Google's voice search function is undeniably cool, and it's only getting better since the company has expanded the capabilities of the Android Search/Google Now app. However, there's one tragic flaw in the execution of voice actions: they can't make popcorn. But if you add some of Android's most powerful root-enabled tools, namely Tasker, the Xposed Framework, and the previously-featured AutoVoice, the sky's the limit. With the right hardware and tinkering, you can start living your Starfleet dreams in jig time. Observe:

This combination of tools comes courtesy of João Dias, the developer of the AutoVoice Tasker plugin. The latest update to this non-Play Store app allows you to launch Tasker actions by speaking directly to Google Search via the microphone button or the "OK Google" command. (Or you can do a text search, if you want to be boring and ordinary.) If you have a Moto X, one of the new DROIDs, or a Nexus 5, you can initiate the command without touching your phone. Auto Voice uses the Google Now API for the Xposed Framework to "listen" to the searches, then interprets them as commands or directions for Tasker. You can associate any Tasker action with any search performed in the Google Search app. The possibilities are nigh limitless.

Here's a dramatic demonstration from YouTube user Armando Ferreira:

Obviously, all of this requires quite a lot of setup. You'll need a rooted phone, the Xposed Framework, the Google Now API for Xposed, Tasker, and the latest version of the Auto Voice Tasker plugin... and that's just the basics. You'll still need to create Tasker actions or profiles that do the specific actions you require, and of course all the nifty home automation stuff shown in the video requires external hardware and setups. Even so, it's an awesome way to interact with your device. I hope Google and Android manufacturers are listening.

Here are all the necessary components. Again, you absolutely need root to get all this to work.