Google Home: How to set up Philips Hue integration
OK, Google. Let’s do cool stuff.
Google Home does more than play music. It’s designed to be a smart controller for your connected things around the home. Of course, one of the most popular connected thing on many homes is a Philips Hue bridge and one or more connected lamps. Using Google Home it’s easy to control your Hue lamps with your voice. Here’s how to get things set up.
- Download the Philips Hue app from Google Play. If you have an iPhone or an iPad get it from the app store. You need to set everything up and get the bridge connected to your network using the official Hue app. If you’re connecting the Hue bridge to a router that’s in bridge mode, make sure you can connect your phone on the same side of the bridged router. If you don’t know what this means you probably don’t have a bridged router and don’t have to worry about it. Also, yo dawg I heard you like bridges so I put a bridge in your bridge.
- Use your Google account to set up the Hue app. Use this same Google account to set up Google Home.
- Once everything works and is properly connected, open the Google Home app on your phone. You need to be connected to the Internet either through your WiFi or through your carrier service.
- Open the hamburger menu (slide in from the left) and find the entry labeled Home control and tap to open it.
- Tap the plus button and choose Philips Hue from the list.
- Follow the instructions on the page that opens and enter your Google account information when it asks you to. You’ll need to press the button on your bridge during the setup so make sure everything is where you can reach it.
- Start talking to your lamps!
Here’s what you can say.
- To turn on/off a light say: “Turn on (light name)”
- To dim a light say: “Dim the (light name)”
- To brighten a light say: “Brighten the (light name)”
- To set a light brightness to a certain percentage say: “Set (light name) to 50%”
- To dim or brighten a light by a certain percentage say: ‘Dim/Brighten (light name) by 50%”
- To change the color of a light say: “Turn (light name) green”
- To turn all lights on/off in a room say: “Turn on/off lights in (room name)”
- To turn all lights on/off say: “Turn on/off all of the lights”
If you have multiple lights in a room and have set up the group as a room in your Hue account, anything that works with one light will also work with an entire room. Just say the room name instead of the individual light name.
I haven’t touched a light switch since I got this thing, and I think it works great. Keep an eye on AC for more things you can do with your Google Home!
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Twitter introduces tool to mute words, hashtags and emoji
Twitter is trying to win back the support of people who have left the network.
Twitter has debuted a number of new tools to cut down on harassment and improve user engagement on a network that repeatedly has been accused of fostering hate speech through its public forum.
The main feature is an expansion of the “mute” tool that previously only allowed for the silencing of individual accounts. Now, users can mute or block specific words, hashtags and even emoji, along with individual conversations, to prevent being notified when those terms are used. Twitter wrote in a blog post,
This is a feature we’ve heard many of you ask for, and we’re going to keep listening to make it better and more comprehensive over time.
The new tool comes into effect over the coming days for all users worldwide, and is being introduced alongside a revamped “hateful conduct policy” that makes it easier to report hate speech and other harassing behavior. Twitter says it has also trained “all of our support teams on our policies, including special sessions on cultural and historical contextualization of hateful conduct, and implemented an ongoing refresher program. We’ve also improved our internal tools and systems in order to deal more effectively with this conduct when it’s reported to us. Our goal is a faster and more transparent process.”
Despite being demoed on iOS, the Android version should work the same as below.
What do you think? Will this be an effective tool to stop harassment?
Take to the skies with this $34 drone today!
If you’ve been looking to pick up an entry level drone, you won’t want to miss out on this sweet deal on Syma’s Quadcopter at Amazon. Using coupon code SDF61287 drops the price on this one down to just $34, a savings of $26. The quadcopter has a built-in camera which can record video and take pictures while flying it around, and even stream them right to your phone to see what you are capturing in real-time. It has a 6-axis flight control systems, 3D lock, and much more.
While not the top of the line, this is a great starting point to get your feet wet in flying something in the sky. At this price, you won’t want to miss out on this deal. Whether you want one for yourself or a gift for the upcoming holiday season, be sure to get your order in before the deal is gone!
See at Amazon
Best games for Google Daydream
What are the best games for Google Daydream?
For many people, Daydream View is more than Google’s take on VR. It’s the first VR headset for a lot of Pixel owners, and that means there’s plenty of room to explore and have some fun. It also means there are a lot of apps in the Play Store asking for some money from you without a whole lot of assurance that the game will be worth the cash.
While there’s plenty of fun to be had with the free apps available for Daydream, some of the other experiences are on an entirely different level. Here’s where you need to start if you’re looking for quality games for Daydream.
Read more at VR Heads!
Quick! Amazon Prime membership slashed to £59 as a limited offer
Amazon has already started slashing prices for Black Friday, but there’s a great offer on Prime membership if you’ve not already signed up.
Amazon has slashed the price to £59 for new Prime members, so if you’ve been wondering whether to sign up or not, now’s the time to do it.
Amazon Prime for £59 – click here to sign up
But you only have until 18 November to claim this deal, or you’ll be back to the regular £79 for Prime. Sadly, this deal also only applies to new customers and it’s really an incentive for those who want to watch The Grand Tour, the new Clarkson-Hammond-May motoring show that’s exclusive to Amazon Video.
Prime membership will get you lots of benefits, like free next day delivery on a wide range of products that Amazon sells, perfect for your Christmas shopping. You’ll also get access to Prime Video, where you’ll be able to watch a range of great shows, including The Grand Tour, which starts, you guessed it, on 18 November.
There’s also Prime Music, early access to lightning deals, photo storage, ebooks and a whole lot more.
So, if you’ve yet to sign up for Amazon Prime, then don’t delay, because you only have a few days to get this great deal on Prime membership.
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ICYMI: Charging lights with foot power
Today on In Case You Missed It: EnGoPlanet is testing streetlights powered by both kinetic footpads and solar panels, placed in a plaza in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the Panther is a military-style drone that can both drive on the ground and fly through the air, while carrying up to 15 pounds of gear.
The guys and girls of Engadget video are stoked about the Beauty and the Beast live-action movie reboot from Disney; the new trailer is here just fyi. The determined garbage kid is here and the AP video of stranded cows is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for mskerryd.
‘Super Mario Run’ arrives on iPhone and iPad December 15th
At the iPhone 7 event, Apple and Nintendo revealed that Mario would make his way to iOS devices this December. Well, today Nintendo revealed the exact date: December 15th. That’s the day Super Mario Run will be available to play on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The app can be downloaded for free, but you’ll only be able to play parts of the game’s three modes without handing over additional funds. To unlock the full game, you’ll have to pay $10.
When the time comes, Super Mario Run will be available in 151 countries (full list here) and 10 languages including English, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Russian and traditional Chinese. If you happen to live in one of those locales, you’ll just need to make sure you have a device that runs iOS 8.0 or later in order to leap over obstacles, take on enemies and collect coins in a few weeks.
Don’t worry, Android faithful: Nintendo says you’ll get a chance to play the mobile game as well. Unfortunately, the company hasn’t announced when, just the vague “at some point in the future.”
Source: Nintendo (Business Wire)
Google wants to share VR with one million UK school kids
As virtual reality becomes more and more popular, companies are looking at new ways to integrate it into people’s everyday lives. Google, for instance, is keen to ensure that children grow up enjoying the benefits of VR, so the search giant has committed to bringing the technology to one million UK schoolchildren. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, in his first visit to Britain since becoming chief, confirmed that the company will offer VR training and resources via its Expeditions programme, allowing teachers to take their students on virtual field trips from the comfort of the classroom.
“Virtual reality can spark students’ imagination and help them learn about topics like how blood flows through the human body or the impact climate change is having on the Great Barrier Reef, in an engaging and immersive way,” Pichai said. “We’ve already received feedback from thousands of teachers in the UK and they believe that Expeditions can improve literacy and writing skills, and help create excitement to complement traditional teaching methods.”
Google’s no stranger to learning experiences for kids. Its Project Blok’s toys help children learn how to code and this past summer, the company put on a number of Summer Squad coding sessions for kids between 8-13. That’s not forgetting its YouTube Kids app, science camps in the US and the 15,000 Raspberry Pis it gave to UK schools back in 2013.
Google Expeditions are open and free to any UK school. To champion the virtual reality app, the Google Expeditions team will visit Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Newcastle and Inverness in the next couple of months, providing headsets to children who may otherwise have never had the opportunity to enjoy it.
HP’s tiny Xeon-powered PC puts the Mac Mini to shame
HP has unveiled the Z2 Mini, a mini PC that packs workstation-class parts, including an Intel Xeon CPU, NVIDIA Quadro mobile M620 graphics and M.2 SSD tech. By using powerful notebook-sized parts, it squeezed that power into a 2.3-inch-high case that’s “90 percent smaller than a traditional business-class tower,” HP wrote. In its top configuration, the device is twice as powerful as any mini PC on the market, letting it run up to six displays in a stock configuration.
The Z2 Mini is 63 percent quieter than HP’s business-class mini PCs, thanks to a custom cooling system. The PC maker hyperbolically describes the engineering, saying “the octagon form of the Z2 Mini is the most uniquely designed workstation in HP’s 35 years of workstation history.” HP is targeting CAD, design, graphics and 3D users, though it could make a decent gaming rig in some configurations.
Spec-wise, it comes with up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and an HP Z Turbo Drive, with M.2 SSD read speeds over 1GB/s and a capacity up to 1.5TB. You can get one with an Intel Core i7, i5, or i3 CPU, or pay more (presumably a lot more) for Intel’s Xeon E3-1200v5 family, normally used in workstations and servers.
Another option is NVIDIA’s mobile M620 Quadro GPU with 2GB of VRAM, also geared toward workstations and officially approved for pro apps like Autocad and 3DS max. However, it doesn’t meet NVIDIA’s “VR Ready” criteria, so it’s not certified with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, and would probably allow middling gaming performance, at best.
The Z2 Mini is missing a few other features, too. While USB-C is available, it doesn’t have a Thunderbolt 3 port, limiting drive options for video editors. And while it has three DisplayPort slots, it lacks an HDMI port (though USB-C can be adapted for that purpose).
As for the price, the compact PC starts at $699, which probably gets you an Intel Core i3 configuration without discreet graphics. Intel hasn’t said how much a stouter setup will cost, but it probably runs over double that with workstation components. If you’re in the market for a small, powerful PC and are tired of waiting for the next Mac Mini, however, it may be your best option. HP said it should arrive to market in December — hopefully we’ll get a better look at it before then.
Source: HP
NVIDIA helps the US build an AI for cancer research
Microsoft isn’t the only big-name tech company using AI to fight cancer. NVIDIA is partnering with the US Department of Energy and the National Cancer Institute to develop CANDLE (Cancer Distributed Learning Environment), an AI-based “common discovery platform” that aims for 10 times faster cancer research on modern supercomputers with graphics processors. The hardware promises to rapidly accelerate neural networks that can both spot crucial data and speed up simulations.
CANDLE will tackle three core problems. It’ll sift through genomic data to find the genetic signatures in cancer DNA and RNA that predict their response to treatments. The AI will also automatically extract and study “millions” of patient records to understand how cancer spreads and reoccurs, and accelerate the simulation of protein interactions to see how they create the conditions for cancer.
The partners haven’t said when they expect CANDLE to be ready, and it could be a while after that happens before you see the practical results. As with other AI-based medical research (including Microsoft’s), its effectiveness still depends on humans — they have to ask the right questions and collect the right data. If everything goes as intended, however, scientists could spend less time waiting for key observations and more time treating diseases.
Source: NVIDIA Newsroom
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