The Latest

Google Home is Google's smart home platform, which integrates everything from Google's smart speakers to the lights, plugs, locks, and other appliances across your house. Whether you use just a voice assistant and a smart bulb or two or have a complex web of devices whose actions you're looking to automate, you'll want to consider these hidden tips and tricks to make your smart home work for you.

Enable Night mode to keep your devices from waking people up

Google speakers and displays have a Night mode that lowers their volume and dims their display lights during set "downtimes," so you can still use your voice assistant without disturbing the peace or waking kids who are sleeping. In the Google Home app, tap Home > All devices and long-press your device's tile. Tap Settings > Notifications & digital wellbeing > Night mode and turn Enable night mode on. From here, you can choose when downtime begins and ends and select which days of the week to apply Night mode.

Use Guest Mode to keep your profile private from visitors’ queries

If you have visitors over for dinner or house guests staying for an extended period, you may want them to be able to interact your smart speakers and displays without affecting your algorithm or compromising your privacy. When Guest Mode is turned on, Google automatically deletes recordings and voice assistant activity and disables personal results, such information collected from your Gmail and Google Calendar. This prevents other users from requesting sensitive information—like calendar events, contacts, and reminders—from your device. You can still control your smart home, play media, and query your assistant in Guest Mode. To enable or disable this setting on a specific device, you simply have to say “Hey Google, turn [on/off] Guest Mode.”

Designate household contacts so anyone can use your speaker to call for help

Your smart speaker comes in handy for hands-free calling, and you can set up household contacts so anyone—including kids, babysitters, and guests—can reach important numbers even if they haven't set up voice match. All they have to do is say "Hey Google, call [name or nickname]" to make a call. You can add emergency contacts for when you're away or simply make it easier for those at home to place calls to numbers they don't have memorized. In the Google Home app, tap your profile icon, then go to Home settings > Communication > Household contacts. You can tap Add Person if the contact isn't already listed.

Note that in an emergency, you cannot dial 911 directly from your smart speaker using a voice command. However, if you have a Google Home Premium subscription and sound detection enabled on your speakers or displays, you can set up an emergency calling feature that allows you to contact 911 from your phone if your smoke, carbon monoxide, or glass break alarm is triggered.

Use your speaker as a memory vault to keep track of items you often misplace

If you often find yourself wondering where you put that random item you were sure you'd remember but cannot find, you can offload this mental burden to Google Home. Your speaker can maintain a voice notepad and repeat information back to you later. This is especially useful for keeping track of items you use seasonally (like holiday decor), remembering where you keep important documents or various tools for home maintenance projects, or simply monitoring keys and wallets. Use a command like "Hey Google, remember that..." to add items to your list.

Use device state triggers to create an automated theater experience

If you have your media player or smart TV and lights connected to Google Home, you can set up an automation that turns your den into a home theater—dimming your lights and closing your shades as soon as you turn the TV on or hit play. In the Google Home app, go to the Automations tab and tap Add > Add starter. Choose When a device does something, select your smart TV or speaker, then choose the state you want to use as the trigger (such as when the TV turns on or the device is muted or unmuted). Tap Add action > Adjust Home Devices, select your lights and/or shades, and set them to the preferred brightness or closure. Label the routine and tap Save, then make sure the routine is toggled on.

Set up visual alerts for when your laundry or dishwasher finish running

Another way to use state-based automations is to have your speaker or lights announce when another appliance's task is complete—for example, if you're in your home office, you can set your smart bulbs to blink when the washing machine cycle is over so you know it's time to move clothing to the dryer. This follows the same process outlined above: go to Automations > Add > Household > Add starter > When a device does something. Select your smart appliance first, then select Stops or Finished. Then tap Add action > Visual Cue or Audio Announcement. You can also add conditions if you only want the automation to run during certain hours (so your speaker doesn't wake people up at night, for example).

Sync your lights and alarms for a gentler wake-up

Loud alarms are a jarring way to start the morning, but if you have a smart lights and a Google speaker or display, you can enable Gentle Sleep and Wake, which slowly brightens your lights over a 30-minute period before your alarm sounds. There are several voice commands for Gentle Wake depending on how many lights you want to enable, and you can sync with an alarm (consider selecting a softer, ambient option) so that the light routine will run any time you set an audio alarm. If you have a Nest display, you can also go to Alarms > Set an alarm, toggle on Sunrise Alarm, and customize the lights, timeline, and sounds for your wake-up routine.

Ask Gemini to build if/then automations using natural language

Building automations manually can be cumbersome, and you may not even know what your smart devices are capable of in order to do so. But if you have a Google Home Premium subscription and Gemini for Home enabled on your account, you can simply describe what you want your devices to do, and AI can build the routine for you. The "Help me create" feature works with natural language prompts, and it can also suggest automations based on what you have available in your Google Home app. Go to Add > Automations > Help me create, and speak or type the command. Tap Create, and follow the prompts to adjust or save the automation.

Ask Gemini to analyze camera footage for troubleshooting problems

Instead of scrubbing through hours of Nest footage to figure out what's going on in and around your home, you can ask Gemini to search your video history and give you a summary based on your query. This is useful for day-to-day events, like figuring out what time your dog walker typically arrives and leaves, though you can also ask things like "Did something eat my plants?" to figure out what animals are destroying your garden and troubleshoot accordingly. The Ask Home feature is part of Gemini for Home and is available to Google Home Premium Advanced plan subscribers.

Use privacy settings and commands to prevent your recordings from being stored

Connected devices in a smart home inherently introduce privacy risks, but you can, at the very least, keep Google from storing voice recordings gathered via your speaker or display. From your Google Account, go to Data & Privacy > Web & App Activity and uncheck the box next to "Include voice and audio activity." While you're at it, Google recently updated its privacy settings for Search, so you should go in and customize what it has access to under Search Services History and Personalized Recommendations. You can also ask your voice assistant to delete the last thing you said or activity over a specific time period with commands like "Hey Google, that wasn't for you."


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/Ew4kx6K

In a rare combined cybersecurity/squid post, a twenty-nine-year-old squid proxy bug can leak HTTP requests.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Blog moderation policy.


from Schneier on Security https://ift.tt/U4b9Q2M

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

I’ve been waiting for Ultrahuman’s new Ring Pro, and I’m happy to report I have one in my hands (OK, on one of my hands). This is the ring that was announced back in February, along with a feature-filled charging case. It’s an upgrade from the Ring Air that I previously reviewed, and it retails for $479 including the case. Overall the experience is pretty similar to the Ring Air, but here are a few things I’ve noticed that are worth calling out. 

The battery life is incredible

I’ve been wearing the ring almost three days, and the battery is only down to 78%. By my math, the charge is likely to last about 13 days at this rate. That’s more than double the five to six days I got with the Ultrahuman Ring Air, and significantly more than the week I got from the Oura Ring 5. 

And if that’s not impressive enough, it turns out I’d accidentally had the ring on Turbo Mode, which samples data more often and thus drains the battery faster. I normally prefer Chill Mode, which offers a middle-of-the-road battery draw. (There is also a Critical Battery Mode for when you’re really desperate.) 

I haven’t had a chance to test the case's battery life yet, but Ultrahuman says it stores multiple full charges for the ring. The company’s battery estimate is 15 days for the ring, and 45 days with the charging case. 

The smart case sings and buzzes

The Ultrahuman Ring Pro’s case is the change I was most excited about. I haven’t yet needed to do any diagnostics or hard resets (which the case can facilitate), but it got my attention pretty much immediately with its sound effects. You hear a tone when you set up the ring—it reminded me of one of those singing metal sound bowls. The case also gave a haptic buzz. 

The entire front lip of the case is an LED indicator light, which can glow or pulse in different colors depending on what it needs to signify. If you lose the case, you can ask the app to make it play a sound. The only thing I haven’t determined is whether there's a way to make the morning alarm play through the case instead of using your phone, a possibility I remember being raised when this ring and case were still in development.

The shape and build are simple and elegant

While Oura went with a smaller-than-ever profile for its newest ring, Ultrahuman has gone the other direction, making its ring a solid hunk of metal. It’s thicker than the Air, but what’s more interesting is that the inside of the ring is the same smooth metal as the outside. Other smart rings have a clear epoxy-like layer on the interior. 

It’s simple, but elegant, and I like that the new design includes two break points where the ring can be pried apart in an emergency. As for how the ring fares beyond appearances, for that you’ll need to wait for my full review. 


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/XgUlhIK

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Yesterday, I wrote about Sony's luxurious version of the 1000XM6 going on sale. While it's discounted, $600 is still a lot of money to spend on headphones, and there are other options that are just as premium for almost half the price. The Bose QuietComfort 2nd Gen is one of those options, currently down to $369 (originally $449), its lowest price ever, according to price-tracking tools.

The Bose QuietComfort line has been around for a long time, excelling in comfort, ANC, and minimalism, as was the case for the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) earbuds that I got to review. The headphone version keeps those same priorities at the forefront. As PCMag says in their "excellent" review, these headphones have excellent ANC, are comfortable for long listening sessions, offer good battery life, and have lossless audio via USB-C, which is very much appreciated for those looking to get away from compressed audio.

I love the Bose app, much more than Sony's confusing Sound Connect. But there are drawbacks. The EQ is limited and might seem too basic to some, but that's what can also feel great for those who value user-friendliness and a minimalistic app. You still get all the important features that all the other premium headphones offer, just in a simpler package.

The audio is deep and rich, and the inclusion of lossless listening via USB-C is a game-changer for those who want to finally listen to high-resolution audio from Spotify or Apple Music. You'll get 30 hours of battery life and support for AAC and SBC codecs, along with AptX Adaptive for hi-res audio. These are a great option for comfort, ANC, and user-friendliness. However, if you value complexity, like tweaking your audio and more in-depth features, the 1000XM6 will be a better option.

Deals are selected by our commerce team

from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/0IOd8rl

I love a short daily word game, but Wordle isn't always enough to scratch that itch. I've had my share of fun with other letter-based guessing games and my new love Minute Cryptic, and I recently discovered Beeswax, a game that gives you five words to spell each day. It's like the spelling bees kids do: You listen to somebody say the word, and then you have to spell it correctly. One mistake, and you're out for the day.

How to play Beeswax

Note that Beeswax has nothing to do with the game Spelling Bee, a New York Times game that is bee-themed but involves manipulating written letters. Beeswax replicates the format of an actual in-person spelling bee. You click a button to hear the word (or to replay it if needed). If you're stuck, you can use hints.

The hints don't impact whether you win or lose, but the shareable text you get at the end will make a note of how many hints you used. The hints are, as in a spelling bee, all spoken as well. You can ask for a definition, a sentence using the word, the word's part of speech, or (my favorite when I'm stuck) the word's language of origin.

If you misspell a word, the game is over. The correct spelling is available on the "game over" screen, but it's hidden like spoiler text, in case you want to ponder your mistakes before revealing the answer. I've played several games, and so far I've missed two words: one that I thought I knew but must have been misspelling all this time, and one that was a new word to me. I can't say I'm disappointed: I've learned a new word.

How to win Beeswax

This is where I'd normally share some hints and tips, but the truth is: You just have to know how to spell the word, or be able to plausibly guess. The tips that apply to spelling bees in general are good ones here. The best tip is just to read more, so you get used to seeing more words. It's also helpful to become a nerd about etymology, constantly looking up words to see where they come from and why they're like that. (You'll start to recognize roots, prefixes, suffixes, and get a sense of how words of different language origins tend to be spelled.) This is more of a lifelong hobby than a strategy for a game, so, uh, good luck.

Personally, I find the language of origin the most helpful type of hint, but I've only played a handful of games so far (and never actually got to compete in a spelling bee as a child), so I can't promise that will always be the most helpful. The 12-year-old winner of the 2017 National Spelling Bee shared some tips with Lifehacker after her win, and she also recommended paying attention to word origins, so perhaps it's a good strategy after all.

Each word comes with a two-minute timer, so you can't think about it forever. That's plenty of time to simply look up the word yourself, of course. And paradoxically, that's what makes the game cheat-proof: After all, "go look up this word" isn't a fun game, and so there's no temptation to cheat. You also don't have to worry about running out of play time: Beeswax makes its entire archive available, even if you don't have an account. Free accounts give you the ability to keep a streak and to show up on the leaderboard.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/HuCDzs1

You would think that whenever Google releases new apps or features on only one platform at a time, it would choose Android over iOS. After all, the company makes Android too, so it'd only seem logical for Android users to get the first crack at new Google products. As it turns out, however, it's often the opposite. Google will sometimes release new features for some of its apps on iOS first, before bringing them over to Android. Back in April, for example, the company released "Edge Eloquent," an on-device AI transcription app, on Apple devices only.

Chrome for Android is getting a dedicated back button

Today, however, Google is bringing one of its previously iOS-exclusive Chrome features to Android. As highlighted by Android Authority, Google is now rolling out Chrome 150, which comes with a change for Android devices: a dedicated back button.

You'll notice the change after updating your Chrome for Android app, and opening the three-dot menu. Before, you'd only have the option to go forward a page in the Chrome app, and had to rely on Android's native back button or gesture. It's a small change, but one that makes Chrome for Android feel a bit more like Chrome for desktop, and will certainly be an easier adjustment for anyone switching to Android for the first time.

It's not clear why Google felt the need to bring the button over now, but I understand why it might have thought it didn't need to in the past. Unlike Android, iOS has no dedicated back button, so it makes sense that Google would add the back button to Chrome for iOS. And while users could get the same effect with Android's system-wide back button, it isn't necessarily the most intuitive experience in a browser, since you might not be sure whether you're going back a web page, or returning to the previous app you were using. This update might add a bit of redundancy to Chrome for Android, but I think it's for the better.

Other Chrome 150 changes for Android

You'll also notice the site info button (i) is no longer in the same row as the navigation buttons. Now, you'll find it in the overflow menu under "Site controls." "Add to home screen" is now "Install and create shortcut," which is far more vague in my opinion. If you're used to adding webpages to your home screen, I wouldn't be surprised if you simply thought Google took the feature away with this update.

Speaking of updating, your app may update automatically. But you can check manually by heading to Chrome's page in the Play Store. Alternatively, you can go to your profile in the Play Store, tap "Manage apps & device," then under "Updates available," choose "See details" to look for Chrome.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/cLsCqGv

I've been plagued by an odd iOS bug for a while now. I couldn't tell you exactly when it started, but sometime during the iOS 26 era, I noticed that my iPhone 17 Pro Max's brightness controls were slower than usual. I found this strange: As far as I know, iPhones have had a consistent speed when changing brightness. You pull up Control Center, move the brightness slider up or down, and the brightness levels adjust accordingly, almost instantly. But not with this bug.

Since the bug, I've occasionally noticed that lowering the brightness is weirdly sluggish. Moving the slider still works, but I can see each brightness level adjust tick and tick, rather than one smooth adjustment. Plus, even when it reaches the bottom, it doesn't seem as dark as it should be. I can tell, especially when using my iPhone in a dark room, it shouldn't be this bright at its minimum level.

I wasn't sure whether this was a hardware or a software quirk. The latter, of course, would be preferable. If this was something Apple could fix with a software update, that'd be easy enough. But if there was something wrong with 17 series' displays, that could be another beast entirely. I didn't really think it was hardware, since the issue was intermittent, but still, I had no idea what was going on, or how to fix it when it appeared.

How to fix this odd iOS brightness bug

The good news is I found a solution—though one I never would have expected. I finally thought to Google the problem, and found myself on this Reddit thread, with an iPhone 17 Pro user with the same problem as me. The top comment presented the solution: Press the Dictation button on your iPhone's keyboard.

That made zero sense to me. What would dictation have to do with screen brightness? But I tried it anyway: I opened something like Spotlight on my iPhone, which activated the keyboard, and then I pressed the Dictation button. Presto: My screen immediately dropped its brightness, even though I had been on its "lowest" setting. When I tried adjusting the brightness, it worked as you'd expect: Lowering it was instantaneous. Why does this fix the problem? I have no clue, but it works. Whatever is dragging down the display brightness settings is relieved with iOS' Dictation feature, or at least by activating the mic.

That Reddit post was from January, which means Apple still hasn't patched this bug. I'm currently running the latest version of iOS as of this article (26.5.2), though I haven't yet dipped my toe in the iOS 27 beta. It's possible Apple has a patch in its next big iPhone update, but until I run it, I can't say for sure. If your iPhone also has this strange brightness bug, at least there's a solution—as unconventional as it may be.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/wUSfyHr