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Tag: Google Home

  • Experts hack Alexa, Google Home, and Siri by using ordinary lasers

    Experts hack Alexa, Google Home, and Siri by using ordinary lasers

    Researchers have apparently found a way to hack assistants such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri, as well as some smartphones, by simply pointing a laser. The hack dubbed as Light Commands, allows attackers to take full control over many popular voice-controlled devices by targeting the device’s microphone with lasers.

    Takeshi Sugawara, one of the lead researchers of the study, explained that microphones in smart devices convert sound into electrical signals, which sends commands to the device. He added that microphones react the same way to a focused light pointed at them, just like they respond to sound commands.

    “It’s possible to make microphones respond to light as if it were sound. This means that anything that acts on sound commands will act on light commands,” Sugawara told Wired in a statement.

    As many voice-controlled devices are not protected by a PIN or password, attackers just need to be in the device’s line of sight to exploit this vulnerability. In a research paper published on Monday, experts revealed how they could easily hack smart speakers, tablets, and even phones by simply pointing a laser` through a window. They added that the vulnerability could be exploited by hackers to operate smart switches at homes or offices, as well as buy things online without being detected.

    “Once an attacker gains control over a voice assistant a number of other systems could be open to their manipulation. In the worst cases, this could mean dangerous access to e-commerce accounts, credit cards, and even any connected medical devices the user has linked to their assistant,” says a breakdown of the study on the University of Michigan’s website.

    Experts spent nearly seven months testing this vulnerability on popular voice-controlled devices powered by Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. These include Google Home, Echo Dot, Fire Cube, Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, iPhone, and iPad. They were able to successfully exploit the flaw using ordinary laser pointers, laser drivers, and a telephoto lens. In some cases, even a souped-up flashlight did the trick.

    Researchers also added that they’ve shared their findings of the exploit with Google, Facebook, Amazon, Tesla, as well as Ford.

  • Baidu overtakes Google, now the second largest smart speaker seller globally

    Baidu overtakes Google, now the second largest smart speaker seller globally

    The global smart speaker market has seemingly witnessed a tectonic shift, making the Chinese manufacturer Baidu the second-largest smart speaker seller internationally, as it overtook Google to claim the second spot.

    According to a new report from Canalys, the Chinese manufacturer recorded a staggering growth in Q2 2019, compared to the same period a year ago. The company saw an astounding growth of 3,700 percent, recording sales of 4.5 million units, which is a monumental rise compared to 100,000 units it sold during the same period last year.

    In comparison, Google managed to achieve sales of 4.3 million units of its smart speakers, a drop of 19.8 percent as it sold 5.4 million units in Q2, 2018.

    Amazon regains the top spot, recording sales of 6.6 million units of its smart speaker systems in Q2 2019. Now, this makes for a growth of 24.5 percent, compared to 4.1 million units of its Echo range of smart speakers that found buyers in Q2, 2018.

    It’s also worth noting while Google and Amazon maintain an international presence, sales of Baidu smart speakers were largely restricted to the Chinese market. That said, the enormous size of the Chinese market means there’s a massive potential for Baidu to grow, given that smart speaker market in the country is still in its nascent phase.

    “Local network operators’ interests on the [smart display] device category soared recently. This bodes well for Baidu as it faces little competition in the smart display category, allowing the company to dominate in the operator channel,” said Canalys Research Analyst Cynthia Chen.

    Both Google and Amazon focused on international markets in Q2 2019. Reports indicate that 50 percent of Amazon’s shipments were outside the U.S in Q2, an increase of 32 percent compared to the same period last year. As for Google, 55 percent of its shipments were made outside the U.S, an increase of 42 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

    The remaining top five contenders were Alibaba and Xiaomi, shipping 4.1 million and 2.8 million units respectively in Q2 2019. Meanwhile, the sales of Apple’s HomePod totaled 3.7 million units.

  • Google plans to rebrand Google Home to Nest Home

    Google plans to rebrand Google Home to Nest Home

    Key sources indicate that all Google Home products might be renamed to the Nest brand. According to a listing spotted on Google Store, the Connected Home Accessories section for old swappable bases for Google Home is showing as Nest Home bases.

    The official product page still mentions them as ‘Base for Google Home’, however, the disocunt listing had renamed it to ‘Nest Home Base’.

    That said, after multiple reports about the new name change were published, Google has apparently removed all references to ‘Nest Home’ today. Now, this essentially implies that the rebranding was wasn’t ready to go live.

    google nest

    To recall, Google did confirm during I/O 2019 that all its smart-home products in the future would be rebranded to Google Nest. The first product under the new brand name is the Nest Hub Max, while Google Home Hub was immediately rebranded as Nest Hub. The Google Nest branding has already started rolling out to multiple already-available smart home products in the company’s portfolio. These include the classic Nest Thermostat, security cams, as well as Hello Video Doorbell.

    For now, it appears Google hasn’t rebranded any smart speakers with the new brand name. That said, it could all change in the near future. Google VP Rishi Chandra has already confirmed that the Nest rebrand will eventually come to Google Home speakers. That said, it appears the rebranding isn’t happening right away, and would likely apply to next-generation products, instead of current ones.