Google on Wednesday announced “Broadcast,” a new feature designed for its Google Home units with a relatively self-explanatory name, being intended to provide users with the ability to quickly broadcast a message to all of their Internet of Things devices simultaneously. The Alphabet-owned company provided an example of a parent using Broadcast to remind their children to do their homework or chores around the house, with its product management director Rishi Chandra joking that parents will love the service while kids are likely to have an opposite reaction to it. Sending a global message to all of your Google Home devices will be done with the Google Assistant which should be able to push out your memo to all eligible speakers simultaneously, the firm suggested. To use the functionality, activate the Google Assistant and use the keyword “broadcast” alongside with the contents of the message you want to relay. Note that the broadcast itself is supposed to be read out loud in the digital companion’s voice, making the end result of the service somewhat less personalized.
The service is compatible with all members of the Google Assistant-enabled speaker family, including the original Google Home and the newly announced Google Home Mini and Google Home Max. The solution is one of many that the tech giant debuted on Wednesday as part of its latest consumer electronics push which is inherently tied to its software that it says was developed alongside the hardware. Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai once again reiterated that Google is seeking to transition to an “AI-first” company earlier today and while Broadcast itself isn’t a particularly smart feature, it’s one of many additions to a growing AI ecosystem that seeks to be more capable and versatile than the sum of its parts, the company suggested.
The Google Home Mini is set to become available for purchase later this month with a price tag of $49, being largely designed to take on Amazon’s Echo Dot. Its significantly larger and more premium counterpart is scheduled to launch in December and will set you back $399 in the United States. It’s currently unclear whether the Broadcast feature will allow you to exclude certain devices from your ecosystem from each mass message you’re sending but Google will presumably share more details on the matter shortly.