beninsteon

That homeseer plugin allows total control of the Google home, and all Chromecast devices. This includes announcements, play, pause, volume, audio/video source, etc. So you could make your announcement then tell GH to restore previous play state. It would be nice if there was an isy Chromecast plugin that did the same thing (eg. with polyglot) but I don't think anyone is developing that at this time.

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but if you're running homeseer along with your isy you can install the Chromecast plugin to send announcements to any Chromecast or GH device. https://forums.homeseer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1545

This is possible. Use a shortcut that makes "turn off everything", "turn off all the lights", "turn off lights", etc do something else. This will override the default Google action to turn everything off (Hamburger icon --> more settings --> shortcuts). The same can be done for the turn on commands.

You are right! User defined shortcuts now override any Google predefined reserved words. This is a new feature as just a few days ago Google support said this was not possible. Thanks for the excellent suggestion!

Hi, Has anyone figured out how to make 2 Google home devices execute different commands based on which room they're in? This is complicated for echo, but at least possible (just made the switch to GH because of the awesome Chromecast audio support). Eg. I have kitchen table lights and dining table lights, but in different rooms. When the kitchen GH hears "turn on table lights" I want the kitchen table lights on, and when the dining room one hears the same thing I want the dining table lights on. The devices are far enough apart that one won't get triggered from the other room. Thanks, Ben

Not yet, but there is significant chatter on the net about this problem & I hope google will change behaviour with a future update

Great! Thanks Benoit. Have you figured out a way to override Google's reserved words like "everything"? Ben

Hi, Has anyone noticed that only the first spoken appears in the Google Home list? I'm not seeing alternative spokens appear. Happy New Year, Ben

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately it seems that all reserved words (everything, lights, devices, things, good morning.....) can't be used for anything other than what google programs them for. This even includes shortcuts unfortunately. How do you manage turn off all devices in a particular room? Ben

Hi, I have a program that I've made called AllOff. The else branch turns off all the devices in a particular room. With alexa, I created a spoken called "everything" so that I could say "Alexa, turn off everything" and the else branch of AllOff ran and my devices turned off. I've just changed to Google Home and with the same set up (spoken "everything" for "alloff" program), Google Home responds by saying "OK, turning off X devices" instead of running the program and turns off the devices in sequence. Not all my individual devices are exposed to GH via the portal so it doesn't actually turn off everything. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Is there a way to have Google not reserve the word "everything" and instead to what I want? BTW - I also tried "lights", "devices", "things" and GH has the same behaviour. It seems these spokens are reserved..... Thanks, Ben

Hi, The Amazon Echo API says that the device announces its Audio Player status to interested skills. I'm wondering if it would be possible to use that data to trigger an ISY program? Eg - If Music is playing then run network resource to turn amp On else run network resource to turn amp Off If the ISY could watch the audio player status then I could use a state variable to take care of the rest.... Any suggestions? Thanks, Ben

Brilliant! %40 solves it. Thanks very much, Ben

Hi, Just wondering if it would be possible to change a portal username to eliminate the "@" symbol in it? I know this is an unusual request but I have an app I'm trying to use to control the ISY through the REST API and unfortunately it has a bug where the "@" symbol in the username messes it up. For local control (username/pass admin/pass) I have no trouble. Thanks, Ben

This is my issue exactly. Here's how you fix it. Go into device settings and change device language to English (Canada). You'll then be able to access skills again but only ones approved for Canada (whatever that means). The device's accent also changes for the worse. This also means that unless already installed you will no longer have access to the "Izzy" skill either.... Unless UDI gets it into the Canadian skills list.

I am also Canadian (of course) and on my existing Echo where the ISY skill was already installed there's no problem. I can't install the ISY skill on a new echo because of geographical restrictions on the skill. It's all the more painful that this echo device happens to be at a friend's house, who I convinced to spend $500 on an ISY device with the promise of controlling his lights with his voice. If it is a matter of hours until the new skill is published then this conversation is moot. However given the history, particularly with this skill being done for well over a month awaiting Amazon's approval, I'm not holding my breath. My Amazon mailing address is in Canada, but even with a new Amazon account and a fake US address I was geo-blocked from downloading this skill. I am sure Amazon gave its skill partners time to get their code ported to the Canadian market but presumably owing to limited resources and the imminent release of V3, UDI didn't figure this would end up being a problem. I guess they were wrong. I'd hope for more support from other end users and UDI here ... hopefully none of you are identified by Amazon as being in Canada and need to install the skill on a new Echo device.

I have not contacted Amazon support. Benoit said this is "normal" per his conversation with Amazon. Would appear to me that UDI isn't willing to address the issue and leave new Canadian users hanging, but please correct me if I'm wrong!

Still can't download either skill.

I've found the support for this device to be exemplary thus far. I certainly hope your message Gary doesn't represent universal devices opinion as it falls short of what I expect for a $500 smart home device with included echo support. V3 had been in the works for months. Who knows how much longer it will take Amazon to push to skill store.

Unfortunately I still don't see either skill in the Canadian list, which is all I have access to for some reason. I've even tried making a new Amazon account with a us address but it still detects I'm in Canada. Is there any way you can ask Amazon to remove the geographical restrictions on your skills?

When I search the amazon website for the ISY skill it comes up, but says "You are not eligible to install this skill due to geographical restrictions". (See attached).

I can see Canadian skills only it seems as you say. Perhaps you can update the v2 skill for English Canada. Perhaps as a developer your skill selection is different than a usual user. Even on my old Echo where ISY skill was already enabled I can no longer see it when I search for the skill. When I try to open the skill in the app it boots me out. Please address this issue. Thank you.

Not found on web app either ..... same when I search in smart home skills. See attached screenshot. I'm sure you've seen this already: https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/c53176c7-2f4e-4598-935b-7e5d3b08b97e/how-to-update-your-skills-for-canada Unfortunately the alexa app or website won't let me download any skills unless I select my language as English (Canada)

Alexa app says not found.

Hi, Amazon has released echo in Canada finally. It seems the is smart home skill is not available here. Could you please enable this? I have a new echo and I can't enable the skill. Working on my old echo. Thank you

Hi, I think I know the answer to this question already ("no") but I thought I'd ask to make sure: Is it possible to pass non-integer variables to the ISY through Alexa? For example, is there any way for me to say "Alexa, tell Izzy to run program play %variable", where %variable is a band name/playlist/song that is passed to program "play"? Thanks, Ben P.S. I've created a fairly robust set of network resources for controlling Squeezebox players. If anyone has an interest in this please let me know.