With New Year’s Day coming up, Google Assistant can now sing a funny little song that adds a little fun to your smartphone, Chromebook or Nest Hub. It features a dancing New Year’s ball like the one that falls when the clock strikes midnight and 2021 begins. To try it for yourself, just say “Ok Google, sing the New Year song”. Here are the lyrics, in case you are interested in singing along.
Sing a song for the new year
I hope we all prosperKindness, love and laughter
Let this be our guideI’m here to take care
All your research needsJust say the magic words
And I’m here to pleaseSay “Okay, Google, sing the New Year song”.
If you click below on the suggestion that says “What is the magic word”, Google will respond and say ‘”The magic word is’ please'”. You can also ask the Assistant what the New Year’s resolution is. I love how Google is run by a bunch of geeks and idiots, and even in the midst of current problems, employees can continue to create fun and engaging experiences that bring a little bit of joy. That said, I definitely think this one, although cute, is a bit tacky and I think they “dropped the ball” a little earlier, so to speak. Anyway, I can’t paint exactly anything that aims to turn on a light in a year as dark as a feather, so it’s a welcome little addition to the Assistant’s functionality, I suppose.
Just so you know, the tradition of throwing the ball at Time’s Square to start the year started in 1904, but goes back even further to 1833, where a “time ball” was installed on top of the Royal Observatory of England in Greenwich. When it fell at one o’clock in the afternoon, it would be a signal for nearby ships to set their timers precisely – how cool is that? About 150 time balls were installed around the world, but after they stopped working and were abandoned as a means of naval navigation in favor of more modern methods, it became known as a commemorative thing in New York (ah, and it was tied with an absurd amount of lights and lasers too). Happy New Year!
