FastCompany
Google Assistant just made morning alarms smarter
By: Jared Newman
If you have an Android phone, you’ll soon be able to hear the weather, traffic, news, and music from Google Assistant when you wake up, as Google is adding Google Assistant Routines to Android’s standard clock app. This allows you to automate a series of commands (such as “tell me about the weather” or “turn on the bedroom lights”) after dismissing an alarm.
The Clock integration is one of several new Google Assistant features that the search giant announced this morning. The others include:
- Suggested recipes on the Google Home Hub and other smart displays;
- The ability to silence your phone from a Google Home speaker;
- Themed alarms with characters from Lego and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles;
- New books and interactive stories for kids–as well as a “Read Along” feature that can complement certain children’s books with music and sound effects;
- If you use Broadcast to send one-way messages to multiple Google Home speakers, those messages will soon appear on your phone so you can reply back.
None of these are major features, but they do continue the game of feature leapfrog that Google and Amazon have been playing over the last couple of years as they compete to make the best virtual assistant.
