Google's speech recognition technology is insanely good - perhaps the best in the industry. But did you know Google stores all your voice searches? Every time you say "Ok Google" or "Hey Google," a snippet of audio containing the command is sent to the company's servers, where it is deciphered. These audio snippets are stored indefinitely (to improve accuracy), unless you delete them and opt out of future collection.
Read MoreGoogle app kills the last remnants of Voice Search, completely switches to Assistant (Updated)
Google Voice Search is dead. Cue in somber music.
For many years before Google Assistant was a thing, Android had a microphone you could trigger to perform actions. It had actions such as calls, texts, emails, music back in 2010, more than 10 languages supported way back in 2012, introduced nicknames and relationships such as "mom" and "husband" in 2014, and had multilingual support also in 2014.
Read More"Hey Google" hotword for phones rolling out to more users
For years, the Google Search app for Android has listened for the voice command "Ok Google." This carried over to Google Assistant, but it hasn't become any less awkward to say. When the Google Home was first introduced, it could listen for "Hey Google" in addition to the old phrase.
Read More"Hey Google" hotword now works for some on phones too [Update]
You know how you can say both "OK Google" and "Hey Google" to Google Home and it will respond to the two hotwords without any discrimination? The same isn't true of Assistant on your Android phone: it only answers to "OK Google." Wait, scratch that, it wasn't true as the command is now working on phones too.
Read MoreTip: Get the ding sound after your "OK Google" command by enabling one accessibility service
Oh Google, all the mysterious ways in which you work will continue to elude us, but now we shall shed the light on one very important puzzle that's been making us scratch our heads for months, nay years. One day you say "OK Google" to your phone and it responds with a ding letting you know it's listening. A few weeks later, you try again, and there's no ding so you have to look at your display and spot that tiny animation on the bottom to figure out if it's listening to you or not. What's the difference? It's not your phone's volume level - you sometimes hear the ding even with Do Not Disturb on and then other times you don't hear it with the volume up to maximum.
Read MoreGoogle is permanently nerfing all Home Minis because mine spied on everything I said 24/7 [Update x2]
When the first home assistants were announced, I was excited. A device I could wake up with a simple hotword that would answer my questions, set reminders, turn on the TV, and dim the lights, all without me having to get off the couch, sounded fantastic. Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot, Google's Home, and a myriad others, most recently the Home Mini, have invaded our kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms. Heck, I put one in the bathroom.
Read More"OK Google, what's this song?" is finally coming to Google Assistant
We don't distribute "finally" in titles gratuitously. In order for a piece of news to earn its "finally," it has to be a popular request and one that's been long in the making and, more often than not, it has to be so logical that its absence baffled us. But today, we have a much-earned "finally" for song search on Assistant.
One of the most beloved features of Google Search has long been asking it what's playing to identify songs around you. It works like Shazam or SoundHound, but without requiring a third-party app. When Google introduced Assistant, everyone was disappointed to see what the command didn't work.
Read More[Neat] "OK Google send voice message" records and sends WhatsApp audio clips
You know what has puzzled me for months? You can say, "OK Google, send a message," and it will listen and transcribe everything you say, but in apps that already have a voice/audio messaging feature, why go through all the trouble? Or at least why not offer the option to just send the audio clip of what you said, as it is, without trying to transcribe it? That would work wonderfully in WhatsApp (and Telegram, Viber, Allo, and other apps) in situations where you either think the speech-to-text won't pick up on some of your words or where you want to say something in a language that isn't supported.
Read MoreThe Best Of AP
Apple Music 2.2 adds user profiles and integrates better with Android: OK Google voice search, app shortcuts, one more widget
Apple Music had a lot of promise when it launched, but the app didn't stick well with the times, especially on Android. It seemed as if the developers behind it just didn't want to bother with anything specific to the Android platform, preferring to stick with the basic features and not making use of all the APIs that were available to them. But with the last release of v2.2, it looks like Apple Music is finally realizing some of its potential on our beloved platform.
But before we focus on that, the headline here is the addition of user profiles so you can now share your favorite music and playlists with friends and discover what they've shared as well.
Read More"OK Google, send a Google Voice message" command is coming soon to help those with Google Voice numbers
Some of you exclusively use their Google Voice (GV) numbers, some have differentiated between friends and colleagues by giving their regular number and GV number separately to each set of contacts, and some might use the GV number occasionally for a few contacts only. Regardless of your case, sending texts from that GV number has been pretty hit-and-miss when it comes to Android Auto, Android Wear, and Assistant. But that should be fixed soon.
As explained by several complaining users in this support thread, if you have a Google Voice number and you set it as the default SMS number in Hangouts then set Hangouts as your default SMS app, when you're using Android Auto and you say, "OK Google, send a text," the command will forego your defaults and just issue a regular SMS text through your carrier number.
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