All hail the ongoing battle of the virtual assistants. After all, the more that Amazon, Google, and Apple compete with their respective artificial intelligence tools, the easier your life becomes. Now, Google debuted the latest and greatest iteration of Google Assistant, which is built into the entire Google Home family. Thanks to a few new features, you will be better equipped to find answers to your most pressing questions, tackle the most challenging of days, enjoy the best of entertainment, and take full control of your smart home.
As Google reminded us at its hardware event on Wednesday, October 4, Assistant is the only smart assistant that recognizes not only your voice but the voice of up to five folks in your home. That means that each and every one of you can receive personalized treatment from the digital helper. Part of that personalized treatment includes more help with your everyday routine. While you can already say, “Hey Google, good morning,” to access reminders about your schedule, commute time, weather, and news, you will soon be able to control a series of smart home devices as well with a single command. If you say “Hey Google, goodnight!” you will be able to dim the lights, adjust the temperature to your preferred bedtime levels, and be reminded of your first task the next morning.
Assistant is also allowing for further integrations with other Google speakers around the house. For example, if you say, “Hey Google, broadcast it’s time to go,” it will send this message around to other Google Home devices within your home, telling everyone to get a move on without you having to raise your voice.
Google is also now allowing users to control more than 1,000 connected devices from over 100 brands. There are also new ways to control Google-owned Nest products, as well as your Chromecast.
Outside of your smart home, Google Assistant is now able to answer more than 100 million new questions and is also capable of hands-free calling. Following in Amazon’s footsteps, Google lets you call anyone in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada from your own phone number, all from Google Home.
Assistant is now available in five additional countries, including Japan, so if you have yet to experience the benefits of this smart assistant, now’s a grand time to begin.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.
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