For just about two years now Google Assistant has been helping users of Android devices plan there days and control there daily activates with such ease. Next week will be the Google’s I/O developer conference and they have some new features incoming and these will expand the Assistant’s usefulness in a smart home.
Now the only way for Google to compete with the other smart Assistants is by having support for a large number of smart home devices out there and of course, they have. According to Google they as of writing this there Assistant now works with more than 5,000 devices!!! That’s up from only 1,500 at just the start of this year so now the Assistant essentially supports all the major brands.
Google’s VP of Assistant and searches Nick Fox has stated that the Assistant’s smart home features will go into three broad categories.
These three categories will be,
- Entertainment. Working with Dish to integrate its Hopper receivers to the Assistant, Doing so will give you the ability to say “hay Google turn to ESPN” with a phone or a Google Assistant device. And will also will work with Logitech’s Harmony remotes, in turn, will let you go to your favorite channels, pause, and turn up or down the volume.
- Home security. The Google Assistant will also be working with the new Nest Hello doorbell, so if someones at your door a chime will be sent to your Google Assistant devices and offer a video feed on your phone. (for now, it is only available on the Nest Hello but will enable similar features on similar products later this year.)
- Control. Google will be highlighting a few new smart home companies whom will be working with the Assistant. Soon ADT lights, Xiaomi lights, Hunter Douglas window blinds, and Hisense A/C and humidifiers just to name a few.
With all this incoming it seems as if Google is setting itself up as the go-to for all your smart home needs. This 2018 Google I/O developer conference will be a blast and can’t wait to see what more exciting IoT news they have to share.
This year’s developer festival will be held May 8-10 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA starting with the Google Keynote at 10 am
You can head here for more info Google I/O
To learn more about Hunter Douglas and it’s integration with Google Assistant try this link.
Thanks for reading and keep doing it for the love of the game.