Tag Archives: Google Home

Home Automation, Privacy & Security, Technology

Google Home Review for 2018

Ah, Google Home and the omnipresent Google Assistant……just works and whether you are looking to get into home automation with over 1500 devices available, wanting Google Assistant smarts or wanting quality sound — you can get it from one of the Google Home options.

Left to right: Google Home Mini, Google Home, Google Home Max

Key Review Points:

  • How easy is setup?
  • How many devices should I use?
  • Is Google Home good for home automation?
  • How is Google Home for the privacy junkie (like myself)?

Background

When you receive a Google Home for Christmas, then proceed to lose your mind buying “smart” everything, a review is the least that I could do.

Google Home is currently slotted against Amazon’s Echo and the upcoming Apple HomePod in the smarthome “smart speaker” wars, although Apple is touting it as “speaker first”, so we will see how smart it is.  Additionally, similar to the Echo, Google Home comes at multiple price-points with Google Home Mini ($49), Google Home ($129) and Google Home Max ($399) — enabling Google to meet the needs of many different consumers and their underlying budgets.

Google Home.

The key features of Google Home is that it gives you and other Google accounts that are linked access to all of your personal calendars, lists, music accounts and all of the smarts of Google itself through the phenomenal Google Assistant.  Yes, Assistant is better than Siri in every way Apple fans.

Setup

The first thing that you’ll need to do to get started on your Google Home journey is download the Google Home app, which serves as the primary landing spot of every Google home and entertainment product, including the Google Home, ChromeCast and ChromeCast Ultra.  Setup is simple, requiring you to connect the device to your home wifi network and your corresponding Google account.  (Note, the first account used will be the primary account on the device, with other accounts being referred to as “linked accounts” that can also operate on the device and receive personal information such as calendars, reminders and place phone calls.)

One thing of importance, is that if you’re wanting to take full advantage of Google Home by controlling wifi enabled devices throughout your home, customizing news and getting personalized results, you will additionally need to download and use the Google Assistant app.

So, now that your Google Home is all setup, likely in your living room, what happens when you go into the office?  What happens when you go into your kitchen…..  You know where I’m heading with this.

Enter Google Home Mini (or Max).  First, let me state that having one Google Home product is enough; however, Google Home Mini devices are very affordable and can be thrown just about anywhere to ensure that your Assistant is always at your side.  Additionally, for the audiophiles out there, Google Home Max is nothing short of a complete and utter monster, delivering superb audio quality and rivaling the sounds of Sonos.

Day to Day Usage

Get used to this phrase, “Hey Google” because it’ll be around for a while. Using the Google Home, irregardless of flavor (eg. Google Home, Mini or Max), is simple and straightforward and you’re always pleasantly surprised at things just working great. The microphones are incredibly receptive and can pick up your voice from varying distances away even while the speaker is actively playing something. At times there are hiccups or occasional network blips and that should be expected with any product. The hits are far more than the misses. So what will you ask it on a day to day basis? Some of my most used phrases are for:

  • Weather
  • Lights and home automation
  • Timers
  • Music

Additionally, Google has added support for voice calls, I’ve tested this with my Google Voice account and it works flawlessly.

What are you asking your Google Home?

Home Automation

As I noted above, there are literally 1500 devices that can work with Google Home and allow you to control them all with your voice.  The way that this is accomplished is that first (unlike with HomeKit enabled devices) you must download the app from the manufacturer, create any required accounts and setup the device there.  Afterwards, you link that third party account with your Google account inside of the Google Home app.  This is done by going into the hamburger menu and tapping “Home Control”, this will open the Google Assistant app (on iOS), press the “+” button and find your manufacturer there.  Login with your account (similar steps to adding and linking accounts in IFTTT) and those devices will appear in Home Control and be at your beck and call.

Google Home, Home control.

Privacy

Being a privacy nerd is tough while utilizing Google Home because in order to work properly, Google will need to know a bit of information about you, from your location to your search and web activity; although, there are ways to circumvent this, without exposing all of your data.  Google is not some evil company that just wants to know everything about you, the information you give it, is vital to the services and information that YOU get out of it, so when certain aspects of data collection are removed some services may or may not work properly.  With that being said, I do not believe in giving entities your real location, so I chose to not give Google Home/Assistant my real address and let it triangulate it by where my wifi router is.  Additionally, apps that use your location, depending on what they are, can be nefarious — so I’ve turned off all location services from Google.

I let Google keep 3 data points:

  • Web and search history
  • Youtube watch history
  • Youtube search history

Web are search is the only option that is crucial for Assistant to work properly, so in this case with the only queries I push to it being voice, I deem this as acceptable and manually delete things that I do not wish for it to have.  An additional way to remediate this data grant is simply to not use the Chrome browser.  I have proudly switched back to my once favorite web browser, Firefox.  This allows me to more consistently use my search engine of choice, Duck Duck Go and limit the data that I pass into Google. Lastly, just mute the darn thing!!! This is something I certainly do when I am not using it for an extended period of time or if talking about sensitive things.

Final Thoughts

Google Home is fun, exciting and ever growing.  Regardless if you’re part of the Google, Amazon or Apple ecosystem — if you have a Google account, this could be an excellent tool for you to use.  Additionally, barrier to entry is very low with the most economical option, Google Home Mini, starting off at only $49.  Buying one smart device will certainly lead you down the path of “home automation fever”, but it’s a fun one and one that hopefully makes your life a little bit easier.

Technology

All About Google Home

“Ok Google!  Turn down the lights and make me a sandwich!” — Isn’t this something you’ve been waiting to shout into the depths of your home?  Of course it is, except for maybe the sandwich part.
My friends, the time is here.  Meet Google Home.
We’ve seen and heard the fuss that Amazon’s Echo has made in the digital assistant and smart home world, but it’s time for our friend Google to try it’s hand at it with Google Home, powered by Google Assistant.  That’s right, Google Now and search have been prepping us for this moment and it’s here.  How?  Your voice searches are saved (you didn’t know?) and are used intelligently (not shared) by Google to help power it’s natural language platform that will allow for the Assistant to communicate with you and understand you better.  Doing so simply makes it easier to get the information you need faster based off of the questions you ask.
Google Home will additionally serve as a central automation hub for your home, which will further propel you into the internet of things (IoT).  The device is slated to work with Chromecast, Nest and Philips Hue with certainly more to come.  What does this mean?  While using the Google Home as your hub with you other devices, this will unlock a range of capabilities that will make controlling each of them that much simpler.
The design of the device is simply beautiful and blends in seamlessly with your interior decor.  In the housing are far-field microphone that will help to decipher your voice, in addition to a hi-fi speaker that is designed to deliver crystal-clear highs and rich bass.  On top, there are touch controls that gives the user full control of the device complete with a microphone mute button on the back.
Did I mention that Google Home is hands-free?
Bottom line:  This is what has taken Google 18 years to design, build and create for us.  The future is now and the internet, a recipe, the weather, your to-do list are all literally one keyword away.  Pre-Order yours today, here.

 

Technology

Google I/O 2016

There are numerous beneficial things that came out of this years Google I/O.  Usually there is a large Android release; however, this year, as with last year, we were given a solid preview for developers.  There was so much to cover, so for this particular write up I will focus on main “Top 5”.

Google Home, the voice assistant that we’ve all been waiting for (at least I have) is finally here to help us in our daily lives.  Essentially the Google Home product is powered by Google Assistant, which is a beefed up, more conversational version of our beloved Google Now.  To paint the picture more clearly, picture an Amazon Echo, with all the power and integration of Google.  Scary right?  Well, let’s dive a little deeper.  When we speak of a conversational piece is is seriously good.  From being able to order movie tickets and drill down to determine movies that are appropriate for kids, this thing simply does it all.  Furthermore, it also integrates seamlessly with Google Cast — think of the possibilities with all of the other Google products and future products. 

Allo is the newest messaging service from Google that is tied to your phone number, basically this is an open iMessage.  With the ability to “whisper” and “shout” by dragging up or down on the send button, could this finally be the messenger from Google that we’ve all been waiting for?  Although, this is a big deal and a huge potential win for Google, it also proves how far they are behind in the messaging space.  We have iMessage, WhatsApp and others, why do we even need this?  One important thing to note is that Google already has Hangouts and Messenger.  So a chat and an Internet messenger.  The question is quickly raised, what happens to these other products?  (Especially Google Hangouts)  Hangouts has ties to Google Voice, so the hundreds of thousands of Google Voice users are left wondering, once again, what is going to happen as we have seen other apps and services go down in flames in the years before.

Duo is the FaceTime equivalent from Google that is tied to your phone number.  Incoming calls are presented to the receiver by a preview that automatically appears on the screen (this could be problematic).  The new service also features end to end encryption, which is becoming more and more of a need in a digital age where privacy is getting muddier and muddier.  Note that both Allo and Duo will be released for Android and iOS.

The Google Play Store is finally coming to Chrome OS!  You’ve been waiting for it and so have I.  This is probably the second biggest news behind Google Home, in my opinion.  This will be rolled out slowly to to specific Chrome OS devices then hopefully progress to a larger device take up.  The reason why this is a big deal is because picture the Chrome App Store, paltry at best, right?  Google Play Store has millions and millions of apps, games, movies and more — this is a BIG deal.

Android Wear 2.0.  When Google first unveiled Android Wear, it was simple, focused and intuitive — this time it adds a few minor tweaks and a kludgy keyboard — yes a keyboard, I don’t like it at all.  Android Wear is the best choice for an Android user that wants to stop constantly taking out their smartphones for updates and receive them right on their wrists.  Any update is a good update — except the keyboard, take that out, Google.  

All in all, it was an excellent time for developers, contributors and technology enthusiasts alike.  For the entire 2016 keynote, take a look below: 

Bottom line:  There are a lot of great things to look forward to from Google this year, just note that most things are coming in the Fall, so be on the lookout!