Digital Grog — Australia’s Tech, Gadgets & Digital Life Unfiltered

Digital Grog is Australia’s go‑to tech blog for sharp reviews, digital trends, AI tools, gadgets, cybersecurity updates, and practical how‑tos covering the latest in Aussie technology

Gadgets

The surging rise of AI technology

by 1 Comment

ai 2020 australia

We live in a digital era where technological advancement and rapid digitalisation positively rule. Look around you. Technological influence and rapid digitalisation are present in practically every avenue possible these days. Whether it is the Godox photography accessories available on the market or the introduction of intelligent technology that is geared towards propelling a vehicle without much (if any) manual input from the driver, technological advancement is well and truly here and making impressive impact on an ongoing basis.

There are many forms of technology out there that are impressive and are worth their weight in gold. Some of them are decidedly more valuable than others, purely for the reason that they are more broadly applicable and thus more easily utilised across the board. Of all the impressive feats in technological advancement to date, there is one that is breaking down barriers and performing exceptionally well across the board, even in its early stages. That branch of technology is none other than artificial intelligence.

The surging rise of AI capability and technology

Take the investments and rising interest in AI (artificial intelligence) for what they are worth (which is a lot, by the way). AI capabilities were once merely a plot point in movies and books, but today we are beginning to see AI technology become an instrumental force to be reckoned with in this digital era. This is just the beginning of AI implementation and growth, but it is a promising start that yields a hopeful result for the near future and beyond. We are seeing this technology brace for impact and then exceed expectations time and again.

Why AI is such a powerful branch of modern tech

ai robot

Essentially, AI is such a powerful branch of modern technology because it not only seeks to make life easier, but it actively and consistently takes charge and not only achieves that goal, but exceeds it by effectively taking control of some aspects of life altogether. Of course, this frees up more time for other areas of life to be manually taken care of by human action. This is a positive, and it is a positive that not nearly enough people are talking about or appreciating to its fullest degree.

What we can expect from AI technology in the future

AI is only getting bolder and smarter. This is a theme that is going to prove to be an ongoing theme and it is a theme that we must pay the utmost attention to. A technology like AI that is not only useful but highly intelligent is a technology that is gearing up to change the world in all the best and brightest of ways. From daily tasks to medical and environmental research and exploration, AI technology is a branch of modern technology that is changing the world – and will continue to do so – in all the most positive ways. We should be embracing AI technology entirely and without exception, and we are finally starting to do that.

The Desk that wont break your back

by 1 Comment

There is no denying that we have started to use computers more and more and therefore spend more time on a table and chair. In this progressing new age, where almost everything is available on the click of a mouse or on a smartphone, health risks are becoming more apparent and more frequent.

Today we look at a brand called varidesk that provides sit stand up desks for a healthy working environments with the perfect ergonomics.

pro plus 36 white desk sit stand up desk

 

Featured Pro plus 36 Varidesk model

There is not only risk to our eye health  with continuous use of computers and long hours of work, but today there is also the risk to our wrists, backs and spines  if you do not have a proper healthy desktop  working environment. Good posture is important for health and to also avoid back problems and incidents in the workspace or even a home office space. A break from you sitting posture not only breaks up longer periods of sitting down in front of your computer or home desk but also prevents or lessen risks of back injury or wrist injury.

The sit stand up desk is becoming a popular alternative today to improve more healthy computer use and prevent your body from bad posture health risks. It helps reduces incidents at the workplace.

Regular breaks and good posture are always advised in good corporate companies that look after their employees. Now most top companies and government organisations provide their employees the option of sit stand up desks for daily work. The sit stand up desks has been starting to be adopted more with people who work from home or also self -employed people doing a lot of computer or desk work from their home.

Today we look at the VARIDESK Pro plus 36 model sit stand up desk. The company’s products are used in many popular Australian corporate companies today. They have many other models apart from the pro plus 36, in different wood finishes and features so feel free to have a browse of all models int he link below. The Pro plus 36 is the best-selling model.

This particular model comes in three different sizes 30-inch, 36 inch and 38 inch. It also comes in three different colours black, dark wood and white colour. This desk can accommodate most standard desktop equipment and also a dual monitor set up if you have one.

It’s got 11 height settings and its spring-loaded boost mechanism and dual handle design makes it super easy to lift, lower and adjust to suit your needs.

This is an easy setup as it sits on top of existing desk and requires no assembly.

 

pro plus 36 darkwood

Varidesk sit-standup desk  36 in Darkwood Model

Features:

· Best selling model

· Risk-free for 30 days

· Two-tier design: upper display surface, lower keyboard/mouse deck

· 5 year warranty

· Shipped fully assembled and best-in-class materials used

 

Choosing the right sit stand up desk

Knowing your space available and what you really need is important when choosing a sit stand up desk. A few pointers below will help you choose the desk that is suitable to your needs.

· Decide if you need a height adjustable sit stand desk or one that is portable and will sit on your existing desk

· Measure the space where your will have your desk. Dimensions of the desk are important to the space where you will use it.

· Does your desk need electricity or is it hydraulic

· Desks are heavy. What are the shipping charges for your product.

Are they health benefits with sit-stand desks ?

posture or positioning for stand up desk

According to a study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, it’s not clear that standing instead of sitting burns a significant number of calories. It did find that you burn slightly more calories an hour when standing rather than sitting.

However, we do know that long hours of sitting are linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, some types of cancer, and shorter life. So rather than sitting, standing would counteract these risks. There have not been enough studies done yet to either prove or disprove these assumptions.

Keep in mind that using a standing desk is like any other “Change in lifestyle or workstyle”. It can come with its own “side effects.” For example, if you suddenly go from sitting all day to standing all day, you run the risk of getting leg, foot pain. The best is to ease into it by starting with 30 to 60 minutes a day and gradually increasing it as is appropriate for your body.

Check out the entire Varidesk desk range over here.

The Power Of Geofencing In Online Marketing

by 2 Comments

The 21st century has seen marketing transform.

As the media of communication have shrunken to the size of mobile phones, internet has become a world wide billboard. Name a product and you can sell it here.

And what goes in for it? Well, all of this is made possible because of the researches and new technologies that keep transforming the arena and keep making it easier.

One such technology is geofencing.

Seo fencing 2019


Providing location based responses and options to smartphone users, geofencing can be of great use for marketing. Sounds like a lot? Stay with me here.

In this post we talk about the power of geofencing in online marketing.

How geofencing is the next best thing for online marketing?

No doubt that geofencing is a great technology, but does it end there?

The use of geofencing can enhance user experience and boost sales and retention rates to a great extent.

Wanna know how? Keep reading. We are just there.

1. Geofencing helps boost local sales

It’s as simple as it gets. Have you seen how Google sends updated to our smartphone when we visit a store? Google maps even asks if you were there.

In the image above, you can see how Google maps records visited places. Another popular message that it might send out can be in the form of a push notification. It generally asks a feedback for the visited place.

Similarly, if your business has an app and a physical location too, then you can do great with this feature. Simply send out push notifications to the app users when they are near your store. It’s a good way retaining customers and boosting sales.

Also, if your company doesn’t sell with an app, then setup a Google my business account. It’ll do the same for you.

2. Provides a better user experience to customers

Another great thing about geofencing is that it provides users with a handful of customization options.

If a user wants to know more about new ice cream parlors in their locality, geofencing will help them. If they want to find more malls around them, they can customize the search engine to show to them more mall recommendations around them. The same goes for all other store preferences as well.

3. It’s as relevant as it gets

We know how Google functions!

Okay, not really. But at least we know how it sends out push notifications to us.

Google’s algorithms ensure relevance. To boost engagement and enhance user experience, Google shows more the content that is relevant to a particular user.

The best thing about this is that it boosts CTR. If you are a business owner and Google is pushing notifications regarding your business to your potential customers asking feedback or suggesting your products or services, chances of the user clicking through are higher.

4. Builds intelligence for your business

The next thing to your advantage, geofencing helps you build an intelligence for your business.

As users walk into your store after finding you in local search or after receiving a push notification while near your store, Google collects data. This data can further be used for crafting a better performing marketing strategy and for running ad campaigns for your business.

Having the right geographical data is a great addon while you try to promote your business online.

And if it gets too much to manage, just reach out to a good SEO Sydney agency. It’ll solve half your problems.

Final words

As internet has made its way and rooted its place in the realm of marketing, new methods and techniques still keep emerging. Geofencing is one such concept.

For any business with a physical mortar location, geofencing can be of great use.

Still wondering how? Discuss this post with your friends. It’ll help.

This awesome headphone customises sound and music for your ears

by 1 Comment

Headphones that go over your ears can also damage your hearing if you use them too long or play music too loudly. However saying that they are not as much of a risk as earbuds are, as the sound in your ear canal can increase a sound’s volume by 6 to 9 decibels — enough to cause some serious problems.

audeara girl

Enter Audeara sound engineered headphones made by doctors(Dr. James Fielding) and engineers. Not since Wi-Fi being invented in Australia, has a headphone created such excitement.  If you are looking for a wireless headphone that is customised specifically for your hearing with high quality sound then this is what  your need. It minimises any damage  to ears with the sound and volume tailored to your specific hearing capability.

 

Just looking at it the headset, it looks  like any other over the ear – high end  headphones like Bose, Sennheiser or JBL with good sound for listening to songs, comfortable around the ears cushion and a wireless as well as wired mode available, however Audeara delivers much more than that. Check out our quick review below.

Not just anybody can review a pair of headphones. You don’t need superhuman hearing to tell what’s good, but you do need to know what to listen out for and do comparisons with competitors in your own gadget niche. So below is my honest review of this pair of headphones that I have tested and used.

featured on channel 7 news ABC and forbes

 

Not every high quality headphone comes with a good case and add-on’s that you didn’t think about, but Audeara ticks the box for this.

The inclusion of aeroplanes double socket audio adapter for when flying, shows they gave a thought about the small little things as well. They have the other usual add-on’s like charging wires, clip, and a pouch to hold them all which fits snugly within the case (pic a bit below).

audeara hearing assist headphones

The A-01 Headphones featured above is priced at $499.00

logo-audeara

With active noise cancelling, Bluetooth connectivity, and up to 65 hours battery life, the Audeara A-01 headphones give you everything a headphone should – plus more.

Website: https://audeara.com/

 

I like the way they have just a neat small sliding button to start the headset on which makes  turning it one simple, with some other brand headphones this is a bit fidgety to do.

You still need to keep the small push button – pushed for a couple of seconds though to get the Bluetooth blue n red light started  so that you can connect via Bluetooth. I wish they made this Bluetooth push button a bit bigger.

The Bluetooth connection works flawlessly with awesome sound flowing through and you really would not think it’s not a wired connection. Bluetooth and wireless sounds has come a long way and this headset is surely put it to good use.

 

So, What is special about Audeara Headphones ?

Have you ever gone to a hearing clinic ?

Nope? Yes?

Well if you have done a test, you would know they have a series of beeps to test your hearing in each ear. The Audeara app takes advantage of this hearing testing software to customise the sound exactly how you need it for your ears.

Did I say a hearing test is included ?

Their headphone app does some quick beep testing and then calibrates the sound on the headphone to your hearing in each left and right ear. 

Each of us has a unique hearing profile. And what’s good for one ear might not be for the other.

As the hearing is customised the each left and right ear hearing capacity , you can hear sounds and music without even actually having to put the volume on loud.  This is an added bonus as it prevents damage to your hear from loud sounds.

MULTIPLE PROFILES

set your hearing profile

You can store multiple profiles and share with your friends – no two pairs of calibrated headphones will sound the same.

HANDS FREE CALLING

call handsfree to talk

The built in microphone and clear voice capture technology lets you make crystal clear calls on the go.

EXTENDED LISTENING TIME

how long battery charge lasts

The inbuilt 1000mAh battery offers up to 35 hours of listening time with Bluetooth audio.

 

While it does all these sound calibration for you, you can sill adjust volume, bass from your own device if you like to listen to music loud.

I have used other top quality wireless headphones like the Sennheiser HD 800 and the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II but Audeara stands out for the customised sound just for your ears with top notch sound quality even in normal mode.

The case and packaging:

Pic below


the case for headphone

 

Good news for Australian users:

Audeara is a Registered NDIS Provider  If you are an NDIS participant, you should be able to use your funding to purchase Audeara A-01 Headphones.

They are registered under NDIS under assistive technology as hearing equipment, and assistive products for personal care and safety. Read more about that here

Assistive Listening Systems (ALSs) are sometimes called Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs). Essentially they are amplifiers that bring sound directly into the ear. They separate the sounds, particularly speech, that a person wants to hear from background noise. They improve what is known as the “speech to noise ratio.

Noise Cancelling Headphones

noise reduction headphone

I tried the noise cancelling capability of this headphone and it is on par and even better than some other noise cancelling headphones, so it is a good gadget to take along on those long flights. The cup on your ears fits snugly and  comfortably without any problems.

 

Audeara A-01 headphones

2018 Headphones HQ hearing sound

Pros:

  • Customised sound  calibrated to your hearing in both ears
  • Minimises damage to hearing with calibrated sound

Cons:

  • Very small Bluetooth start button

Price $499 AUD (Audeara.com)

Price $399 in USD (Amazon)

As they said in their kick-starter funding campaign not long ago – It is the world’s first full fidelity headphones. Designed by doctors and engineers to give you an experience like never before.

Their Facebook page is >> here. They offer free worldwide shipping and a 60 day guarantee.

The Feature Set Audeara Video:

 

Calibrating Your Audeara Headphones:

My quick Calibration setup guide Pictorial to help you out below:

setting up your wireless headphones

This pair of headphones are not only good for normal hearing, but can be also used as an assistive learning headphones or headphones for hearing impaired. The other headphones directly in this niche are the “Even H1” and the “Nura Headphone”, I might cover this  on our blog later.

[table “9” not found /]

Do let me know if you end up picking a Audeara Headphone, would love to hear how it works for you.

China’s Infamous World class car Fakes

by 17 Comments

Chinese  Big brand auto fakes [updated 23/04/2019]

China is really just starting its automotive business, (and fake cars are part of it) and I am sure that Japan should keep an eye open because long term if China can do with its automotive industry, what Japan and Korea have done with theirs  for many years , then they got some competition. I think that Japan, US, and Europe should keep an eye open on this automotive developments in china.

Chinese manufacturers are probably not afraid of copying anything. The pictures show that the Chinese managed to copy many top brands as Mercedes, BMW, Smart cars and even a whole bus.

knockoff range rover 4wd

Knockoff: The Land Wind X7 sold in China for £26,000, a fraction of the price of the British brand’s models 

A Chinese company entitled Haunghai Automobile was definitely not afraid of violating the rights of Hyundai, which created Santa Fe. The Chinese manufacturer duplicated Santa Fe, Its car looking just like Hyundai’s SUV. What is most amazing is that both cars were presented at the Beijing Auto Show.

 

Geely Gee fake rolls royce

Fake Geely Gee Rolly Royce $ 30,000

Real Rolls Royce $ 1,000,000

The Chinese designers from Geely have built a Rolls Royce Phantom replica that keeps the luxury intact  but goes easy on your wallet. With a wonderful 2+1 seating arrangement and a throne-like rear seat below the night sky, the new Geely GE could easily become the road’s emperor.

fake rolls royce geely gee china car fakes

Ref: china stock market blog

Geely_GE_Rolls_Royce

Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd launched a luxury conceptual car Geely GE (General Excelence) in the Shanghai Motor Show. Geely GE bears a striking lookalike of British’s branded Rolls Royce Phantom, so Chinese media dub it as China’s “Little Rolls-Royce.”

While Geely boss Li Shufu boasted Geely GE “will be the manifestation of the highest level of world’s auto industry” to the Chinese press. Appealing for the Chinese businessman who can’t afford the real deal, this Oriental limo is getting some royal treatment before showing off at this year’s Shanghai Auto Show.

 

Lifan 3 Series: The Fake MINI – Mini Clubman ( cooper)

 

Lifan chines copy $ 7,000

Real Mini Clubman ( cooper) $45,000

mini_clone_0.jpg

 

Not only did they copy the name from BMW (3 Series), but check out the overall looks of the car. The Lifan 320 is set to be used by Lifan as a rally car in certain stages of the Chinese rally championship, Lifan will then launch the Lifan 320 later.

Lifan are using the slogan ‘first get onto the tracks, and then onto the market‘

Here we go again, the list with Chinese knockoffs has been enhanced with the addition of a MINI clone made by a carmaker called Lifan. The Lifan 3-Series (how ironic…) was introduced to the Chinese media today, and according to the translation we made from the clone maker’s official site, the MINI(cat) will go on sale in China during the first half of the year.

This is what decades of communism do to creativity. Notice how the Soviets copied everything as well back in the day… From cars, Jetliners all the way to wristwatches, Russians made counterfeit copies of everything made in the Western world,  now China is having  a heyday with it.

The “Chaika” limos used by members of the Soviet politburo were copied from a late 1950’s American Packard sedan. If you are into aviation, the Tupolev TU-154 jetliner is the soviet made version of the Boeing 727.

The British made Vickers VC-10 jetliner was copied by the Russians with the Illushyin IL-62 (4 jet engines mounted in the back).

Mercedes CLK Coupe china fake (  China BYD F8  Model)

 

F8: $27,000-$29,000*
CLK: $47,000-$62,000**

You’ll do a double-take the first time you see a BYD F8,  It looks a lot like a Mercedes Benz Car. BYD, short for Build Your Dream, is a top producer of cell-phone batteries and began building cars five years ago.

Chinese car companies are notorious for copying (or stealing) the designs of western carmakers, and these latest images from China’s BYD CAR show that they aren’t afraid to hold back either.

The model above features an almost identical Mercedes CLK front-end and Renault Megane CC rear.

mercedes clk coupe fake china fake BYD_F8

BYD has been around since 1968 and is mostly recognised for the manufacture of batteries, but the company still decided to copy the BMW logo with its own take on the famous badge. No company is safe from BYD’s imitative designs.

Their website reveals cars that resemble models from Toyota, Daihatsu, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Buick, Subaru and the aforementioned BMW.

byd f8_soft_top

 

Shuanghuan CEO  ( Fake BMW X5 Model )

Shughuan CEO is half the price of the original BMW X5 fake

This is what the people from BMW though when they pressed charges against the Shuanghuan CEO, a car which seems to be the sister of the X5. The trial is finished and the judge has decided that the two cars have nothing in common. This car was selled in 200 units until this point, but they plan on selling at lest 1200 more in Europe in the next year.

According to an article written in Economist,fake cars that are manufactured by such firms as Shuanghuan Automobile and Chery, are probably be the most complicated. In the picture there are BMW’s X5and the Shuanghuan CEO.

shuanghuan_ceo BMW x5 fake china

Regardless of the glaring mechanical differences between the CEO and the X5,  the CEO apparently bore enough of a resemblance to the BMW X5 at the Frankfurt Auto Show so as to cause the Bavarian auto company’s skin to prickle.

The uproar started at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year when Hebei, the Beijing-based parent company of Shuanghuan, introduced their new SUV, the CEO, to the public. The Shuanghuan, a 4-wheel drive, 5-passenger, 5-door wagon, features a 5-speed manual transmission, and a DOHC 16-valve, 4-cylinder in-line engine ( google baidu ).

Difference bmw x 5 vs china fake shughuan ceo

Surprisingly enough Italians also managed to copy a car. From previous incidents recorded ,  police accused 15 individuals of faking red Ferrari sports cars and putting them up for sale to fans of the brand. It is worth mentioning that some of the Ferrari fans were aware of the fact that they purchase a counterfeit car.

People who produced counterfeit Ferrari cars used a few original parts but most of the parts were fakes. The body parts were taken from cars of other brands.

If you like this post bookmark my blog or subscribe to my rss feed ( Subscribe to blog )  for getting regular updates  or follow me on twitter  Twitter

 

replica car miniature

Batman Dark Knight Trilogy Hot Wheels Heritage Batmobile 1:18 Scale Vehicle
REF LINKS:

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0810/gallery.china_cars.fortune/2.html

http://search/foraliBaba/Google baidu

http://www.chinacartimes.com/2006/11/18/byd-f8-soft-top/

http://www.hollywoodcelebgossips.com/tag/rolls-royce/

http://www.vietfriendly.com/news/article/tech/Cars/57659/

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BYD_F8.jpg

http://www.ridelust.com/the-shuanghuan-ceo-showdown-at-the-eu-corral/

http://acidcow.com/cars/1945-fake-chinese-car-brands-32-pics.html

whois.domaintools.com/geelymotorsport.com

Some fake You tube videos of chinese  fake  cars

Another video

LIKE WHAT YOU’VE READ?
Please join over 1,000 people who receive exclusive notification every time I publish a new article on Digitalgrog.com.au. Click on the red button below!
Check it out

Is Google Home Smart Device Worth the Money

by Leave a Comment

I got Google home for myself, thinking I would be the only person using Google home (GH) in my household. How wrong was i?

Post updated 11th October 2018 – Google announced the Google Home Hub, the first smart display hardware made by Google.

Google’s Home Hub doesn’t run Android Things—it’s actually built on Google’s Cast platform. The device is tiny, with only a 7-inch screen that isn’t much bigger than the body of a smartphone. Google says it excluded a video camera because it wants users to feel “comfortable” with the Home Hub, but the absence of a camera will also save on the bill of materials.

Google Home was released in the United States on November 4, 2016. I got it two weeks earlier to its Australia launch, thanks to family on a US trip.

Google went on sale in Australia on Thursday July 20 for AU$199 in The Google Store, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Officeworks, The Good Guys, Telstra, Optus and Qantas Store.

Comparison of Smart –  Voice Activated Devices  Google Home and Echo

[table “3” not found /]

My partner now uses Google Home, my daughter loves GH and funnily also thinks there is an actual person hiding in there. My dog thinks Google home is evil, he can’t stop barking at it at times, when it does its thing. But yes this smart home gadget indeed has managed to get everyone in the house and also visitors talking to him.

chromecast 2017

My little one calls the speaker MR .Google and thinks there is a person in there answering all her questions. Dare I swear at Google out of frustration and she will come to the rescue.

How do you speak to Google Home?

Just say – OKAY GOOGLE or HEY GOOGLE – and ask it a Question.

hey google

The other day, I had my brother in law visit. He looked at Google gave it a stiff upper lip look and suspicious eye and said, so this is supposed to be the new smart gadget aye. He decided to challenge Google home to see if it is really as smart as it says it is. He threw his best challenge question at the smart device. Google home got asked what the full form of Qantas is.

I will be honest, I didn’t know that one and I wasn’t very confident of my smart Google also being able to retrieve an answer, specially also since I had it for just two weeks now and didn’t ask it any difficult questions yet.

We were all pleasantly surprised, Google managed to  give the correct answer

The Qantas name comes from “QANTAS“, an acronym for its original name, “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services”, and it is nicknamed “The Flying Kangaroo”.

Using your Google Home for Childrens Education

Technology will always advance and the sooner you adopt it the better for the future of your kids. Smart devices can do a lot for your kids’ education and knowledge, and Google home excels in doing this as well.

I have used this as speech therapy device to make my little one speak more clearly and slowly. I have used it to teach her numbers, maths and science.

Numbers and maths for kids

Ask google –
Can you count from 1 to 10 / 10 to 20 to 50 and so on and you get them saying numbers
it will count from 1 to 10 and more.

Good if you have kids, who would like to learn the numbers or are a bit slow in this.

Maths teacher
it can do maths. Try it. Tell your kids. Get rid of the calculator!. It can do addition, multiplication and more. Get rid of that maths teacher.

Ask Google- Can you say A to Zee

This is a good command to teach your kids ABCD.

Madlibs/ Riddles/ Trivia

Just get your kids to  say to Google – Hey Google Im bored ( I’m sure they will readily say that)

madlibs

This is a fun game. It will play a game with you and if you choose madlibs. It will ask you adjective words.. etc.. Good for kids learning. But better keep a watch on this teacher as I am not 100% confident of th responses for this. Though spin the wheel is fun.

It will also give you options to spin a wheel or tell a riddle or joke.( they keep improving on this one, which means it’s in high demand)

Rhymes for kids

It knows to do twinkle twinkle little star, you can test out some other rhymes too and keep the little ones entertained.

Spelling bee
Want your kid to get good at spelling bee. Get Google to do the hard work for ya. Ask Google spellings for words.

Learning languages – Japanese- Mandarin and konichiwa

Learning languages can also be fun with Google.  You can teach  your children  to say hello  in Japanese, mandarin, Indian, Spanish and many other  languages thanks to Google home

Want some Google humour?

Just ask – Hey google sing a song!

This one’s a good one if you have nothing better to do, just tell Google this and keep telling the same thing (Hey google sing a song!). You will realise Google certainly has patience and some humour.

Cooking timer

Just tell Google to set timer for 15 minutes, 30 minutes or a time and it will remind you with an alarm to take the food of the gas or the pizza out of the oven. Quite handy, if your Google home is placed near to the kitchen lounge.

Set timer
You, can use the same feature as above but as a reminder for anything

Set alarm
All you need is to tell Google wake me up at 6am and it works like an morning alarm. Now you can get rid of your alarm clock

How is my day looking
This command makes use of your settings on google assistant. Based on what you have set up on your account, it can read up your appointments, reminders, read the weather for the day and much more. You can also set which website you want your news from.

My adventures with Mr google home

I still remember the first time I got Google home and tried getting the weather. My partner immediately told me – Haha Google H is Americano. He’s giving 68 Fahrenheit weather for today. We live in Australia not USA.  So I thought I will tell try Mr Google himself to fix it and so i told Google to give me weather in Celsius and to my surprise it actually worked.

It confirmed that weather was updates to Celsius settings. I did not believe it being new to all this. So checked weather again and hot diggity damn – Indeed it was updated, without pressing any buttons.

The Google home device is pretty good at listening because that’s the core of what this device does. It listens to your question or suggestion and tries to answer it right.

This device got omni-directional mic’s fitted into it, so you can speak from anywhere within its range and it will hear you and respond. It also works well as speaker.

Google Home as Audio Speakers
You can use your home device to play music too. I managed to play music via my sound cloud app on my smartphone. It’s got good bass in those speakers.

music apps with g home

Apparently It also works with Google music and spotify

Google and Netflix Story

netflix and smart tv

Netflix is quite popular nowdays in aussies homes. Cheap and better than foxtel and guess what – it ties in nicely with your google home.

Just tell google to play the next episode of “House of Cards” or “Narcos” and it will start it for you. You will need to link your netflix account to google assistant to get this happening

So today, i decided to link my netflix to google as they told me I could do it. I linked netflix and told google to play House of cards on the tv.

It didn’t do it!

Two hours later, I had to play doc mcstuffins for my little one and netflix told me I cant as there was somebody else using my netflix account. I found out that House of cards had been streaming in the background because I had told it to. So this happended via chromecast and netflix and i didn’t even know.

Yes that command i gave to start Netflix actually worked but it was streaming on chrome cast, so i forgot to switch source to chromecast to check. Now, I’m two episodes behind on house of cards.

The problem is they made all these gadgets smart, but not smart enough. For eg. Google home started streaming netflix house of cards episode, but it did it via chromecast and not directly via netflix and so it was not able to change the TV source button on my TV, when it started streaming and so it was playing the episode in the background via my Samsung smart TV.

Solution- Change you TV source to Netflix on your TV, then tell home to start next episode of “House of cards”

Getting your local Bunning’s – Store/Bank – open/shut times

I had to go to Bunning’s recently to get some paint for a painting walls job, so i asked google – until what time Bunning’s Morley is open – it did say 7pm (was pretty good, as i didn’t have to search on my phone or desktop). In fact if i wanted i could also ask it for the store number if i wanted to call them on my mobile.

Which I actually made use of later in the day. I needed to know if Bunning’s lets dog into their stores – turns out they do. If the dog is on the trolley and on leash – no muzzle is needed, but if you are walking the dog in store then a muzzle and leash is needed.

I have a cute little Maltese poodle named chase (yes he has his own Facebook page) that was a good fit for the top tray on the Bunning’s trolley, so off we went taking him for a Bunning’s adventure.

You can use this feature to get restaurant, offices, local deli etc open close times

Smart Lights & Devices

You can just tell google to dim your lights and it will dim your lights or turn it off if you have smart lights in your house. Some of the smart lights that work with GH are below.

  1. Phillips Hue Lights
  2. Nano Leaf Lights
  3. Belkin Wemo APP
  4. Tp Link Kasa

TV speaks  to GH

Today I was watching TV and suddenly Google mumbled something. It almost sounded like an apologetic mumble.

As no one around spoke to Google, I would assume it would have to be the TV speaking to my Google home.  Yeh my smart TV speaks to google home too and that has been happening a lot more with the new Google home ads triggering off my Google home which is sitting right next to the tv.

GHome Makes – 911 Call to Police

Did you read the news of the guy who got caught by police threatening his girlfriend? Our very own gangsta G-home picked up on a few words and called 911. Police listened in and decided to act.

Let us know about your G home Experience

Do you own a Google home, have you any interesting things to add about your google home experience, just leave me a comment below, I would be glad to hear about it.

Some Helpful Links for google home