Google Home FAQ

BoardsMember wrote: »

bk - presume we're just talking about a plug adapter like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Travel-Adaptor-Plug-Worldwide-European/dp/B000P0FIUM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480699267&sr=8-1&keywords=usa+to+uk+plug+adapter is that right? I'm just aware of the different voltages, 110 v 220 and not sure how this works....probably a very dumb question.

Funny, I just clicked on that link and amazon tells me I actually bought exactly that adaptor and thus it is exactly what I'm using with my GHome

Patww79 wrote: »

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What are these things that it could do that it now can't?

Literally the only regression so far is that two radio stations, RTE Radio 1 and Newstalk, you have to use a slightly different name for them then you did a few weeks ago!

That is literally it. They still work you just have to use a different word!

Out of all the millions of radio stations from around the world that it can play and all the other incredible functionality it has, this is literally the only regression!

And it is such a tiny, inconsequential thing in comparison to all the other functionality of the device.

Also as I've explained twice now and you seem to have ignored, the issue seems to be with tunein service, rather then GHome. We are seeing the similar bugginess, though even worse, with tunein on the Amazon Echo.

So this is like saying an Android phone or iPhone are rubbish, because there is a bug in some third party app. You really can't blame Google for the quality of tunein's service, just as you can't blame Google or Apple for a buggy app on their smart phones. It just doesn't make any sense.

Patww79 wrote: »

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Sorry, I genuinely don't mean to be patronising, I'm just giving you my honest opinion. Early Adopter actually has a very specific technical meaning that many people don't properly understand, you can read about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_adopter

The relationship is synergistic, with the customer having early (and sometimes unique, or at least uniquely early) access to an advantageous new product or technology, but he or she also serves as a kind of guinea pig.

In exchange for being an early adopter, and thus being exposed to the problems, risks, and annoyances common to early-stage product testing and deployment, the lighthouse customer is sometimes given especially attentive vendor assistance and support, even to the point of having personnel at the customer's work site to assist with implementation. The customer is sometimes given preferential pricing, terms, and conditions, although new technology is very often expensive, so the early adopter still often pays quite a lot.

......

Early adoption does come with pitfalls: early versions of products may be buggy and/or prone to malfunction. Furthermore, more efficient, and sometimes less expensive, versions of the product usually appear a few months after the initial release (Apple iPhone).[2][3] The trend of new technology costing more at release is often referred to as the "early adopter tax"

I'm a software engineer, I often have to select some of customers to do beta testing. I've gotten good at identifying what people fit into which category. I genuinely don't think you would fit into the early adopter type above and would instead fit into the "early majority" type. And there is nothing wrong with that at all. It really isn't something to be taken personally. For instance while I might be an early adopter (but not innovator) for home automation tech and smartphone tech, I'd very much would fall into the "early majority" type when it comes to buying a new car or house building technology.

I'm willing to be an early adopter and put up with the bugs of new tech like this, because the price of it is so cheap, thus there is so little risk if it doesn't work out. However as something gets more expensive, the more conservative I get about buying into new technology. For instance I think electric cars are fantastic and the future of cars, but there is no way in hell I'd buy one at the moment, because the technology is still so relatively immature and expensive.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with understanding what personality type you are. In fact it will often lead you too be much happier, as people who buy into tech too early for their comfort can end up becoming frustrated with it. For instance I think GHome is great, but there is no way in hell I'd recommend it to my elderly mother who very much falls into the "laggard" type.

I would absolutely agree with you that GHome and Echo aren't perfect yet and that they certainly aren't suited to everyone. I'm quiet happy to point out it's current flaws and I think I've multiple times pointed out to the type of people who would like it (music fans, HA tech fans, future tech fans) and I've also readily admitted that it probably isn't ready for just everyone yet, like much of the tech we talk about in this forum isn't.

BTW having an early android phone doesn't really make you an early adopter of smartphone tech IMO. Smartphones existed long before iPhone/android, devices like Windows CE, Pocket PC, Palm, Nokia Communicator, etc. are what the innovators and early adopters of smart phones had. Even the original iPhones and Android phones were comparatively pretty polished and were already well into the early majority phase of smart phones.

Again, no offence was meant, I was just being a dumb engineer, using engineer terms without thinking about you taking it in the wrong way.

In some ways this is the fault of the media, who have taking the term of early adopters and twisted it to mean something different. They use the term loosely for anyone who fits into the first 50% of the Rogers Bell Curve, the innovators, real early adopters and early majority. I see it has become trendy to call oneself an early adopter, but when I speak to many of these people, they are actually really early majority and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But to an engineer who likes correct definitions this is frustrating and I think it also leads people to buying into tech too early.

Nedved85 wrote: »

I hope logitech integration comes to GHome and that logitech up their game allowing easy setup of commands like volume up on tv etc.

You can already use GHome to turn on and off logitech harmony activities using IFTTT. Works surprisingly well. Though I agree, I look forward to controlling volume, etc.