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Clever Hack Fakes A Sleep Timer For Google Home (vortex.com)

Slashdot reader Lauren Weinstein writes: I've long been bitching about Google Home's lack of a basic function that clock radios have had since at least the middle of the last century -- the classic "sleep timer" for playing music until a specified time or until a specific interval has passed... Originally, sleep timer type commands weren't recognized at all by GH, but eventually it started admitting that the concept at least exists... Officially, GH still responds with "Sleep timer is not yet supported" when you give commands like "Stop playing in an hour"... A somewhat inconvenient but seemingly serviceable way to fake a sleep timer is now possible with Google Home. I plead guilty, it's a hack. But here we go.
The hack exploits the new "Night Mode" in the firmware, which lets you set a maximum volume for specific hours of the day, creating silent (but still-active) music streaming. "Yep, a hack, but it works," writes Lauren. "And it's the closest we've gotten to a real sleep timer on Google Home so far."

Any other Slashdot readers have their own favorite personal assistant tricks?

8 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. stay away from unhackble "personal assistants" by sittingnut · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "slashdot readers have their own favorite personal assistant" ./ reader, who uses a "personal assistant"he cannot hack as he wants, is a moron who fails to understand anything he reads

  2. My favorite personal assistant hack by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... is to leave such privacy-invading devices unpurchased at the store.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  3. Re:What the heck is Google Home? by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You put a bunch of IoT junk like cameras, microphones, speakers, device controllers and alarms in your house, hook it to the net, and Google owns your Home!

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    You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  4. Re:What the heck is Google Home? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wish that the summary explained what Google Home actually is.

    It's Google's next discontinued product.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  5. Future ISP trouble ticket ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... creating silent (but still-active) music streaming.

    Dear My ISP,

    Why is my reported usage so high? I swear I don't use that much data.

    Sincerely,
    Confused Customer

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  6. I have an easy hack by Ayano · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Buy an actual f*cking alarm clock.

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    I don't read AC
  7. Sigh. by ledow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1) Who sets a sleep timer on something like that?
    2) Who falls asleep with any music they can hear still playing?
    3) Who feels they need to have the thing turn-off if they can sleep through it?
    4) Who thinks a timer plug on the power would be quicker and easier?
    5) Who thinks it's "fun" to have to hack on basic functionality to a device that obviously already detects the command necessary to activate it and contains technology sufficient to perform it but the tech makers just don't care enough to bother.

    This is like Pointless Central.

    1. Re:Sigh. by BenJeremy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Amazon Echo lets you "Play music until ..." just fine. A timer plug is a rather blunt and technologically brutish way to solve the problem.

      At any rate, I listen to music, others may listen to natural sounds. Lots of people like some white noise to sleep to. Lots of people don't.

      As for hacking one of these devices, they are actually made for it. For Echo, it's called a "skill" and not all that hard to do.

      Not everybody exists in your hive mind. /I haven't ordered a single thing with my Echo devices, but we use them daily.