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So, you’re thinking of automating your home life by getting a smart assistant. But what kinds of things can a smart assistant do?
Control Your Smart Devices
Dim the lights, unlock the front door, turn up the heat—all by asking your smart assistant. Smart devices are typically controlled by apps on your phone, but nearly all smart devices can be controlled by a smart assistant, meaning your home is one step closer to working the same way as the Enterprise-D.
Set Timers
Say you’re cooking. Rather than using your potentially dirty fingers to set a timer on your phone, you can just ask your smart assistant for a timer.
Unit Conversions
Speaking of cooking, you can ask your smart assistant for a unit conversion without having to look it up or do the math yourself.
Audible Google
Anything you’d Google you can ask your smart assistant. What’s the weather like? Can I book a table at Terroni this Friday? Is flight WS668 on time? Was Freddie Prinze Jr. in She’s All That?
Control Music
You can ask for specific songs and albums, curated playlists, or even just make a general request, such as “Please play ’70s rock.”
Play White Noise
Maybe you don’t want music, but you also don’t want silence. In that case ask for a little white noise. Some smart assistants even have a library of white noise to choose from, such as a babbling brook, whale noises, jungle sounds, and more.
Hear Notifications
Don’t feel like reaching for your phone every time it buzzes? You can get your smart assistant to read out notifications, texts, and emails.
Place Calls
Smart assistants can also facilitate hands-free calling.
Live Translation
You can get your smart assistant to translate live. Say you’re speaking with someone who only speaks Urdu. You can say what you want in English and your smart assistant will translate it into Urdu. Then, when the Urdu speaker responds in Urdu, your smart assistant will translate it back into English.
Operate Your TV
If you’re using a Chromecast or other streaming device, you can operate it using audible commands to your smart assistant.
Ring Your Phone
Lost your phone? Ask your smart assistant to detect phones in the area and then ring yours.
Silence Your Phone
Same deal as before, but this time you can ask your smart assistant to put your phone in silent mode.
Read Web Pages Aloud
If you need some information but can’t look it up physically, your smart assistant can step in and help out.
Ask for Scores
Need confirmation that the Oilers are losing? Just ask your smart assistant to tell you the score.
Send a Voice Message
You can record a message and then have your smart assistant play it for you. Handy for when you need to speak to someone at home but aren’t sure who’s there—or for when whoever is at home doesn’t have a phone.
Read a Story
Not that you want to skip story time, but if you need to, your smart assistant can read a story.
Tell a Joke
Sometimes you just want to hear a joke, and a smart assistant can deliver.
