Tag Archives: update

Home Automation, Smartphones, Software, Technology

Google Assistant Continued Conversations

“Hey Google, What’s the weather?”

–Answered

“Can you add an umbrella to my shopping list?”

This is beautiful.  Not only is it useful to continue your conversations because we usually have more than one command to issue, now — as promised at Google I/O 2018, but it brings to life the realization of a more “present” assistant.

How it works?

What happens when you say the “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” wake phrase, the user will see the lights on their Google Home device light up, indicating that Google Assistant is listening.  From there, a question is asked followed up by a succinct and hopefully, correct response.  With Continued Conversations, this changes to an abrupt ending to Assistant continuing to listen for 8 seconds for additional commands, which it will respond to if issues or delete the audio if no commands are issued.  When the user is done issuing commands, simply say “Thank you” and Assistant will reply, “No problem” letting you know that the conversation is over.

With Google arguably having the smartest assistant, the brings this digital assistant to the next level.

YouTube: Tech With Brett

Get out there and give it a try!

Technology

Apple Watch Series 3 Impressions

Anyone seen the roadrunner?  Of course, you haven’t, because it’s on my wrist.  The biggest upgrade with the Apple Watch Series 3 is it’s responsiveness and battery life improvements.

Overview

Coming from the original Apple Watch (lovingly known as Series 0), the speed increase is huge with Series 3 with GPS.  Not only is the hardware much improved internally, watch OS 4 brings out the best in it.  From an improved workout app, Siri on board and a carousel of complications — this is a solid upgrade.  It is also reported that the speed increase is even notable from Series 1 and Series 2.

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Speed

Speed increases are the biggest and best thing about the new Series 3 watch and is seen from the moment you raise your wrist from the moment you lower it.  Even the most mundane and simple tasks such as swiping from watchface to watchface, opening an app and more — say goodbye to frame drops and hello to a perfectly smooth smartwatch experience.

watch OS 4

What does watch OS 4 bring to the table besides the very useful “Now Playing” complication?  First off, Now Playing is an excellent addition and automatically puts your media front and center on your watch when there is something playing on the iPhone, just makes sense.

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PocketCasts app shown above.  The Now Playing screen is similar and accommodates to media coming from your iPhone.

With Siri here, she can actually respond to you with her voice, which is only due to the new processor in the Series 3 device.  Apple Watch is an industry leading fitness device and the OS upgrade brings updates to the Workout app with more workouts to choose from an integration into new machines that will be coming to a gym near you.

Battery Life

Unbelievable. The upgrade from Series 0 to Series 3 is massive in this respect. Since purchase, I’ve gone to sleep after having it off of the charger all day with the battery at 84% and woke up with the battery at 77% — that is with light to moderate use the previous day. Just note that if this was my Series 0 it would’ve bit the dust overnight….

TLDR

Apple Watch Series 3 with GPS or with GPS and LTE are both considerable updates to the Apple Watch line and highly suggested if you’re in the market for a new wearable device.

Technology

Pokemon Go Update Dissapointing Users

If you’re like me, you’ve been playing Pokemon GO since it’s release and have really enjoyed it, you’re probably level 10 or higher and have amassed some pretty powerful pokemon in your arsenal.  You probably also liked to track Pokemon that were a certain distance away from you or even liked to save battery by holding your screen down during your search (on iOS) — well guess what?  Niantic, the creator of our beloved game, just gave us a big fat middle finger with an update that removed those features!
Niantic has noted that there are more things that they have not yet added to the game that are coming.  Some things the community wants are:
  • Versus battles
  • Trading Pokemon
The question is why is the game creator shutting off features from the game that helped to make it so loved?  Meanwhile, they are still not providing the features that many users thought would be included in the game to begin with.  With things like this happening one can only wonder how long will this game maintain the traction that it currently has; although, it is important to the note that only a select group of users are vocalizing their pains.
Bottom line: Niantic, get it together!