How To Use Google Voice Search On Your Pebble Smartwatch

    Have a Pebble smartwatch and feel a little left out as all the Android Wear folks rock the cutting edge?  Sure, Android Wear smartwatches look awesome & have touchscreens.  Some even have a built in microphone, which allows you to perform various voice tasks such as a Google search or tell your mobile device to play some Korn.  But what if I told you that you can have nearly the same thing using your Pebble & an app called AppLauncher?  Although Pebble doesn't have a built in mic, as long as your mobile device is nearby (which it most likely is), you can easily do this and here's how...

First, go to Google Play Store and install AppLauncher.

Next, under Pebble settings tap Install Watch App on Pebble.

Allow it to install the Pebble app onto your Pebble watch...

Go back into the main app on your mobile device and select Applications.

Choose Google Voice Search.

On your Pebble watch go into Settings and select Quick Launch.

Here is where you can preset the top or bottom button on your Pebble watch to trigger any installed Pebble app.  Select either top or bottom button and then choose AppLauncher as the preset app.

Now, just long press the button you selected to trigger AppLauncher.  When it pops up on your Pebble watch, select Google Voice Search (microphone icon).  This will trigger the app on your mobile device.

When you hear that distinctive "chirp", speak your command.  

Example:  "Play Korn."

I've been using this method for quite awhile now and it works almost flawlessly.  To be honest, it's going to depend on the proximity of your mobile device and background noise, as normal.  I find it comes in very handy.  I don't have to pull out my phone so often and am able to more fully utilize the abilities of my Pebble watch.  

Best of luck.  Also, let me know how you would use this.  Give me some ideas!

Links:

Pebble

AppLauncher

[App] Music Remote - Control Your Stereo With Your Android Device | WITHOUT Wifi or Bluetooth

    One of the great things about Android is the ever evolving, open, and increasingly easy ways to connect everything we use on a daily basis.  This has become a major selling point for the platform, and there are so many apps that lend to this.  Some apps shine and actually make our lives a bit simpler; the way it should be.

For example, have you ever wished you could use your Android device as a remote control with your stereo?  Music Remote by Ubergrund, is a free app that lets you do this, easily and best of all - without the need of a wifi or bluetooth connection.

    I have personally been using this app for a few months and I highly recommend it.  It's reliable and fairly simple to set up and use.  It's also an easy and cheap way to breathe new life back into those old Android devices you may still have lying around or in a drawer.

The premise is simple:  

1. Install the app on your old Android device, enable the app in Settings, then connect it to your stereo.  This can be done via the headphone jack.
2. Next, install the app on your other Android device, as well.  Set it up same way you did the first one and choose which device to use as the server (the device connected to the stereo).
3. Choose a playlist/tracks and remotely control playback, as well as volume, with your other device.  Simple. 

Via the Browser Interface URL (mobile)

Another great feature if you don't want to install the app on the other device or don't have a second/spare Android device to use, is the ability to control it with your Mac/PC/Chromebook via the web.  

Operating this way is just as simple:

1. On the connected Android device, go to Settings > Browser Interface > Enable.
2. Then tap Share Browser Interface URL.
3. Send the link to your email, open it in your web browser, use the on screen controls to operate your connected device remotely.  Be sure to bookmark it, baby...

Via the Browser Interface URL (pc)

So, head on over to the Google Play Store and grab it.  It's easy to use and it's free!  Don't forget to rate the app after you try it for a bit.  Devs need love, too...

Link: Music Remote  (Google Play Store)

Ditch iTunes Once and For All

UPDATE: Use any cloud storage service you wish, including Google Drive.
So, I just achieved Super Dad status with my 9yr old daughter;-)

She has both, an iPod Touch and iPad Mini, and putting music onto them is a complete P.I.T.A. due to the fact you have to use iTunes.  For over a year, it's been hit or miss trying to sync the kid some stinking tunes onto her iPod but I vowed to figure out a solution to this B.S.  I use Google Play Music exclusively on all my stuff (Android user) and everything's so much easier to do on an Android device; why does everything have to be so complicated & require a workaround on iOS??

It came to me recently, while browsing through the Appstore on her iPad that there were generic Google Play Music apps available. So after a bit of dwelling on the issue, I figured out a way to beat the system...

HOW TO SET UP GOOGLE PLAY MUSIC ON iPAD / iPOD / iPHONE

1. Create a google account for my daughter. (which I had done prior...)
2. Open Google Music Manager on my PC, click Advanced, sign out and sign in under her email and password.
3. Move all the tunes/artists she likes into a folder named "Google Play Music-PC-<insert name here>.
4. In Google Music Manager, click Add Folder and select the folder created in Step 3, click Apply then Upload.
5. Go to the Appstore and install gMusic: A Google Music Player ($1.99) and sign in to her Google account.
6. To stream, merely tap Play. To sync (make available offline), choose Offline for each desired Artist/Track.

Hope this helps anyone who has been trying to figure out an easy workaround to this issue. Anybody who already uses Google Play Music is familiar with this process.