Google Home now lets you set location-based reminders

The latest Google Home update will now let you tell it to set location-specific reminders. You can prompt it with things like “Hey Google, set a reminder to pick up more coffee at the grocery store.” If your location services are on, you’ll get a reminder once you arrive at the place you set, like the aforementioned grocery store. You can even be more specific and ask for Google Home to remind you of a specific store, like say a Starbucks, and it’ll alert you if it finds you in any Starbucks. This gives Assistant an advantage over Siri because you need to specify a specific location to get the reminder. This feature is available for both Android and iOS devices.

Source: Android Authority

Apple's HomePod speaker comes to US, UK, and Australia on Feb 9

After a delay to market late last year, Apple's heralded HomePod smart speaker is coming on February 9 with preorders happening this Friday. Unfortunately, HomePods is coming to three markets -the US, UK and Australia with other countries (possibly Canada) getting the devices in the spring.

HomePod is a new product category from Apple. It looks to be taking on Sonos in terms of MESH enabled Hi-Fi streaming speakers but also looks to compete with the Amazon Echo and Google Home smart speakers which have been available in Canada since last year. Seen as a delivery methof for Apple Music, Siri, HomeKit and other Apple ecosystems, the HomePod is expected to bring big sound in a compact package.

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You can now broadcast messages to your Google Home speakers using Assistant

Find yourself at the grocery and want to ask your family what else you forgot to buy or even just want to call everyone for dinner? Google just updated its Assistant service to let you broadcast messages to Google Home speakers connected to your account. It works not just by speaking through the speaker but also through Google Assistant on your phone. You don’t even have to be on the same Wi-Fi network for this feature to work. All you need to say is “Ok Google, Broadcast (it’s) time to wake up…” or something to that effect. You can also broadcast custom messages. Here’s a list of the automated ones from Google.

Unfortunately it isn’t like Echo’s intercom-like system yet, where it lets users converse through the speaker and the Alexa app. But who knows if Google wouldn’t integrate that soon enough.

Source: The Next Web

Meditation app on Google Assistant designed to help veterans deal with stress

A new meditation app from Google and National Geographic called Bravo Tango Brain Training app is built to help veterans deal with the stress, anger, anxiety, loneliness, and other issues that crop up after serving in the military. The app was developed with the help of Dr. Michael Valdovinos, a former Air Force psychologist and combat vet who specializes in the intersection of technology and behavioral health. The app takes advantage of Google Assistant’s voice-reliant nature to have users interact with it. So, after saying “OK, Google, start Bravo Tango,” you can talk to it and say things like “I’m feeling lonely” or “I’m in pain” and the app will respond accordingly and bring up the appropriate exercise based on what you tell it.

Valdovinos thinks this will appeal to veterans as it is engaging and mimics an in-person session but is accessible in a safe space, e.g. it can be done at home. The app works with Google Home and with Android devices. Exercises on Bravo Tango combine things like breathing, grounding, visualization, muscle relaxation, focusing, grounding, and interpersonal connection. NatGeo was inspired to create the app after producing its series The Long Road Home, which followed military vets who are returning from service. Aside from Valdovinos, NatGeo and Google partnered with 360i and Xapp.

Source: Mashable