Top 5 Google Home Tasks
By Mike Agerbo
January 30, 2018
Product Discovery
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In last week’s blog post, I wrote about some of my favourite Amazon Alexa skills to help you get more out of your Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Max. Now, you can’t talk about digital assistants without a discussion on Google Home. The Google Home and Google Home Mini are Google’s digital assistant speakers. Similar to Amazon Alexa, Google Home can perform a variety of helpful tasks triggered by simple voice commands. The main difference between Google Home and Amazon Alexa is that Google Home features Google’s powerful search engine while Amazon Alexa offers a wider array of third-party skills. Regardless of which digital assistant you choose, there’s a bit of a learning curve so it’s important to try new things to get the most out if it. If you decide on the Google Home or already have one, here are a few of my favourite tasks:
Google Home offers a feature called “My Day.” This feature is designed to give you a customized morning briefing to help you start your day. This briefing can include information like the weather forecast, news, traffic, your reminders and calendar events. You can customize My Day using the Google Home app on your smartphone. To trigger your morning briefing, simply say “OK Google, tell me about my day.”
One of my favourite things about digital assistants is their ability to trigger my music streaming service using a simple voice command. By default, Google Home uses Google Play Music to stream music but it also supports YouTube Music and Spotify. If you prefer to use one of these, you can make the switch using the Google Home app on your smartphone. Once you’re all set, you can trigger by saying something like, “OK, Google, play the Daily Mix 1 on Spotify.”
My favourite thing about Google Home, and the thing that differentiates it from Amazon Alexa, is that it’s powered by Google’s search engine. This means that you can search facts, directions, and much more with a simple voice command. For example, you can say something like, “OK, Google, what are the nearest restaurants to me?” or “OK, Google, what is a torn ACL?” or “OK, Google, how late is Staples Richmond Hill open?”
Google Home works with more than 1,000 smart home devices from over 150 brands. It can do things like control your August lock using a command like, “OK, Google, lock the front door.” It also works with the popular Phillips Hue lights. If you have smart home devices, it’s worth checking the list of supported devices here and getting yourself set up so you can control them using your Google Home.
Google Home can interact with your phone, helping you to place calls, hang up, find your phone, pair with Bluetooth and more. To trigger these features simply say something like, “OK, Google, call Mom,” “OK, Google find my phone,” or “OK, Google, Bluetooth pairing.”
When it comes to getting the most out of your Google Home, I recommend just experimenting. Throw commands at your Google Home and just see how it responds.
Do you have any favourite Google Home tasks?
My Day
Google Home offers a feature called “My Day.” This feature is designed to give you a customized morning briefing to help you start your day. This briefing can include information like the weather forecast, news, traffic, your reminders and calendar events. You can customize My Day using the Google Home app on your smartphone. To trigger your morning briefing, simply say “OK Google, tell me about my day.”
Stream Music
One of my favourite things about digital assistants is their ability to trigger my music streaming service using a simple voice command. By default, Google Home uses Google Play Music to stream music but it also supports YouTube Music and Spotify. If you prefer to use one of these, you can make the switch using the Google Home app on your smartphone. Once you’re all set, you can trigger by saying something like, “OK, Google, play the Daily Mix 1 on Spotify.”
Search
My favourite thing about Google Home, and the thing that differentiates it from Amazon Alexa, is that it’s powered by Google’s search engine. This means that you can search facts, directions, and much more with a simple voice command. For example, you can say something like, “OK, Google, what are the nearest restaurants to me?” or “OK, Google, what is a torn ACL?” or “OK, Google, how late is Staples Richmond Hill open?”
Control Your Smart Home
Google Home works with more than 1,000 smart home devices from over 150 brands. It can do things like control your August lock using a command like, “OK, Google, lock the front door.” It also works with the popular Phillips Hue lights. If you have smart home devices, it’s worth checking the list of supported devices here and getting yourself set up so you can control them using your Google Home.
Interact with Your Phone
Google Home can interact with your phone, helping you to place calls, hang up, find your phone, pair with Bluetooth and more. To trigger these features simply say something like, “OK, Google, call Mom,” “OK, Google find my phone,” or “OK, Google, Bluetooth pairing.”
When it comes to getting the most out of your Google Home, I recommend just experimenting. Throw commands at your Google Home and just see how it responds.
Do you have any favourite Google Home tasks?