Category: Google Assistant

Google has made a quick and significant decision to disable to touch activation of the new Google Home Mini.  The decision comes after reports of phantom touches activating the device with it listening or recording ambient noise or conversations without the users knowledge.  The reports of this happening are few and far between but Google is taking no chances.  An OTA update will be sent to all Home Mini devices to disable the touch activation feature permanently.

We’ve decided to permanently remove all top touch functionality on Google Home Mini. We made this decision to avoid any confusion and give you complete peace of mind while using your Mini. The update will be completely rolled out by end of day October 15, 2017.

This means that in order for you to access Google Assistant on the Home Mini, you will need to use the “OK Google” or “Hey Google” just as you do on Google Home today.

Yesterday during the Google product event, a new Find My Phone through Google Assistant was demonstrated.  Using Assistant on your Google Home, it can locate your phone by ringing it, even if it is in Do Not Disturb, so you can find it somewhere in your house.  The question during the demo was when the feature would roll out to everyone?

The answer is right now.

The Find My Phone feature has gone live and now you can simply go to your Google Home and say, “OK Google, find my phone”.  It will then identify the phone you are wanting to find (if you have multiple phones) and will then ask you if you want it to ring your phone at full volume.  So long as you have Find My Phone enabled on your account and Android phone, the feature works – and well.

At the Google event this morning in San Francisco, the new Google Home Mini was officially announced with availability starting later this month.  The hockey puck style Home Mini is designed to integrate into the décor of any home without being intrusive.  It comes in three colors, coral, chalk and charcoal.

Like Google Home, the Mini has Google Assistant built-in and works seamlessly with existing Google Home to make it available in every room.  It can also be apart of the new Broadcast feature that is coming to Home so a message can be sent to every Home in the house.

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.

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.

Last month, Google and Walmart made an announcement that shopping for the retailer would be coming to Google Express and Google Home.  That agreement has now gone live and you can find Walmart in the app as a shopping option.

Users will be able to link their Walmart online account with Google Express and shop a wide range of products from the retailer, mostly focused on groceries, and have them added to your Express shopping list.  They are then shipped to your home and if you spend over $35, the shipping is free.