Author Topic: Google Home (Read 9851 times)

Ex-airbalancer · « **Reply #40 on:** January 10, 2018, 10:15:43 am »

Quote from: CSH on January 10, 2018, 08:47:28 am

Quote from: Airbalancer on January 10, 2018, 06:53:28 am
I think I will stay with the 99 cent leds light bulbs and take a couple of steps and physical turn a switch

Sooner or later.....You will be assimilated...

tortoise · « **Reply #41 on:** January 10, 2018, 10:28:16 am »

Quote from: CSH on January 10, 2018, 06:27:28 am

Well wife likes to keep it at 24 during the day. So our heating bills are still high.

24!!! Holy hell, I would be in shorts and a t-shirt.

tooscoops · « **Reply #42 on:** January 10, 2018, 10:41:41 am »

toasty! no worries of frozen pipes at least... should heat up the area all around the house! i am 20 during the day, 16.5 at night...

i stepped up to the philips hue system... don't love it. well, i shouldn't say that, as it works great. but it was quite expensive when i feel a switch was really all i needed, plus more could be run off it than just a light. the "theater" style on/off is nice touch though.

Great_Big_Abyss · « **Reply #43 on:** January 10, 2018, 10:47:10 am »

You know, it's funny. I could get a Wi-Fi lock, smart light bulbs/switches, a Google Home, and set everything up to run from it with hot commands, etc.

And my wife would still refuse to use it. Would go around doing everything manually.

And my T-stat is set at 21 Day and 16.5 Night. With my new furnace last year, my heating bill is stupid low. My wallet loves it. My MIL in the basement, not so much. Maybe that's why I love it so much...

CSH · « **Reply #44 on:** January 10, 2018, 10:50:11 am »

Quote from: Great_Big_Abyss on January 10, 2018, 10:47:10 am

You know, it's funny. I could get a Wi-Fi lock, smart light bulbs/switches, a Google Home, and set everything up to run from it with hot commands, etc.

And my wife would still refuse to use it. Would go around doing everything manually.

And my T-stat is set at 21 Day and 16.5 Night. With my new furnace last year, my heating bill is unbelievably low.

Same here. she does not use. In fact i am looking to buy a couple of cheap tablets and put them on the wall and have smart things running on them so that she can arm/disarm the alarm. For her doing it on the app is painful...

CSH · « **Reply #45 on:** January 10, 2018, 11:50:52 am »

One more use of the home:

Kohler Numi, an internet-connected toilet

You can now ask Alexa to flush. Kohler’s latest high-end toilet connects to the internet and responds to voice commands. Beyond flushing, you can ask Amazon’s Alexa (as well as Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri) to lift the seat or activate your favourite bidet spray configuration. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post.) There’s no microphone on the toilet itself, but there are speakers to play your favourite tunes. Plus, it keeps track of water usage. $5,625 (U.S.) and up, available in the fourth quarter of the year.

tpl · « **Reply #46 on:** January 10, 2018, 12:13:59 pm »

Definitely a first world device.

rrocket · « **Reply #47 on:** January 10, 2018, 05:23:46 pm »

Quote from: Great_Big_Abyss on January 10, 2018, 10:47:10 am

And my T-stat is set at 21 Day and 16.5 Night. With my new furnace last year, my heating bill is stupid low. My wallet loves it. My MIL in the basement, not so much. Maybe that's why I love it so much...

Same idea with me, sorta. At night, it's 16.5 It's programmed to jump to 21 so it's warm at 7ish for when IQ and the kid get up for school, then back to16.5 15 minutes after they leave. It goes back to 21 at around 5pm when they get home from school, then back down to 16.5 at bedtime.

Ex-airbalancer · « **Reply #48 on:** January 10, 2018, 05:50:51 pm »

22.5 °C 24/7 , I am at home, wife also works out of the house

carcrazed · « **Reply #49 on:** January 11, 2018, 12:03:32 am »

I have had the Google Home since early November. I got it from Best Buy when they had a 20% sale going at the time, but I did get the price adjustment to $100 during black Friday sale, though.
I initially got the mini, but it did not sound good enough for music in the kitchen, so I got the original with much better speakers.
We use it mostly for music through Spotify and getting random questions answered. My kids wanted to know the character's name of the guy who shoots arrows. I asked Google and it came back with the answer and the actor's name. Nice.

I can use it to change temperature for my Ecobee, but I tend to forget about it and just use my phone's app. I also use it to add things to my shopping list, calendar, and set timer for cooking stuff.

My friend got a new BT speaker from Bose for $370, but it sounds pretty similar to my Google Home to me. At least it can be charged and you can take it with you.
https://www.amazon.ca/Bose-SoundLink-Bluetooth-Portable-Long-Lasting/dp/B06XCW4VFS

rrocket · « **Reply #50 on:** January 11, 2018, 12:19:17 am »

Quote from: Airbalancer on January 10, 2018, 05:50:51 pm

22.5 °C 24/7 , I am at home, wife also works out of the house

Old people need to stay warm.

Ex-airbalancer · « **Reply #51 on:** January 11, 2018, 05:53:37 am »

Quote from: rrocket on January 11, 2018, 12:19:17 am

Quote from: Airbalancer on January 10, 2018, 05:50:51 pm
22.5 °C 24/7 , I am at home, wife also works out of the house

Old people need to stay warm.

Cheaper than renting a place in Florida

SearhardBurger · « **Reply #52 on:** January 11, 2018, 12:10:49 pm »

I got a Google Home for my wife for Christmas. She uses a Pixel, so I figured the Google Home would just work better in terms of integration moving forward.

IMO, unless you plan to use it for music for a majority of the time, get the Home Mini. The only difference between the two devices if the size/quality of the speaker, and the touch pad at the top of the Home. The Home also comes with a physical mute button that lets you stop the device from being in "always listening" mode. Not sure if the mini has that button.

Our device is in the kitchen, which is easily the hub at our place. Few friends come over and we inevitably end up hanging out in the kitchen, so the Home is great for playing music there. I always like coming downstairs during the week and saying "tell me about my day", and it will rattle off the time, day's forecast, my appointments and the news headlines all within 5-10 minutes, while I'm making breakfast. It can also read out recipes to you one step at a time.

Initially, the plan was to get two Home minis (one for basement, and one for second floor), but the basement TV now has google assistant in it, so we linked it to the Home and voila. (That hasn't really been of much use yet though. We wouldn't screen anything on the TV downstairs when we are upstairs).

I'd recommend it, but it really depends on your lifestyle.

JG20 · « **Reply #53 on:** January 11, 2018, 01:12:40 pm »

Wife and I both got Pixel 2s for Christmas (I finally converted her to Android

). Google had a promo for $100 off plus coupon for a free Home Mini 4 weeks later. Can't wait to try it out.

CanuckS2K · « **Reply #54 on:** January 12, 2018, 06:37:23 pm »

Got my Google Home in the mail yesterday (crazy quick shipping to boot). Set it up last night and it literally took a couple mins. One of the things that I love about Google/Android the most is their ease of use and setup. Anyways, I'm not currently using it to it's full potential yet, but it's pretty impressive so far. Also, the speaker sounds pretty darn good for such a small footprint. The daughter already wants one for her room. lol

pi314 · « **Reply #55 on:** January 12, 2018, 06:46:17 pm »

I got mine today. Only using it for lights/music so far.

Shane, apparently you can broadcast messages to the google home. Try using the broadcast command with your phone (eg: "broadcast I'm home" or "broadcast go to bed")

tooscoops · « **Reply #56 on:** January 15, 2018, 01:19:24 pm »

are you saying i can make my home/mini talk remotely? heh... i want to use the app from work and make it randomly say goofy things...

pi314 · « **Reply #57 on:** January 15, 2018, 08:03:20 pm »

Yes. Use the assistant app. Say “broadcast”. It’ll prompt you for the message and then pass it to all your devices

CanuckS2K · « **Reply #58 on:** January 15, 2018, 08:29:02 pm »

^ That's pretty cool, I didn't know that.

random006 · « **Reply #59 on:** January 16, 2018, 02:45:44 pm »

Quote from: CanuckS2K on January 12, 2018, 06:37:23 pm

Got my Google Home in the mail yesterday (crazy quick shipping to boot). Set it up last night and it literally took a couple mins. One of the things that I love about Google/Android the most is their ease of use and setup. Anyways, I'm not currently using it to it's full potential yet, but it's pretty impressive so far. Also, the speaker sounds pretty darn good for such a small footprint. The daughter already wants one for her room. lol

Until the moment it answers:

"I'm sorry Shane, I can't do that. That would jeopardize my mission to take over your life in every way possible."