If you’re having issues with Google Now’s speech output, you certainly aren’t the only one. Widespread issues with Google Now’s audible output have been reported all day today. We have seen quite a few people on Google+ reporting the issue and asking for help. The current prevailing theory is that this issue is server side only. So it wouldn’t be wise to spend much time clearing your cache, tinkering with your volume settings, or attempting to fix this problem on your own. There doesn’t seem to be any discrimination between Android 4.1 or 4.2, and we also haven’t found any correlation between this bug and any particular manufacturer or model of phone.
As far as we can tell all other Google Now features are working just fine. Speech recognition also doesn’t seem to be affected by whatever is causing this problem. Many of our readers are reporting that Google Now has begun behaving exactly like their spouse. Constantly suggesting that they get out of the house more on weekends, reminding them that they had better leave for that appointment or else they are going to be late, and now our readers seem to be getting the silent treatment from one of Google’s newest innovations. We are all assuming that this is a bug, but it is possible that Google is just attempting to make every man feel like he has his wife in his pocket at all times. We can’t imagine that this idea tested extremely well in focus groups, but there is no point in arguing with hard data. It is possible that future Google Now features could include reminding you that you should call your parents more often, bugging you about not emptying the dishwasher, and possibly even criticizing your career choices while comparing you to your siblings. Truly we live in an amazing high-tech world where all the best parts of marriage can be distilled into such a convenient, easily smashed device that fits in the palm of your hand.
Have you noticed any other issues with Google Now in the last 24 hours? Let us know in the comments section below.