Mom, Dad: Please Stop Fighting

On Friday last week, Business Insider posted an article that stated Amazon will stop selling Nest products including thermostats and home security products.  Nest, which is owned by Alphabet (Google), was apparently expecting the call.

This is the latest in a long standing retail feud between the two Internet giants:

• Amazon would not sell the Chromecast for a long time ostensibly because it did not play back Amazon Prime Video in a way that Amazon liked.
• Google pulled YouTube from Amazon's line of Fire products, but then relented when Amazon agreed to start selling the Chromecast... though they still aren't showing up on Amazon three months later.
• Amazon does not stock the Google Home product that directly competes with its Echo line of smart speakers.

On the surface, it appears that Amazon is being the antagonist and using its e-tail power to try and curtail the Big-G.  Dig a little deeper and it is clear that both are holding their own share of the blame-bag.

Weaving the Brillo into Android

I'm not sure what winter solstice gifting tradition a computer celebrates, much less a search algorithm or tentacle-like technology company, but whatever it is (maybe, just 'Holiday'?), Google-Alphabet wants Things.

(Image courtesy Google, Inc.)

Last week, they announced the developer preview for Android Things, a (sort of) new OS for the Internet of Things.  It's only 'sort of' because it replaces 'Brillo' which has been around for a year or so.  'Replaces' might be too strong a word as well.  Maybe 'Renamed' or even 'Re-branded'.  Which of course begs the question: "Why?"

Google In Da Houz!

I received my Google Home on Friday and have been messing around with it all weekend.  Overall, I like it.  I even like it better than the Amazon Echo Dot that I used to have (and still have as it is now up in my master bedroom on my bedside table so that we can whisper sweet nothings to each other).  But nothing, especially a first generation product, is perfect.

I'm not going to compare it to the Echo Dot (better speakers, adds Google Play Music) because tons of reviews have already done that.  Instead, I'll focus on the unboxing, setup and smart home control stuff.

Unboxing and Setup

The Big G is doing the same thing that all big tech companies do: making the unboxing more of an unveiling.  There is a text riddled sleeve that slips off to reveal a box with a tab sticking out.  (I added the Alice-in-Wonderland text, but I 'wonder' why Google didn't?  Not classy enough?)

Google Trust: Doubling Down

For the past two weeks, I've discussed the role of big data in my life, both as something to use with at least one eye open and as the terrain that my daughter must navigate as she grows.  And then October 4th happened.

On that day, Google announced a variety of products with most of the focus going to their new Pixel phones.  But they also announced their Allo messaging app, a new 4K Chromecast and their Google Home voice assistant.  It was that last that caught my eye.

Smart, Natural, Google Home

Let the Games Begin!

The last two weeks have seen some announcements in the home automation voice assistant space.  The big news is that Google bowed their 'Google Home' product, an answer to Amazon's Echo.  Apple also is rumored to be working on a home version of Siri with maybe a camera.  And, just for kicks, Amazon released an in-browser version of Alexa more to explore the concept than anything really earth shattering.

For the sake of brevity (a first for me), I'm going to ignore Apple's home assistant for now.  They haven't made any official announcements and the camera thing... well, even the rumors are a little unsure how real that is.  It would be nice for context on who is issuing commands so that I can over ride the MSD's requests, but the privacy issues may be too much for most of us to bear.  Enough on that.  On to Google Home.