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Latest Google Home Mini update appears to break the speaker for some
Google has only partially acknowledged the issue
The Google Home Mini was one of the best budget smart assistant speakers of its time. Launched in 2017, the $50 speaker delivered average sound quality but made up for it with Google Assistant integration. During major sale events, the speaker was heavily discounted to as low as $20, making it a great impulse buy. If you love your Home Mini and use it daily, you might want to ensure the speaker does not install the latest update to avoid bricking it.
Google seems to have finally stopped selling the original Home Mini
Since everyone already has a dozen...
The Google Home Mini hit store shelves in late 2017 as a smaller, more affordable alternative to the company's original smart speaker. Unsurprisingly, it was a massive hit, and an upgraded "Nest Mini" was released just two years later to even more critical acclaim. Google has kept the Home Mini on the market in the years since, offering it at steep discounts and even for free with certain memberships or subscriptions. It seems like its time may have finally come, however, as it's unavailable in several places online.
Google Home's 'suggestions' are annoying and useless, and it's time for them to die
By the way, no, I don't want to check sports scores, Google
Imagine if every time you opened Gmail in the morning, you got a notification reminding you that you could attach files from Google Photos to your emails. Wouldn't that be incredibly annoying? On an unrelated note, ever ask your Google Home what the weather is, only for it to then "helpfully" suggest you set up the "Good morning" feature? Or check sports scores? Or tell you how to play the news? Or one of a handful of other not-very-useful tips and tricks you in no way asked for? You're not alone, and neither are you alone in the realization that there is no guaranteed way to stop these useless engagement experiments.
Google is going all-in on turkey fun this Thanksgiving
New Duo filters and a turkey timer on the Assistant on top of a Translate easter egg
Following its English to turkey translations in Search, Google has introduced some more fun Thanksgiving Easter eggs. On smart speakers and displays, the company has added a small audible and visual surprise when you tell the Assistant to set a turkey timer, and there is a new turkey filter in Duo that you can use for some laughs with your family while socially distancing.
Make your home smarter by adding a Nest Mini for just $30 ($20 off)
Google got jealous of seeing these Echo Dot deals for Prime Day
Like every year, Amazon is discounting a lot of its products for Prime Day, a moment a lot of people eagerly wait for, so they can snatch Echo or Kindle devices at a steal. This year, the retailer is selling its third-generation Echo Dot for just , which is $21 cheaper than its normal price tag.But what if you prefer to use Google Assistant? Well, you're in for a treat, as the latest generation Nest Mini is also on sale, currently down to $30, representing a $20 markdown compared to its regular price. Sure, that's $11 more than the Echo Dot, but at least you're getting the newest model, instead of the outdated one.
The best smart home devices you can buy right now (Fall 2020)
From voice assistant speakers to robot vacuums, and everything in between
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Millions of homes now contain a smart assistant speaker of some variety and sales of IoT products continue to grow as the market matures and prices come down across the sector. With so many options available, it's hard to know what to buy, and that's where we come in — this is a selection of our favorite smart home gadgets. Whether you want to just dip your toes in the water with a cheap Google Nest Mini or dive into the deep end with smart lights, cameras, thermostats, doorbells, and so on — we’ve got you covered.
Ringing alarms and timers on a Google Nest speaker can now be stopped from another room
Ding! Time for an overdue feature addition
Stop me if you think you've heard this one before. You set up a cooking timer on your Nest speaker or display in the kitchen, then go chill in the living room or the bedroom. When the timer rings, it just doesn't stop until you move your ass over to the kitchen and talk to that particular speaker, because yelling "stop" to the other Assistant units littered around your house doesn't do anything. We've complained about this for years, but the problem should finally be far behind us as Google is rolling out timer and alarm control across the entire house.
Google Assistant's Family Bell virtual nanny is now official
Reminders to eat, sleep, and take a break
Google has officially introduced a neat nagging new feature for its Assistant speakers and smart displays called Family Bell, starting to roll out today. If you're the kind of person who often forgets to eat or sleep on time, who procrastinates a lot, works for hours and forgets to stretch their legs, or otherwise misses the regular time cues of a normal day, you'll be able to rely on Assistant to remind you of all of them. Consider it a virtual parent or nanny living inside your speakers and always looking out for your best interest.
This is Google's upcoming Nest speaker, the successor to the original Google Home
The strange shape of things to come
The original air freshener-shaped Google Home speaker was announced a full four years ago, and we've long heard rumors of a successor with Nest branding in the same vein as other recent products. We're now getting what appears to be our first proper look at this new speaker, and boy does it have a weird shape.
How to preserve some privacy when you're using a Google Assistant speaker
You don't have to forgo a Google Home completely
Google Assistant speakers can be great tools, giving you an easy entry into voice-controlled home automation, but they can also feel like spies giving Google intimate insights into your life and daily routines. If you don't want to go without the convenience an Assistant speaker offers, there are at least some things you can do to make it less invasive.
How to factory reset your Google Home, Nest Mini, Nest Hub, Chromecast, or other Assistant device
It's a little different for every model
While smart speakers have rapidly become ubiquitous in many of our homes, there are practical things about them—like initiating a factory reset when you sell them—that just aren't intuitive without a bit of Googling. And since the Assistant (fortunately) won't abide your voice request to initiate one, that means this is one smart speaker and display feature that requires going hands-on. Fortunately, it's pretty easy in most cases for devices like Google Home, Nest Home, and Nest Hub.
Google UK Easter deals: Save big on Pixel, Google Nest, and Chromecast
Pixel 4 discounted by £150, Pixel 3a starts from £299 (£30 off), and Nest Mini is just £29 (£20 off)
It's prudent to buy Google products at certain times of the year since they are often discounted on special occasions. The next sale season is Easter, and Google UK has a range of deals to entice you. Not only can you get money off some of its newest products like Pixel 4 and Nest Mini, but a few older devices are also down in price.
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Google Assistant has supported the Indonesian language on phones and TVs since March 2018, but since not all Assistant devices are created equal for languages and features, that meant smart speakers were left out of the loop. That's changing now.
Google finally acknowledges Bluetooth disconnection issue on Home speakers
Users have been complaining for more than a year
For most of us, Google Homes are Assistant and cast speakers first: We either ask for music or audio to be played or we use them like a Chromecast target from our phones. But that's discounting two other ways they can be used: as Bluetooth speakers and as source to stream to other Bluetooth speakers. For more than a year now, that functionality has been broken and Google Homes haven't been able to maintain a Bluetooth link without disconnecting, but the Mountain View giant has finally acknowledged the issue.
Someone took apart a rotary phone, removed the call-making guts of it, and replaced them with a Google Home Mini. The best part about this mess of circuitry? The receiver acts as the smart speaker's output. Yes.
Ambient IQ might finally be coming to Google Nest speakers (Update: Not new)
It'll adjust the volume and EQ of podcasts to counteract background noise
Google has an unfortunate habit of announcing interesting features long before they actually become available, and that's again what we've seen in the case of Ambient IQ. Not to be confused with Ambient EQ, which intelligently changes the brightness and color temperature of the display on the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max, Ambient IQ does a similar thing for audio. After being introduced in October last year alongside Google's latest hardware, the feature looks set to finally make an appearance.
Guest mode is one of the Chromecast's relatively unknown but very handy features. It uses location proximity and WiFi availability to allow guests to cast content to your speakers or TVs without logging in to your WiFi network, provided they have the specific PIN code for that device. Whether you're throwing a party or have temporary visitors and you don't want to bother with sharing WiFi access, you can simply give them a 4-digit code and let them choose the media that gets played. The feature launched in December of 2014 on Chromecasts and carried over to Google Homes — because they're essentially cast targets. However, it now seems to have disappeared from all devices but Chromecasts.
What's better than an Echo Dot or Google Nest Mini smart speaker? How about a smart speaker that can charge all the things? Accell's new Power Dot Office does just that, and it's now available for $55.Accell announced the Power Dot Office as part of its 2020 product lineup, even though it came out last month. The accessory is a round hub device with four protected AC outlets, three USB Type-A ports, and one USB Type-C connector. The hole in the top is for inserting an Amazon Echo or Google Nest/Home Mini. You can also put some candy in there, if you want. It's a free country.The Accell Power Dot office with an 8-foot power cord is available now in white and black on Amazon for $54.99. You can also get one with a 16-foot cable for more.Source: Business Wire
Winter is here in the northern hemisphere and you might be looking for ways to cozy up your home. Smart lighting can certainly brighten things up, but the price to get started sometimes feels prohibitive. Luckily enough, you can grab a Google Smart Light Starter Kit, as well as an additional GE C-Life smart bulb, for just $29 ($39 off) at Kohls.
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Back in November last year, Spotify was giving out free Google Home Minis to Premium for Family account holders, in order to encourage people to sign up to its plan. The company is renewing its offer this year but is now making it available to both Family and individual subscribers, regardless of whether they're new members or have already been using a paid subscription.