The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Google Assistant

In some ways, I am fairly familiar with computers and high tech stuff. In other ways, we're definitely a little behind the times.

For example, we didn't own a "smart" phone until our son donated his old iPhone 4s to us just over two years ago. And of course the iPhone 4s was ahead of it's time when it came out in 2011... but by mid 2015, the time we started using it, technology had already surpassed it.

But I easily saw the potential benefits of owning a "smart" phone for travel. And so when the old iPhone went bad (what? Apple products can go bad?) while we were in Spain last February, we made the decision to buy a new Samsung smart phone... a brand new model with all the latest gizmos.

Half of which, I probably don't have figured out yet. I learn new stuff all the time!

But the most amazing new thing I learned recently is Google Assistant. Voice recognition software has come a long way in the last couple of years! iPhone has it's own version of this, called Siri. But the Android phones use Google software that most reports say is more user friendly than Siri.
And this technology is still fairly new... we are at the stages in voice recognition software where the Wright Brothers were with airplanes!

Remember Star Trek's Captain Kirk talking to the computer? Google Assistant is really close to that!

It types out on your screen exactly what you say. And it "learns" to recognize your voice and how you talk. Very cool. Check out this short video I made of it setting the alarm clock. Turn up your volume...


And it does tons of other neat stuff. Want to know when your next flight is? Just ask "when is my next flight please" Isn't it funny that I say please? Must have been my upbringing!

Ask for directions? Translate a word or phrase? Just ask. No typing required.

Fun stuff too if you ever get bored. Want to hear a joke? Just ask Google Assistant to tell you a joke...


Bah! She's actually pretty funny!

This technology is going to improve a lot over the next couple of years. And provided you don't have any unfounded paranoia about google knowing everything about you, it's a lot of fun to use. The system obviously needs to know your location and have access to your emails and a variety of other information to be able to give you correct answers to some of the questions you may ask.

Anyhow, I figured that if all this stuff is fairly new to me, that there might also be some of you who don't know about it yet! I think it's really cool, and can't wait to see what the future holds. 

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Igloo Ice Markers are on sale at Amazon. Problem is, they're sold out at this price. However, you can still order at this price and it will be delivered as soon as it's back in stock!


And in Canada, this top rated digital bathroom scale is the cheapest it's ever been...






12 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. No, Google Allo is an instant messaging app. Google Assistant isn't an app, it's actually part of the Android operating system.

      Delete
  2. I have a Galaxy A5, Android version 6.0.1- it doesn't seem to have it already on there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe try this Susan... https://www.themobileindian.com/how-to/how-to-enable-google-assistant-on-your-android-smartphone-16881

      Delete
  3. Tell her she's not as good as Siri and see what she says! We did this on my daughters phone, too funny :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Android phone with Google voice recognition Will do almost anything except set your clock
    Your Google speech recognition on your android phone is far better than Apple voice
    A lot less mistakes and if you're tired or you have an accent it's really poor
    If you're ever wondering which way technology is going to go with the cell phone check out this website
    You may have to cut-and-paste

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/187732114/orii-your-voice-powered-smart-ring?utm_source=kickbooster&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=ink3mg6t

    Another scary subject is AI (Artificial intelligence)
    It would have been interesting to see how far AI would've gotten if they had not unplugged it

    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-artificial-intelligence-ai-chatbot-new-language-research-openai-google-a7869706.html

    Sent from my iPad

    ReplyDelete
  5. LOL at your asking it to tell you a joke.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I laugh more when he says please and thank you to her!

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  6. Dont feel bad, kevin I got my first smart phone last year and I worked 30 years in telecom.

    ReplyDelete

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