WEBVTT - Google Home Hub Has Screen Smarts

0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:07.520
<v Speaker 1>Google Smart Speaker gets a screen. It's now called the

0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:08.800
<v Speaker 1>Google Home Hub.

0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:10.280
<v Speaker 2>What's going on. I'm Rich Demiro.

0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.119
<v Speaker 1>This is Rich on Tech, and joining me today is

0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:15.480
<v Speaker 1>Ashton Udahl from Google Home Hub.

0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:17.599
<v Speaker 2>He's a product manager there, and this is a brand

0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:19.520
<v Speaker 2>new product. Think of it as a.

0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.000
<v Speaker 1>Tablet, but with a Google Home built in. This can

0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.160
<v Speaker 1>go on your counter, it can go next to your bed,

0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:27.720
<v Speaker 1>wherever you need a screen combined with the smarts of

0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.360
<v Speaker 1>Google and all that cool stuff the speaker can do.

0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:31.600
<v Speaker 2>Ashton, thanks so much for joining me.

0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:32.519
<v Speaker 3>Thanks for having me Rich.

0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:34.880
<v Speaker 2>All right, so let's dive into the Google Home Hub.

0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:37.440
<v Speaker 1>This is a product that we kind of assumed what

0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:39.920
<v Speaker 1>happened sooner than later. It kind of mixes the best

0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.960
<v Speaker 1>of the screen on your phone with the smart speaker

0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:44.040
<v Speaker 1>plus Google.

0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:44.840
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:47.159
<v Speaker 4>We wanted to build off the early success that our

0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.240
<v Speaker 4>speaker products had in the market and learn from those

0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.080
<v Speaker 4>and we went out. We talked to customers to understand

0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.040
<v Speaker 4>what they really wanted, and we realized that you know,

0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.720
<v Speaker 4>most of I should say many of Google's most popular

0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:02.880
<v Speaker 4>services search, photos, YouTube, calendar, maps.

0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.240
<v Speaker 3>All these things leverage a visual interface.

0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.040
<v Speaker 4>So we realized that when we built Google Home Hub

0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.400
<v Speaker 4>and we brought a display into the mix that this

0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:11.760
<v Speaker 4>was going to.

0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.400
<v Speaker 3>Be a really powerful opportunity to help people in their homes.

0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:16.480
<v Speaker 2>So just some nuts and bolts of the device.

0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.800
<v Speaker 1>It's got to seven inch screen, no camera, but it

0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.240
<v Speaker 1>does have a light sensor, which is really handy for

0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.920
<v Speaker 1>adapting the screen to sort of the different rooms you

0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.080
<v Speaker 1>might put it in. It's got a speaker, and of

0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.400
<v Speaker 1>course the display is really important because if you have

0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.120
<v Speaker 1>this bedside, you want it to function as sort of

0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.080
<v Speaker 1>maybe a display with pictures during the day, but at

0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:38.800
<v Speaker 1>night when you're trying to sleep, you don't want it

0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:39.440
<v Speaker 1>to be that busy.

0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:40.600
<v Speaker 2>So tell me what you did for that.

0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:42.840
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, So we wanted this product to be able to

0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:44.959
<v Speaker 4>go in any room in the home, and an important

0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.200
<v Speaker 4>part of doing that is not making people feel like

0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.040
<v Speaker 4>this was another techie gadget with blue screen light and

0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:55.080
<v Speaker 4>blinky lights. So we incorporated a sensor that measures the lighting,

0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.200
<v Speaker 4>the brightness and the color in your environment, and it

0:01:58.280 --> 0:01:59.840
<v Speaker 4>actually emulates.

0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.880
<v Speaker 3>That lighting on the display itself. So you want to

0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:02.400
<v Speaker 3>set the.

0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.200
<v Speaker 4>Mood in the evening, you have light bulb incandescent light

0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:08.079
<v Speaker 4>bulbs on, or it gets a little bit darker. We

0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.800
<v Speaker 4>actually bring down the brightness of the screen and we

0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.400
<v Speaker 4>match the color temperature so it feels just like another

0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:14.600
<v Speaker 4>photo frame around your home.

0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:16.160
<v Speaker 1>And so some of the things you can do with

0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.360
<v Speaker 1>this device is think, you know, a Google Home speaker,

0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.520
<v Speaker 1>but with the added ability to kind of see what

0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.360
<v Speaker 1>you're doing. So let's say you ask for directions somewhere,

0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.000
<v Speaker 1>It's going to visually show you those directions. Let's say

0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.520
<v Speaker 1>you want to see your Nest cam outside the front door,

0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:32.840
<v Speaker 1>it can visually show you that camera.

0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:34.520
<v Speaker 2>It can control your smart.

0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.040
<v Speaker 1>Home devices, but not just control, but also has that

0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:38.920
<v Speaker 1>missing link of like it can tell you the status

0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:40.800
<v Speaker 1>if they're on or off right exactly.

0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.720
<v Speaker 4>So one of the things people wanted most was a

0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.680
<v Speaker 4>sense of control in their homes and smart home devices

0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:48.440
<v Speaker 4>they aim to deliver that, but a lot of times

0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:50.240
<v Speaker 4>you just feel like you're searching through a lot of

0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.440
<v Speaker 4>apps and trying to find the right one.

0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:53.760
<v Speaker 3>And it's a bit of a hassle.

0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:55.880
<v Speaker 4>And we wanted to do away with that for people,

0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.160
<v Speaker 4>so we gave people what's called the Home View. It's

0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.960
<v Speaker 4>a single interface that's super easy access that you can

0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.120
<v Speaker 4>see a summary for everything that's going on in your

0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.520
<v Speaker 4>home and tap right in and control each of those things, and.

0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:08.400
<v Speaker 1>Tell me about Obviously, this is going to be something

0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:10.960
<v Speaker 1>that people look at pictures on, they watch little video

0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.760
<v Speaker 1>clips on, see cooking videos, you know, if it's in

0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:15.720
<v Speaker 1>the kitchen, you can see you know, how to chop

0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:18.520
<v Speaker 1>an onion. Tell me about that screen and kind of

0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.720
<v Speaker 1>what you envision people viewing on this.

0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.360
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, so of course you can get all kinds of

0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:25.640
<v Speaker 4>answers powered by Google Search.

0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:27.440
<v Speaker 3>And all kinds of information.

0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:30.520
<v Speaker 2>There. It is right there, it is.

0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:32.600
<v Speaker 3>It sounds pretty good, right, music as well.

0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.280
<v Speaker 4>Music streaming media, your favorite shows, sports highlights. It has

0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.920
<v Speaker 4>YouTube music and you can also set up YouTube TV

0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.840
<v Speaker 4>on your hub. So this can now become your kitchen

0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:45.840
<v Speaker 4>TV on your countertop, taking the latest highlights from your

0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:46.800
<v Speaker 4>favorite sports team.

0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:49.080
<v Speaker 3>And it's just really exciting.

0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.800
<v Speaker 4>To be able to give people access to so much

0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:53.360
<v Speaker 4>content out there via YouTube.

0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.000
<v Speaker 1>Now, I think the trojan horse of this device is

0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.120
<v Speaker 1>I mean, obviously a lot of people know about the

0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.120
<v Speaker 1>Google Home and the speakers. Maybe they're like, oh, I

0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.920
<v Speaker 1>don't really need that. Perhaps I don't think that's true,

0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.520
<v Speaker 1>but some people might think that. But with this, the

0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.760
<v Speaker 1>idea that you can have your photos displayed on this

0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.160
<v Speaker 1>people like the idea of we take all these digital pictures,

0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.280
<v Speaker 1>they kind of live on our phones, on our computers.

0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.320
<v Speaker 1>We don't see them as much as we'd like to write.

0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.599
<v Speaker 1>So with this you might have the people who adapt

0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.479
<v Speaker 1>it or adopt it just for the photo ability that

0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.640
<v Speaker 1>it's going to show ambient pictures throughout the day, right absolutely.

0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.480
<v Speaker 4>You know, Google, we make phones with some of the

0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.760
<v Speaker 4>world leading camera capabilities, but you take lots of pictures

0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:35.719
<v Speaker 4>and you realize that they just end up staying on

0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.520
<v Speaker 4>your phone. As you said, it's really hard to enjoy them.

0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.640
<v Speaker 4>And so Hub really completes the puzzle here because now

0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:44.840
<v Speaker 4>it gives you a great way to consume those photos

0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.080
<v Speaker 4>around your home. Of course, you can create albums and

0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.200
<v Speaker 4>stream them to Hub to show your favorite photos, but

0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.240
<v Speaker 4>we realized that that takes a lot of work, and

0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.880
<v Speaker 4>people with you know, busy households or families, they don't

0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:56.640
<v Speaker 4>often have times to stop and do that. So we

0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:58.800
<v Speaker 4>said to ourselves, how about we take all of the

0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.680
<v Speaker 4>work out of this, and the Google Photos Assistant can

0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:06.160
<v Speaker 4>actually pick the photos of the people that you select

0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.680
<v Speaker 4>and care about most and then automagically stream those to

0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:10.599
<v Speaker 4>your Google Home Hub.

0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.839
<v Speaker 3>So everybody can enjoy those work free throughout the day.

0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:15.960
<v Speaker 1>So you're talking about a feature called live Albums, and

0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.320
<v Speaker 1>this takes all the guests work out of sharing pictures

0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:20.280
<v Speaker 1>because I can say, here's my two kids. I can

0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:22.080
<v Speaker 1>tell the Google Assistant, these are.

0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:23.320
<v Speaker 2>The pictures I'd like stream to.

0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.840
<v Speaker 1>My mom's Google Home Hub, and it will actually find

0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.640
<v Speaker 1>those pictures of my kids that I take and share

0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:30.920
<v Speaker 1>them with her exactly.

0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:33.640
<v Speaker 4>So it takes all the work of curating the album

0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.120
<v Speaker 4>out for you. So you tell the Google Assistant the

0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.840
<v Speaker 4>people you care about most, and the Google Assistant can

0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.000
<v Speaker 4>go through your pictures and recognize the best pictures of

0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.760
<v Speaker 4>those people. It does that by filtering out all the

0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:50.120
<v Speaker 4>pictures with poor lighting, blurry motion, eyes closed, and it

0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:53.400
<v Speaker 4>picks the best pictures of those and then automatically streams

0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.159
<v Speaker 4>them as they get updated to your mom's hub.

0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:00.359
<v Speaker 1>Now it's interesting because I've noticed in Google Photos that

0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.880
<v Speaker 1>it highlights pictures that it makes them bigger, the ones

0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.160
<v Speaker 1>that thinks are the best, right yep, So this is

0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:07.320
<v Speaker 1>kind of building upon that. We knew this was kind

0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.040
<v Speaker 1>of doing that, but now it's actually putting those pictures

0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.320
<v Speaker 1>in its own little like putting that smart to work.

0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:16.800
<v Speaker 4>Exactly, So it's really making AI work for you by

0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.200
<v Speaker 4>being able to take your photos and automatically pick the

0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.880
<v Speaker 4>best ones. Now you can put a hub anywhere in

0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.200
<v Speaker 4>your home and enjoy those pictures all day long.

0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.200
<v Speaker 1>And other things you could do with the hub pretty

0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:32.400
<v Speaker 1>standard stuff like make phone calls, look up directions.

0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:36.320
<v Speaker 2>To places, obviously, Google search for just about anything. Is

0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:37.920
<v Speaker 2>there anything else we should know about this device?

0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.279
<v Speaker 4>You know, I think there's a lot in there. You

0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.200
<v Speaker 4>mentioned a lot of great ones. It's a great secret

0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.719
<v Speaker 4>sous chef. It can be your secret weapon in the kitchen.

0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:47.920
<v Speaker 4>You can come home and if you just can't think

0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:49.640
<v Speaker 4>of what to make, you can actually tell it what

0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.880
<v Speaker 4>ingredients you have, and it'll suggest great recipes for you

0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:55.440
<v Speaker 4>based on those ingredients. So it can take a lot

0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.760
<v Speaker 4>of the thinking work and guesswork out of the cooking

0:06:58.760 --> 0:06:59.400
<v Speaker 4>and the kitchen.

0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:01.600
<v Speaker 3>There's a lot of ways into the device.

0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.919
<v Speaker 4>The best thing about it is people generally see a

0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:07.040
<v Speaker 4>problem that they want to solve with it, and then

0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.760
<v Speaker 4>once they get in they get exposed to these other capabilities,

0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:11.200
<v Speaker 4>and over time it just gets.

0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.920
<v Speaker 3>More and more useful, more and more delightful for people.

0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:15.520
<v Speaker 2>Where do you see people putting this in their homes.

0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.120
<v Speaker 4>Really, it can go anywhere, and that's what it's designed for.

0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.040
<v Speaker 4>So of course the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom,

0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.240
<v Speaker 4>those will probably be the primary places. But the screen

0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.640
<v Speaker 4>is big enough to enjoy a video, say if you

0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.800
<v Speaker 4>set it up, you know, in a little bit.

0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.760
<v Speaker 3>Further away on a shelf or a side table. You know.

0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:35.720
<v Speaker 4>It can also be small enough to fit on a

0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:37.200
<v Speaker 4>small table and say a hallway.

0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:39.520
<v Speaker 3>So really it's extremely versatile.

0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:41.920
<v Speaker 1>And I'm not sure we talked about this, but there's

0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:43.760
<v Speaker 1>no camera on this device.

0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.800
<v Speaker 3>That's correct. So it's a choice that was an absolute choice.

0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.360
<v Speaker 4>So we really wanted people to be able to enjoy

0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.920
<v Speaker 4>the Google Assistant giving them help in any room in

0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:54.480
<v Speaker 4>their home that they choose. We didn't want them to

0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.120
<v Speaker 4>have to think about, well, what do I do in

0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.600
<v Speaker 4>that room? Or who does what in front of the camera.

0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:00.600
<v Speaker 4>We wanted to remove all of that friction out of

0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.200
<v Speaker 4>the thought process. And as a device that's scared to

0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:04.760
<v Speaker 4>be able to go in any room in your home,

0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.239
<v Speaker 4>we thought it best to for this for this first product,

0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:09.880
<v Speaker 4>to not have a camera and.

0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.240
<v Speaker 2>To enable that when can we get it and how much.

0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.600
<v Speaker 4>On shelf ten, twenty two October twenty second for one

0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:16.000
<v Speaker 4>hundred and.

0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:16.720
<v Speaker 3>Forty nine dollars.

0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.640
<v Speaker 1>Okay, Ashton Newdell, thanks so much for joining me on

0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.720
<v Speaker 1>the podcast again. It's called the Google Home Hub, and

0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.000
<v Speaker 1>it's a pretty cool device. I've got to say. I've

0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:28.720
<v Speaker 1>been playing with it and it kind of is the

0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.800
<v Speaker 1>missing link between all this Google stuff with the Chrome

0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.520
<v Speaker 1>Cast and the Google Home and now you've got the

0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.160
<v Speaker 1>Hub with the screen, and of course your phone in

0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.320
<v Speaker 1>your pocket, so screens everywhere.

0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:42.000
<v Speaker 2>That's kind of the future of what we're talking about here.

0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:43.959
<v Speaker 1>So if you want to see more on the Google

0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:45.600
<v Speaker 1>Home Hub, you can look in the show notes, or

0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:46.120
<v Speaker 1>you can go to.

0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.600
<v Speaker 2>My website, Rich on tech dot tv. Thanks so much

0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:49.920
<v Speaker 2>for listening.

0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:50.520
<v Speaker 3>I'm Rich Damiro.

0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:51.680
<v Speaker 2>I'll talk to you real soon.