Google Assistant gives visual responses to your questions

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While Assistant on the Google Home is useful, there are certain things that are best expressed visually rather than via audio. If the information that Google Home needs to tell you could be better expressed on a screen, you can throw it onto your phone or onto a TV with Chromecast support. Whether you’re wanting to see your calendar information, check out what’s trending on YouTube, or navigate to your next event, Home will provide you with visual responses on the appropriate screen.

Google Home has the ability to cast its response to TVs as part of a feature called “Visual Responses.” Users are able to ask Google Home for directions to a given address, or a roundup of the day’s schedule when asked

• “Show my calendar on my TV” and Home will cast the response to your TV, eliminating the need to reach out for the smartphone.
• Asking “Hey Google, what’s on YouTube?” will display a personalized list of choices. You can also ask to show YouTube’s Watch Later list or play individual videos.
• Asking “Hey Google, what’s on my DVR?” brings up the list from YouTube TV’s cloud DVR, and further voice commands can play individual shows or movies.
• If you need to know the location of a restaurant, Home can easily tell you, but asking it for directions there is a bit stickier. Instead, you can say, “Hey Google, Let’s Go.” and Google will toss the directions to your phone seamlessly.

Obviously, if someone else asks Home for something, the information relevant to them will show up thanks to the multi-user recognition. This adds a whole new dimension of personalization to Assistant and Home, especially since no phone or remote is required.

More Assistant-triggered visualizations are coming to Chromecast

Google Assistant has expanded the number of visual responses that will be overlaid on a big screen, while making voice Casting more seamless.

Smart Displays are all the rage these days, but that doesn’t mean the biggest display in your home isn’t getting in on some of the Google Assistant love as well. Assistant is already able to show you the weather on your connected Chromecast-enabled television, but now you can ask to see sports scores, stocks, and personalized answers via Voice Match with accompanying visual content are also incoming. If you’re watching something on your Chromecast when you ask to see information, Assistant will overlay the info on top of what you’re already viewing.

Per-device casting defaults for Google Home

When you ask Assistant to stream content on a Chromecast, you no longer have to signify which TV to play it on. If you’re speaking to your Google Home that’s assigned to your living room, you don’t have to then append “…on living room TV” at the end. For example, you can say,

• Hey Google, play Stranger Things, instead of Hey Google, play Stranger Things on living room TV.

Much simpler! You can set this as your default in the app.

Stay updated on Google News with the latest updates from Google Home/Assistant ecosystem.

Google Home can show YouTube lists(multiple videos) on Chromecast

The entire idea of Google Assistant being able to show visual, interactive content on a Chromecast connected TV is a feature full of potential, and seeing the weather in this way was only one way of getting started with it.

How to search/browse YouTube videos on your TV/

Get video answers to your questions.

Asking questions on Chromecast with Google TV gets more interesting, with news and YouTube videos part of the results. Get direct video answers to questions through Assistant on Chromecast with Google TV. This opens relevant YouTube videos instead of presenting a screen with content recommendations.

Questions such as “What’s happening with the war in Ukraine?” will open up a video from a major news organization on YouTube.

Ask your Assistant to show certain content. Simply go through the suggestions and choose your favorites. You can search and browse non-personalized YouTube videos based on your request.

• Hey Google, show me Trevor Noah videos
• To play the request, Hey Google, play 3rd video

See what is trending on YouTube on your TV

• Hey Google, show me what’s trending on YouTube
• Hey Google, show me what’s on YouTube

With these commands, a list of videos appear, and the Assistant should prompt to pick a video. There are a few other options here as well, including the ability to show more, show only videos, or show only channels in the results. Once you find your video, you tell it to play that number, and you are off.

How to ask Google Assistant to show the weather or forecast on your TV

Get your current weather and forecast on your TV with your Google Assistant and Chromecast or a TV with Chromecast built-in. To see current and upcoming weather on your TV for any location. Say,

• Hey Google, show me the weather
• Hey Google, show me the weather for tomorrow
• Hey Google, show me the weather for Saturday
• Hey Google, show me the weather this weekend
• Hey Google, show me the weather for the next 3 days

Ask for the weather in a certain location

• Hey Google, show me the weather in London
• Hey Google, show me the weather in London on Saturday
• Hey Google, show me the weather in London this weekend
• Hey Google, show me the weather in London for the next 3 days

An overlay card like that above(in image) will appear on top of whatever content is currently on your Chromecast while your Google Home reads the weather, as it did before. So if you’re in the middle of a day-long Netflix binge, you can check and see that the world still follows the cycles of weather without interrupting your show. The overlay shows the current weather in detail, with expected high and low temperatures, precipitation, humidity, and a further five-day forecast.

Voice actions that actually make our standard tasks not only doable, but also easier, are just the things users need to start using Google Assistant for more activities on a regular basis. Depending on your location and hardware setup, you may or may not be able to duplicate.

What you need

• Chromecast or Chromecast Ultra running cast version 1.28+.
• Google Home, Google Home Mini, or Google Home Max, Nest Audio/Mini

Unsupported devices

• Chromecast (1st Gen)
• Android TVs
• Chromecast built-in TVs

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The Visual responses feature is one example of how Google overcomes the fact that its Nest Mini and Audio speakers don’t have a screen. Rather, Google is embracing various screens we all have around the home —TVs, plus smartphones and tablets. And some of the ways you can interface with those screens using Google Home today is quite interesting and useful.

It’s not hard to imagine a future in which you eventually will have multiple devices like this around your home, and the ability to interact with screens in different rooms, and they all will just work harmoniously together, making the interaction experience great.