GOOGLE HOME

Google will finally lay its home automation roots Down Under. AU PRICE TBC | MADEBY.GOOGLE.COM/HOME

Google’s Amazon Echo-like household assistant hub, called Home, has been available in the US since the end of 2016 and the UK since April, and now it’s finally been confired for Australia. Running the Google Assistant app that’s also found in the flagship Pixel smartphones (and select other Android handsets), Home should be arriving by the ‘middle of the year’, according to an announcement made at the company’s annual Google I/O developer conference. Whether you want to search the web, control your music, make lists, set appointments, read emails or tweak smart home devices with your voice, Google Home hopes to operate as your smarthome’s central hub. Exact details on release date, pricing and the final Australian feature set of Google Home were still to be confirmed at the time of press, but we’re hoping Alphabet will spell it out for us soon. JB