Most of us probably dream of our digital assistants doing almost everything for us, as long as they stay away from Black Mirror territory and have some kind of AI uprising. We’ve already seen some things that they can do which used to be sci-fi territory only, but there are still a lot that we would want to experience. Google has shared new ways that your Google Assistant can make life more interesting for you with just an “Ok Google” or “Hey Google”.
Your Actions will now be able to support media playback on smart speakers and Android smartphones as well. Not only will you be able to play your favorite media, be it music, audio clips, audio books, relaxing sounds, etc, but you can also pause or replay the audio just with your voice commands. If you’re on your smartphone, you’ll also see a media player that you can control. You can even turn off the screen while the audio keeps playing.
There are also new app-specific actions that you can do. For example, if you’re into the whole meditation thing, you can ask Google to “Ask the Mindfulness app to help me ease with stress” or “Talk to Calm” and it will play you the guided meditation that you need at the moment. There are also other Actions from American Idol (the new reboot), Trivia from iHeartRadio, etc. Soon you will also be able to subscribe to notifications from your favorite Actions. You can ask Forbes to send you daily wisdom tips or for Forbes to send you a quote of the day.
If you’re at SXSW this week, Google wants to show off its Google Assistant Fun House where they showcase some imaginative ways people are using the digital assistant to automate actions. You can test out their voice-controlled sock sorting robot or their couch potato beer ordering system. Just don’t get any tech nightmares from your visit.
SOURCE: Google
