ISSUE 50 • ANDROID ADVISOR 29GOOGLE I/O 2018will make it even better (okay, and maybe a little too
real, in the case of Duplex).
It can be easy to miss the improvements if you
don’t obsessively keep an eye on the news, so here
they are in one place: the 12 coolest new features
in Google Assistant.
- Sync connected smart home devices
Google Assistant supports numerous smart home
devices, but you might notice that devices you’ve just
added to your account don’t always work right away.
That’s because Assistant isn’t constantly scanning for
new connections. You can give it a kick-start.
After adding a new smart home device like a
camera or thermostat, open up Assistant and say,
“Sync my devices”. Assistant tells you it’s syncing with
your connected accounts, and a few seconds later any
newly added devices will appear in your list. Make sure
to add them to rooms in Assistant for full functionality. - Send daily info
Assistant is great for calling up little tidbits such
as the weather, stock quotes, or even jokes. You
don’t even have to ask every time, though. You can
have Assistant proactively send you certain bits of
information as a daily update. To configure a daily
update, start by asking your question normally – ask it
for the weather, a dad joke, whatever. After Assistant
pulls up the content, you can follow up with “Send this
to me daily”. Assistant asks what time you want the
update, and you’re all set. To change or cancel a daily
update, just say, “See my subscriptions”.