Google Home Mini
Okay, getting this reasonably innocuous-looking device into our home required some serious deliberation and consideration, but I have finally taken the plunge and purchased a Google Home Mini. I was already regularly talking to the Google Assistant on my WearOS watch and Android phone, so uttering the "Ok Google" hotword and issuing commands to my devices was already a regular occurence. In addition, my digital life was already heavily embedded in the Google ecosystem, so there probably wasn't much about my life Google didn't already know about. However, the prospect of having a device sitting in our kitchen which listens to our every word, was daunting. I was eventually seduced after seeing a friend talk to an Amazon Alexa on their kitchen bench, and after I was able to get comfortable that the device was only sending or uploading audio after the "Ok Google" hotword was spoken .