
Introducing Google Home - andrew3726
https://madeby.google.com/home/
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sctb
Previously:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11723652](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11723652)

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pdog
I never thought people would pay for privilege of having an always-on, data-
gathering microphone in their living room, but here we are.

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mattnewton
Does anyone own this / alexa and use it for anything other than a glorified
bluetooth speaker? I've had an opportunity to interact with one of these at a
friend's in the dogfooding program and it's still so far from Jarvis I can't
see the appeal. My phone is a much better controller for speakers and the
television. (not to mention the privacy concerns of having an internet enabled
mic in your home)

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hammock
I have alexa and use it all the time. Play music, weather, alarms, sports
scores, control the thermostat, read the news, call ubers, tell a joke.

It's not that smart though compared to google search bar, though. It knows a
few knowledge areas like movie actors and so on, but can't really search the
internet. So I'm excited to get a Google Home and try it out.

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mattnewton
But why not just whip out your phone?

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hammock
Because I might be making coffee at that moment, or getting dressed, or any
number of other things that occupy my attention and/or hands.

My phone could be awoken via voice, but requires a pin to unlock it and also
does not have far-field microphone tech.

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plg
that demo video is the worst! It doesn't even show what the darn thing does!

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riebschlager
It's rather obvious that it's an essential oil diffuser:

[https://twitter.com/mcwm/status/794235923454107648](https://twitter.com/mcwm/status/794235923454107648)

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AcerbicZero
I actually ordered one of these, as I tried the Alexa and found it to be
useless beyond asking the weather (which is overly verbose) and playing music
(best done via the app anyway).

There are occasions when I just want to get a quick "Ok,Google" search done,
and I'm fairly tied into the rest of the Google ecosystem anyway, so it seemed
like it would be worth trying.

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fbreduc
I heard they have plans to abandon it next month

