9 Things You May Not Have Known About Google Now

Google Now is known mostly as the search giant’s Siri competitor. Available on many Android phones and as part of the Google app for iPhone, Google’s service pushes digital personal assistance a lot further. For example: It can send timely notifications to keep you up on your favorite sports team, or scheme to give you traffic information about where you’re going before you even depart.

Now, to help you better understand and use Google Now, here’s our list of nine things, some quite useful and some just fun, that you may not have known about Google Now’s functionality.

1. You can ask specific questions to bring up information cards.Whether you’re a history buff or a reality-TV junkie, the interactive Google Now information cards that appear in popular search results are uber helpful. Rather than just showing a list of website links as results, the cards Google provides feature the most important info in bold at the top, with relevant links and sometimes an expandable section of extra detail just below.

Asking Google Now more specific questions, as long as they’re not really obscure (example above), will yield the best card results.

2. You can say, “Hey, Google” to launch the app.Google Now’s voice command prompt can actually be launched by speaking, “Hey, Google,” instead of the traditional “OK, Google.” These voice cues work from your home screen or from inside the Google Search app, depending on which phone you have. In the past, Google has reportedly toyed around with enabling other launch phrases, one being “OK, Jarvis” in reference to the Iron Man movies, but the two above commands are the only ones we know of that work currently.

3. Google can learn your relationships to contacts.Google has the capacity of knowing who your brother, mother, boyfriend, wife, and cousin are. To set these, just tell Google Now a command, like, “Text my girlfriend hello.”

A card will then pop up asking you to Pick contact to designate as your girlfriend. After tagging a contact once, Google will remember your relationship and, from then on, you can text, call, or email that contact by simply saying “mother,” “cousin,” “wife,” and so on.

4. There are plenty of fun tricks and Easter eggs.These fun voice commands may not do much to show the true practicality of Google Now, but they are clever! One of our favorites is asking Google Now to “beam me up.” It of course replies, “I cannot do it, Captain. I do not have the power.”

(androidawesomeness.com)

Here is a nice list of other commands that spark delight:

“Do a barrel roll.”
“What’s the loneliest number?”
“Beam me up, Scotty!”
“What does the fox say?”“Make me a sandwich!”
"Tilt."“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
“What is your favorite color?”
“Who’s on second?”
“Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right.”
“What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?”

(Thanks to gottabemobile.com)

5. You can make Google Now smarter through a survey.Though Google Now can, like magic (or by closely monitoring your Web activity), learn particulars about you, the service gets even better if you take the time to input some of the information manually. In the Google Now settings, you can answer yes or no questions about news you want to be alerted of, enter locations you would like travel times to, and tell it which stocks to keep an eye on for you.

Instructions on how to manually fine-tune Google Now can be found here.

6. Android Wear watches can run Google Now, too.If you’re intrigued by Google’s new line of smartwatches, learning the ins and outs of Google Now becomes even more relevant, as many of the service’s functions are available right from your wrist, too. On Android Wear, you can send emails, reply to text messages, and get similar information cards from search results, all with the same voice commands as the smartphone version of Google Now.

7. It features a handy tip calculator.Even though Google Now clearly “does other things!” this feature is still the one that Jerry Seinfeld’s TV father would get most excited about.

You can either launch Google Now’s tip calculator by simply asking, “What is the tip on [check amount]?” or by typing the same thing into Google Now. The default tip percentage is set to 15 percent, but you high-rollers can increase that right from the results page.

8. Google Now is available on your PC.You can get all your reminders, sports scores, and traffic and weather reports on your desktop or laptop, too. You just need to turn the feature on in your computer’s Chrome browser and then sync it to the same Google account you use on your phone.

Read how to set up and use Google Now for desktop here.

9. It can identify music and TV programs just by listening.Similar to music-detection app Shazam, Google Now can listen and provide details on almost any song sold online. If, from the voice command prompt, Google Now hears that music is playing, you’ll be given a music note button. Press that, and Google will attempt to track down the song artist, title, and a link to it in Google Play.

Similarly, if you give Google Now the command “Listen to TV,” the service will attempt to detect, by listening, what program you’re watching on your television. TV info cards will appear giving show, event, or movie details, including links to cast members or other relevant information.

Have questions, comments, or just want to tell me something funny? Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com.

Original post found here:

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/9-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-google-now-95839968449.html