Google Assistant

Google today announced new automation and web features coming to Google Assistant for Android and iOS, with the most notable feature for Apple users being the ability to locate a lost iPhone using the digital assistant. Android users have long been able to use the Google Assistant to trigger a sound for their smartphone if it got lost. That same ability, much like Apple's own Find My...

Apple recently released the HomePod mini, a new $99 version of the original HomePod that's smaller, cuter, and, most importantly, competitively priced. At $99, the ‌HomePod mini‌ can better compete with affordable smart speakers from companies like Google and Amazon. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The ‌HomePod mini‌ has been praised for its high-quality sound at...

Apple, Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance today announced a new working group that plans to develop and promote the adoption of a new IP-based connectivity standard for smart home products, with a focus on increased compatibility, security, and simplified development for manufacturers. Zigbee Alliance board member companies such as IKEA, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo,...

Google Assistant is about to gain a new reminder feature that allows you to get someone else to do your bidding. Called Assignable Reminders, the feature lets you set reminders for other people, so long as they are in your Google Contacts or opted in to your Family Group. You can create a reminder using your voice ("Hey Google") or text, and set it to be delivered to a phone or via a...

Google has incorporated food ordering features into its mobile apps, allowing iOS and Android users to order food directly from a range of companies without having to install an additional app or visit a website. The functionality is available across U.S. cities in Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Assistant apps, and works through partnerships with existing delivery companies including ...

In lockstep with Amazon, Google has announced a free, ad-supported music streaming option for use with smart speakers that feature its voice-activated assistant. The new "free" streaming tier means owners of Google Home or other Google Assistant-powered speakers can listen to tracks from the YouTube Music catalog, albeit interspersed with ads. Listening to music on your Google Home speaker ...

Google is adding its Google Assistant feature to the Google Maps apps for iOS and Android, Google announced today. The feature will be available on iPhones starting this afternoon, with Google planning to enable Assistant for Google Maps via an update that's rolling out "shortly." On iOS and Android devices, Google Assistant will allow Google Maps users to control their navigation, reply to ...

Apple analyst Gene Munster of Loup Ventures recently tested the accuracy of digital assistants on four smart speakers by asking Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana a series of 800 questions each on the Amazon Echo, HomePod, Google Home Mini, and Harmon Kardon Invoke respectively. The results indicate that Siri on the HomePod correctly answered 74.6 percent of the questions, a dramatic ...

Google has updated its Assistant app for iOS to support Siri Shortcuts, enabling users to invoke Google's virtual assistant using Apple's virtual assistant, without even having to launch the app. Once the update has been installed, Assistant users are presented with an "Add to Siri" button that lets them record a phrase of their choosing to be used after saying the "Hey, Siri" command. As...

Google entered the smart speaker market in 2016 with the introduction of Google Home, allowing users to speak to Google Assistant and control various smart home products, listen to music, get the news, and more. Eventually, Google added the Home Mini and Home Max to the lineup, introducing products that were direct competitors to the Amazon Echo Dot and Apple HomePod, respectively. Looking...

Siri rival Google Assistant received a major update today across the Google Home speaker ecosystem with a feature Google revealed at I/O in May, called "Continued Conversation." Now, when you speak to Google Assistant and wake it up with a "Hey Google" or "OK Google" phrase, you don't need to repeat the phrase again for a follow-up request. For example, you can ask "Hey Google, what's the...

Google today hosted its annual I/O conference designed for developers, where the company had several new announcements to share related to AI, Google Assistant, and machine learning. Google announced the launch of its next-generation machine learning chip, the TPU 3.0, which is powering many AI improvements to Google products using machine learning techniques. Gmail, for example, is gaining ...

Google this morning posted a story on its Keyword Blog that highlights the ongoing growth of its AI helper, Google Assistant. According to the company, the Assistant now works with "every major device brand" in the U.S., meaning that it can connect with more than 5,000 smart home devices, up from 1,500 in January. This growth period saw media and entertainment queries increase by 400 percent,...

Google Assistant for iOS has been updated with native iPad support today. The design looks essentially the same as the iPhone version, but with an interface optimized for the larger 7.9-inch to 12.9-inch screen sizes of Apple's tablets. Like rivals Siri, Alexa, and Cortana, Google Assistant is a digital assistant that can set reminders, schedule calendar appointments, answer questions, and...

Apple's new HomePod is late to the smart speaker market, which is already crowded with speakers from companies like Amazon, Google, and Sonos. The latter two companies, Google and Sonos, have released speakers with high-quality sound and robust voice assistants, giving the HomePod some serious competition. We decided to pit Apple's $349 HomePod against both the $399 Google Home Max, which...

Google's Home Mini smart speaker received an update on Friday that brings back some of the touch-based controls that the company had to disable shortly after its release back in October (via AndroidPolice). Google was forced to turn off the built-in touch panel, which is designed to let users activate Google Assistant with a long press instead of a voice command, after a reviewer discovered...

Google recently disabled a feature included in its upcoming Google Home Mini smart speaker after a reviewer found that it was causing the device to record conversations and sounds even when no "OK Google" prompt word was spoken. As detailed by Android Police's Artem Russakovskii, who received a Google Home Mini test unit last week, the device was malfunctioning due to an issue with the...

We've previously covered rumors that Google has been working on a "mini" version of its $129 Google Home smart speaker, which is expected to be unveiled at the company's Pixel 2 smartphone event scheduled for October 4. But it looks as if details and images of the "Home Mini" have already been leaked, courtesy of DroidLife. According to the tech site, Google Home Mini is the official name of...

In the run-up to the official release of iOS 11 this month, much of Apple's focus has been on touted improvements coming to its built-in virtual assistant, Siri. Apart from becoming more naturally spoken, Siri will allow users to get real-time translation between select languages and is said to boast a greater understanding of the user's needs dependent on circumstance and time of day, with the...

Google today kicked off its annual I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California, beginning with a keynote where the company announced Google Assistant for iPhone, new Google Home features including the ability to stream Apple Music via Bluetooth, and new photo sharing features in Google Photos. Google Assistant on iOS As it was rumored earlier this week, Google today announced that...