1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Google Smart Speaker gets a screen. It's now called the 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:08,800 Speaker 1: Google Home Hub. 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 2: What's going on. I'm Rich Demiro. 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,119 Speaker 1: This is Rich on Tech, and joining me today is 5 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: Ashton Udahl from Google Home Hub. 6 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 2: He's a product manager there, and this is a brand 7 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 2: new product. Think of it as a. 8 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: Tablet, but with a Google Home built in. This can 9 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: go on your counter, it can go next to your bed, 10 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: wherever you need a screen combined with the smarts of 11 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: Google and all that cool stuff the speaker can do. 12 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 2: Ashton, thanks so much for joining me. 13 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 3: Thanks for having me Rich. 14 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 2: All right, so let's dive into the Google Home Hub. 15 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: This is a product that we kind of assumed what 16 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: happened sooner than later. It kind of mixes the best 17 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: of the screen on your phone with the smart speaker 18 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 1: plus Google. 19 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 3: Yeah. 20 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 4: We wanted to build off the early success that our 21 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 4: speaker products had in the market and learn from those 22 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 4: and we went out. We talked to customers to understand 23 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 4: what they really wanted, and we realized that you know, 24 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 4: most of I should say many of Google's most popular 25 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 4: services search, photos, YouTube, calendar, maps. 26 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 3: All these things leverage a visual interface. 27 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 4: So we realized that when we built Google Home Hub 28 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 4: and we brought a display into the mix that this 29 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 4: was going to. 30 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 3: Be a really powerful opportunity to help people in their homes. 31 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 2: So just some nuts and bolts of the device. 32 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: It's got to seven inch screen, no camera, but it 33 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: does have a light sensor, which is really handy for 34 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: adapting the screen to sort of the different rooms you 35 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: might put it in. It's got a speaker, and of 36 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: course the display is really important because if you have 37 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: this bedside, you want it to function as sort of 38 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: maybe a display with pictures during the day, but at 39 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: night when you're trying to sleep, you don't want it 40 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: to be that busy. 41 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 2: So tell me what you did for that. 42 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 4: Yeah, So we wanted this product to be able to 43 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 4: go in any room in the home, and an important 44 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 4: part of doing that is not making people feel like 45 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 4: this was another techie gadget with blue screen light and 46 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 4: blinky lights. So we incorporated a sensor that measures the lighting, 47 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 4: the brightness and the color in your environment, and it 48 00:01:58,280 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 4: actually emulates. 49 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 3: That lighting on the display itself. So you want to 50 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 3: set the. 51 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 4: Mood in the evening, you have light bulb incandescent light 52 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,079 Speaker 4: bulbs on, or it gets a little bit darker. We 53 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 4: actually bring down the brightness of the screen and we 54 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 4: match the color temperature so it feels just like another 55 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 4: photo frame around your home. 56 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: And so some of the things you can do with 57 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: this device is think, you know, a Google Home speaker, 58 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: but with the added ability to kind of see what 59 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: you're doing. So let's say you ask for directions somewhere, 60 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: It's going to visually show you those directions. Let's say 61 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: you want to see your Nest cam outside the front door, 62 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: it can visually show you that camera. 63 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 2: It can control your smart. 64 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: Home devices, but not just control, but also has that 65 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: missing link of like it can tell you the status 66 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: if they're on or off right exactly. 67 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 4: So one of the things people wanted most was a 68 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 4: sense of control in their homes and smart home devices 69 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 4: they aim to deliver that, but a lot of times 70 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 4: you just feel like you're searching through a lot of 71 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 4: apps and trying to find the right one. 72 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 3: And it's a bit of a hassle. 73 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 4: And we wanted to do away with that for people, 74 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 4: so we gave people what's called the Home View. It's 75 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 4: a single interface that's super easy access that you can 76 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 4: see a summary for everything that's going on in your 77 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 4: home and tap right in and control each of those things, and. 78 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: Tell me about Obviously, this is going to be something 79 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: that people look at pictures on, they watch little video 80 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: clips on, see cooking videos, you know, if it's in 81 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: the kitchen, you can see you know, how to chop 82 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: an onion. Tell me about that screen and kind of 83 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: what you envision people viewing on this. 84 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 4: Yeah, so of course you can get all kinds of 85 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 4: answers powered by Google Search. 86 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 3: And all kinds of information. 87 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 2: There. It is right there, it is. 88 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 3: It sounds pretty good, right, music as well. 89 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 4: Music streaming media, your favorite shows, sports highlights. It has 90 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 4: YouTube music and you can also set up YouTube TV 91 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 4: on your hub. So this can now become your kitchen 92 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 4: TV on your countertop, taking the latest highlights from your 93 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 4: favorite sports team. 94 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 3: And it's just really exciting. 95 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 4: To be able to give people access to so much 96 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 4: content out there via YouTube. 97 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: Now, I think the trojan horse of this device is 98 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously a lot of people know about the 99 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: Google Home and the speakers. Maybe they're like, oh, I 100 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: don't really need that. Perhaps I don't think that's true, 101 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: but some people might think that. But with this, the 102 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: idea that you can have your photos displayed on this 103 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: people like the idea of we take all these digital pictures, 104 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: they kind of live on our phones, on our computers. 105 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: We don't see them as much as we'd like to write. 106 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 1: So with this you might have the people who adapt 107 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 1: it or adopt it just for the photo ability that 108 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: it's going to show ambient pictures throughout the day, right absolutely. 109 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 4: You know, Google, we make phones with some of the 110 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 4: world leading camera capabilities, but you take lots of pictures 111 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 4: and you realize that they just end up staying on 112 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 4: your phone. As you said, it's really hard to enjoy them. 113 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 4: And so Hub really completes the puzzle here because now 114 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:44,840 Speaker 4: it gives you a great way to consume those photos 115 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 4: around your home. Of course, you can create albums and 116 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 4: stream them to Hub to show your favorite photos, but 117 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 4: we realized that that takes a lot of work, and 118 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 4: people with you know, busy households or families, they don't 119 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 4: often have times to stop and do that. So we 120 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 4: said to ourselves, how about we take all of the 121 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 4: work out of this, and the Google Photos Assistant can 122 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 4: actually pick the photos of the people that you select 123 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 4: and care about most and then automagically stream those to 124 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:10,599 Speaker 4: your Google Home Hub. 125 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 3: So everybody can enjoy those work free throughout the day. 126 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: So you're talking about a feature called live Albums, and 127 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: this takes all the guests work out of sharing pictures 128 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,280 Speaker 1: because I can say, here's my two kids. I can 129 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: tell the Google Assistant, these are. 130 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 2: The pictures I'd like stream to. 131 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,840 Speaker 1: My mom's Google Home Hub, and it will actually find 132 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: those pictures of my kids that I take and share 133 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: them with her exactly. 134 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 4: So it takes all the work of curating the album 135 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 4: out for you. So you tell the Google Assistant the 136 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,840 Speaker 4: people you care about most, and the Google Assistant can 137 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 4: go through your pictures and recognize the best pictures of 138 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 4: those people. It does that by filtering out all the 139 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 4: pictures with poor lighting, blurry motion, eyes closed, and it 140 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 4: picks the best pictures of those and then automatically streams 141 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 4: them as they get updated to your mom's hub. 142 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,359 Speaker 1: Now it's interesting because I've noticed in Google Photos that 143 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: it highlights pictures that it makes them bigger, the ones 144 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,160 Speaker 1: that thinks are the best, right yep, So this is 145 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: kind of building upon that. We knew this was kind 146 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: of doing that, but now it's actually putting those pictures 147 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 1: in its own little like putting that smart to work. 148 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 4: Exactly, So it's really making AI work for you by 149 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 4: being able to take your photos and automatically pick the 150 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 4: best ones. Now you can put a hub anywhere in 151 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 4: your home and enjoy those pictures all day long. 152 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: And other things you could do with the hub pretty 153 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: standard stuff like make phone calls, look up directions. 154 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 2: To places, obviously, Google search for just about anything. Is 155 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 2: there anything else we should know about this device? 156 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,279 Speaker 4: You know, I think there's a lot in there. You 157 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 4: mentioned a lot of great ones. It's a great secret 158 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 4: sous chef. It can be your secret weapon in the kitchen. 159 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 4: You can come home and if you just can't think 160 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 4: of what to make, you can actually tell it what 161 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 4: ingredients you have, and it'll suggest great recipes for you 162 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 4: based on those ingredients. So it can take a lot 163 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 4: of the thinking work and guesswork out of the cooking 164 00:06:58,760 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 4: and the kitchen. 165 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 3: There's a lot of ways into the device. 166 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 4: The best thing about it is people generally see a 167 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 4: problem that they want to solve with it, and then 168 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 4: once they get in they get exposed to these other capabilities, 169 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 4: and over time it just gets. 170 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 3: More and more useful, more and more delightful for people. 171 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 2: Where do you see people putting this in their homes. 172 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 4: Really, it can go anywhere, and that's what it's designed for. 173 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 4: So of course the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, 174 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 4: those will probably be the primary places. But the screen 175 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 4: is big enough to enjoy a video, say if you 176 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 4: set it up, you know, in a little bit. 177 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 3: Further away on a shelf or a side table. You know. 178 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 4: It can also be small enough to fit on a 179 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 4: small table and say a hallway. 180 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 3: So really it's extremely versatile. 181 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: And I'm not sure we talked about this, but there's 182 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: no camera on this device. 183 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 3: That's correct. So it's a choice that was an absolute choice. 184 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 4: So we really wanted people to be able to enjoy 185 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 4: the Google Assistant giving them help in any room in 186 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 4: their home that they choose. We didn't want them to 187 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 4: have to think about, well, what do I do in 188 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 4: that room? Or who does what in front of the camera. 189 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 4: We wanted to remove all of that friction out of 190 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 4: the thought process. And as a device that's scared to 191 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 4: be able to go in any room in your home, 192 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:08,239 Speaker 4: we thought it best to for this for this first product, 193 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 4: to not have a camera and. 194 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 2: To enable that when can we get it and how much. 195 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 4: On shelf ten, twenty two October twenty second for one 196 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 4: hundred and. 197 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 3: Forty nine dollars. 198 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: Okay, Ashton Newdell, thanks so much for joining me on 199 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: the podcast again. It's called the Google Home Hub, and 200 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: it's a pretty cool device. I've got to say. I've 201 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: been playing with it and it kind of is the 202 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: missing link between all this Google stuff with the Chrome 203 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: Cast and the Google Home and now you've got the 204 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: Hub with the screen, and of course your phone in 205 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: your pocket, so screens everywhere. 206 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 2: That's kind of the future of what we're talking about here. 207 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:43,959 Speaker 1: So if you want to see more on the Google 208 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: Home Hub, you can look in the show notes, or 209 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: you can go to. 210 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 2: My website, Rich on tech dot tv. Thanks so much 211 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 2: for listening. 212 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 3: I'm Rich Damiro. 213 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:51,680 Speaker 2: I'll talk to you real soon.