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Google Assistant

Google Assistant may have come after Amazon introduced Alexa into the world, but it’s rapidly making up for lost time. The voice assistant from the search giant is available on everything from your phone to headphones, to smart speakers and even TVs. With over 1 million “Actions” and a rapidly expanding list of supported devices, Google’s smart assistant will soon be everywhere.

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Samsung’s older TVs lose option to view a Ring doorbell’s camera feed.

As of this week, Samsung TVs released between 2018 and 2021 can’t show a video feed from the Ring Doorbell Pro, according to a support page. The news comes after Samsung also announced it would be dropping its TV’s built-in Google Assistant support as of March 1st, 2024.

Between this and the subscription price increases, it’s been a frustrating week for Ring owners.


Hey Google, I was using that button!

Sometimes I get really tired of Android features that I like being precipitously changed or dumped.

2023 in the smart home: Matter’s broken promises

The new smart home standard finally arrived this year. But poor implementation, significant backpedaling, and glacial progress have left it broken.

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The Verge
August 31st is the last day for Google Assistant on Wear OS 2.

Wear OS 2 users have started getting notifications that Google Assistant support is ending soon. At first, we didn’t have any concrete timing but Google spokesperson Ivy Chen tells The Verge that “The last day Google Assistant on Wear OS 2 devices will work is August 31, 2023.”

You can read more about it in my writeup from yesterday, but I feel for Mobvoi TicWatch owners who are either waiting for the Wear OS 3 upgrade to roll out or for Assistant support to arrive on the latest TicWatch Pro 5.


Smart homes for smart people

If you haven’t started your smart home yet, here’s how to start — or if you have, here’s how to make it better.

From brilliant to basic, here are our smart home setups

The Verge staff varies widely as to how ‘smart’ our homes are, ranging from one or two stray devices to entire planned networks.

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The Verge
“Hey Google, play Baby Shark Stories.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that while content filters are turned on.”

My children are constantly trying to launch games on the Nest Hub Max, and the best I’ve been able to do ‘til now is block them, which means I hear the above conversation twenty times a day. So the news that Google is killing Assistant games entirely? Sweet relief.


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The Verge
Google Home Routines has new starters that can make it a lot easier to automate your home.

Your Google Home app can now turns your lights off and your cameras on at 10PM each night; adjust the brightness of your lights when the TV turns on; or turn the bathroom light on when a motion sensor detects movement. And it’s not hard to set up — if you know how.


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The strategy that keeps Google investing in Pixel even as its purse strings tighten.

The Information cites sources saying Google execs see the strategy as a defense against shifts in the market, like the chance it loses its iPhone browser deal or if Samsung slips.

But if you’re confused about why something like Stadia goes away or why Google focuses less on certain areas, then this section may help explain things.

[Sissie] Hsiao, a vice president in charge of Assistant, which is similar to Apple’s Siri voice assistant, has told some colleagues at Google that the Android Automotive operating system, used bycarmakers including Volvo and BMW to power their infotainment systems, could soon generate about $1 billion in revenue for Google annually.

That amount is too small to make a difference for the company, whose revenue last year was $257.6 billion, Hsiao said, which is why she has considered diverting some head count away from the effort, she said, according to a person briefed about the comments.