I love Google Assistant so much, that we’ve invited it into the private sanctity of our bedroom!
On the weekend we invited a new member of the Google home assistant into our lives, that being the Google Home Mini (chalk), at $55 AUD, it was truly a no-brainer decision!
The justification for this purchase was that I’m now on a 2.5 month career break, and the plan is to spend a lot more time in bed. Haaha. And being able to get Google to play my music, news updates, podcasts, and radio stations is all and fine in the living room, but being totally unconnected and devoid of our Google assistant when in bed felt like we were stepping back in time each time we left the living room. Like, what the?
So a quick stop to our local JB Hi-Fi and after handing over $55, we quickly resolved this first world problem. The advantages I’ve seen thus far with Mini in the bedroom has been:
Music throughout the apartment– with more than one Google speaker now, we have grouped them together so they both now sing from the same song sheet, and with a small apartment the entire home is now filled with our beats wherever we go! Not to mention our music sounds more stereo now! And positioned correctly (in a corner), the sound quality of the Mini isn’t that bad actually.
Declutter– now that I have a versatile device like the Mini on my bedside table, I was able to decommission my old school bedside alarm clock/radio. So now my bedside table is very spartan, maybe too spartan…
Bluetooth speaker– in the past to listen to my audiobooks and podcasts in bed, I had to remember to take my portable Bluetooth speaker with me to bed. And there has been many times when I had to jump out of bed in winter, as I had forgotten to bring it with me (the portable speaker still sitting on the shelf in the living room). But now with Google mini always there, I just have to ask Google to turn on Bluetooth- within seconds it’s paired to my phone, and magnifies the volume of whatever I’m listening to in bed. And when I’m done with it, I just have to ask Google to stop playing and to disconnect the Bluetooth. Too easy!
Night mode– And when it’s time for bed, I just have to say “Good night Google’, and it’ll put in place all my pre-set night time rituals, e.g. inform me of tomorrow’s weather, ask if I would like to set an alarm, and then turn on the ambient noise (chirping crickets- which I currently have on, I’m curious to hear when do the insects pack-up shop and they too call it a night- 40 mins on, and they’re still chirping…)
Randomness– and of course when my wife is almost asleep, and if you’re a funny bugger like me, you can now ask Google to tell you a joke and wake her right up! Haaha. Now that’s an example of 2’s a company, and 3’s a crowd!
Say hello to the home of the future!
Four Senses: Touch Smell Taste Sound
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