Google Home

Kainz · 19 Oct 2017 at 13:29

My GH last night was having another dumb moment. Ask it a simple question and it 'doesn't know how to do that'. Quite annoying having to ask it to switch on the lights and it has a dumb moment!

sesevans · 19 Oct 2017 at 19:40

Kainz said:
My GH last night was having another dumb moment. Ask it a simple question and it 'doesn't know how to do that'. Quite annoying having to ask it to switch on the lights and it has a dumb moment!

Frustrating for sure but help is on the way. I somehow think that you and I both know this problem can be solved and Google Home will just keep getting better. Remember, AI and deep learning is now in their DNA and GH and Google Assistant are key to them to spread this feature. So why am I so confident?

Ever heard of Alpha Go? You remember last year when Google used AI from its UK subsidiary Deep Mind to beat the world's leading Go champion? The world was really shocked that this could have happened. Now, one year later, Google introduces Alpha Go Zero. The "zero" in the name means zero human intervention. In other words, the machine taught itself from scratch. The Guardian link below explains it:

https://www.theguardian.com/science...tself-google-unveils-ai-learns-all-on-its-own

So rest easy. Google will fix it.

sesevans · 19 Oct 2017 at 19:43

Since many Google Home users will be purchasing the new Pixel smartphones which currently offer a free Google Home Mini with the purchase, you might find some tips here to be useful as a new Mini owner. What can your new Mini do?

Here are six fun things you can do with your Mini: (quoted from Google Blog)

Find my phone: When you lose your phone in the couch cushions, your Assistant can find it for you. “Hey Google, find my phone” will ring your Android phone (even if it’s on silent) or your iPhone.
Set a sleep timer: Fall asleep to the sweet sounds of your favorite music or podcast by saying, “Hey Google, set a sleep timer for 30 minutes.”
Play news by voice on your TV: Stay on top of current events with YouTube news playlists from sources like ABC, Fox and NBC. With a Chromecast-connected TV, you can ask say: “Hey Google, play the news on my TV” or “Ok Google, play sports news on my TV.”
Turn the TV on and off: With Google Home, Chromecast, and a compatible TV you can just say “Hey Google, turn off the TV.”
Enable night mode: In night mode, Mini’s lights dim and the volume lowers so that you you don’t disturb others in your household when it’s late (or early).
Set a default TV or speaker: Choose a Chromecast-connected TV to be your default screen, so you don’t need to mention the device's name in your voice command. When you say “Play yoga videos,” they’ll play on the TV you’ve set as the default. It works the same way for speakers connected to Chromecast Audio—you can designate a group of speakers that cover several rooms (“first floor,” for example) as the default."

AndyCr15 · 19 Oct 2017 at 20:21

Okay... so I only just learnt about setting up a group. (I don't really listen to music using the Google Home, so I've never really looked). If you're a bit thick like me though, go into Google Home, Devices and then tap the menu three dots in the top right of a device card and you can create a group and add all/some of your devices to it. Now I can say "Hey Google, play {insert music here} to {insert group name}" and all my speakers are playing perfectly in time!

Kainz · 19 Oct 2017 at 20:26

sesevans said:
Frustrating for sure but help is on the way. I somehow think that you and I both know this problem can be solved and Google Home will just keep getting better. Remember, AI and deep learning is now in their DNA and GH and Google Assistant are key to them to spread this feature. So why am I so confident?

Whilst I have no doubts of their AI capacity and googles long term prospects, it irks me somewhat that the Home has only two mics, which makes picking up speech difficult in a noisy room or like me, having the home near the TV and having it rarely pickup either mine or my wifes voices correctly. Whereas a friends Echo Tower thing can pick up voices even in the middle of a small party.

I know Google will fix it because they have little choice here vs the competition, which is quite strong - for now. There's no doubting that these things do have a future in our homes but they need to keep up the fight and not abandon their devices when their next wave of goods comes out later on.

whiskycycle · 20 Oct 2017 at 10:52

AndyCr15 said:
Okay... <snip> all my speakers are playing perfectly in time!

Been doing that for a while with a couple of CC Audio units.. love it. Even better now with Home devices dotted around.

sesevans · 21 Oct 2017 at 01:15

AndyCr15 said:
Okay... so I only just learnt about setting up a group. (I don't really listen to music using the Google Home, so I've never really looked). If you're a bit thick like me though, go into Google Home, Devices and then tap the menu three dots in the top right of a device card and you can create a group and add all/some of your devices to it. Now I can say "Hey Google, play {insert music here} to {insert group name}" and all my speakers are playing perfectly in time!

Nice feature. I enjoy it very much with 3 GH's around the house.

mark43 · 22 Oct 2017 at 12:27

sesevans said:
So rest easy. Google will fix it.

Or it will learn to fix itself!

sesevans · 24 Oct 2017 at 09:15

More rumours about a new Google Home with a touch screen. Last month there was talk about a table-top smart screen device code-named Manhattan. #

Yesterday The Verge reports: "The APK teardown of 7.14.15 beta version of the Google app found references to multiple on-display features including notifications, interactive timers, weather forecasts, YouTube video playback, a basic web browser, photo galleries, Google Maps with business listings, a customizable home screen, and more." The new code name of Quartz indicates a device aimed for kitchen use.

Recently Google pulled YouTube from the Amazon Echo, the device with a screen due to terms of service violations. I presume a new screen device from Google would include YouTube.

I could see myself replacing my GH in the kitchen with such a device.

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/23/16519464/google-home-touchscreen-device-app-code

Now that Essential has been forced to cut the price of its flagship phone, it seems to have fallen back to its strategy of developing smart home appliances that would compete with Google Home. If the rumour of a touchscreen GH is true, this would be bad news for Essential Home.

Key to continued success will be the contribution of devs to build newer, useful smart home apps. A new screen for GH may tilt the balance towards Google?

sesevans · 26 Oct 2017 at 09:40

New Google Home Mini gets 5 Star rating from The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/26/google-home-mini-review-voice-assistant-speaker

benjo · 26 Oct 2017 at 10:07

Martini1991 said:
My TV's got a built in Chromecast, so it's the name of the TV, which is also an android smart TV.
I can get it to do it to the chromecast upstairs, but not the chromecast on my TV, as it tries to do it via android tv.

Not sure if you fixed this, but you need to go to Settings > About and rename the TV to one of the preset names like 'Living Room' or 'Media Room'. Had the same problem on my Sony TV.

Martini1991 · 26 Oct 2017 at 10:42

benjo said:
Not sure if you fixed this, but you need to go to Settings > About and rename the TV to one of the preset names like 'Living Room' or 'Media Room'. Had the same problem on my Sony TV.

I'll give this a shot

Does this change the name of the chromecast or the TV?

benjo · 26 Oct 2017 at 11:13

Martini1991 said:
I'll give this a shot

Does this change the name of the chromecast or the TV?

I think this changes the name of the TV, the chromecast just copies the TV name.

Martini1991 · 26 Oct 2017 at 11:29

I'll give it a shot once I'm home
If it works give yourself a pat on the back

Scam · 26 Oct 2017 at 11:37

sesevans said:
New Google Home Mini gets 5 Star rating from The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/26/google-home-mini-review-voice-assistant-speaker

Erm

There’s still no support for G Suite accounts, only personal Google accounts

Oh no! Does that mean it won't work on my Google Apps email -- I don't know what Google call it nowadays but it's my domain name email address run by Google Apps. :confused:

valve90210 · 26 Oct 2017 at 12:00

I'd like to know this too as I also use a Google Apps (or whatever it is now called) email !

I hadn't realised the Home Mini didn't have 3.5mm output, very disappointed with that!

Scam · 26 Oct 2017 at 12:57

I did a quick bit of looking and some people seem to say it works fine. Perhaps if you're the admin for your apps (I think it's actually just called G Suite now). It's probably easier to just buy it and find out to be honest

Martini1991 · 8 Nov 2017 at 21:27

benjo said:
I think this changes the name of the TV, the chromecast just copies the TV name.

This works great thanks.

Next. How do you get the Google home to push a reminder? If I tell it to set a reminder, it'll just tell me there's a reminder. Whereas an Alexa will actually play the reminder until it's stopped.

SpeedFreak · 8 Nov 2017 at 23:03

I've switched from Sonos Play 1s to a Google Home, Mini and Chromecast Audio feeding Kanto Yu4 speakers. All in all it is working well, but I am getting a bit of odd behaviour with Spotify. If I am streaming in the car and my wife is listening at home, it seems we end up switching each others music. I never had this issue with Deezer and Sonos. Anyone having similar experiences?

In terms of sound quality, the Kantos are better than the Play 1 but the Home is certainly quite a bit poorer. It seems base heavy and could really do with more mid and treble to improve the clarity.

FL630 · 10 Nov 2017 at 11:48

I'm currently an Amazon Echo user, mostly to control my Hue lights, smart plugs and the usual timers, weather and general questions.

Has anyone here gone from an Echo to Google? Is one better than the other?

Edit: I am an Android user (S8+), use Gmail and Google calendar. I don't use my Echo for streaming music.