Digital personal assistants are still not skilled enough to replace human beings (fortunately). You still need human help to keep your trading business running smoothly. But digital personal assistants can help you in many ways you probably haven’t thought of yet, making many of your day-to-day business tasks easier to accomplish.
The big players in this space are Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant. Recently, Google has been leveraging its position in the Android market to increase its reach.
Initially Google Assistant was only available on high-end Pixel phones. Now, however, it is widely available on both Android and iOS phones, as well as on tablets, smart speakers, and many other devices.
Although no release date has been set, Google has been working on a
version for the Chrome browser. So if you are already using these tools, you can look forward to getting extra help soon.
Here are just
a few of the things Google Assistant can help you with now on your enabled devices, and which will be soon available on your trading computer.
Authentication Made Simple
For heavy phone users (which is most of us nowadays), unlocking a device is inconvenient. You have to enter your PIN or fingerprint. But Google Assistant responds to your voice while locked. Lest you worry about your phone accidentally making a financial transaction, the PIN and fingerprint are still required to operate applications.
Some people remove their phone passwords to make it convenient. But that’s a bad idea. Instead, you might want to try voice-activated authentication. In the Setting menu, go to Lock Screen and Security > Smart Lock > Trusted Voice.
You’ll have to train Google Assistant to recognize your voice. It will ask you to repeat "OK Google" three times. After that, your Trusted Voice option should be enabled. Now you can easily unlock your phone by using “OK Google.” You don’t have to walk to your phone to unlock it.
Open Applications with Your Voice
Google Assistant lets you
open applications with voice commands. Pretty soon you’ll feel like Commander Scotty when you can tell your trading computer, “OK Google, open Investors-dot-com.”
The implication is that you don’t have to be in the chair all day. You can walk around and still get your work done. It can change your work environment (and your health) for the better.
Let Google Assistant Organize and Read the News For You
Although I teach traders not to trade the news, I do recommend you stay informed on what’s going on in the market. Google Assistant can make this easier for you by letting you customize your desired news feed (i.e., the list of news sources you check regularly.)
Just go to Google Assistants Settings > Adjust settings > News and you’ll be able to customize your news feed. You'll find all the popular news sources for traders, like WSJ, Bloomberg, Motley Fool, MSN Money, and more.
Google Assistant can also read the news to you. You only have to say, “OK Google, read me the news,” and Google Assistant will read you the news from your customized news feed.
Set Up Emails, Appointments & Reminders
Google Assistant has access to all your information on Gmail, Calendar, and Keep. You can leverage these connections to build an integrated process for your trading business.
The digital assistant is capable of dealing with complex requests. You can ask it, “OK Google, did I miss any email yesterday?” It will go through your emails and find out if you have missed anything. It’s smart enough to recognize if the sender has attached some form of time-critical information.
Besides sending emails, it can also send text messages. All you have to do is say, “OK Google, send a text message to Warren Buffett.” (Of course, Warren Buffet needs to be on your contact list first.)
Finally, can use Assistant to set up reminders for yourself. You can say, “OK Google, remind me to check on my 401K.”
Conclusion
Schedule some time to try out Google Assistant on your phone or other enabled device. If by the time you read this it’s available for Chrome, try it out on your trading computer as well.
Start with a few basic requests, and build up from there.
As you experiment with asking Assistant for help, and as it learns from those requests, you’ll continue to find new ways Google Assistant can simplify your trading day and your life.
There are more trading computer tips like this in our buyer's guide. Check out our "How To Buy a Trading Computer" e-book.
Remember, we are here to help with all your technology-related questions. If you think of additional questions about computer hardware or other questions, give me a call. My team and I are here to help. We're happy to answer any of your questions about trading computers via phone:
800-387-5250
Photo by Ben Kolde on Unsplash
