Google Assistant Now Broadcasts to Phones

 I have been using the similar broadcast by Alexa for some time. Our family is now small, so not needed as much, but still good to have to get to every corner of the house.  Adding to this to phones anywhere is a good idea. 

The Google Assistant is now a Google messaging service   in ArsTechnica  By Ron Amado 

"Broadcast" now works on speakers, displays, and phones for your whole family.

The Google Assistant's "Broadcast" feature has long existed as a way to blast a message to every Google smart speaker in the house. Instead of hunting down every individual family member at dinner time, put those smart speakers to work by saying, "Hey Google, broadcast 'It's dinner time!'"

In a new blog post, Google called Broadcast "one of our most popular Assistant features" and announced that the feature is expanding to show messages on phones, too, even when they're outside the home Wi-Fi network. That means Broadcast is basically turning into a new Google messaging service.  .... " 

Alexa now has an Everywhere Intercom

Been a long-time user of Alexa as an intercom, but you had to select a destination.   Now this new capability is nice, specially useful if you have a large multi-floor house or connected outside space.  Previously you could broadcast, but only one-way.   I could also see this as a means of asking the opinion of people in the house, as is shown in the example, and recording them in a list.  Maybe a business use?   The latter is not done automatically now. 

Now all your home’s Alexa devices work like an intercom  in Engadget

Amazon's 'Drop In' feature now works across the entire house.
Amazon Alexa users can now use the “Drop In” feature to talk with all of their Echo devices at once, Amazon announced on its blog. Previously, Drop In messages could only be sent to one other Alexa-enabled device at a time -- a user with an Alexa device in the bedroom could “drop in” on a device in the kitchen and have a two-way conversation.

Now, you can use a device to send a message to all Echo devices in the house at once. This could be helpful with asking group questions like, “Does anyone want anything from the grocery store?” according to the Amazon blog. To start a group Drop In conversation, you can ask Alexa to “Drop In everywhere.”  ... " 

Update:  Later I read that they have also added an 'Everywhere' option to the reminder feature,  'Set a reminder at 5 PM to dress for dinner' ... Everywhere'

Google Home Adds Intercom

Been using a similar function in Amazon Alexa for some time, its a popular function in the Smart Home.   Especially if you have a larger space.  Only makes sense if you have have more than one device. Google has added some clever and humorous functions to the intercom.    Always thought Amazon was ahead in making such assistant functions more 'human' and engaging, nice to see Google Home Advancing here.   More below.

Stop yelling across the house — use your Google Home as an Intercom instead    By Lulu Chang  in DigitalTrends ... "

Amazon Echo as Intercom

Have now rolled out, have used it daily for a week, obvious useful add for the smart home.  Google Home, which I also use daily, has nothing equivalent at this time, even their basic voice calling has not been made operational yet.

Something we wanted early on.  Addresses specific echo devices within a home.  Or potentially in a business.  Between devices and from and to the App.   Simple, though slightly confusing to setup. Useful for communicating or checking in with others.  Default settings provide reasonable security.

Alexa gets room-to-room intercom support between Echo devices
by Chaim Gartenberg     @cgartenberg  ..... "