What you need to know
- Google says a fix for a bug that affected several of its smart speakers and SiriusXM radio will be rolled out in late June.
- Users suffered multiple errors a month ago, when reports emerged, and were unable to stream their content through a speaker.
- While this issue is being resolved, Google also introduced its new Home Speaker and expanded Gemini for Home to more partners.
Google has been busy with new releases and bug fixes since May. This week, it was reported that a major fix for a satellite radio problem is on the way.
About a month ago, users of the Google Home subreddit reported a sudden problem when trying to listen to SiriusXM radio on your smart speakers (via Android Authority). Getting to the point, Google responded to this month-old thread this week, stating: “We have resolved an issue that affects the ability to stream SiriusXM on some Google Home devices.” These “issues” that Google is referring to were highlighted by the OP (original poster) of the thread, who claims that their smart speakers were unable to stream any content.
Specifically, the user claims that their device was constantly giving them the following error: “I searched for it, but it is not available or playable at this time.” They checked Google Home settings and made sure their SiriusXM subscription was linked correctly. Spoiler alert: everything was fine. Further investigation showed that they could listen to the radio through the app, but not through the speakers.
Many more reports on the subreddit raised similar issues. After contacting Google Support, users were asked to follow normal troubleshooting procedures. To be fair, many users already said that they did it on their own. However, through these reports, Google acknowledged that it was a problem, at least that’s what users said after contacting support.
Now, more than a month later, the radio issue on Google Home smart speakers has been fixed.
New speaker on the block
At the time these issues were reported, Google released the home speakeryour future of smart speakers and AI assistance at home. At $99, the Home Speaker is the brand’s first device built entirely around its AI. Gemini. The AI is capable of understanding normal speech, meaning users don’t have to constantly remember and say buzzwords. The AI can act using multi-step commands and users can ask follow-up questions to keep their conversations going.
Since Gemini is so tightly integrated, we all know what that means: Gemini for the home It is at its core. When Google expanded its availability to more countries, the company improved Gemini response times by 40%. What’s more, it improved the AI’s ability to understand what device users are talking about to (hopefully) avoid erroneous commands. On a related note, Google opened up Gemini for Home to hardware manufacturers and operators.
This means that consumers will likely see more devices coming to market that natively support Google AI.
