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10 best tips to get the most out of Google Assistant
Unlock true Google Assistant potential on your phone
Along with Alexa, the Google smart speaker dominates the market. The 'smart' bit of the Google smart speaker is Google Assistant, which (unlike Alexa) can be accessed via any mobile device, including budget Android phones. That makes Google's assistant a competitor of Alexa and Siri. Since 2016, Google Assistant has evolved from an alarm clock to a personal assistant. If you haven't checked it out for a while, this article brings you up to speed with the top tips for getting the most out of Google Assistant.
Best smart home automation systems in 2024
Add motion-triggered actions, home monitoring, and voice controls to your every morning, noon, and night
Do you remember the first time you saw a smart light respond to a voice command? You probably wanted to have one of these bulbs to call your own. We’re right there with you, but nowadays a simple on/off action by saying “Hey Google, turn the light on,” is home automation in its most simple form. These days, there are entire home automation systems that can control and manage all of your smart home devices, from cameras to lights, under one roof. You’ve probably heard of Google Assistant and Alexa, but these are just two automation tools among many others.
How to turn off voice commands on your Samsung TV
Samsung TVs offer three voice assistants, all of which can be disabled
Samsung televisions have many useful features, including accessibility options, a gaming hub, voice assistants, and enough applications to rival the best streaming devices. Voice commands using Samsung Bixby, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant can be useful if you don't want to navigate the TV's menus when you need to do something.
All Android phones come with the Google app and Google Assistant preinstalled. Ideally, that should be enough for your digital assistant needs, especially considering that the Big G's solution is one of the best around. However, budget and high-end Samsung Galaxy phones come with Bixby — bundled with One UI — on top of Google's defaults.
How to set up and customize Amazon Echo Flash Briefing
Customize Amazon Echo Flash Briefing to get personalized news
From playing music to getting news updates to controlling Amazon Alexa-compatible smart home devices, the Amazon Echo line of speakers has improved our lives. Amazon Echo speakers get even better once you start using Alexa skills. Skills are like mini apps that you control with your voice. One of our favorite Amazon Echo tips is Alexa's Flash Briefing skill to hear all the latest news.
Samsung’s Bixby assistant has been busy learning Indian English
It'll hear you right when you say 'Chicken Tikka Masala'
Samsung is not only notorious for shipping duplicate apps but also packing its own voice assistant along with Android's default Google Assistant. If you live in India and wish Bixby could understand you better, you might be happy to learn that Samsung is finally adding support for Indian English.
A little over a year back, Spotify was found testing its own voice bot with the "Hey Spotify" wake phrase, akin to Google Assistant. Since then, we haven’t heard much about the new voice feature, though it now looks to be rolling out as a wider public release.
Microsoft is basically giving up on Cortana, Android support to die next year
It's getting axed on iOS as well
It was never going to be easy for Microsoft to have a voice assistant on Android when the Google Assistant was out there, and it looks like the company has finally thrown in the towel. Beginning in early 2021, support for Cortana will be ended on Android, iOS, and a couple of small platforms. Cortana had already been phased out in several countries a few months ago, but this change will be global.
Amazon is working on something called "Alexa for Apps," a new feature that will better integrate the company's smart digital assistant with the apps on your phone via voice commands. And we don't just mean asking Alexa to start an app, we mean further passing details from your question or command to the app itself.
Amazon's Alexa app now supports hands-free voice commands — with one important restriction
You still have to open the app yourself first
Amazon's voice assistant works on a ton of devices from TVs to tablets. There's even an Alexa app on Android that lets you talk to Alexa instead of your default voice assistant. Support for full Alexa voice interaction came in 2018, but it's always required a press of the big blue button — until now.
Google Home finally lets you adjust 'OK Google' listening sensitivity
No, Google I wasn't talking to you. No, Google. No. NO
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There's still a little bit of magic every time you say "OK Google" and all your smart speakers, displays, and Android handsets line up to respond with a cacophony of lights and buzzes. But while that makes for a fun little display, sometimes we wish that all these smart devices weren't so sensitive, and that things like Google Home were better about knowing when you were talking to them in particular. Thankfully, it looks like a new "Hey Google" sensitivity setting is about to arrive, letting users control how responsive they want their devices to be.
Google Assistant adds support for router and network control
You'll soon be able to voice-control third-party networking equipment
These days, you can control most of your smart home using only your voice — Google Assistant lets you adjust your bed, mow the lawn, open your closets, start your Xbox, control your TV, and so much more. Routers and networks are the latest new addition to the Assistant's library of natively supported actions, allowing for things like reboots, software updates, and parental controls on third-party networking devices.
John Legend's Google Assistant cameo voice goes away March 23
You might want to Love Him Now before it's too late
Not even a year after the great John Legend lent his voice to Google Assistant, it's been made clear that his graces are indeed only temporary. Google has announced that his cameo voice will no longer be available from March 23.
Spotify is testing an in-app 'Hey Spotify' voice assistant
It could be useful for Spotify's Car View interface
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With Google Assistant pre-installed on any Android phone (and Siri on iPhones), you should think you already have all tools at your disposal when you want to yell at your phone to control your audio playback. However, Spotify seems to think that it needs its own solution. App reverse-engineer Jane Manchun Wong managed to activate a hidden settings panel in the music app that will let you enable a "Hey Spotify" feature you can use while the app is open and on your screen.
Hackers are getting better at hijacking Google Assistant with inaudible ultrasonic commands
Sequels aren't always better, but this one is certainly more effective
Back in 2017, researchers in China reported on a clever way to access a digital assistant, like Google Assistant or Siri, by using inaudible ultrasonic sound waves. Now a new team at Washington University in St. Louis have been working on similar technology, and their version is even more capable (and scary) than the original.
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- As part of the November 2019 Xbox One update that's rolling out today, Xbox Action for Google Assistant is graduating from beta to a full-fledged feature. You'll still need to follow the official setup instructions to get it running, but once that's all taken care of, you'll be able to invoke Assistant to do things like turn your Xbox on and off, open a specific game, adjust volume, and more. Xbox Action for Google Assistant is available in all countries where the Google Assistant is supported, but the Xbox team is quick to note that only English commands are available today with additional languages coming soon.
We've known since June that Microsoft was working on integrating Alexa and Google Assistant with Xbox in lieu of its own voice assistant, Cortana. With Alexa support already up and running on Xbox One, it's now time for Google Assistant to get in on the action.
Until recently, you could only officially talk to Google Assistant on your Smart Display in nine languages. With the addition of Italian, we're now at ten.
At the beginning of the year, we reported Spotify was working on a voice-controlled in-car music-playing gadget, which would connect to the car via Bluetooth to stream your favorite tunes. Today, the company confirmed such a device exists, but it's actually a prototype designed to learn how people listen to music while driving, meaning it won't be commercially available.
According to a report by CNBC, Facebook is allegedly working behind the scenes on a voice assistant. The social network giant hasn't shied away from trying new things, no matter how divergent from its core business, but this latest dabble seems even more interesting, considering people's growing wariness of the company's practices.
There was much excitement among audiophiles when the Sonos One was announced — there might finally be a voice-controlled speaker with half-decent audio quality that doesn't cost $400 (like the Google Home Max). It launched with Amazon Alexa (as did the Beam soundbar) and a promise of Google Assistant at some point this year, but that's sadly been pushed back to 2019.