Articles about Google Assistant

With more than one Nest device or Google Home speaker in the house, it can be a pain to manually switch music streaming from one speaker to another as you move from room to room.

But now Google has introduced a new feature that makes the process much, much easier. The "stream transfer" option can be accessed with your voice via Google Assistant, or using apps.

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Google has today announced a raft of a new privacy features across a swathe of its products and services.

Google Maps is going to benefit from a new Incognito Mode just like Chrome and YouTube. YouTube itself is gaining a new option for automated history deletion, and Google Assistant -- recently dragged through the privacy mud along with other digital assistants -- is also getting new deletion options.

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Long gone are the days where playing video games on a console was a simple affair. You used to just plug in a cartridge, turn the game system on, and begin playing. These days, consoles are constantly making you install both game and system updates, making the "pick up and play" concept a thing of the past. Not to mention, since they often double as media players, the interfaces are clunky and confusing. I really miss the 80's and 90's in this regard.

Thankfully, voice assistants are seemingly making the game console experience a little simpler. By allowing you to use your voice, you can potentially avoid the confusing interfaces. Today, Microsoft announces that Google Assistant support is now available for Xbox One -- in beta, at least. The search giant's offering joins both Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa. It is doubtful that this move will help the Xbox One's struggles against the more popular PlayStation 4.

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Digital assistants have been in the spotlight recently after various stories about contractors listening to recordings. Following a backlash from users and privacy advocates, Google has announced a number of changes to how it stores and processes audio data.

The company also takes the time to explain a little bit more about how it processes audio recordings and to reveal the new privacy protections it will use in the recording transcription process.

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Following the revelations that Apple contractors are listening to recordings of things people say to Siri, and Google workers are manually transcribing Assistant recordings, both companies have said they will cease the practice -- at least temporarily.

Both Apple and Google were "listening in" on recordings with a view to improving their respective digital assistants, but privacy concerns have forced them to take action. But while Apple is suspending its "grading" program worldwide, Google is only changing the way it operates in Europe.

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You may well have suspected it, but now Google has confirmed it -- contractors for the company are able to listen to what you say to Google Assistant.

The revelation came after recordings of people using the AI-powered digital assistant were leaked. Belgian broadcaster VRT News obtained a large number of Dutch language recordings and was able to hear highly personal information about users -- even if they had not used the "OK Google" trigger words.

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There are three things you likely never leave home without -- your wallet, phone, and keys -- and it could be devastating if you lost any of them, or had them stolen.

Ekster 3.0 launched a couple of days ago and is the world’s first voice-activated smart wallet, with worldwide traceability, quick card access, and RFID protection. You can use your phone to track down the wallet should you lose it, and use the wallet to find your phone if that goes missing. (It can’t help with your keys though, so take good care of those).

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Believe it or not, Bose speakers are a bit controversial. While many consumers (including yours truly) enjoy the sound quality of Bose products, many self-proclaimed "audiophiles" tend to speak badly of the brand. The reality is, if you enjoy Bose speakers, that's all that matters -- ignore the haters.

Today, some existing Bose speakers are arguably getting even better. If you own a Bose Home Speaker 500, Bose Soundbar 500, or Bose Soundbar 700, you will get the always-listening Google Assistant functionality through a free automatic update.

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Google has a history of changing its mind about messaging services, launching and closing them left, right and center. The company now seems pretty invested in its Messages platform, and has been gradually adding more and more features to increase its appeal.

Google's latest move sees it bringing Assistant integration to the Messages app so you can get one-tap access to AI-powered help and information. The company also says that it remains committed to RCS (Rich Communication Service) and wants to bring the standard to more Android users.

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Microsoft has seemingly admitted defeat in the digital assistant wars, with CEO Satya Nadella saying he does not want to compete with Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant.

Rather than planning a Cortana-powered smart speaker or other device, Nadella has demoted Cortana, signaling that Microsoft wants to focus on bringing it to other platforms as a "skill". He believes users should be able to use Alexa or Google Assistant to call on the capabilities of Cortana through close integration.

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When you're taking a flight, you can check the arrivals and departures section of your airport website to see if you're going to take off on time, or just rely on an airline announcement. Or you could just ask Google Assistant.

Google has announced that it will start to predict flight delays, using a combination of historic flight information and machine learning. The company says that it is able to deliver predictions with 85 percent confidence.

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The United States, United Kingdom, and Australia are all very different counties. Amongst those three nations, there are countless differences in culture, food, and more.

One thing the trio of nations share, however, is the English language. True, there are differences in things like the spellings of words and slang, but for the most part, communication is totally possible. For Americans, one of the most intriguing aspects of Australia and Britain is the inhabitants' accents. The folks from these counties may sound a bit weird to you and me, but I am sure to them, American accents sound a bit odd too. Starting today, English speakers in the USA can enable either British or Australian accents for Google Assistant. How bloody brilliant!

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If you have an iPhone, you use Siri; if you have an Android phone, you use Google Assistant. Right? Thanks to Siri Shortcuts -- and an update from Google -- it's now easier than ever to access Google Assistant on your iPhone with a voice command.

With iOS 12, Apple introduced Siri Shortcuts giving users the opportunity to record their own voice triggers that can then be used to perform different actions. Now Google Assistant supports Siri Shortcuts, so you can access it via Siri.

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Previously a Pixel exclusive, Google is opening up real-time translation to a wider range of devices. So wide, in fact, that real-time Google Translate is now available to all Assistant-optimized headphones and Android phones.

For quite some time, the option was only available to people with a Google Pixel phone paired with Pixel Buds earphones, but now just about everyone has access to the feature.

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Digital assistants are becoming increasingly popular as people become used to the idea of controlling electronic devices by speaking to them. With Android, Google has supported limited voice control for a while with "OK, Google", but with the release of the Voice Access app you can now do much, much more.

The problem with uttering "OK, Google" at your phone is that there are fairly severe limitations on what you can do -- there are only a small number of supported actions. But with Voice Access you can use your voice to dictate and edit text, and interact with anything that appear on the screen. Here's how to get started.

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