Google Assistant will read a special 'Harry Potter' chapter to you for 'Back to Hogwarts'

Just in time for "Back to Hogwarts" day, Pottermore Publishing partners with Google to have its virtual assistant read a chapter of Harry Potter to you. Say, "Hey Google, tell me a Harry Potter story" to have Google Assistant read chapter six of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The chapter is significant because it's the first time Harry boards the Hogwarts Express after getting invited to study at the famous wizarding school. In this chapter, we meet Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Neville for the first time. Basically, "it's the start of relationships that form the backbone of the Harry Potter stories."

To access the chapter, make sure you have the Google Play Books app on your Android or iOS phone. Android users already have Google Assistant. Now, if you use an iPhone, you will need to download the Google Assistant app.

Remind your loved ones to do things with Google Assistant

It's a tool as much as any other that could be useful or harmful (or possibly annoying, in this case). Google has started rolling out the ability to use Assistant to send reminders to your friends and family. These reminders can be scheduled based on time of day or location. And the ones you send reminders to will receive them through their mobile phones or a Google Assistant-powered Smart Display. It's designed mainly for families, but it can also work for close friends and roommates. The goal isn't to use it as a means to nag your loved ones with ridiculous requests. It is meant to send important reminders, and to work as a way to encourage them ahead of big or small events (or even just to make them laugh or feel loved). That said, Google claims there will be a block function but it's more for not allowing kids to spam their parents. (We think it should also work the other way around.)

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Google Assistant will be less talkative when controlling lights

This may have happened to you. You asked Google Assistant to switch off the lights for the evening so you can sleep. Google Home then answers back, probably a bit louder than you'd like, to confirm that it's turning off the lights... as it, well, turns off the lights. It seems kind of redundant and counterintuitive, doesn't it? Google has heard you and it's started rolling out a new feature. Assistant will no longer verbally confirm that it's turning off lights. Google Home will chime to let you know that it's processed your request, as long as it's in the same room as the lights. And it doesn't just work for turning off lights, it'll work for all light-related actions like dimming, changing colors, etc. It'll also work for switches and plugs identified as lights in Assistant's settings. Smart lights will reportedly be getting the new, quieter confirmation in the coming weeks. And this feature will supposedly work for all Assistant-powered speakers and displays, as long as the device is grouped in the same room in your account.

Source: Android Police 

Google Assistant can now read and reply to your messages on third-party apps

Google has always been able to read text messages sent through the native Messages app or Hangouts. But it wasn’t able to read messages from other messaging services wasn’t an option. Until now, that is. According to Android Police, Assistant will now read messages from apps like Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, GroupMe, Discord, and the like, as well as reply to these messages. To try this out, say “Read my messages” to Assistant. You will need to allow the Google app to access your notifications for this to work.

Once that’s done, a card will pop up with the last text message or messages you’ve received and then it’ll read these out loud. Assistant will say which app it’s from and the name of the sender. You will then be asked if you want to type or dictate a reply. When Assistant has sent your reply, the original message will be marked as read and the notification will go away. However, it won’t read messages containing things like audio notes, pictures, or videos. Assistant will just say things like: “the message just contains an audio attachment.” And then it won’t play this back. You can try this out the next time you get notifications to see if the feature made its way to you.

Source: Android Police