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Sneaking Early Gemini Features Into Google Home

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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...
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How to Install Home Assistant on Windows with Hyper-V

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Works on Windows 10/11 Pro or Enterprise.

1. Enable Hyper-V

  1. Press Windows Key + S, type Windows Features, and click Turn Windows features on or off.
  2. Tick Hyper-V, Hyper-V Management Tools, and Hyper-V Platform.
  3. Click OK, reboot your computer.

2. Download the Home Assistant VHDX

3. Create the Virtual Machine

  1. Press Windows Key, search for Hyper-V Manager, and open it.
  2. On the right-hand menu, click Quick Create.
  3. Select Local installation source → choose any existing image for now (we’ll replace it later).
  4. Give the VM a name, click Create Virtual Machine.

4. Swap in the Home Assistant VHDX

  1. In Hyper-V Manager, right-click your new VM → Settings.
  2. Under SCSI Controller → Hard Drive, click Browse.
  3. Select the HomeAssistant.vhdx file you downloaded.
  4. Click Apply and OK.

5. Start the VM

  1. Right-click the VM → Connect → Start.
  2. Wait for the Home Assistant OS to boot (first boot may take a few minutes).

6. Access Home Assistant

  • Open a browser on your Windows PC and go to:
    • http://homeassistant.local:8123
    • Or use your VM’s IP address (shown in the console window).

7. Finish Setup

  • Follow the on-screen wizard to create your Home Assistant account and start adding integrations.

Tip: If you want Home Assistant to start automatically when Windows boots, in Hyper-V Manager right-click your VM → Settings → Automatic Start Action → select Automatically start if it was running when the service stopped.

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