Google may have retired the Home Max at the end of last year, but you can still find it on sale at the odd online retailer. And as it just so happens, A4C has discounted the smart speaker to $199.95. Using the checkout code "SLICK25," you can get an additional $49.98 off the Home Max, making it $149.97 The last time you could buy the Home Max for under $150 was Black Friday 2020. Priced at $400 when it first came out, in more recent months we've see it cost closer to $180 to $200. We gave the Google Home Max a score 88 in 2017.

Google has announced that it's no longer making its music-focused Home Max smart speaker, which is--or was--the best-sounding smart speaker on the market. In a statement provided to TechHive, Google says that the $299 Home Max will continue to work normally, and that it will still offer software and security patches for the device. The statement also points smart speaker shoppers toward the Nest Audio, a new music-focused speaker with a smaller design and a more palatable $99 price tag. We've sold out of Google Home Max and will no longer be manufacturing the device. With the launch of Nest Audio, we're offering a range of great home audio solutions, particularly with two Nest Audios paired for stereo sound.

Google's smart speakers and displays have steadily improved over the years, and luckily for us, a few of them are on sale for Black Friday. The biggest discount by far is the Google Home Max, which is now selling for $149.99, a whopping 50 percent off its regular price of $299.99) Sure, it's a few years old now -- we gave it a review score of 88 in 2017 -- but it's still a very good device, with stellar audio that outclasses most other Google-powered smart speakers, especially in terms of volume and bass. Our main complaint about the Home Max at the time was its high price tag, but since it's half off now, the Home Max is looking like quite a bargain. The Google-powered Nest Hub Max is on sale for $179.99 this week as well, which is $50 less than its usual price of $229.99.

Google's first smart speaker has finally got a much-needed upgrade in sound with the new Nest Audio. The speaker replaces the Google Home and costs £89.99, fitting in between the £49 Nest Mini and £299 Google Home Max. The design is completely different from the original Google Home. The outside of the Nest Audio is covered in a recycled plastic fabric – the same used on the recent Nest Mini. There is a mute switch for the microphones on the back and a port for the power plug but those are the only visible features.

The cat's out of the bag as far as Google's latest smart speaker goes, with the company essentially confirming the rumored Home successor on Thursday with a coyly worded email containing a snapshot and a video of the unannounced device. Many key details about the new Google smart speaker are still shrouded in mystery, but we can tease out a few facts by studying the official photo and Google's brief teaser video. Well, no duh, but given that Google gives so little away in its teaser video, we might as well notch this one as one of the few certainties. In the brief video, a man on a sofa says "Hey Google, play some music," and four telltale LEDs on the new speaker (speakers, actually, there two of them) light up as the music begins to play. So yes, Google Assistant confirmed.

A new generation of smart speakers greatly improves on the device's sound quality. A new generation of smart speakers greatly improves on the device's sound quality. As the audio engineer for the Tiny Desk concert series, of course I obsess over how our concerts are experienced -- so when I watch someone pull up a session on their smartphone, laptop or tablet, with those tiny and tinny speakers, my heart sinks a little. I'm thrilled people love these concerts as much as we love making them, but they sound so much better when played on a decent sound system, or on headphones. Sure, the concerts sound OK on a mono phone speaker, but you'd be amazed by what you're missing once you've heard the audio mix on a device that can actually reproduce the low and high ends of the frequency spectrum, where all the chest-thumping bass and shimmering cymbals live.

You ever get the feeling no one is actually listening to you? Because if they were listening, you wouldn't have to constantly repeat everything you've said. Well, Google Home is your answer to that frustration. Because Google Home is always listening. No, Google home is more just… there.

Your message has been sent. There was an error emailing this page. You don't need to live in a smart home to benefit from a Wi-Fi-connected smart speaker. Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana, and other digital assistants can help you in dozens of ways, and you don't have to lift a finger to summon them--just speak their names. If you already know you want a smart speaker, scroll down for our top recommendations.

Last week we told you about a killer deal on the original Pixel (which is still going on), but if you'd rather get some of Google's newest products for less, now's the time to act. Pixels, Chromecasts, and Google Home speakers are all on steep sales through July 17. The Pixel 2 XL, Google's premier smartphone, is $100 off both the 64GB and 128GB models, bringing them down to $749 and $849 respectively. The phone easily earned our Editors' Choice award for its great all-around performance, but the Pixel 2 XL's blending of a top-of-the-line mobile camera with Google's A.I. magic results in one of the most fun, elegant camera experiences you'll find in a camera today. And if you want to use the phone's power to wander worlds in virtual reality, the 2nd-gen Daydream View headset is on sale for $49, 50 percent off its $99 list price. The Google Home Max is a beefy smart speaker.

Amazon has unveiled a new set of skills for its Echo smart speakers called Alexa Blueprints. The new feature make it easy for anyone to create custom responses to Alexa queries. There's no code to write, no files to upload, and really nothing to learn. Anyone with a web browser can create a custom skill in mere minutes that will be accessible to any Echo device in your home. When I tried it out this morning, I didn't even need to watch the minute-long instructional video to figure it out.