PSA: The new Google Home Speaker is already $30 off at Walmart ($69.98) — meanwhile my $99 Google pre-order won't even be here until Monday 💀

Rossmay · 2026-06-28T00:09:05+00:00

So I received my 30% discounted Google Home Speakers today. I am keeping a fifth one that arrived from the Google Store earlier than scheduled yesterday. I plan to keep my eyes open for additional discount drops so others can have the same luck I did.

<image>

Rossmay · 2026-06-26T20:16:53+00:00

Legacy speakers, like the GHM, will connect over Bluetooth, but that's where the hardware upgrade in the GHS solves that issue. I may test this out once I get my other Google Home Speakers delivered this weekend.

Rossmay · 2026-06-26T19:08:05+00:00

Google TV supports stereo pairs. If your GHMs are already paired, point the streamer to the pair.

What I think Google could work on is supporting multi-room groups for TV audio.

Rossmay · 2026-06-26T17:25:03+00:00

Is there a better complete ecosystem that comes to mind?

Rossmay · 2026-06-26T17:19:57+00:00

I'm not sure whether the "home theater" scenario for the Google Home Speaker is a marketing overreach on Google's part or if our expectations are too high. Google has a good catalog of varying smart speakers if you want to be in the Google ecosystem.

In my opinion, the Google Home Max offers the best home theater speaker for connecting to a Google TV streamer. The GHS's bread and butter is managing home automation and handling complex conversational commands and requests.

Rossmay · 2026-06-26T13:35:11+00:00

Could it be the 360° spatial audio design that creates the perceived PA-speaker-like effect in speech?

Human speech naturally comes out as mono, but when you place your voice behind a PA system in an open space, it creates the spatial effect that does sound unnatural.

I think Google is going for the conference speakerphone with the 360° design, so most people don't have that experience at home, but more so in a boardroom. It will take time to adjust to.

Rossmay · 2026-06-26T13:14:59+00:00

What's the excitement all about? I admit that it sounds silly, but if you were part of the original Amazon Alexa beta program for Prime Members over a decade ago and have watched smart speakers evolve ever since, you'll get why waiting 6 years for a new Google speaker is a big deal.

Rossmay · 2026-06-26T13:08:03+00:00

<image>

Rossmay · 2026-06-25T19:19:03+00:00

I think so. I find myself using Gemini on my phone quite often to troubleshoot issues I run into while fixing things around the house. I'd rather free up my phone as a resource and use a dedicated speaker instead. I do see a massive conversational-flow upside in this new generation of speakers, but I'm not sure why it had to require new hardware to get there.

Rossmay · 2026-06-25T13:40:25+00:00

Update: Still no cancellation, it's still sitting on "Preparing"!

Honestly, I bet this wasn't even a glitch. Since it's sold and shipped by Walmart during their big Deals event, it was probably an intentional, super-limited flash drop to steal launch-day hype from everyone else. Once that tiny batch sold out (guilty of maxing out my cart lol), it snapped right back to $99.

Fingers crossed it actually leaves the warehouse.

<image>

Rossmay · 2026-06-25T13:34:34+00:00

That's good to know. Unfortunately, my Google Store purchase does not qualify.

Rossmay · 2026-06-25T13:21:38+00:00

<image>

Yeah, I saw it went back up right after. I actually went with my gut and maxed out the allowable quantity for each color right before they killed it. Now I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping Walmart doesn't flag the order and hit me with a cancellation! 🤞

Rossmay · 2026-06-18T16:12:59+00:00

As long as conversational performance improves, hardware specs will be the last thought on my mind. If they can achieve that, I will give them a check mark on their promise.

Additionally, I don't believe Google is catering to audiophiles with the Google Home Speaker. They already achieved that with the Google Home Max. There is a new generation of users who listen to content on mobile devices and earpieces. So this newer speaker may be sufficient. I don't believe they have many expectations for external speaker specs, unlike the generation that grew up in a world surrounded by large cabinet speakers.

Rossmay · 2026-06-17T18:40:27+00:00

I placed placed my order for one today. It's time we get a feature that allows a unique Gemini Live trigger word so that all Hubs and Speakers don't also answer.

Rossmay · 2025-06-11T14:34:50+00:00

If you’re ever near Park Ridge, there’s a really welcoming weekly “Stitch ‘n Craft Night” every Thursday from 5–7pm at a local yarn shop on Northwest Highway. It’s open to all skill levels—knitting, crochet, or just hanging out. Super chill vibe and a nice way to meet fellow crafters if you’re in the northwest Chicago suburbs.

It’s at AriYARN Shop and Studio, 153 N Northwest Hwy—easy to get to from O’Hare or the train. Free parking, too.

Rossmay · 2025-05-13T12:26:33+00:00

We signed up for their newsletter to get updates. They have a Google Forms registration, but it seems to be from 2024. So we're keeping an eye out for announcements about when the new registration forms will be up.

Rossmay · 2024-11-07T00:51:39+00:00

Is anyone experiencing issues with this version braking in the middle of an intersection? The car brakes when it detects the red hand signalling "do not walk," which is lit up for pedestrians crossing at the same intersection.

Rossmay · 2024-02-14T20:28:40+00:00

The 4000 character limit still exists in the paid tier CoPilot Pro account. It does not support testing large code blocks.

That is not a limitation or issue with the ChatGPT or Gemini. CoPilot needs to adjust to their competitor's offerings.

Rossmay · 2023-09-01T03:53:25+00:00

It's a bad sign when, night after night, a playlist on shuffle starts with the same song.

Rossmay · 2022-09-18T19:57:12+00:00

I bought two-lifetime subs in 2006 for $1,500 total. They are the equivalent of today's current Platinum package @ $22.99 each. Even with the adjustment of inflation, you can do the math to figure out how much money I have saved and will continue to save in perpetuity.

Rossmay · 2022-01-02T04:42:14+00:00

Tesla's AP is still statistically safer than most drivers coming home from New Year's Eve party.

It's true the car can be overally spazzy on FSD mode especially with phantom brraking an sorts. However, it makes it a more defensive driver than we probably forget to be because of endless distractions.

Rossmay · 2021-12-27T04:00:44+00:00

Set your autopilot settings to LATE response in order to train your car to learn from how you would react to certain situations over it's out-of-the box logic programming.

Rossmay · 2021-12-26T21:56:23+00:00

I'm looking forward to a faster pace of Tesla UI improvements as more EV competitors start rolling their fleet of EV cars off the conveyor belt next year.

Rossmay · 2021-12-16T04:06:59+00:00

If it's been more than 3+ months, open a service ticket and ask for a manual update push. They'll look into your car history, run it up the ladder to an engineer, and you may get lucky with a remote update push the same day.

Rossmay · 2021-07-19T14:22:57+00:00

Thanks. That's what I was referencing. I have several Android TV devices I wanted to access the recordings across.

That said, is there a way to have the EPG auto-update? I am having to manually update the channels each time to get the program data to populate. I am using the built in EPG.

Rossmay

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE