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Google Home


So the Google home, (before you ask about the mini, I don't have one of those yet, I got one of the full size ones)

One of my favorite christmas presents and the most fun wireless speaker I have had In a very long time, and can honestly say I use everyday.  From adding calendar events to setting alarms to just listening to music, it fits into the niche of tech that i am into, ( that being minimal design, but extensible usability).

It does have it's pitfalls, such as intermittently not being able to hear pitch properly, Thus not being able to authenticate the user properly, which given the alternative, I would rather be locked out than my data accessed by just anyone wandering in my room.  That problem can be minimized by using different pitches and or inflections in your voice when setting up the initial "Hey google, Okay Google....." (Trust me you'll be tired of setting it up to when you change out phones like me, story for another day)

But All things In their place.

TADA, isn't she shiny?
(Photo from wikipedia, we hold no rights or permissions to the photos, those are to it's owners)


Well lets get through with basic hardware stats on her, shall we?

 The original Google Home model is a cylindrical speaker that is 5.62 inches (143 millimetres) high, and 3.79 inches (96 millimetres) in diameter.[48] The top surface of the device features colored status LEDs, and features capacitive touch controls to start and stop music, and adjust volume.[5][49] A mute button is located on the back of the device, which disables the microphones.[50]
The base of the device is covered by a shell acting as a speaker grille, which is designed to be removed and replaced with one that suits the decor of a room.[51] As of November 2016, Google offers fabric shells in "Mango", "Marine", and "Violet" color finishes, and metallic shells in "Carbon", "Copper", and "Snow" finishes.[52][53\
 (excert from Wikipedia )


So basically it's a speaker with google's assistant built into it.
The concept behind it is to help integrate google into your home and by reminding you and allowing you to make alerts / appointments /communicate with other parts of your home that are currently capable.

Admittedly this kind of product is not for everyone and people who are deep into the google infrastructure are probably going to benefit most from this.  That being said mixed with the google play music service, even the most tech illiterate will be able to have some fun with it.

But wait can she do flips you say? With no special apps installed on your devices no >.>  BUT  With ifttt (android / apple ) you can make it do so much more!!!!!

Okay now canning the cheesy sales speach, with ifttt you can connect it to a wide arrange of smart home products such as smart sockets/ smart switches/ your smart fridge etc.   And dependant on the appliance and what you are looking to do there are an arrangement of useful and mischievious recipes that you can add to your smart arrangement.
What does that mean to you? Well it means that you can (like I have) set voice commands to turn my lights on and off,  Tell your coffee maker to start a pot of the ol dirty beans, or to tell you what the current status of your server is. 

You can customize what catch phrase you want your command to be dependant upon your tastes, or what the result is dependant on your needs.

I am still personally experimenting with the different options that are capable with that app / how extensible it truly is and plan to be making a seperate post on it's own in the near future.

But overall I am rather impressed with the google home unit and cant wait to see what is around the corner for this little cyllindar on my desk.

Balloonicorn

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