Voice Commanded Home Automation

Casting to Chromecasts

Personal Assistance & Google Integration

Voice Commanded Search

Geo Location

The Google Home was released on Nov.4 in the US, and Google has given an estimated timeline of release in Canada in March/April 2017.It is a voice command personal assistant and speaker that has been designed to compete with Amazon's Echo. Amazon has done really well with the Echo device, and is continuing to do so with the release of the Echo Dot, a smaller cheaper, but still fully functional voice assistant. I had two Echo Dots ordered from the information provided in this thread: https://forums.redflagdeals.com/amazon- ... 9-2040516/ and was excited to get them. But when I learned of the Google Home, I got even more excited for that! And then my order for the Echo Dots went into backorder, so I decided to jump on the Google Home because of it's integration with Google's suite of apps, Chromecast, and the massive power of Google's search.If you are any bit of a tech enthusiast, and/or are getting into Home Automation, then this is the thread, and device for youIf these types of things aren't for you, then please don't thread crap. I'm trying to provide useful information for people that care, on RFD.The Google Home (and the Amazon Echo) can be given voice commands from you, and will perform these actions. If you have smart home automation devices set up, you can tell your Google Home to "turn on the kitchen lights" and it will turn them on for you, or on your way to the living room, you can say "Hey Google, turn on the TV" and it will turn it on for you without you having to lift a finger. At the end of the night, you can say, "OK Google, turn off ALL the lights" and all your lights will turn off. It is very cool stuff for the tech enthusiastsRight now, right out of the box, it supports Samsung SmartThings Hub, Philips Hue lights and hub, and IFTTT, for your home automation needs.The Samsung SmartThings hub is actually on sale right now down from $99.99 USD to $49.99 USD from the SmartThings website, until Dec.3. And they ship to CanadaThe discussion for this deal is here: smartthings-com-smarthings-hub-49-usd-s ... #p27050589 If you have any Chromecasts or Chromecast Audios, you can also tell your Google Home to cast videos to your TV. You can say, "Hey Google, put on my youtube music video list on the TV" and it will cast it straight to your TV. And since it is a speaker too, you can add it as such to your Chromecast Audio group to cast music to it. I have whole home audio set up with Chromecast Audios, and it's fantasticI have a Google Nexus Player, and it can be used as a cast device with the Google Home perfectly. I have also read that it works with other Android boxes too, like the MiBox, just fine.Extending its personal assistant functions, you can also be working in the kitchen, and if you run out of any ingredients, you can just say "Hey Google, add sugar to my shopping list." Using Google Keep, it will maintain a shopping list for you, and add sugar to that list. Immediately, when you look at your phone, you will see sugar newly added to your list in Google Keep. Or if you need to convert ounces into mL to get a measurement right, you can just say, "Hey Google, how many ounces are in a mL?" and it will tell you.When comparing the two personal assistants, the main knock on the Google Home right now is that it doesn't have as many skillsets as the Amazon Echo. But you must keep in mind that the Echo has had a two year head start, and when it was first released, it was bare bones as well and couldn't do anywhere near the number of things it can do now. Google has already announced that the API for Google Assistant (which is what the Google Home runs on) will be opening up to developers already in December, next month! So new abilities will be coming very soon to the Google Home already. One of these 'actions' will be to add items to your calendar, so you can say, "OK Google, add a dentist appointment to my calendar on Nov.18, 2017, at 11:00 am." You should probably see your dentist before then, but it will add it to your calendar for you anywayHere is an article written about the update coming:And here is Google's own announcement page for the update:The other knock on Google themselves that people mention, is their "reputation" for abandoning projects. While this is true to an extent, and definitely something to think about, I haven't seen them do this with their Chromecast devices. Plus, Amazon's Echo has been doing way too well for them to not want to compete here. This device is perfect for integrating into your life, which Google has already done with Gmail, Calendar, Keep, Photos, etc.The other strong feature about the Google Home is that its search function is powered by Google. That's a huge feature itself right there, minus the rest of the Personal Assistant features. So you can be sitting in your living room, and ask it random questions, and it will do very well! While I was watching the Raptors lose to the Warriors (it was a good game though!) I asked, "Hey Google, how tall is Kevin Durant?" and it replied, "Kevin Durant is 2.06 metres tall." Then I said, "Hey Google, what is 2.06 metres in feet and inches?" and it replied, "2.06 metres is 6 feet 9.1 (something something - it recited quite a few decimal places lol) inches." I was impressed. Impressed by the answers, and impressed by Durant. I swear, that guy feels like he's 7'0" tall but has the athleticism of a shooting guard! Many people have reported that with the Echo devices, Alexa doesn't have the strongest success rate with answers when questions are somewhat vague. Also, Echo is powered by Bing (lol), and when she does have a general idea of an answer, she will just redirect you to a Bing link on your phone...And apparently, Google is working right now as we speak on improving the conversational aspect of the searches, so that perhaps, you won't have to invoke the wake words "OK Google" every time you have a question. A series of questions on the same topic will be recognized.The final strong feature about the Google Home right now, is that it is geo-located for pretty much everywhere in the world right down to your postal code, even though it is only sold in the US for the time being. This is a major weakness with Amazon's line of Echo, Echo Tap, and Echo Dots. With the Echo, you cannot specify your specific home address. This means if you want to know the weather in Toronto, with the Echo, you have to say, "Alexa, what's the weather like today in Toronto?" and she will tell you. At first it sounds like no big deal, to add a few extra words. But the precision of locating your specific postal code is very important actually, as opposed to just asking about a larger metropolitan area. If I have a headache and need some Tylenol, I know I don't want to drive far to get it. I don't want to know where the nearest pharmacy is in TORONTO, I want to knowwhere the nearest pharmacy is within 2 km's of my exact location - where I have my headache right now - my house. If I'm in the mood for Japanese food...shoooot....how many Japanese restaurants is Alexa going to list for me in the city of Toronto?! No, I want to know where the nearest Japanese food is to me within reasonable distance to my house. It's not just related to weather. While I'm having breakfast, I can also ask the gHome what my route to work is like in the morning, and it will give me the estimated time. There's no way that will work on the Echo devices in Canada right now (yes, I have culled this from my post in the SmartThings thread lol, but I have given myself permission to use it).