Google Assistant Tips

My feed today was full of news about Google Home’s continued conversation. This is exciting news. However, after reading a couple of news stories about this feature, I started asking myself. How do I end a conversation when I am done? The idea is for Google Home to continue listening to me so that it can […]

Did you know that Google app is now a podcast player too? You can listen to podcasts without subscribing to anything specific. Simply say something like, play the latest episode of This American Life, and Google will start playing the podcast. The best part is, the playback is synced across devices. This means you can […]

Google Books has launched an AI-powered interactive tool where you can talk to books. This is different from searching for books and their content. This is all about conversation. Google says Talk to Books is different from traditional search. “Use this demo as a creativity tool to explore ideas and discover books by getting quotes […]

Google Home can be a good source of ambient sounds for your home. You can initiate this with simple voice commands and Google Home will play the sounds for an hour. If you are using white noise to fall asleep, this is perfect. If you are using it as a background while you work or […]

Google recently added the ability to make purchases using the Assistant. This page is your guide to managing purchases via Google Home. Let’s dive in. Setting Up Payment and Delivery Address Before you can make a purchase using Google Home, you need to set up your payment method and delivery address. Here is how to […]

Google has added audiobooks to Google Play Store. Unsurprisingly, Google’s audiobooks come with Google Assistant support. This means you can ask your Google Assistant to read audiobooks to you. This post explains how to do this and also explains all the additional voice commands that you can use to control audiobook playback. Audiobooks Commands for […]

Google Assistant now supports Netflix profiles. This means you can easily link your Netflix profile to your account and ensure that Home does not get confused between your content and your partner’s content. Requires Voice Match The multiple profile feature works only when you have Voice Match set up on your account. Voice Match is […]

Amazon calls its smart assistant “Alexa”. Microsoft calls theirs “Cortana”. Google, however, decided not to name the Assistant. Or rather, they named it “Assistant”. Yet, you invoke the Assistant by calling it Google. Okay Google, Hey Google, or sometimes even Okay Boo Boo. Is “Holly” The Name? Looking for Google Assistant’s name, the closest I […]

Google Home mini has a nice design that blends into any part of your home. I have had it on my bedside table, and next to my TV. It looked esthetically pleasing in both these locations. I, however, have considered a wall mounted Google Home Mini more than one occasion. When the new Lenovo made […]

How do you get around usually? Do you drive, bike or take public transport? Remember picking this each time you use Google Maps navigation? With Google Assistant, you might have just asked something like “navigate to KFC”. Assistant should ideally know your preferred commute mode and give you directions based on that. Google is preparing […]