Google Home project lead Mario Querioz held the device in his palm, revealing a design that was shorter and wider than Amazon’s cylindrical Echo, which is powered by Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa. The device supports Google Cast, which means users will be able to control other speakers in your home directly from Google Home. Ask Google Home to play a song and it will stream directly from the internet to the speaker.
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Home devices combine machine learning, online search, voice recognition and more to allow people to get answers to questions, manage tasks, or control devices by speaking naturally, demonstrations showed.
Search marketers will undoubtedly have another piece of data to use in search advertising and optimization campaigns and after Google introduces its voice-activated home device Wednesday and consumers begin adopting the hardware. That’s thanks to its integration with smart home products from Nest, like thermostats. At its I/O conference, Google said it plans to work with developers, so the universe of options should be robust by launch. You can display content on your TV by connecting Google Home and a Chromecast, too. In an attempt to outshine Apple, Google is adding a few more features to the next version of its Android operating system, including a security approach that lets you encrypt specific files rather than the whole phone. Instead, it will be an introduction to the product and voice service, probably to attract third party developers to star working in apps that can integrate with Google Home.
Google is determined to make your home a little smarter with the announcement of Google Home, a Wi-Fi speaker with a built-in voice assistant announced at its Google IO keynote today. You’ll be able to get calendar information, flight itineraries, reminders, alerts, the works. When someone sends you a message or image, Allo works to understand the context and offers suggestions for how to respond. Whether normal people want to use virtual assistants or not remains to be seen, but Google has as good a shot as anyone to convince them when its Assistant comes out later this year.
Android powers about 80 per cent of the world’s smartphones, largely because Google gives away the software for free to device makers.
One reason for the Echo’s success is that Amazon opened up the Alexa Voice Service and the Alexa Skills Kit to developers nearly immediately after the device came out of beta testing. It’s called Google Home, and it’s coming out later this year for an unspecified price.
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Meanwhile, Google Home and Allo will tap Google’s computing prowess. That has spurred speculation that Google is getting ready to release a virtual-reality device to compete with Facebook’s new Oculus Rift headset, as well as the Samsung’s Gear VR and the Vive from HTC and Valve.
