Google Home

20 Jun 2023

How to pick a smart home platform

When you first get started with home automation, you’ll quickly find that your smart gadgets do even more when they work together. Yes, it’s great that your smart lights can turn on automatically at sunset and your smart lock will lock itself, but what’s even better is saying “Good night” to a voice assistant and having the shades lower, the lights turn off, the door locks lock, and the alarm system arm. For this, you need a smart home platform. As a smart home reviewer, I am often asked which is the best platform to use. Is it Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, or something else? I tend to tread carefully when making a recommendation. Picking a [...]

20 Jun 2023

Smart Home cheat sheet: top features of Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit

CNET has been on the forefront of smart home tech coverage even before the first Amazon Echo smart speaker was released in 2014. And things have come a long way since then. Our experts have covered (almost) every new generation, update, feature, service and command for Alexa, Google and Siri, as tech companies connect the rooms of your home to help optimize your daily life. We've written thousands of articles covering everything from smart lightbulbs and speakers to video doorbells and security cameras. Whether you're looking to find the best products on the market, how to get started or how to find all of the hidden features that devices like Amazon Echo, Google Nest and Apple HomePod have to offer, [...]

20 Jun 2023

Google Home embarque désormais un éditeur pour automatiser votre maison connectée

L’application de Google qui permet de piloter vos objets connectés évolue. Elle intègre désormais un éditeur de script pour vous permettre de créer des routines avancées. Si vous possédez des appareils connectés à votre domicile, il y a de fortes chances pour que vous les pilotiez depuis votre smartphone avec l’application Google Home. L’application du géant de Moutain View, qui permet de créer des routines et d’automatiser certaines actions sur vos appareils connectés, évolue. Elle va en effet embarquer un véritable éditeur de script pour vous permettre de créer des routines avancées. Des routines plus poussées pour mieux exploiter vos objets connectés Les routines natives qu’il est possible de créer dans Google Home permettent déjà de créer de nombreuses automatisations. [...]

14 Jun 2023

Matter support is now available in the Google Home app on iOS

Matter hasn’t made quite the splash many were hoping, but the smart home standard is making its way to more and more devices. Now, Matter support is live in the Google Home app for iOS. Support for Matter first went live at the tail-end of last year, and it was available to the Google Home app on Android pretty quickly. By the end of January, Matter-compatible devices were finally available and gave us a glimpse at how the Home app would support the standard. But, unfortunately, iOS users were left out for quite a while. At Google I/O last month, it was announced that Matter support would be rolling out to Google Home for iOS soon, and it seems that’s [...]

06 Jan 2023

Google Home app rolls out full TV controls on supported sets [U] Some television sets can be controlled by the Nest Hub, and the Google Home app is now finally starting to pick up those touch-based controls. Update 1/11/23: Following the late 2022 rollout, Google today made official how “you can easily control playback, switch inputs, adjust the volume, and more for your connected streaming or media devices straight from the app.” The tweet, which frames the capability as a physical remote replacement, implies availability isn’t limited to the Preview Program. As a reminder, this is just for Google Home/Assistant-compatible televisions — or “connected streaming or media devices” — and not Chromecast-connected screens. Original 12/31/22: Back in August, Google said [...]