Tag: Google

Whether it was intentional or not, Google has all-but confirmed that Google Assistant will be coming to Chrome OS in the near future.  In the latest update for Google Home for Android, the Chat with Google Assistant section of the app (in the Explore portion of the app) clearly indicates Chromebooks as an option for Assistant.  You can see a screenshot of it after the break.

Seeing this is not entirely unexpected.  Google has been rumored to be bringing their AI driving Assistant to Chrome OS and with the Pixel event later this week, where the Pixel Book is expected to be announced as a premium Chromebook offering.  Other teardowns of Chrome OS and the Google Home app have also pointed to code that suggests Google Assistant is going to coming to Chrome OS.  In other words, there is a 99% chance this is accurate.

In a Business Insider report that was published today, Microsoft Cortana only trails Google Assistant in overall answer accuracy as well as the number of questions asked.  In fact, Assistant and Cortana were well ahead of Apple Siri and Amazon Alexa in both categories.

The report focused on the news from earlier this week that Apple is replacing Bing as the default search engine for Siri in MacOS High Sierra and iOS 11 and points out that the move, which will have Siri leverage Google Search APIs, will likely dramatically help Apple’s assistant in its use and accuracy.

Like many services from Google, Google Finance is under going changes.  Part of those changes is the deprecation of portfolios and portfolio management in the financial news & information site.  The news came from Google yesterday in both a support posting as well as a banner that now appears on the portfolio page of the site.

In an ongoing effort to make Google Finance more accessible and user-friendly for a wider audience, we’re making a few changes to the service in November 2017.

As part of this updated experience, you’ll still be able to:

• Follow the stocks you’re interested in – the list of stocks in your portfolio will be migrated into the new experience on Google automatically

• Receive the latest industry news and market trends

The news means that if you are using Google Finance to keep up to date on news about stocks in your portfolio & to mange it, it’s time to look for another source.

Google Assistant has grown up a lot in the past year thanks to developers and services leveraging APIs to create services for it.  While Assistant still lags behind Amazon’s Alexa when it comes to the number of services available, the gap is closing.

That presents a challenge for users who are looking for a service or feature but aren’t quite sure if it is there.  Google has addressed this and made it easy to find services for Google Assistant right from within it or the Google Home app.  Now you can simply type in a keyword to search and the Assistant will return all of the services that do that particular thing that you searched.

After an update rolled out to the app late last week, several users are reporting that notifications in Android Messages is no longer working.  The update in question is version 2.5.207 users are reporting that the SMS/MMS app simply stops giving notifications and there is no way to enable them again.  Indeed, the app will indicate that notifications are enabled but none are given to users.

The problem appears to be widespread.  Multiple reviews within the Google Play Store indicate that notifications have quit working across multiple devices and Android flavors.

A new update to Google Fit for Android is rolling out with several new features and enhancements.  The update is version 1.73 for those keeping score at home and most of the updates are aimed at improving your workout experience and summaries.

The most visible change in the update is the redesigned workout mode and you can now review summaries of past activities on your Android Wear device.  With Android Wear devices, you can now hear spoken announcements while you are running too.