Google Home — the new kid on the block

Google continues its quest for world domination, demonstrating a new virtual assistant hardware device — Home — which will hit the market later this year. The presentation was delivered by vice president of product management Mario Queiroz at the annual developers conference in Silicon Valley earlier this week.

The company claims its virtual assistant software is streets ahead of other players in this space when it come to conversational understanding. The aim is for Google Home to operate as a control centre for homes, using a combination of machine learning, online search and voice recognition to perform tasks. The hub will sync with other smart devices including Google’s own Chromecast, which will allow for voice-activated control of music and television, giving rise to broader whole-home control capability.  

Google hopes to remove our reliance on mobile devices with a new focus on hands-free, voice-activated task management. Demonstrations at the conference included Home answering homework questions, changing restaurant bookings, checking traffic conditions and playing music selections.

Pricing has not been announced as of yet.