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Sneaking Early Gemini Features Into Google Home

Gemini for Home still isn’t officially rolled out, but there’s a workaround floating around that lets you access part of the Gemini experience early: the upgraded Gemini voice pack, which is normally tied to the upcoming Home assistant revamp. On your phone, pop this into your browser: googlehome://assistant/voice/setup This deep-link forces the Google Home app to launch the new Voice Setup UI — the same one Google is reserving for the Gemini transition. If you’re using Chrome, pick the second option when it appears. The first one is just a Google search. You might see a “Continue to Home?” prompt,  hit Continue. You’re immediately given a choice of ten new voices, polished, ultra-natural, and clearly modeled after the more expressive Gemini TTS engine: Amaryllis – soft, airy, almost therapeutic Calathea – deeper, grounded Croton – bright, youthful Yarrow – calm, articulate They have that Gemini warmth, the same energy Google used in its AI Studio demos, not the old rob...

Root the Pixel 8 Pro

First, install the Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC.

Enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking by going to about phone, then tap on 'build number' several times until you see a popup saying 'you are now a developer'


In developer options enable USB debugging and toggle the OEM unlock swith on

This is required for your device to be recognized by the PC in ADB mode and for unlocking the bootloader.

Unlocking the Bootloader: 

Get the Google USB driver 

Note: I find it easiest to reboot into fastboot, then install the USB driver.

Open a command prompt in the platform tools folder

Type - adb devices

allow ADB debugging in the popup window 

adb reboot bootloader

fastboot flashing unlock

You'll see a screen with the option to unlock or lock the bootloader.

Press the volume button. From here you will be able to use the volume up and down buttons to move up to 'unlock'

Press the power button to confirm


This is a crucial step but be aware that it wipes all data from your device and could void its warranty.


Download the factory image for your device, extract it, and locate the `init_boot.img` file. 

Download the Magisk app, use it to patch the `init_boot.img` file.


Transfer it to your phone. 


It's easiest to go into developer options and enable the default usb configuration as it is in the screenshot. 

You'll also need to enable USB debugging again as the device was wiped


You can find the init_boot.img inside a zipped file located inside the factory image zip

Transfer the patched file to your PC. 

Copy as path the magisk patched image, then in the platform tools folder, using cmd type;

adb reboot bootloader

fastboot flash init_boot [path to magisk image]

fastboot reboot


Rooting can void your warranty and prevent certain apps like banking apps from working. It's recommended to proceed with caution and follow each step carefully

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