Google’s new AI powered, always connected home appliance is the device with a singular aim: to place Google Search smack dab in the midst of a household. Being completely voice activated, think of little box--which appears to resemble a mashup of a large pepper shaker and a Bluetooth speaker--as the physical incarnation of the Google Search bar.
Powered by their all-new cloud-based AI service, Google Assistant, this device is able to understand naturally framed questions, figure out where to locate answers from trusted Web sources, and relay answers via a distilled, concise audible response or action.
From asking it to play songs from your favourite artistes, to querying it about local events and businesses, to even asking it to recap your day based on your emails and calendar, Google Home appears to be a smart piece of kit that should be the perfect companion for people who’ve always been looking for another thing to talk to.
Here then is a handy list of things you can and can’t ask of Google Home:
You can ask it…
- To catch you up on the latest cricket score
- About whether Trump is really going to win the US presidential elections
- To tell you a knock-knock joke
- To help you with your homework (if the questions aren’t overly philosophical)
- To find you the nearest Chinese restaurant
- To wirelessly toss those directions it just found straight to your smartphone
You cannot ask it to…
- Make your kitchen smell better, just because it looks like a room freshener
- Make a holographic call to someone who you happen to know on Andromeda
- Make you a cup of coffee (because it doesn’t have any hands, of course)
- “Beam me up, Scotty”
Pegged at a price of $129 and slated for launch starting 4 November 2016, it’s going to be interesting to see the possible ways this new device will (or won’t) make a difference to a home user’s life.
