Jerry
Google had announced its virtual assistant in the annual I/O developer conference last year. Called the Google Assistant, initially an exclusive feature to its latest Pixel line of handsets, the application has now been brought on board other handsets via updates while getting competitor’s like Samsung’s Bixby AI which will debut with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones. Presence of such virtual personal assistant applications on tap allows for a more seamless interaction with the device and the tasks it has to execute while allowing a user to execute a task better.In the past week to keep ahead of the curve, the company updated the voice-based Assistant with a new set of actions. Actions if you remember add-ons that released by Google and other third parties to continuously update and refresh the list of tasks that can be carried out by the virtual assistant.
While the application was already capable of keeping track of groceries earlier with its new action, Chefling, it keeps a handy database of your existing food stuffs and their expiry dates, the feature also suggests recipes that use currently available ingredients and foods. This action has actually been borrowed from Amazon’s Alexa which has its own assistant Echo, due to its relative popularity amongst consumers.
The app received an action that allows it to access IMDB ratings, this is in addition to access to large knowledge banks on heart diseases, Mars and horse races in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and France. Google’s Assistant also gained direct integration with Neato’s vacuum-bots, this allows the user to issue voice commands to the company’s autonomous cleaners bots. Other actions such as Bugle Notes will help U.S. Military Academy cadets in learning The Soldier’s Creed and other vital information. And finally 16-year-old Matthew Gillen created an action that allows the assistant to quote Jaden Smith’s words.
These new actions touched upon above can be added to the digital assistant intelligence on your own smartphone through the Google Home app. This can be done by going to Settings > Services > which then allows you to download all available third-party actions released for the app till date. As time progresses we only see Google Assistant getting better due to its large user base and their needs.
