Google Shares How Assistant Can Help You Get Through The Holiday Season
- by Fred Ferguson
- in Technology
- — Dec 2, 2018
Next week, it will expand "Broadcast Replies" so that you can send messages back and forth to Smart Display devices like Home Hub. Using a Google Play Music subscription, will allow you to display and show lyrics, syncronised to the music as it plays on-screen.
You can now add things to a specific list, such as your wish list or Christmas dinner shopping list, via Assistant.
If you include polite phrases like "please" and "thank you" in your queries, Assistant will respond in kind, thanking you for being polite.
Google Assistant can read along with select Disney books, as well as give parents a little breather by taking control of storytime.
For users of Smart Displays like the Google Home Hub, the firm is adding a lyrics option to Google Play Music, a photo sharing options and broadcast replies among others. They just have to command Assistant to call Santa and then an interactive game will start.
Have you ever wanted to speak to Santa?
Alongside that, Google's rolled out a couple of other features.
There's also plenty of new Assistant-type features onboard this update. We now offer over 50 titles, including "Beauty and the Beast", "Cinderella" and Dora the Explorer's "Dora's Super Sleepover". Soon, these will sync to services such as Google Keep, Any.do, Bring!, and Todoist. Some of them might not work for you right away.
All of these features are rolling out starting today.
It's aimed at helping children develop manners, but it'll also work with rude adults who verbally abuse their voice assistants - like me. Say "Hey, Google, tell me a story".
Last but certainly not least, Google Assistant can now "capture your thoughts and manage multiple lists in one central place".
When someone rings this Nest doorbell, a big blue "Talk" button will pop on your Google-compatible smart display, and you just tap on it to begin your conversation. Pretty useful for quick timers and whatnot. You can also quickly hide a photo from your ambient screen or favorite a photo to be enjoyed again at a later time. Some new Christmas stories have been added to Assistant's story time feature and you can also create new gift lists via Assistant in addition to adding items to specific gift lists.