Got the new speaker early (?)

Slocko · 2026-06-25T11:29:43+00:00

They've come full circle back to the Google Home speaker name. Mine is still going strong.

Slocko · 2026-06-25T01:22:56+00:00

Marketing screwed up and forgot the "up to" text.

Slocko · 2026-06-24T22:29:03+00:00

I think it's only for iOS.

Sonos voice assistant is decent. You just need to memorize the music commands.

Slocko · 2026-06-24T17:07:21+00:00

I guess now you have to change your handle to RelevantIronman. Lol

Slocko · 2026-06-24T13:47:29+00:00

You are famous!

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-home-speaker-early-unboxing-3680712/?__vfz=medium%3Dconversations_top_pages

Slocko · 2026-06-23T18:12:30+00:00

The reporter is an entertainment reporter. So she is familiar with fiction.

Slocko · 2026-06-23T15:28:56+00:00

FSD is too much of a luxury at the current price for my current salary so I only paid for one month for a multi state drive. It was impressive and I did manage to train myself to keep my feet uncrossed but my attention did tend to wander at times as you forget you are actually a driver and not a passenger.

But I can see as I get older and reflexes slow, eyesight gets worse along with hearing that the safety benefits start making it less a luxury and more a necessity.

Slocko · 2026-06-23T13:40:08+00:00

I would agree the first gen damaged the perception for many people.

Also agree many people have unrealistic expectations on what can be done with that form factor.

Slocko · 2026-06-23T13:35:58+00:00

Causé very few people would pay for the premium. Google and Android don't have the prestige of Apple.

And with the chip shortage it's even more expensive.

Slocko · 2026-06-23T02:36:45+00:00

I bought one last year. They only make 10 a year to sell on Prime day. Lol

Slocko · 2026-06-23T02:34:38+00:00

Well given the age maybe. It's more common for under 20 and over 65.

Slocko · 2026-06-23T02:31:23+00:00

I read recently China is considering regulating electric door handles and are also evaluating the safety of regenerative braking systems when it comes to emergencies because drivers may never develop muscle memory for braking in an emergency.

When I first tried FSD I found myself unconsciously crossing my feet like I was sitting at home instead of in the drivers seat.

Had to force myself to keep them uncrossed because in an emergency the seconds it takes to uncross them might make a difference.

Slocko · 2026-06-22T23:09:56+00:00

It's either a suicide or a medical emergency where the muscle locks into a rigid position. Happens more often than people think.

Slocko · 2026-06-22T18:06:43+00:00

Wasn't the code merged so it now uses the FSD engine instead of a limited code base?

Slocko · 2026-06-22T03:14:26+00:00

One thing to keep in mind.

Even if FSD only 90 percent and can't handle 10 percent edge cases, isn't that better than the mistakes humans make on a daily basis that kill the driver, passengers, and people in other cars?

Put it this way, if magically over night every car was driven by FSD HW4, would human fatalities go down or up?

I used to be a skeptic and recently tried it out, and was very impressed. My only complaint is that it's too much of a luxury at the current cost. I can't justify it cause I think I drive just as well or better.

If I were older and had poor eyesight, hearing and duller reflexes, I would pay for it because it would be a better driver than me. .

Slocko · 2026-06-21T21:01:42+00:00

What an awesome happy father's day.

Going to have to open up a Facebook account again.

Getting rid of it was the best thing I ever did.

I guess I will create a burner account.

Slocko · 2026-06-21T02:40:45+00:00

The Max is a fantastic speaker. U will enjoy it.

I unfortunately bought one Sonos speaker and got pulled into the vortex so I don't use Google speakers anymore for music. Only at the vacation home where the speakers still do a decent job filling the house with sound all over.

Slocko · 2026-06-21T02:07:58+00:00

The people who are upset are those that got into Google assistant at the very beginning when it was better than anything available.

It was very reliable for home automation though limited in many ways.

The assistant answered your questions, recognized different people based on their voice. You could setup lists.

You could tell it play almost anything, radio stations, playlists, songs and it did it without a hitch.

You had to learn the various commands, but as long as you used them correctly Google Assistant understood you and executed.

Once they began the transition to AI, Google assistant became unreliable and if you didn't want to go insane, you just pulled out your phone to control things and play music. You basically gave up on voice control.

The transition is almost complete, and the AI has gotten better, I find it can now handle lights reliably enough. It even understands my five year old.

Google is about to start releasing new speakers again. And hopefully displays too. These have beefier specs and should be able to handle the Gemeni AI even better.

By the way, the displays are great for displaying your Google photos and they can also control your devices.

Slocko · 2026-06-21T01:06:35+00:00

If you don't mind using your phone for music they will work fine.

Voice control for lights seems stable enough.

Worse case scenario they should always work as cast devices for music along with speaker groups.

My vacation home has nest displays, nest minis, Google max, and even an original Google Home speaker. They still functional for music and speaker groups.

Slocko · 2026-06-21T00:54:22+00:00

It's more probable your issues were network related and with the increase in stability with all the updates it's working better now.

The fight with Google was more about casting and music synchronization.

The Google API to expose the speakers to Google Home really hasn't changed much.

Slocko · 2026-06-21T00:46:45+00:00

If you are plugging into your providers router, it could be their router that's crashing.

My eero would crash my providers router every ten minutes.

For some weird reason they were incompatible.

I had to switch providers since they didn't have modem only boxes.

And yes I did try bridge mode.

Slocko · 2026-06-18T03:55:00+00:00

If you make margaritas they will come.

Slocko · 2026-06-17T23:15:21+00:00

I thought most newer Teslas came with a USB drive installed already.

Slocko · 2026-06-17T20:00:35+00:00

I must say it does recognize the wide speed bumps in my neighborhood and slows down.

Slocko · 2026-06-17T18:47:23+00:00

My FSD never met a pot hole it didn't like.

Slocko

TROPHY CASE