So kind of fun, I have a Google Home on loan from work. I could test it at work, but I’d hate to interrupt my coworkers by talking to it and having it respond or playing music.

It is quite the upgrade from what I would call Google Homeless (aka, the AIY Google Voice project – see the first picture). This project is a do-it-yourself kit for making your own Google Home. If you are of the tin foil hat kind, the kit can be setup to enable the mic only after pressing the button instead of the gadget constantly listening so it can catch “Ok Google”. The kit doesn’t include the full Google Assistant SDK so its commands are a bit limited.

D has enjoyed the kit version of Home. It’s fun to press the button and say things like, “play a song” (which plays a nursery rhyme) or “what does a cow sound like?” (which plays a cow sound).

This morning, I plugged in the loaned Google Home. D didn’t know what it was until it started talking. The “play a song” has a new meaning and I wasn’t able to get the nursery rhymes to go. I suspect there’s another command for that. The “what does the … sound like” worked and I think made D’s day.

We messed around with Home for a bit and figured I should probably go to work. As I’m getting ready, D was saying “Ok Google” but isn’t yet able to issue any requests. They end up being “OK Google, mmm mmm mmm”. I caught a short video of his attempt (you’ll want sound for this one).