Watching my niece and nephew grow up from 3,800 miles away is tough: Once-a-year visits are never enough to get stuck into a good bedtime story.
But Google, in partnership with Portland-based creative agency Instrument, wants to change that.
A new Assistant action lets users record themselves reading stories, accessible via Nest smart speakers.
Grab a cup of warm milk, curl up with a blanket, and say, “Hey Google, talk to My Storytime” to pick up right where you left off the night before.
Users can also upload existing audio files to MyStorytime.com. All recordings are saved in the cloud, accessible only by you and those with whom you’ve shared them.
The feature was inspired by the Olivers, a U.S. military family who struggled to stay connected when Dad gets deployed.
“Getting recordings of stories from … halfway around the world is technically tricky,” according to wife and mother of two Jennifer Oliver.
Listening to her husband read “The Wind in the Willows” involved downloading individual files from Google Drive then casting them to a Nest Mini.
“We knew there had to be a better way,” she said.
There is. And the Olivers helped create it.
“My daughters and I shared our own experiences and ideas in hopes that it would be useful to the more than 100,000 military parents who deploy every year—and the nearly 250,000 children who are back home,” Jennifer Oliver explained in a blog post.
Non-profit United Through Reading reported that some 40 million bedtime tales are missed each year by the kids of servicepeople.
But storytime isn’t just for military families, though: Far-flung grandparents (and aunts!), folks who work the night shift, and anyone who travels for work can also take advantage of the new function.
“Nothing can replace Daddy being home,” Jennifer Oliver said. “But hopefully My Storytime will help make it just a little bit easier to get through the next deployment and that it brings some comfort to other families, as well.”
I know what I’m buying my nephew and niece for Chanukah this year…
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