Asking Google Home or Amazon Echo to play any song you like from the Spotify catalog is extremely liberating—but until there is support for the Spotify Connect feature, these devices can only play back music on their own speakers, or on speakers to which they’re directly connected. I have AirPlay speakers all over the house and I would like to be able to tell Alexa or Google Assistant to play a given song in my living room or my kitchen or in my office—or any combination of those locations—but that’s just not possible today. This was the biggest of the complaints I wrote about last week in my comparison of Echo and Home.
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Persistence and hackery can overcome almost any tech roadblock though. Over the weekend I strung together a series of tools that allow me to issue voice commands to Google Home (which I prefer slightly) to select music on Spotify, then switch the playback to the Mac mini that sits at the heart of my home theater setup, and from there pipe music to the various AirPlay speakers in the house.
What’s more interesting is that the basics of this solution could theoretically allow you to control almost anything on your Mac via voice—and it’s incredibly easy to set up. It starts with the invaluable IFTTT service, which supports both Google Assistant and Alexa. You can define your own custom phrases to serve as IFTTT triggers, which can then generate simple text files on a cloud storage service like Dropbox, which can kick off automated routines on your Mac. This is what it looks like to set up the IFTTT component:
Build a smarter, more thoughtful connected home. Control your lights, set your temperature, and start the entertainment - all with your voice. Open the Google Home app. Tap on your device Settings. In the Device settings menu, scroll down to Wi-Fi, then tap Forget Forget Network. Follow the setup steps to set up your device on a new network. Google Home Mini free download - Google Play, Google Home, Google Earth, and many more programs. With the Google Home app, set up, manage. Using your google home app, connect the google home to the hotspot you created in (1) above. In your device hotspot settings, open the list of devices connected to the hotspot. Click on the google home to see it's MAC address. Laptop/PC Hotspot (None-apple device) 1. Create a hotspot on your device(PC, laptop). Mac Mini (mid2011) The Mac shows up because I am using AirServer to cast stuff between my iPhone and my Mac (iPhone recent and mac old= not good). I do see the Mac Mini in my Google Home and it looks as though it's an AVAILABLE device, but I can't make it a part of the network or add it to a room.
When you set Dropbox to sync the resulting text files to your Mac’s hard drive, the key is to do so to directories that you’ve loaded with macOS’s Folder Actions feature. Basically, when the text files are added to these folders, they act as triggers for Automator actions, which can do tons of stuff, including run AppleScript code—which in turn can do even more stuff. Once Automator is done, it can even clean up after itself by trashing the text file it used as a trigger, if you need.
This is the basic approach I use to enable Google Home to play music throughout my house, though there are more steps involved, and some janky workarounds. Using the Home’s built-in voice commands I search for and play the songs I want, just as you would normally do. Then I speak a custom phrase like “Switch tunes to home theater” (most music playback-related phrases are reserved by Google Home so you can’t just say “Ok Google, play music on my home theater”) to kick off an IFTTT applet. The applet saves a text file in Dropbox, which syncs to my Mac to a directory with a folder action attached to it. That action runs a bit of AppleScript to open Spotify and, through the brute force of repeating pre-recorded mouse locations and clicks (courtesy of an extremely unsexy app called Mac Auto Mouse Click), it opens the Spotify Connect menu and switches the playback device from Google Home to the Mac mini. Then finally (whew), Automator also tells AirFoil to redirect that music to a pre-defined set of AirPlay speakers. All of a sudden, the music I asked for in the kitchen is playing all over the house.
Granted, the setup is hardly elegant, to say the least. The beauty of it is that it’s incredibly simple to set up, easy enough that I’ve created a series of similar commands to play and pause the music, jump back and forward, etc. As I’ve said in the past, I’m not a programmer by any means—before this weekend I had never spent more than a few minutes in Automator or writing AppleScript—so the learning curve is shallow.
This kind of rudimentary but highly engaging automation is sure to become more and more central to consumers as voice-powered interfaces gain ground. So it’s all the more concerning that Apple parted ways with its longtime champion of automation products last fall, though perhaps there are other plans afoot to continuing evolving the automation of Apple’s devices and software. Looking ahead at a future filled with these kinds of devices, as users we are only going to want the apps and services that we use to be more scriptable, more responsive to integrations. And we’ll want that ability to automate to be simple enough that we can put together the missing flows and actions that we want ourselves.
+The Google Assistant made its way to quite a number of devices this year, including smartphones and smart speakers. Macos audio editor apps. The Google Home Mini was one of the most recent products from Google to infuse this AI-powered assistant and boy, is it handy!
Playing songs, news or being your personal jester — this tiny gadget can easily accomplish a number of tasks, without you having to lift a finger.
However, at the end of the day, these are tasks that you'd expect out of a smart speaker by default, especially when it's made by Google. Thankfully, the Google Home Mini is much more just a smart speaker.
If you have bought the Google Home Mini this holiday, here are the best tips for using it productively.
Also See: 13 Essential Alexa Skills Every Amazon Echo User Must Know1. Help it to Remember Stuff
I am a forgetful person and, most of the time, you'll find me searching for my stuff. So, when I got the Google Home Mini, its ability to remember things eventually became one of my favorite features.
All I do is say 'Hey Google, remember I have kept the passport in the drawer' and the assistant takes care of it.
Uninstall apple apps macbook. Next time, you forget where your passport is, just ask and it'll reply back with the answer.
2. Ask it for Instantaneous Traffic Updates
Being a Google product, the Google Home Mini integrates a number of Google services. For one, it incorporates Google Maps seamlessly so that you stay up-to-date with the traffic conditions.
To start off, you can ask Google simple questions like how long it will take you to get to the subway or the airport.
How to close apps on computer. For more customized answers, you need to update the home and office addresses in the Personal info section of the Google Home app.
Having done that, all you have to do is ask 'how long will the commute be' or 'how long will it take to get to work' and the smart assistant will have the answer ready for you.
Read More: 22 Best Google Maps Tips and Tricks That You’ll Love3. Play Around With Smart Shortcuts
Too long a sentence to ask? Shorten them. The Shortcuts option available under More Settings > Shortcuts makes your work much easier by replacing longer phrases with a few short words.
So, sentences such as, 'Play the workout music on Google Play Music' can be shortened by phrases like Play or Party time.
To add a shortcut, simply tap on the Plus icon on your Google Home app and add your short phrases.
4. Get Timings for Nearby Banks or Grocery Stores
As mentioned earlier, Google has managed to infuse almost every part of our lives. So, whether it's searching for the opening hours of your nearest grocery store or a quick fact check, odds are that you'd Google it.
How about we save some precious time it takes to type in a query? Just ask a question similar to 'What's the timing of the nearest HDFC bank' and all the relevant information would be relayed to you within seconds.
Also See: 4 Apps for Avoiding Real-Time Traffic and Learning Efficient RoutesGoogle Home App Macbook
5. Play Netflix Through Voice Control
If you have a Chromecast-enabled TV, you can use your Google Home device to play your favorite Netflix shows. However, you'll first need to link your Netflix account.
Start off by going to More settings, select Videos and Photos and tap on the Link icon. Once the link is active, just sit back and enjoy your favorite shows with the voice-activated speaker acting as your remote.
Want to start over with Stranger Things, just say 'Ok Google, play ‘Stranger Things’ season one', sit back and enjoy.
6. Use it as an Intercom
One of my favorite Google Home features is its ability to double up as a broadcaster. With your Assistant on your smartphone and all you have to say is 'Broadcast' followed by the message.
The same message would be instantly broadcast to all your Home devices that are connected to your account.
7. Lost the Kitchen Timer? Call up Mini
Google Home finds its use in the kitchen as well. So, the next time you are boiling eggs or baking a cake, use its built-in timer feature. Just say, 'Hey Google, start the timer for 10 (or what you wish) minutes'.
This conveniently replaces the process of reaching out for your phone, searching for the timer and then setting it manually.
Unlike Alexa, the sound of the timer in Google Home is quite sharp.
8. Enable the Guest Mode to Cast Contents
Another cool trick is the Guest mode option on the Google Home devices. It lets your guests cast songs and music files to the smart speaker without connecting to the Wi-Fi network.
This saves you from the hassle of sharing your Wi-Fi password and eventually changing them later. Talk about collective efforts to party hard!
9. Ask it Word Meanings, Synonyms, and Spellings
If you have a little one, who has been bitten by the curiosity bug, the Home can double up as the Answerer. From meanings of words, facts to synonyms and spellings — it can do them all.
What's more? You can ask it to speak slowly and it'll follow your request.
Also See:Top 3 Dictionary Lookup Extensions for Chrome10. Learn Your Family by Voice
The Google Home devices can answer and address the queries of multiple users. However, with individual voice training, you can expect an output tailored to you, especially when using Google Maps, Calendar or even in the daily News briefings.
Just download the Google Home app on your smartphone and start the voice training.
Cool Fact: Did you know that you can change the voice from the comforts of your sofa? Just say, 'Hey Google, change the voice'.11. Play Akinator
Now that we are done with the serious stuff, how about having some fun with the Google Home Mini? Thanks to the third-party app integration, you can have your share of fun and play one of the best games — Akinator, the Genie.
Akinator is a simple question game, which attempts to read your mind, based on the questions it asks. A funny game to play, all you need to do is answer its questions with a simple yes or no.
You can start off by saying, 'Hey Google, let me talk to Akinator' and start answering its set of questions.
Let Your Productivity Go Through the Roof
With the right features enabled, the Google Home Mini can raise your productivity through the roof. Forget about typing your queries and then hitting search or, for that matter, opening Google Maps manually before you leave for office.
It's 2018 and you just need to say the word and the obedient assistant will be ready with an answer.
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See Next: How to Delete Voice Data from Google Home and Amazon EchoThe above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#Assistant #google home
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Did You Know
Google Maps helped discover a rainforest in Mount Mabu, Mozambique.