Google forays into the smart speakers market with its recent launch of Google Home and Home mini smart speakers at an event in New Delhi today.&nbsp

Google Home is available in India for Rs 9,999 while Home Mini comes at a price of Rs 4,499. The newly launched devices will be exclusively available on Flipkart as well as at Google offline stores.

Both Google Home and Home Mini come with Google Assistant, company's direct competition to Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana and Apple's Siri.

Users can direct Google Home to read out emails, news, recipes latest news and play music apart from carrying out a range of other functions.&nbsp

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Play music, switch the lights on and feed your curiosity. Get the most out of your <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoogleHome?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoogleHome</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeGoogleDoIt?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MakeGoogleDoIt</a> <a href="https://t.co/9CRfWbpteA">https://t.co/9CRfWbpteA</a> <a href="https://t.co/kGi3OMym8k">pic.twitter.com/kGi3OMym8k</a>
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Google Home can efficiently run on Wi-Fi dual-band connectivity and is compatible with Android and iOS platforms.&nbsp

The Home Mini speaker shares almost the same specifications and features as Google Home. 
&nbsp

Google Home can be efficiently run on Wi-Fi dual-band connectivity and is compatible with Android and iOS platforms

Google forays into the smart speakers market with its recent launch of Google Home and Home mini smart speakers at an event in New Delhi today. Google Home is available in India for Rs 9,999 while Home Mini comes at a price of Rs 4,499. The newly launched devices will be exclusively available on Flipkart as well as at Google offline stores. Both Google Home and Home Mini come with Google Assistant, company's direct competition to Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana and Apple's Siri. Users can direct Google Home to read out emails, news, recipes latest news and play music apart from carrying out a range of other functions. Play music, switch the lights on and feed your curiosity. Get the most out of your #GoogleHome. #MakeGoogleDoIt https://t.co/9CRfWbpteA pic.twitter.com/kGi3OMym8k — Google India (@GoogleIndia) April 10, 2018 × Google Home can efficiently run on Wi-Fi dual-band connectivity and is compatible with Android and iOS platforms. The Home Mini speaker shares almost the same specifications and features as Google Home.

Google Home, Home Mini launched in India, available on Flipkart and offline stores

Google has announced that it will no longer support YouTube on Echo Show and Amazon&rsquo;s Fire TV devices. The announcement comes just months after the company decided to withdraw support for YouTube on Echo Show.

Google&rsquo;s move irked a lot of Echo Show users in the US and Amazon had to resort to a workaround by redirecting users to the web version. Google now says even the web version of YouTube will stop working on&nbsp;Echo Show. The service will also become unavailable on Fire TV, where YouTube is a central part of the entire device experience.

YouTube will stop working on Echo Show starting today while Fire TV users will start a seeing a notification warning them that the service will become unavailable starting January 1.

Three months ago, Google decided to stop allowing Echo Show to access YouTube citing violation of terms of service. Google claimed Amazon&rsquo;s implementation of YouTube on Echo Show offers a broken experience and violates its design guidelines. Amazon said there is no technical reason for this move and stopped selling Google-owned Nest&rsquo;s Thermostat, Camera IQ and Secure alarm system.

&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other&rsquo;s products and services. But Amazon doesn&rsquo;t carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn&rsquo;t make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest&rsquo;s latest products. Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon,&rdquo; a YouTube spokesperson said announcing the end of support.

Google wants Amazon to customise YouTube to show options like autoplay, video recommendation and subscription on Echo Show and by dropping support for Fire TV, the search giant hopes Amazon will adhere to its design guidelines. Google is also&nbsp;rumoured&nbsp;to be working on its own Echo Show competitor offering better integration with YouTube. Amazon has not commented on YouTube&rsquo;s end of support for Echo Show and Fire TV yet but it is likely to affect consumers more than these tech giants.

Google?s move irked a lot of Echo Show users in the US and Amazon had to resort to a workaround by redirecting users to the web version.

Google has announced that it will no longer support YouTube on Echo Show and Amazon’s Fire TV devices. The announcement comes just months after the company decided to withdraw support for YouTube on Echo Show. Google’s move irked a lot of Echo Show users in the US and Amazon had to resort to a workaround by redirecting users to the web version. Google now says even the web version of YouTube will stop working on Echo Show. The service will also become unavailable on Fire TV, where YouTube is a central part of the entire device experience. YouTube will stop working on Echo Show starting today while Fire TV users will start a seeing a notification warning them that the service will become unavailable starting January 1. Three months ago, Google decided to stop allowing Echo Show to access YouTube citing violation of terms of service. Google claimed Amazon’s implementation of YouTube on Echo Show offers a broken experience and violates its design guidelines. Amazon said there is no technical reason for this move and stopped selling Google-owned Nest’s Thermostat, Camera IQ and Secure alarm system. “We’ve been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other’s products and services. But Amazon doesn’t carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn’t make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest’s latest products. Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon,” a YouTube spokesperson said announcing the end of support. Google wants Amazon to customise YouTube to show options like autoplay, video recommendation and subscription on Echo Show and by dropping support for Fire TV, the search giant hopes Amazon will adhere to its design guidelines. Google is also rumoured to be working on its own Echo Show competitor offering better integration with YouTube. Amazon has not commented on YouTube’s end of support for Echo Show and Fire TV yet but it is likely to affect consumers more than these tech giants.

Google withdraws support for YouTube on Amazon Fire TV and Echo Show

<a href="http://www.bgr.in/tag/google-home/">Google Home</a>, the tech giant&rsquo;s smart speaker, suffered an outage where the Assistant did not respond to the users. Google Home is equipped with the AI-based assistant which responds to the launch phrases, &quot;Ok Google&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;Hey Google&quot;. Unfortunately, Google Assistant was responding with, &quot;Hmm, something went wrong. Try again in a few seconds,&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;There was a glitch. Try again in a few seconds&quot;.&nbsp;Google updated saying that the glitch has been fixed now.

The Google Home outage appears to have started from May 31 according to the complaints posted on Google Home Help Forum.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/06/05/not-just-theres-widespread-google-home-outage/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Android Police</a>&nbsp;reported that only the Google Home smart speaker was affected with this glitch, and the other devices with Google Assistant worked fine. Google Home users who pointed out the glitch on the forum said that they had tried resetting the device, and even changed the Wi-Fi network, but the problem was still occurring. To some users, the command &lsquo;Ok Google&rsquo; would work 60 to 70 per cent of the time, and fail eventually.

Google&nbsp;<a href="https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/googlehome/2uX6fX3MwTY;context-place=forum/googlehome" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">responded to the issue</a>&nbsp;saying that the company is looking into the matter. Today, Google updated the forum with a message saying that issue has been fixed &ndash; &ldquo;We want to thank everyone for all the input, feedback and patience while we worked on this issue. We hope to have fixed this issue for everyone. If you are still having issues please try rebooting your Google Home by unplugging it from the wall outlet, waiting a minute then plugging it back in. Please do let us know if you are still experiencing any error messages after the saying &#39;Ok Google&#39;&nbsp;or &#39;Hey Google&#39;.&rdquo;&nbsp;

So the Google Home outage could have been fixed simply by removing the plug from&nbsp;the socket, waiting for a minute and then plugging it back in. While Google did update its Home users on fixing the glitch, it did not specify why the issue was caused. Since only Google Home was suffering an outage, it was a relief considering people could still control their smart home products with their smartphones. Smart home products are still at a nascent stage in India, but in a market like the US, it&rsquo;s becoming a necessity.&nbsp;

Going by the comment thread on the forum, it was noticeable how many people rely on Google Home and how some people have three, four of them lying at home. While this may seem like a small glitch, people who have a proper ecosystem of a smart home could suffer a bigger problem if the scale was higher.&nbsp;

Previously, only&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bgr.in/tag/amazon-echo/">Amazon Echo</a>&nbsp;and Google Home were dominating the home speaker market, but more players joined. The most recent ones include&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bgr.in/news/microsoft-build-2017-live-after-harman-kardon-hp-intel-join-the-league-of-cortana-powered-devices/">Harman Kardon&rsquo;s Cortana-enabled Invoke</a>&nbsp;and Andy Rubin&rsquo;s intelligent speaker system, t<a href="http://www.bgr.in/news/andy-rubins-essential-home-smart-speaker-focuses-on-user-privacy-takes-on-google-home-amazon-echo/">he Essential Home</a>. The latest to join the scene is Apple with its Siri-powered HomePod speaker. As the reality moves to people depending on AI-enabled devices, these kinds of glitches could potentially create a bigger issue in the future. The Google Home glitch saw a temporary but widespread&nbsp;frustration among its users.

(BGR News)

Reports say only the Google Home smart speaker was affected with this glitch, and other Google Assistant devices worked fine

Google Home, the tech giant’s smart speaker, suffered an outage where the Assistant did not respond to the users. Google Home is equipped with the AI-based assistant which responds to the launch phrases, "Ok Google" or "Hey Google". Unfortunately, Google Assistant was responding with, "Hmm, something went wrong. Try again in a few seconds," or "There was a glitch. Try again in a few seconds". Google updated saying that the glitch has been fixed now. The Google Home outage appears to have started from May 31 according to the complaints posted on Google Home Help Forum. Android Police reported that only the Google Home smart speaker was affected with this glitch, and the other devices with Google Assistant worked fine. Google Home users who pointed out the glitch on the forum said that they had tried resetting the device, and even changed the Wi-Fi network, but the problem was still occurring. To some users, the command ‘Ok Google’ would work 60 to 70 per cent of the time, and fail eventually. Google responded to the issue saying that the company is looking into the matter. Today, Google updated the forum with a message saying that issue has been fixed – “We want to thank everyone for all the input, feedback and patience while we worked on this issue. We hope to have fixed this issue for everyone. If you are still having issues please try rebooting your Google Home by unplugging it from the wall outlet, waiting a minute then plugging it back in. Please do let us know if you are still experiencing any error messages after the saying 'Ok Google' or 'Hey Google'.” So the Google Home outage could have been fixed simply by removing the plug from the socket, waiting for a minute and then plugging it back in. While Google did update its Home users on fixing the glitch, it did not specify why the issue was caused. Since only Google Home was suffering an outage, it was a relief considering people could still control their smart home products with their smartphones. Smart home products are still at a nascent stage in India, but in a market like the US, it’s becoming a necessity. Going by the comment thread on the forum, it was noticeable how many people rely on Google Home and how some people have three, four of them lying at home. While this may seem like a small glitch, people who have a proper ecosystem of a smart home could suffer a bigger problem if the scale was higher. Previously, only Amazon Echo and Google Home were dominating the home speaker market, but more players joined. The most recent ones include Harman Kardon’s Cortana-enabled Invoke and Andy Rubin’s intelligent speaker system, the Essential Home. The latest to join the scene is Apple with its Siri-powered HomePod speaker. As the reality moves to people depending on AI-enabled devices, these kinds of glitches could potentially create a bigger issue in the future. The Google Home glitch saw a temporary but widespread frustration among its users. (BGR News)

Google Home suffers outage, Assistant stops responding to commands

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said on Monday that Amazon Prime Video would be available on Apple TV and other Apple devices starting later this year.

Apple has about 50 media partners that supply content to its Apple TV and on the television app on its popular iPhone. But Amazon&#39;s service, which includes hit shows like &quot;Transparent,&quot; has been a notable absence from Apple&#39;s hardware.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/apple-debuts-homepod-speaker-to-take-on-amazon-google-16472">Also read: Apple debuts HomePod speaker to take on Amazon, Google</a>

CEO Tim Cook also used the Apple keynote to show off new iPad and Mac computer models, as well as provide glimpses at coming versions of the software powering the technology titan&#39;s devices.

Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said the next Mac operating system will be named &quot;High Sierra&quot; in tribute to the California mountain range.

High Sierra features will include being able to stop unexpected videos from starting to play automatically when landing on web pages and &quot;intelligent tracking prevention&quot; that will prevent ads from following people about the internet.

High Sierra will be released later this year as a free update, according to Federighi.

(WION with inputs from agencies)

&nbsp;

Apple has about 50 media partners that supply content to its Apple TV and on the television app on its popular iPhone.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said on Monday that Amazon Prime Video would be available on Apple TV and other Apple devices starting later this year. Apple has about 50 media partners that supply content to its Apple TV and on the television app on its popular iPhone. But Amazon's service, which includes hit shows like "Transparent," has been a notable absence from Apple's hardware. Also read: Apple debuts HomePod speaker to take on Amazon, Google CEO Tim Cook also used the Apple keynote to show off new iPad and Mac computer models, as well as provide glimpses at coming versions of the software powering the technology titan's devices. Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said the next Mac operating system will be named "High Sierra" in tribute to the California mountain range. High Sierra features will include being able to stop unexpected videos from starting to play automatically when landing on web pages and "intelligent tracking prevention" that will prevent ads from following people about the internet. High Sierra will be released later this year as a free update, according to Federighi. (WION with inputs from agencies)

WWDC 2017: Amazon Prime Video coming to Apple devices

Mobile phone apps took centre stage at Google&rsquo;s annual developer conference on Wednesday as the search giant announced new features for its digital assistant and its popular photo app while devoting little time to the Android mobile operating system.

Addressing an audience of thousands of developers in Mountain View, California, Google executives delivered a broad-based update to their product portfolio which also included a slate of new features for the Google Home speaker, a job search tool and even a set of new virtual reality headsets.

In a sign of the ongoing strategic importance of Google Assistant, the company&#39;s artificial intelligence-driven, voice-controlled digital assistant, Google announced it would make the product available on Apple&rsquo;s iPhone, making a play for the higher end of the smartphone market and challenging Apple&#39;s Siri feature on its own devices.

What&rsquo;s more, the assistant will soon be able to complete transactions and supply information about objects captured by the smartphone&rsquo;s camera, executives said.

But several analysts noted that the emphasis on the assistant and other apps like photos and maps, which run on many types of devices, resulted in the company&rsquo;s Android operating system -&nbsp;long the cornerstone of Google&#39;s mobile strategy -&nbsp;getting relatively little attention during the presentation.

That reflects a recognition by the search giant that the assistant and other apps will be increasingly important to its future, said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. The strategy helps the company sidestep some of the complications of developing new features for the vast Android ecosystem, where only a fraction of devices are running on the latest version of the operating system, he noted.

&ldquo;This is partly a concession to the fact that whatever they put into Android, most users don&rsquo;t see it for a couple years ... and a lot of their best, most attractive, most valuable users are going to be on other platforms,&rdquo; Dawson said. &ldquo;They need to put that functionality where users are.&rdquo;

The Google Assistant debuted last year on the company&#39;s own hardware, and Google has gradually extended the tool to devices from other manufacturers running on its Android operating system.

Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are competing to establish the dominant voice-powered digital assistant, which many in the industry believe will supplant keyboards and touch screens as a primary way that users interact with technology.

&quot;Humans are interacting with computing in more natural and immersive ways,&quot; Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the audience. &quot;We&rsquo;ve been using voice as an input across many of our products. We&rsquo;ve had significant breakthroughs.&quot;

The company is also gaining traction with its photo app, which now reaches 500 million users regularly, Pichai said. To drive greater usage of the app, Google will now make suggestions to prod users to share images and allow them to order physical photo albums.

Pichai also announced the company will expand its search engine with a new jobs tab that will allow candidates to filter postings by criteria such as wages and commute time.

Google, which gets most of its revenue from its dominant search engine, also released a host of new features for Google Home, a speaker released last year. Users will soon be able to make phone calls using the device, and the HBO Now streaming service, owned by Time Warner Inc, will be integrated as well.

While Amazon&rsquo;s Echo speaker has emerged as the most popular device in the category, Google repeatedly touted its ability to use artificial intelligence to identify multiple users, an edge it has over Amazon.

&ldquo;Google was putting forward a message about artificial intelligence and how they are including the technology in virtually every aspect of their products and services,&rdquo; said analyst Brian Blau of Gartner. &ldquo;They really pushed that message hard.&rdquo;

(Reuters)

Google executives delivered a broad-based update to their product portfolio which also included a slate of new features for the Google Home speaker, a job search tool and even a set of new virtual reality headsets.

Mobile phone apps took centre stage at Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday as the search giant announced new features for its digital assistant and its popular photo app while devoting little time to the Android mobile operating system. Addressing an audience of thousands of developers in Mountain View, California, Google executives delivered a broad-based update to their product portfolio which also included a slate of new features for the Google Home speaker, a job search tool and even a set of new virtual reality headsets. In a sign of the ongoing strategic importance of Google Assistant, the company's artificial intelligence-driven, voice-controlled digital assistant, Google announced it would make the product available on Apple’s iPhone, making a play for the higher end of the smartphone market and challenging Apple's Siri feature on its own devices. What’s more, the assistant will soon be able to complete transactions and supply information about objects captured by the smartphone’s camera, executives said. But several analysts noted that the emphasis on the assistant and other apps like photos and maps, which run on many types of devices, resulted in the company’s Android operating system - long the cornerstone of Google's mobile strategy - getting relatively little attention during the presentation. That reflects a recognition by the search giant that the assistant and other apps will be increasingly important to its future, said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. The strategy helps the company sidestep some of the complications of developing new features for the vast Android ecosystem, where only a fraction of devices are running on the latest version of the operating system, he noted. “This is partly a concession to the fact that whatever they put into Android, most users don’t see it for a couple years ... and a lot of their best, most attractive, most valuable users are going to be on other platforms,” Dawson said. “They need to put that functionality where users are.” The Google Assistant debuted last year on the company's own hardware, and Google has gradually extended the tool to devices from other manufacturers running on its Android operating system. Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are competing to establish the dominant voice-powered digital assistant, which many in the industry believe will supplant keyboards and touch screens as a primary way that users interact with technology. "Humans are interacting with computing in more natural and immersive ways," Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the audience. "We’ve been using voice as an input across many of our products. We’ve had significant breakthroughs." The company is also gaining traction with its photo app, which now reaches 500 million users regularly, Pichai said. To drive greater usage of the app, Google will now make suggestions to prod users to share images and allow them to order physical photo albums. Pichai also announced the company will expand its search engine with a new jobs tab that will allow candidates to filter postings by criteria such as wages and commute time. Google, which gets most of its revenue from its dominant search engine, also released a host of new features for Google Home, a speaker released last year. Users will soon be able to make phone calls using the device, and the HBO Now streaming service, owned by Time Warner Inc, will be integrated as well. While Amazon’s Echo speaker has emerged as the most popular device in the category, Google repeatedly touted its ability to use artificial intelligence to identify multiple users, an edge it has over Amazon. “Google was putting forward a message about artificial intelligence and how they are including the technology in virtually every aspect of their products and services,” said analyst Brian Blau of Gartner. “They really pushed that message hard.” (Reuters)

Google I/O 2017: Here's everything announced at the annual conference

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Google Home, News on Google Home, stories on Google Home, articles on Google Home, Google Home stories at Wion, Google Home news, Google Home latest news

google home

Google Home, Home Mini launched in India, available on Flipkart and offline stores

Google withdraws support for YouTube on Amazon Fire TV and Echo Show

Google Home suffers outage, Assistant stops responding to commands

WWDC 2017: Amazon Prime Video coming to Apple devices

Google I/O 2017: Here's everything announced at the annual conference