Google Home will compete with the Amazon Echo as a spiffy new smart speaker
Google announced its new voice-responsive home device on Wednesday, marking the company's entry into a market currently ruled by Amazon's Echo. Like the Echo, Google Home will be able to answer questions and carry out basic tasks, like calling an Uber or ordering a pizza.
"We want to have an ongoing, two-way conversation with our users," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said at the Google I/O conference.
According to Greg Kumparak of Techcrunch, what makes Google Home stand out is that the company is working to make the voice engine "more conversational." "You can say things like 'What's playing tonight?' get a list of movies, but then clarify with 'We want to bring the kids tonight' — and it’ll know how to contextually refine its answers," Kumparak wrote in his live blog of the conference.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kumparak added that, "You can book a car, order dinner, send flowers to mom — but you can also ask Google anything that you’d expect Google to know about: weather, movie times, and stuff from Wikipedia." Questions can even get pretty complicated, like "what was the U.S. population when NASA was established?" This is, after all, Google.
The Verge also notes that unlike the Echo, owning multiple Homes is seamless, allowing for consumers to put them in several rooms throughout a house. The Google Home will come out later this year, and for a yet-unspecified price.
But wait, there's more: Google also announced a new messaging app, Allo — keep up with all the news on Techcrunch's live blog, here.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Expressionists: a 'rousing' exhibition at the Tate Modern
The Week Recommends Show mixes 'ferociously glowing masterpieces' from Kandinsky with less well-known artwork
By The Week UK Published
-
The Mighty Five: a guide to Utah's mesmerizing national parks
The Week Recommends From Arches to Zion, you should wander them all
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
How is your mortgage rate determined?
The Explainer The Federal Reserve is partly to blame, but so are various personal financial factors
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76
Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproar
Speed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Kevin Hart awarded Mark Twain Prize
Speed Read He is the 25th recipient of the prestigious comedy prize
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Is Downton Abbey set to return for a final film?
Speed Read Imelda Staunton reveals that a third movie may be in the pipeline
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
The Master and Margarita: the new adaptation causing consternation at the Kremlin
Why Everyone's Talking About Pro-Putin groups have called for the film's director to be charged as a terrorist
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
The new 'boom' in Latin American fiction
Why everyone's talking about Almost a quarter of International Booker Prize longlist comes from South America, a region in turmoil
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Oppenheimer' sweeps Oscars with 7 wins
speed read The film won best picture, best director (Christopher Nolan) and best actor (Cillian Murphy)
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Rust' armorer convicted of manslaughter
speed read The film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed by actor Alec Baldwin during rehearsal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published