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Old 08-10-2017, 11:20 AM   #1
Iceman90
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The Google Home has been available in Canada for a while now. Do you have one? If so, how are you using it? Do you like it, or wish you held out for an Echo? Do you have any cool IFTTT recipes you've created for it?

This is the place to discuss the Google Home.

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Old 08-10-2017, 11:23 AM   #2
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I got my Google Home on July 28th. I really like using it for reading the news to me daily while I am making dinner. I've also found the speaker inside of it to be quite good for casting podcasts and audio books while I am working around the house.

Sadly, my primary Google account is a G Suite account for my company, and Google doesn't support GSuite (no surprise) for calendar and email events yet - so I can't get all the features out of it that I'd like to.

I do have my SmartThings connected, which is cool to be able to control my smart home via voice.

The Google Home is a cool device, I feel it's still "version 1 technology" and has a lot of upside going forward as more developers jump on board to develop for it.
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Old 08-10-2017, 04:37 PM   #3
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Glad this thread was started. Thank you!

I'm a gadget guy and I'm close to buying this, but I'm going to wait until the next Pixel announcement in case they introduce an upgraded or new version.

We've already seen Google discount the Pixel by $200 and throw in some VR, so I would expect the same (hopefully) for the Google Home plus a new / upgraded version.

What specific home automation do you use it for?
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Old 08-11-2017, 08:27 AM   #4
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I have two of them in my home and have had them for about 6 months (a family member brought it up from the states). It's difficult to articulate, but the Google Home has become part of our daily routine now, especially since they added multi-user identification (it can tell which family member is speaking to it and answer accordingly).

We primarily use it as the hub for our home automation as it runs our lights (Hue), Nest, and Vizio TV. While these devices are all crazy expensive, they work flawlessly. Adding IFTTT into the mix is even better. For example, I just say "Hey Google. Goodnight" and it turns off all of the lights on the main floor and turns on the bedroom lights.

What is really interesting, however, is how we use it in our normal lives. Some of the things we do on a daily basis include:

Asking what time a store is open until, or where the closest location is.
Asking about traffic between our house and a destination.
What's the weather going to be today?
How many carbs are in a certain food.
Reminders (This one is huge)
Stuff you would normally look up on your phone (how many litres in 20 gallons?)
What time is the Flames game tonight? (If I could integrate Home with my PVR, I would be in heaven).

There are some caveats, however. You really need to immerse yourself into the Google ecosystem, or it starts to fall apart. Gmail, Google Music, Youtube, etc, are all pre-requisites almost. The AI is great, but not perfect. It's a massive step forward from Siri, Google Now, etc, but it still messes up fairly regularly. I would also say that the speaker is good, but not great. Especially when compared to a Sonos or whatever. The microphone can be finicky at times as well. It seems to pick up on background noise on occasion.

Overall, I would say I love my Home and fully recommend it to anyone in the Google world. I haven't done anything too special with IFTTT other than saying specific phrases which fires off a Hue scene. I also have it setup to play a song on my phone if I say "Hey Google, I can't find my phone". There are a ton of recipe's available for use though.

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Old 08-11-2017, 11:38 AM   #5
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Ordered mine...arrives next week. Pretty excited to give it a go.

/edit arrived today! Got it connected and running in ten minutes. Looking forward to it.

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Old 08-11-2017, 01:56 PM   #6
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Like psicodude's family, ours are so well integrated into our lives it's amazing. We have three of them. Playing music, adding stuff to a grocery list that then simultaneously appears on all of our phones, turning lights on/off, setting timers, asking random questions, playing videos on youtube. They're truly the best gadget ever.
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Old 08-13-2017, 09:37 AM   #7
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One of the best yet unknown features of Google Home (or assistant on your phone) is access to third party services. We use the "Our Groceries" app all of the time, for example. Be aware that several of them don't work in Canada yet.

This is how you access them: https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/7126338
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Old 08-13-2017, 12:55 PM   #8
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Yep we got one a few weeks ago. It is pretty sweet.
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Old 08-13-2017, 05:17 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrDJZak View Post
Glad this thread was started. Thank you!

I'm a gadget guy and I'm close to buying this, but I'm going to wait until the next Pixel announcement in case they introduce an upgraded or new version.
At this point, I think Google Home is going to be more like the Alexa or even Android Wear - the hardware isn't going to the major thing - the innovations will come in the Google Assistant software and the API integrations.

My bet is they don't release a new hardware version (they are still rolling out the first version around the world) but will instead announce new software features, and new Android integration. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them allow other manufacturers to make their own hardware (like Amazon is) very soon.
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Old 08-13-2017, 05:21 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by psicodude View Post
One of the best yet unknown features of Google Home (or assistant on your phone) is access to third party services. We use the "Our Groceries" app all of the time, for example. Be aware that several of them don't work in Canada yet.
There is a built in grocery list feature.

But yes I agree - the key to all of these devices (Home, Echo, HomeKit, etc) is going to be their third party developer communities and integration.
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Old 08-13-2017, 05:34 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrDJZak View Post
What specific home automation do you use it for?
I have to be clear, I don't use the Home as the hub of my home automation. I have a SmartThings hub that everything runs through. The Home is just my voice controller for my actions.
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Old 08-18-2017, 07:21 AM   #12
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You can now make free phone calls to anywhere in Canada and the US with Google Home.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/16/go...e-phone-calls/
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Old 08-18-2017, 09:36 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce View Post
You can now make free phone calls to anywhere in Canada and the US with Google Home.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/16/go...e-phone-calls/
I tried it last night and kept getting a busy signal. Anyone get it to work?
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Old 08-20-2017, 12:44 PM   #14
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Crossposted, but Google Home is on sale for $30 off at Best Buy right now til the 24th
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Old 08-20-2017, 05:24 PM   #15
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Quote:
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Crossposted, but Google Home is on sale for $30 off at Best Buy right now til the 24th
Umm, $30 off... not $30. Lol.
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Old 08-20-2017, 05:42 PM   #16
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Umm, $30 off... not $30. Lol.
My post says $30 off

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Old 08-20-2017, 06:15 PM   #17
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Haha I'm an idiot.
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Old 10-21-2017, 01:46 PM   #18
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They are serious here (Illinois) about smart home rebates for energy savings.

Nest learning thermostat retail price
$249
-100 ComEd electric rebate
-40 ComEd rewards (peak energy reduction)
-50 Nicor gas rebate
Final cost = $59 (have to pay tax on $249)
2 furnaces? Get rebates on 2 per home.
Total cost for 2, including taxes = $157.84

My Google Home has 2 new friends to talk to
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Old 10-22-2017, 09:15 AM   #19
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In the spirit of helping others, here is something I figured out last night that will make my Google Home even more powerful.

I wanted the ability to say a phrase to the Home, "Hey Google, it's time for bed" and it turns off all the lights in my house and then turns on the lamps in my bedroom (all Hue). The problem is that neither the "Shortcuts" in the Google Home app nor IFTTT can string together multiple commands. This means that I would have to tell Google to turn off all lights, and then tell it to turn on the lights in the bedroom. Lame.

I installed an app called "Stringify" last night. Basically, it's a workflow engine that integrates with tons of smart home devices, including Google Assistant and Hue. I then created a "flow" that kicks off when I say "I'm going to bed". These flows let you string together multiple commands, so I added the command to turn off all lights, and when that's done, turn on the bedroom lights.

At this point, I would have to say "Hey Google, tell stringify I'm going to bed", which isn't cool. To solve this, I added a Google Home shortcut that sends the "Hey Google, tell stringify I'm going to bed" whenever I simply say "Hey Google, I'm going to bed". It works perfectly!

As all of these devices/apps start to mature, the ability to do really interesting stuff is emerging.
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:48 PM   #20
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Great tip!

Quote:
Originally Posted by psicodude View Post
At this point, I would have to say "Hey Google, tell stringify I'm going to bed", which isn't cool. To solve this, I added a Google Home shortcut that sends the "Hey Google, tell stringify I'm going to bed" whenever I simply say "Hey Google, I'm going to bed". It works perfectly!
That's one thing I hate about Google's existing system, is you need to tell Google to tell a third party app something. I am looking forward to the day that they get rid of that syntax, and just let you say "Ok Google...." as you've setup a shortcut for.
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