What's up Hype Hunters!
So it's been a while, but today we're back with another techie episode, which is not
so great for Roz, but kind of awesome for me.
Yep, tell me about it.
So you know all about smart assistants right?
So like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri?
Yah, so basically you ask them to do stuffs for you on your phone using only your voice,
but you can also voice-control your entire home?
Yah! So basically you can use it to do things like turn on and off you fan, your speakers, your
lights and even control your TV!
Ok, that sounds like something totally out of a futuristic movie where everything is
auto-mated and voice-controlled.
Yah, how awesome is that?!
That's why we're going to turn my home into a smart home today to see if it's worth the hype.
First you'll need a smart speaker that you can use as your main controlling device to control all your
other smart home devices.
You can use any smart speakers like the Google Home, the Amazon Echo, the Apple Homepod.
There are actually quite a lot of smart speakers on the market but today we're going to be using
the Google Home mini because that's what I have!
Basically we just talk to it and ask it to do stuffs.
Yah!
So the thing about smart speakers is that you need to find smart home devices that are
compatible with your speaker.
So of course with the smart speaker you can use it to do the normal things that smart
assistants can do, like set alarms, play music, remember things, but today we'll be trying
out 3 main smart devices, the smart bulb, the smart plug as well as the Chromecast which
controls your TV.
Ok, so let's test the lights first.
So the first thing we're going to do is to swap out your regular dumb bulb for a smart bulb.
We're going to be using the Philips Hue Smart Bulbs, and please please please make sure
you're buying the correct bulb because for the Philips bulbs, the smart ones and the
dumb ones kind of look exactly the same, so I saw online that people are just always buying the wrong ones.
Follow the instructions on the box to make sure that the smart bulbs are up and running
via the hue APP.
So next we're going to pair the Google Home Mini to our lights.
And in order to do that, you have to first download the Home APP.
Now that everything is set up, let's try voice-controlling our lights.
Hey Google, turn on the light.
Sure, turning the bedroom light on.
Turn off the light.
I have to say that the reaction time is a little bit slow.
You got it, turning the bedroom light off.
How awesome is that?
I wonder if we can like, give it instructions that's a little cooler?
Like, Hey Google, let there be light.
I don't think that works.
Roz: Shh! Let's not interrupt Google. Google: Sure, turning on the bedroom light.
Oh!
That's so cool!
I did not know you could do that!
How have I been living not knowing you could do that?!
Roz: Ok, that was cool, that was cool. Jem: That was so cool!
Let's dim the lights.
Ok, dimming the bedroom light.
I saw it.
Jem: I saw it too. Roz: It dimmed, it dimmed.
Let's turn the lights blue.
Ok, changing the bedroom light to blue.
I mean, if you have a kid who is like a science - want to have a spaceship kind of themed room.
Hey Google, give me sexy lighting.
Sorry, I don't understand.
How can they not know what is sexy lighting?
Maybe like, OK Google, give me sunrise lighting.
You got it, changing the bedroom light to sunrise.
That's boring.
Hey Google, give me romantic lighting.
My apologies, I don't understand.
I was so impressed earlier when I said let there be light and the lights came on right?
Yah, it's so cool.
What do you think about the set up process?
Was it difficult?
Or easy?
I think if you're not used to setting up tech stuff, it can be a little bit difficult.
For me I got confused at some points even though the instruction manual is all there,
I couldn't figure out how to get it to work for a while.
But once it's set up, it's like *poof*
I don't actually mind if the set up process is a bit
more difficult because you know that it's just a one time thing, you're going to leave
it in your house.
So if you set it up and then it's a bit more time consuming, but then it works fine after
that, forever and ever, then yah!
I think I'll be fine with it.
I do think this is very useful.
Oh, and another thing that you can do is tell the lights to turn on at a certain time.
What I do is say "OK Google, turn on the lights at 5am" and I set my alarm to 5:30, so when
I wake up, the lights are already on, and it makes it easier to get out of bed.
It's just the perfect condition to wake up and transition into your day.
Like wake up, wake up how you want to wake up.
Exactly, you wake up feeling good, not wake up like - "I hate my life".
So now we're going to turn my regular fan into a fancy smart fan.
Yup, so we'll be using this smart wi-fi plug from TP-Link, but first you have to download
the kasa APP and then follow instructions to set it up.
And once it's set up and online, you can then plug in the fan and add the fan to the Google Home APP.
OK Google, turn on the fan.
You got it, turning on the dining fan.
I feel like I shouldn't be surprised that works 'cause I know it's gonna work, but I'm still like "wow".
I know! It's so cool!
Ok Google, turn off the fan.
You got it, turning the dining fan off.
Blow me away!
It's not going to understand you.
Ok, Blow Me Away by Breaking Benjamin.
You see, it's going to play music.
Kay, I guess that didn't work.
Well, I guess that's nice also, like it's a nice surprise.
Woohoo!
Ok Google, that's enough.
Make the fan slower.
How do you tell it to make it like less, less, less fanny?
Ok Google, turn down the fan speed.
Oh!
That makes sense.
Sorry, I can't help with that yet.
Creative writer, normal person.
I got nothing to say to that.
So I guess the fan doesn't adjust to different fan speeds because they have actual buttons
on it, like speed 1, 2, 3.
What we did was we used the mediator, so it's kind of just like a middleman.
On, off.
It's just to turn it on and turn it off.
For me I think that would be good enough.
Because usually you leave your fan at the same spot, so you kind of want the same fan speed everyday?
Yup.
With this plug, I guess you can use it for appliances that just turn on and off.
I mean, because you can actually use it for other things like kettles, coffee machine, washing machines.
I guess it only makes sense for things that are really like straightforward on and off.
Like maybe, fan, light, TV?
So another thing you can do is control you TV with your voice, and since we are using
the Google Home Mini, we will need a Chromecast to do that.
And of course we've already set everything up, so let's try out the Chromecast on the
TV by saying, Hey Google, play Clicknetwork's Smelliest Restaurant In The World.
On YouTube.
Alright, playing Clicknetwork's Smelliest Restaurant In The World from YouTube on Jemma's home TV.
OK Google, mute the video.
Oh! It muted it, very cool.
Pause the video.
Fast forward 30 seconds.
Stop the video.
So, YouTube works, another thing that you can do is use the speaker to control Netflix,
so I'm just going to give that a try right now.
Play Brooklyn Nine Nine on Netflix.
OK, Brooklyn Nine Nine from Netflix.
Playing on Jemma's home TV.
Princess Jemma. Of course.
I wonder whether we can do like specific episode.
Play season 3 episode 5 of Friends on Netflix.
That was a mouthful.
Sorry, I can't play TV shows by seasons or episodes yet.
Is this faster than like let's say using the remote control and all that?
Well, using the remote control for the TV is a bit unwieldy, because you basically use
it like a cursor, so you still have to move it, and then if you want to search for a specific
show, you gonna have to press the letters one by one, which can be really like *urgh*
so I think this is way more efficient.
Turn on the subtitles.
Oh!
Turn the TV volume up to a hundred percent.
I actually think the reaction time for the Chromecast is a lot faster than let's say
turning on the lights and turning on the fan.
Overall thoughts of the smart speaker?
I love it!
I think that comes as no surprise to anyone.
I love the convenience, I love how cool it feels to be living in the future, it's like
watching an episode of The Jetsons?
Hey, do you know what I'm talking about?
Like the cartoon with the people in the spaceship.
Yes, that was my time.
For me it's really like having an assistant.
For me what this does is it removes all the inefficient things that I would have to get
up and do and break my flow of whatever I'm doing, and allows me to concentrate on what
I really wanna do.
Yah, I see where you are coming from, but the fact that I'm asking the smart assistant
to do it for me, I feel like I'm talking to somebody yet it's nobody and that's where
the lonely feeling comes, for me.
You're a romantic inside!
Am I? I'm not!
You are! You have a romantic sensibility in your heart!
I would still like to be able to do stuffs for myself.
We grew up in a time where you have to kind of like do things for yourselves and then
now you have all this technology that can help you do stuffs.
But let's say if I have kids, this is all they will know!
And then, will they be able to do stuffs for themselves?
It's going to be like "mummy!
I asked Google Home to help me do this, but it won't do it!"
And for me it's like a no-brainer, like, "yah, go turn it on yourself then!"
But it might be a problem, it really might!
I do see the usefulness in it, I really do.
But it just gives me a funny feeling.
So do you think that this is the direction of the future?
Like smart homes being the norm?
Well, you know when the smart phones just came out, everyone was like "Uh, it's so expensive!"
and like "Do I need that?" and you know, people just got used to it and now everybody is on it.
I actually think it's going to be quite unavoidable.
We have come to the important point of every episode, which is, is it worth the hype?
Jem: Yes. Roz: No.
What????
Are you serious? It did everything it was supposed to do!
I know, I know! But is it worth the hype?
For me to wanna head out there and get it and have it installed in my house?
It's not just the speaker that you have to get, you have to get the whole set-up like
the wireless Wi-Fi plug, for TV you gotta get Chromecast, for the lights you gotta get special bulbs.
Is it expensive?
It's pretty pricey, yah.
Yah it's pretty pricey, so if it breaks, how?
Have to go get some more.
I'm just not ready for it yet.
So we've come to the end of -
Now we've come to the end of the episode.
We hope you've enjoyed it.
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So till the next time, bye!
Bye babes, bye!
Cat fur.