Google is adding four new Assistant features, aiming to streamline how its AI interacts with the smart home, helps with takeout orders, and even helps hunt down a lost device. A new "Hey Google, find my phone" feature works with all Nest smart speakers and smart displays - including the most recent Nest Hub 2nd Generation - to track iPhones and Android devices.
Xiaomi's Mi 11 Ultra flagship Android phone isn't the only Google-powered product the company has today, with a new Mi Smart Projector 2 Pro combining reasonably portable projection with the Google Assistant. The nondescript gray and white box looks more like an oversized smart speaker than a traditional projector, and indeed that's because it's one of those too.
Smart assistants like Siri have once been the butt of jokes when it comes to mishearing their activation hotwords. Users eventually realized, however, how those mistakes can cost them, especially when it came to potential privacy problems and embarrassing situations. The companies behind these smart assistants are always trying to improve how they properly detect hotwords and Google is now trying to practically crowdsource the data Google Assistant needs to learn from but without going through the potentially messy and controversial route of the cloud.
Some productivity gurus emphasize that the brain is for thinking, not for holding "stuff". While some scientists will definitely contest that claim, it's hard to argue that the average human does find it hard to juggle many thoughts and ideas in their head all at once. That's what notebooks, both paper and digital, have been used for centuries and Google is apparently looking into turning its AI-powered Assistant to become the Memory for your digital brain.
Smartwatches are rather curious little gadgets that are like miniaturized and watered-down versions of our smartwatches. For better or worse, that means that smartwatches can't really use the same interaction conventions and UIs that are almost second nature on smartphones. While touch screens and buttons are always an option, Google has been pushing for more hands-free controls on Wear OS using Google Assistant. Unfortunately, an important part of the process has been broken for months before the company committed to working on a fix.
Google Assistant may be the most prevalent smart assistant of the big three but it is surprisingly absent in one important class of devices. It has no official presence on the desktop, even via the Chrome web browser, something that even Amazon Alexa may have an advantage over it. There doesn't seem to be any sign from Google that it has any plans to change that situation so a lone developer took it upon himself to create a Google Assistant Unofficial Desktop Client in the meantime.
If you use Google Assistant on your mobile or own a Google smart device, you can use the company's personal assistant to get facts and fun details about Super Bowl LV. The event will take place this Sunday with most fans watching from home. Who will win? No one can tell you, but Google Assistant is willing to give its best guess.
The Internet has definitely made the world a smaller place and the Internet of Things has made our houses even smaller. Of course, there are risks involved in putting all or even most of your smart home eggs in one basket, be it an Internet basket or some smart home platform, especially when that basket suddenly breaks. That's the reality that some smart homeowners are now finding themselves in when Google Assistant suddenly turned their smart appliances a tad hard of hearing.
Some might question the need or use of a smart display, just as many have questioned the sense of a smart speaker in the first place. Given how we almost always have our smartphones stuck to our hands, it almost feels redundant to have another display in the house. There are, of course, some things that are better or are only possible using smart displays, like these new features that are landing on the Nest Hub and other Google Assistant smart displays.
On the 13th of January, 2021, Google announced the launch of Guest Mode. They've revealed this feature as "another easy way to control your privacy on smart speakers and Smart Displays." That includes Google Nest and Google Home speakers as well as a number of Google-embedded Smart Displays. This system was launched in English, first, and will likely spread to other devices and languages in the near future.
If you got a new Amazon Echo Dot for Christmas, consider turning it off. Chances are you got the device as a gift, opened it immediately, and got to work asking about the weather, movie facts, and told it to sing a song. If you're like me, chances are you then sat the device on a shelf and forgot about it. It's probably still powered up and listening to you right now.
Today the folks at Google revealed a set of new interactive games available for Google Assistant-enabled smart displays. This move should be well-appreciated by the smart display gift-receivers this holiday season, as well as those that've had smart display devices sitting on their countertop this year awaiting new projects and/or activities for the deep dark of winter.