Google's Voice Command for Playing Music

Google's voice search feature still has a long way to go. If you say "play music" or "play some music" in the Google Search app for Android, Google starts the Play Music app and opens the "I'm Feeling Lucky" radio, which is based on your listening history. I think it makes more sense to continue playing your music and use the current queue instead of creating a new playlist.

Google still doesn't support basic voice actions like "next song", "skip", "pause" or "stop the music". If you say "next song", Google only shows the search results and a list of songs from Next, an American R&B musical group.

You can say "play Alicia Keys" and Google will shuffle Alicia's songs:

You can also say "play blues" and Google will start the Blues radio. If you say "play hip hop", Google Play Music will show a list of search results for "hip hop".

That's what happens if Play Music is the default app that handles music voice actions. You can change it by saying "play Coldplay" or something similar, quickly tapping the icon next to the app's name, picking one of the music apps and tapping the selected app (I could choose between Google Play, Google Play Music, TuneIn Radio and Poweramp, but your list will be different, depending on the apps you've installed). The next time when you use a music-related voice action, the app you've picked will handle it. Most apps will show a list of search results or start playing music.

{ via +Google }

Konami Easter Egg in Google Voice Search

There's a cool Easter Egg in Google Voice Search: if you say "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right", Google will answer: "Cheat mode unlocked, unlimited free Google searches". This is the Konami cheat code originally used for Nintendo games.

You can try this Easter Egg in the Google Search app for Android and iOS and in the Google Search site if you use Chrome for desktop.

The Konami code was also used as an Easter Egg in Google Reader, Google Docs (create a new document and press "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right", then type ba and press Enter), Play Games and even for the Chromebook Pixel.

{ via Search Engine Land and Pierre Far }

Camera Voice Commands for Android

The Google Search app for Android added voice commands for taking photos and recording videos. Just say: "take a photo", "take a picture", "record a video", "take a video", "shoot a video" and the camera app will launch in the proper mode.

"The first home run in T-ball, the surprise proposal, or just that gorgeous sunset... Sometimes the perfect photo passes you by as you fumble with your phone to open the camera app. Now with the Google Search App on Android, you can just tap the microphone or say 'Ok Google,' then 'take a photo' or 'take a video'," informs Google.

OK Google in Desktop Chrome

Google Voice Search works in Chrome for desktop, not only in Android and iOS. Just click the microphone icon from the search box and you can tell Google what do you want to know, assuming that you have a microphone.

Now you can bypass the microphone icon and use the hotword "OK Google" when you're using Google search or the new tab page. You need to install this extension first.

"Chrome will listen for you to say 'Ok Google' and then send the sound of the next thing you say, plus a few seconds before, to Google," informs the options page. By default, Google stops listening after 5 minutes to reduce battery consumption on a laptop.

Hotword detection works offline and doesn't send the recording to Google's servers until you say "OK Google". You need to open a Google search page or go to the new tab page first, assuming that you have the updated new tab page which uses the Google homepage. The extension only works for google.com, not for other Google domains:

You can tell if Google is listening by checking the microphone icon from the search box:

Now Google handles Voice Search queries differently. In addition to providing voice feedback and using the previous query for disambiguation, Google now changes your query and removes unnecessary word. For example, if you tell Google "show me some Brad Pitt movies", Google will show results for [Brad Pitt movies].

Keyboard Shortcut for Google Voice Search

If you use Chrome, you've probably noticed the small microphone icon from Google's search box. It lets you search Google using your voice and it's now just as good as the voice search feature from Google's mobile apps.

There's even a keyboard shortcut for this feature: Ctrl+Shift+. (or ⌘-Shift-. for Mac). Yes, that's a dot, full stop or period.

"Say your question and hear an answer back on your desktop Chrome browser. All you will need is a built-in or attached microphone. Also, be sure to have the volume up on your computer to hear your answer loud and clear. Please note Voice Search with spoken answers back is available for US English only," informs Google.

"Open the Chrome browser and go to http://www.google.com/. You'll see a small gray microphone on the right-hand side of the search box. Click the microphone or press Ctrl+Shift+Period (Mac: ⌘-Shift-Period) with your cursor in the search box to start voice search. When the large red microphone icon appears, begin speaking. You can press ESC or click the red button to cancel. As you speak, Google will interpret your voice input. Afterwards, your results show up just as if you had typed the search term," mentions a help center article.

{ via Mike Downes }

Conversational Voice Search in Chrome for iOS

Chrome for iOS has been updated and now includes the enhanced version of voice search that was available in the Google Search app. The upgraded voice search is more accurate, answers more question, has spoken feedback and it remembers your previous questions, so you can ask "how many calories are in an apple?" and then "what about an orange?".

The microphone icon has been removed from the address bar and it's now placed prominently next to the keyboard. If you start using the keyboard, the voice search button is replaced by some keys that are useful when you enter a web address: ":", ".", "-", "/" and a ".com" button.

Google now shows the words from your question as you speak, so you can see much faster if Google's speech-to-text engine understands what you're saying.

You'll hear the answer and Google will also show a card with more information. Spoken feedback can be disabled from the settings page: go to the voice search section and disable "speak answers back". "The answer can be a fact, weather condition, stock price, flight status, sports score, currency conversion, mathematical calculation, and more. Spoken answers are only supported in English at this time," informs Google.

Voice search is more useful as a Chrome feature than as a feature of the Google Search app, especially if you're already using Chrome. You don't have to open a new app and you can see the results for multiple questions because Chrome has tabs.

For some reason, Chrome for Android still includes the old voice search, but that should change in the near future.