Gadgetory

as more people are getting their hands on Android jellybean they're discovering a new built-in feature called Google now it's not a Siri competitor and it's also not some revamped version of Google Voice actions instead Google now is a built-in assistant that gives you quick answers to voiced questions it also tries to predict what data you want based on your search history remember this is only available in jellybean devices so if you have one just swipe up from the bottom of any screen to access Google now at the top is your standard Google search bar except with Google now you can search with your voice if you're already familiar with Google search shortcuts these voice commands will come easy to you first I'll say Google to activate the search then whatever I want to search for Google define Sparkle I get the definition and it's read out loud to me sparkle shine brightly with flashes of light to search again press the microphone icon and say something like 40 degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit and that conversion will show up right away if I ask for images of the Eiffel Tower Google now will take me straight to the image results if you search for a sports team you'll get the latest score and upcoming schedules so I can say San Francisco Giants the Giants beat the Padres 7 to 1 they are playing the Padres today at 7:15 p.m. and there's all that info the more you search the smarter Google now will get in fact Google now will begin to predict the info it thinks you want before you even ask for it back in the main screen you'll see cards show up below the search bar they're filled with at a glance information like schedules for public transportation and the local weather one of my favorite cards is the one that shows traffic data for your commute to and from work to make the most of this feature be sure to set your home and work locations by selecting edit from the pop-up menu that card and entering the appropriate address you can also manually define your home and work locations like this open up the latitude app and find your location then tap your name then tap location history from here you'll be asked to get permission for Google to track your location when you do go to change home location or change work location yeah it's creepy and you might not like it so skip this if you'd rather not have Google tracking your whereabouts you can edit the settings for any given card by tapping the three dots in the corner to pull up the menu the settings options vary from card to card so check out each one and tweak them to your liking you can also disable a card by turning it off at the upper right of its settings menu if cards aren't showing up when you do things like search for a flight or a sports team there's a good chance it's because you have Google web history disabled in order for Google now to work at full capacity you have to enable web history this is a huge bummer for people who don't want the goob tracking their activity but if you're willing to sacrifice that go to Google now and scroll down to settings from there tap privacy and accounts then check show recent searches and then hit manage web history from here your browser will launch you'll have to sign in and finally when you get to this web history screen tap resume without enabled Google now will use your search history to give you custom cards Air Canada 4479 from San Francisco to Boise is on time and departs in 35 minutes so those are just a few tips to help you get started with Google now just remember that the more you use it the smarter you'll get and the more accurate those cards will be also check out the full list of voice search commands on my how-to blog and tweet me with any other tips you discover for CNET I'm Sharon Vaknin you