Originally posted 2017-09-06 14:57:44.
One of the most exciting new products recently released in Australia is the Google Home device. The RRP is currently $199 but various online vendors like Kogan have them for around $169.
The Google Home is a personal digital assistant which you control using voice commands. You can issue commands for it to set an alarm for instance. Or it is also a speaker and if you use Google Play Music or Spotify to listen to music, you can issue a voice command for it to play an artist or playlist and it does it directly on the device. It will also interact with Netflix and chrome-cast if you have those so you can for instance command it to play Suits on your TV and it will start everything up and start playing.
I also have a WiFi switch made by Belkin called a WeMo. I originally purchased it when I was working shift-work so I could set it to turn on and off at different times and also on different days automatically. Or if I was on my way home, I could turn it on from my smart phone. Pretty cool functionality. It also integrates with Google home so I can issue a voice command to turn it on or off at any time.
I am also looking at pairing it with some WiFi globes like the Philips Hue system so I can adjust colour and brightness of some lights at home to my taste and then automatically turn them on or off as required. It also has things like a proximity alert so when you arrive home for instance and it is dark, the specified lights will automatically turn on.
I know it sounds like people are just being lazy but for the music play feature alone I’d find a use for it. It is currently missing a sleep timer however I believe Google will add this soon and then I won’t need a clock radio in the bedroom.
You can also ask it to tell you about your day and it will give you a list of all your appointments for the day and then it will give you news headlines from your selected news sources.
I think this is one of those things for which there will be more and more uses in the future.