google Assistant. Routines allow Google Assistant to carry out a string of actions with a single voice command, but in this early iteration, its a feature that's rather limited in scope. That may all change soon, as an APK teardown of the latest Google app suggests that the company is getting ready to roll out custom routines.
The Google Assistant is getting a new job as debt enforcer, with new integrations with Google Pay that allow you to simply ask to send and receive payments. The new functionality is aimed at further reducing the headache involved in settling IOUs in an increasingly cashless environment, not to mention encouraging more Google Pay users.
Google might be the go-to for people looking to make a purchase, especially an online one, but a lot of the times it ends at search results. More often than not, those search results lead to a purchase on Amazon, and Google is none too happy about that. Now it is starting a program called Shopping Actions to let searcher become instant buyers without having to leave Google. And it is getting Amazon’s rivals to help set it up.
With smart speakers becoming the next major arena, the pressure to innovate and differentiate is even higher. Amazon has been churning out new types of devices ranging from the odd to the nonsensical to the useful. That last part probably comes in the form of the new “smart speaker with touchscreen” category that Google and its partners have also jumped on. The first batch of such “smart displays” might be nearing launch, with the LG WK9 ThinQ leading the pack with a pre-order but no shipping date as of yet.
Reminders on the Google Assistant are getting a whole lot more useful, with the ability to ask your Google Home to nudge your memory when you get to the store. Building on the voice-managed reminders that were launched back in September 2017, the new location-based reminders factor in your physical position, taking advantage of the fact that the Assistant travels with you courtesy of your phone.
Google has started rolling out Google Assistant Routines, the feature it promised late last year and confirmed was soon inbound last month. Routines, as with the similar feature available with Amazon's Alexa, enables Google Assistant users to chain together multiple actions under a single command. By doing this, users can trigger a series of actions using a single phrase based on need.
While it's a relatively safe assumption that most iPhone and iPad users prefer Siri to other AI assistants, there are always going to be some who are faithful to others. If you're an iOS user who prefers Google's apps and ecosystem, then good news, as the company is launching Google Assistant for iPad today. This iPad version follows last May's launch of Google Assistant on iPhone.
Today Google Assistant Custom Device Actions were announced by the company as just the latest in a line of expansions to its voice assistant ecosystem. The newest additions come in the form of Custom Device Actions, and they're about to add one whole heck of a lot of variety to their connected device ecosystem. Working with Google to add Google Assistant voice command recognition to their system was possible before; it's just that now, with this new feature, it's a whole lot easier.