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I Turned ON All Ubuntu Telemetry.

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I  did something today that will make certain corners of the internet audibly gasp. I didn’t disable telemetry. I didn’t firewall it. I didn’t put on a tinfoil hat and boot into a Faraday cage. No. I installed every Ubuntu data-donation tool and opted in manually like a lunatic with intent. Yes. Telemetry. On. All of it. Step 1: Installing the “evil” telemetry tool First, I installed Ubuntu’s main data-donation package: sudo apt update sudo apt install ubuntu-report Then I looked at the data it collects: ubuntu-report And what did I see? CPU model GPU model RAM size Screen resolution Oh no. My computer… exists . Step 2: Opting in aggressively Not satisfied with a passive existence, I explicitly told Ubuntu: ubuntu-report -f send yes That’s right. Not “ask me later” . Not “maybe” . YES. SEND IT. Somewhere, a Canonical server blinked awake like: “Another one has chosen… participation.” Step 3: Package usage stats (aka “He installed VLC”) Next up:...
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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:


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 robotic Assistant voices. You can hear the difference instantly.

After choosing a voice, you’re taken through sections like:

Response Filtering 

Voice Access to Camera History 

The assistant still introduces itself as Google Assistant, and none of the actual Gemini reasoning or conversational intelligence is active.
It’s like you’ve installed the skin, not the soul.

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