Support clean energy right from home with Nest Renew

Many people are eager to live more sustainably and help address one of our generation’s most profound challenges: climate change. At Nest, we believe taking small, simple actions every day is a great way to start. Homes are some of the largest consumers of energy in the U.S., and over the past decade, Nest thermostats have helped people save over 80 billion kWh of energy at home — enough to power 23 million electric cars for a year.

But we know people want to do even more at home to help our planet. The problem is that it can be hard to know where to start and whether you’re making a real difference.

That’s why today we’re announcing Nest Renew — a service for your Nest thermostat that makes it easy to support a clean energy future, right from home.

Support clean energy with your Nest thermostat

Nest thermostats have always helped you heat and cool your home more efficiently, while also keeping you comfortable. They can now do even more with a Nest Renew feature called Energy Shift.

The electricity that powers our homes comes from different energy sources that vary based on the time of day — often a mix of clean energy (like solar and wind farms) and not-so-clean, fossil fuel-based energy (like gas and coal). Energy Shift works with your thermostat to help you automatically shift your heating and cooling electricity usage to times when your grid is cleaner, without sacrificing comfort. It can also adjust your thermostat’s schedule to run even more efficiently in both summer and winter.

Some electricity providers have time-of-use rates, where costs vary by time of day. If you’re on a plan like that, Energy Shift can help you save by automatically shifting usage to less expensive energy times.

We make these shifts while maintaining the comfort in your home — but you always have the ability to adjust your thermostat directly.

See your impact and your power

Nest Renew comes with monthly impact reports, so you can track the difference you and the Nest Renew community are making. It also shows you when the electricity coming into your home is cleaner and when it’s not so clean throughout the day, so you can make more informed choices — like running the washing machine a little earlier or later, when your grid is cleaner.

Rendering of a laptop and a smartphone next to each other with the "Our collective impact" page pulled up on each screen.

And you can extend your impact by earning Renew Leafs and putting them to work through Nest Renew’s Energy Impact Program. The Leaf icon on your Nest thermostat has always shown you you’re saving energy. Now you have more ways to earn Leafs — like when you use Energy Shift or commit to a monthly challenge, such as running your laundry on cold to save energy.

When you’ve earned enough Leafs to reach a milestone, the Energy Impact Program will let you vote to direct Nest Renew funds to your choice of nonprofits from our list of partners across the U.S., like GRID Alternatives and Elevate. These can range from supporting clean energy career training to expanding access to clean energy options like rooftop or community solar projects in communities around the country.

As the U.S. transitions to a carbon-free grid, these types of projects are important to building the new energy economy in a just and equitable way. And our partners are on the ground bringing the benefits of clean energy to low-income, underserved and communities of color across the country.

Support the growth of clean energy

With Nest Renew, you can make better use of the clean energy that’s on the grid today. But we also want to support the growth of clean energy.

Since 2010, Google has signed agreements to buy power from more than 50 renewable energy projects, helping bring more than 5.5 gigawatts of new wind and solar energy to grids around the world — about the same as a million solar rooftops. Nest Renew Premium builds on Google’s leadership and allows you to support the growth of clean energy right from your home.

For $10 a month, Renew Premium unlocks Clean Energy Match. This feature will match your estimated fossil fuel electricity use at home with renewable energy credits (RECs) from U.S. solar and wind plants. Initially, these will come from the Bethel Wind project in Castro County, TX, and in 2023, will also come from the future Roseland Solar project in Falls County, TX. Both of these projects will also provide renewable energy for Google. And these are just the first examples — we’ll add additional solar and wind projects over time.

With Clean Energy Match, you can have confidence that every time you use electricity in your home — whether it’s turning on the lights, running the laundry or watching TV — it’s supporting clean energy sources.

As more people join, we can collectively support more clean energy production on the grid. You can learn more about Clean Energy Match in this deep dive.

Strength in numbers

Since 2013, we’ve partnered with the energy industry to help customers earn rewards and help utility providers better manage local grids. And to truly address climate change, we need to work with energy providers across the U.S. that are committed to a more dynamic, smarter grid — by helping to build a smarter home. Learn more about our partners.

And Nest Renew complements the electric service you receive from your utility provider, so there’s no need to make any changes to your service.

What’s next

Renew Basic will be available for free across the continental U.S., and Renew Premium will be available for $10 per month in select U.S. markets and expanding over time. You’ll be able to use Nest Renew if you have a 3rd generation Nest Learning Thermostat, the Nest Thermostat E or the newest Nest Thermostat connected to a Google account. Nest Renew begins rolling out in early preview by invitation in the coming weeks. Sign up at nestrenew.google.com to join the waitlist.

Together, we can support a clean energy future. Because when we each do a little, it adds up to a lot.

How we’re partnering with the energy industry on Nest Renew

Today, Google announced Nest Renew — a service built on the premise that to address climate change, we need a more flexible electricity grid. And that grid should be integrated with a wide range of distributed energy resources, like those found in smart homes.

But we can’t accomplish this without engaged consumers and a broad coalition of both local and national partners working together. That’s why today, we’re partnering with a number of energy providers and nonprofits that are committed to collaborating to create a clean energy future.

How we’re partnering with energy providers

To start, we’re partnering with AES, Consumers Energy, Duke Energy, NRG, Portland General Electric, Southern California Edison and Southern Company — some of the most innovative energy providers in the country that are committed to the Nest Renew vision and a carbon-free, resilient energy grid. These partners have provided invaluable insight and feedback as we’ve defined the Nest Renew service.

Through Nest Renew, energy providers will have new opportunities to engage consumers with time-of-use rates, increase demand response program participation and facilitate consumer support for renewable energy. For customers, it will be an opportunity to better understand and control their energy usage and prioritize the use of carbon-free energy.

Nest Renew also will increase enrollments in energy provider-sponsored Rush Hour Rewards programs, which let customers earn rewards for using less when energy consumption is high and make it easier for utilities to manage the grid during times of peak demand. We’re already working with a number of partners to deliver these programs in over 80 utility territories and wholesale markets, covering more than 40% of consumers in the U.S.

We’re also partnering with Uplight to make it easier in the future for customers to link their utility accounts to unlock personalized energy savings insights, program recommendations and device rebates. Together, we aim to help customers and utilities reach their load management goals.

This is just the start of our collaboration on Nest Renew. We’re always looking to partner with more energy providers on our work towards decarbonization.

How we’re partnering on Clean Energy Match

We’re also working with partners to support the growth of clean energy with Nest Renew Premium’s Clean Energy Match. During early preview, we will source Nest Renew’s renewable energy credits from the Southern Company Bethel Wind plant in Castro County, Texas. In 2023, they will also come from the future Roseland Solar project in Falls County, TX. These plants will both help meet Google’s ongoing commitment to match 100% of its global annual electricity use with renewable energy and support its goal to operate entirely on24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. You can learn more about Clean Energy Match in our deep dive article.

We’re also partnering with AES and NRG to identify or develop the wind and solar that can generate RECs for Clean Energy Match, as well as collaborating with Consumers and SCE with the aim of supporting their renewable deployment efforts.

How we’re partnering with nonprofits

Through the Energy Impact Program, customers earn Leafs by actively using Nest Renew and taking actions at home that can save energy and help the environment. As they reach certain Leaf milestones, in certain states they can vote to direct Nest Renew funds to their choice of nonprofits from our list of partners across the U.S. Our founding nonprofit partners are GRID Alternatives and Elevate. We’ll work with them to understand how Nest Renew can have the most impact.

And we’re always looking to collaborate with more local partners to expand the reach of the Energy Impact Program.

Learn more

You can learn more about Nest Renew in our blog post, as well as our deep dive into the service. You can also read a white paper by RMI, formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute, which concludes that products like Nest Renew could significantly reduce the carbon emissions associated with household energy use.

According to RMI, if 10 million households participate, Nest Renew could address approximately 7% of the gap between today’s level of household emissions and a 50% reduction in line with the current overall U.S. policy target. That’s the equivalent of powering about 50 million EVs with a cleaner grid each year, as opposed to today's fossil-fuel heavy grid.

Giving you more sustainable choices with Google

Climate change is no longer a distant threat — it’s increasingly local and personal. Around the world, wildfires, flooding and other extreme weather continue to affect our health, our economies and our future together on our planet. We need urgent and meaningful solutions to address this pressing challenge. That’s why last year we committed to bold action to run our data centers and campuses on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030.

Companies aren’t the only ones asking what more we can do to help the planet — increasingly people are asking themselves those questions, too. So today we’re sharing several new ways people can use Google’s products to make sustainable choices. Among them, we’re introducing new features to book flights or purchase appliances that have lower carbon footprints, a Nest program to support clean energy from home, and eco-friendly routing on Google Maps — which is rolling out today. And when people come to Google Search with questions about climate change, we’ll show authoritative information from sources like the United Nations, in addition to the existing news sources that we currently raise up in the carousel. It’s all part of our goal to help one billion people make more sustainable choices by 2022.

You can now see carbon emissions per seat for every flight in Google Flights.

Travel and shop more sustainably

We’re adding new features to help make decisions about travel — from what flights to book to where to stay. Launching globally today, we’re bringing carbon emissions information to Google Flights. You’ll be able to see associated carbon emissions per seat for every flight, and quickly find lower-carbon options. And when you search for hotels, you’ll see information on their sustainability efforts, from waste reduction and water conservation measures to whether they’re Green Key or EarthCheck certified.

We’re also helping people make more sustainable choices when they shop, starting with home appliances. When you search for energy-intensive products like furnaces, dishwashers or water heaters, suggestions in the Shopping tab will help narrow your search to cost-effective and sustainable options.

Supporting clean energy from home

For over a decade, Nest thermostats have helped people save energy at home. Today we are taking these efforts a step further with a new service called Nest Renew. Using a feature called Energy Shift, compatible Nest thermostats can help users automatically shift electricity usage for heating and cooling to times when energy is cleaner or less expensive. For those who want to do more to help support the growth of clean energy, we will offer a paid subscription option, Renew Premium, that will match your fossil fuel electricity at home with high-quality renewable energy credits generated from the same projects in Google's energy portfolio.

Getting around more sustainably

Traveling by car is one of the more carbon-intensive choices people make on a daily basis. Starting today in the U.S., and in Europe in 2022, Google Maps will let you choose the most fuel-efficient route if it isn’t already the fastest one. We estimate that this could save over one million tons of carbon emissions per year — the equivalent of removing over 200,000 cars from the road — and save you money by reducing fuel consumption.

You can choose the most eco-friendly route in Google Maps.

We're also working to make sure the cars that remain on the road are eco-friendly. On Search, we're making it easier to see hybrid and electric vehicle options, compare them against gas-powered models, and find rebates so you know the true cost before you buy. These features will start to roll out in the U.S. this year, with more to come in 2022.

Of course, the most sustainable choice often doesn't involve a car at all. That’s why we’re introducing lite navigation for cyclists on Maps, and making it simpler to find bikes and scooter shares in over 300 cities around the world.

AI for more efficient traffic lights

Illustration of an intersection showing cars, a stoplight and roadways.

Early research indicates that AI can help cities make their traffic lights more efficient, making every route more eco-friendly no matter the car.

At the same time, we’re finding ways to make routes more efficient, across an entire city, with early research into using artificial intelligence to optimize the efficiency of traffic lights. We’ve been piloting this research in Israel to predict traffic conditions and improve the timing of when traffic lights change. So far, we are seeing a 10-20% reduction in fuel consumption and delay time at intersections. We’re excited to expand these pilots to Rio de Janeiro and beyond.

Cleanest cloud in the industry

We’re also helping business customers like Whirlpool, Etsy, HSBC, Unilever and Salesforce develop new solutions for the specific climate change challenges they face, and benefit from the cleanest cloud in the industry. We recently launched tools to help businesses choose cleaner regions to locate their Google Cloud resources. And next week at Google Cloud Next ‘21, we’ll announce more ways every company can choose to be more sustainable.

More sustainable with Google

In all these efforts, our goal is to make the sustainable choice an easier choice. At the individual level, these choices may seem small, but when people have the tools to make them at scale, they equal big improvements. We’ll need nothing less to avert the worst consequences of climate change, and we’ll continue to find ways our products can help.

Te ofrecemos más opciones sustentables con Google

El cambio climático ya no es una amenaza lejana, sino algo cada vez más local y personal. En todo el mundo, los incendios forestales, las inundaciones y otras condiciones climáticas afectan nuestra salud, nuestras economías y nuestro futuro juntos en el planeta. Necesitamos soluciones urgentes y significativas para abordar este desafío apremiante. Es por eso que el año pasado nos comprometimos a alcanzar, para el año 2030, el ambicioso objetivo de operar nuestros campus y centros de datos con energía libre de carbono de forma permanente.

Las empresas no son las únicas que se preguntan qué más podemos hacer para ayudar al planeta; cada vez más, las personas también se hacen esas preguntas. Por eso, hoy compartimos varias maneras nuevas en las que las personas pueden usar los productos de Google para tomar decisiones sustentables. Entre ellas, presentamos nuevas funciones para reservar vuelos o comprar electrodomésticos que tienen una huella de carbono más baja, un programa de Nest para apoyar la energía limpia en el hogar y nuevas rutas ecológicas en Google Maps, que comienzan a implementarse hoy. Y cuando las personas acudan a la Búsqueda de Google con preguntas sobre el cambio climático, mostraremos información fidedigna de fuentes como las Naciones Unidas, además de las fuentes de noticias existentes que actualmente presentamos en los resultados. Estos esfuerzos forman parte de nuestro objetivo de ayudar a mil millones de personas a tomar decisiones más sustentables para 2022.

Ahora se podrán ver las emisiones de carbono por asiento para cada vuelo en Google Flights.

Viaja y compra de manera más sustentable

Estamos agregando nuevas herramientas para ayudar a tomar decisiones sobre viajes: desde qué vuelos reservar hasta dónde hospedarse. Con un lanzamiento global, ahora incluímos información sobre emisiones de carbono en Google Flights. Podrás ver las emisiones de carbono asociadas por asiento a cada vuelo y encontrar al instante opciones con menos emisiones. Y cuando busques hoteles, verás información sobre los esfuerzos de sustentabilidad, desde la reducción de desechos y las medidas de conservación del agua hasta las certificaciones Green Key o EarthCheck obtenidas.

También ayudamos a las personas a tomar decisiones más sustentables cuando compran, comenzando por los electrodomésticos. Cuando busques productos que consuman mucha energía, como hornos, lavavajillas o calentadores de agua, las sugerencias en la pestaña Compras te ayudarán a limitar la búsqueda a opciones rentables y sustentables.

Apoyando la energía limpia en el hogar

Desde hace más de una década, los termostatos Nest ayudan a ahorrar energía en casa. Hoy damos un paso más conun nuevo servicio llamado Nest Renew. Con una función llamada Energy Shift, los termostatos Nest compatibles pueden ayudar a los usuarios a cambiar automáticamente el uso de electricidad para calefacción y enfriamiento a los momentos en los que la energía es más limpia o menos costosa. Para aquellos que quieran ayudar más a apoyar el crecimiento de la energía limpia, ofrecemos una opción de suscripción paga, Renew Premium, que igualará el consumo estimado de electricidad de combustibles fósiles de los usuarios en el hogar con créditos de energía renovable generados a partir de plantas solares y eólicas de EE.UU.

Nos movemos con mayor sustentabilidad

Viajar en auto es una de las decisiones con mayor generación de carbono que las personas toman a diario. A partir de hoy en EE.UU., y en Europa en 2022, Google Maps te permitirá elegir la ruta con menor cantidad de emisiones de carbono, en el caso que no sea la ruta más rápida. Estimamos que esto podría ahorrar más de un millón de toneladas de emisiones de carbono por año, el equivalente a retirar más de 200,000 automóviles de la carretera, además de permitir a los usuarios ahorrar dinero gracias a la reducción del consumo de combustible.

Puedes escoger la ruta con menor emisiones de carbono en Google Maps.

También estamos trabajando para asegurarnos que los autos que permanezcan en la carretera sean ecológicos. En la Búsqueda de Google, estamos haciendo que sea más sencillo ver las opciones de vehículos híbridos y eléctricos, compararlas con los modelos a gasolina y encontrar descuentos para que sepas el costo real antes de comprar. Estas funciones se lanzarán en EE.UU. este año, y habrá más en 2022.

Por supuesto que, a menudo, la opción más sustentable simplemente no involucra al automóvil. Es por eso que presentamos funciones de navegación más sencillas para los ciclistas en Maps y facilitamos la búsqueda de bicicletas y scooters compartidos en más de 300 ciudades de todo el mundo.

Inteligencia artificial para semáforos más eficientes

Las primeras investigaciones indican que la inteligencia artificial puede ayudar a las ciudades a hacer que sus semáforos sean más eficientes haciendo que cada ruta sea más ecológica, sin importar el medio de transporte.

Las primeras investigaciones indican que la inteligencia artificial puede ayudar a las ciudades a hacer que sus semáforos sean más eficientes haciendo que cada ruta sea más ecológica, sin importar el medio de transporte.

Al mismo tiempo, buscamos formas de hacer que las rutas sean más eficientes en toda una ciudad, con investigaciones iniciales donde se utiliza inteligencia artificial para optimizar la eficiencia de los semáforos. Pusimos a prueba esta investigación en Israel para predecir las condiciones de tráfico y mejorar los tiempos en los que cambian las luces de los semáforos, y observamos una reducción de entre el 10% y el 20% en el combustible y el tiempo de demora en las intersecciones. Nos entusiasma el potencial de estas pruebas y estamos en conversaciones para expandirnos a Río de Janeiro y otras ciudades.

La nube más limpia de la industria

Aparte de a los individuos, ayudamos a clientes empresariales como Whirlpool, Etsy, HSBC, Unilever y Salesforce a desarrollar nuevas soluciones en función de los desafíos específicos del cambio climático que enfrentan, de modo que puedan beneficiarse con la nube más limpia de la industria. Hace poco, lanzamos herramientas para ayudar a las empresas a elegir regiones más limpias donde ubicar sus recursos de Google Cloud. Y la próxima semana, en Google Cloud Next '21, anunciaremos más formas en las que cada empresa puede construir un futuro más sustentable.

Más sustentabilidad con Google

En todos estos esfuerzos, nuestro objetivo es hacer que la opción sustentable sea una elección más fácil. En el nivel individual, estas opciones pueden parecer pequeñas, pero cuando las multiplicas en todos nuestros productos, equivalen a grandes mejoras. Necesitaremos eso y más para prevenir las peores consecuencias del cambio climático. Seguiremos trabajando para generar formas en las que nuestros productos puedan ayudar.

Configure member restrictions for groups, available in open beta

What’s changing 

We’re adding group level controls that will allow admins to restrict group memberships based on: 
Internal or external members,
  • Member type (service account, user, group) 
  • This feature is available as an open beta, which means you can use it without enrolling in a specific beta program. 

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users who are group owners and managers 


Why it’s important 

This feature helps ensure Groups are properly configured and stay within the confines of specific restrictions. For example, if an Admin configures a group to exclude service accounts, that restriction will be preserved and enforced for all future group changes. 

Once a restriction is in place, we’ll indicate whether there are violating memberships and suggested actions to resolve the discrepancy. Further, this feature will prevent any new changes from violating the current setting, ensuring the group remains secure. 


Additional details 

Important note: Group owners and managers cannot remove restrictions once they’re applied, but may be able to add additional restrictions. For example, If a group is configured to contain individual users and groups, the group owner could further restrict it to only users. However, the group owner could not change a group which is set up to only contain individuals to allow both individuals and groups. Use our Help Center to learn more.


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

Meet your marketing objectives with the new Google Analytics

A year ago, weintroduced the new Google Analytics to help you meet the challenges of an evolving measurement landscape and get better ROI from your marketing for the long term. Google Analytics 4 properties offer privacy-safe solutions to measure the customer journey, machine learning to predict outcomes and automate the discovery of insights, and easy activation of those insights in Google’s advertising platforms to enhance your marketing performance.

Since then, we’ve introduced features like improved advertising reporting and support for user consent choices that help you achieve your marketing objectives without compromising user privacy.

Now, we're launching additional capabilities, including an improved Search integration and smarter attribution to give you the insights you need to optimize performance across all of your marketing channels. We're also introducing new modeling features that will close gaps in your data and help you future-proof your measurement.

With these additional capabilities, we encourage you to use the new Google Analytics as your primary web and app analytics solution going forward.

Easily access Search insights

Search Console provides detailed information about your website’s organic Search performance, including the site’s rank in Search results, queries that led to clicks, and post-click data like engaged sessions and conversions. With the new Search Console integration, you'll be able to understand the role that organic Search plays in driving traffic to and engagement on your site relative to other marketing channels like Search ads, email, or social.

Get more value with data-driven attribution

Building on the two attribution reports, Conversion paths and Model comparison, we announced earlier this year, we are introducing data-driven attribution – without minimum threshold requirements – to Google Analytics 4 properties.

Google’s data-driven attribution models give you a better understanding of how all of your marketing activities collectively influence your conversions, so you don’t over or undervalue a single channel. Unlike last-click attribution, where 100% of the credit goes to the final interaction, data-driven attribution distributes credit to each marketing touchpoint based on how much impact the touchpoint had on driving a conversion.

A screenshot of three bar graphs in different shades of blue showing a grouping of credit to each marketing touchpoint.

Conversions by channel grouping using data-driven attribution

Data-driven attribution improves marketing ROI by helping you make smarter decisions about where and how much to invest, and as a result, drive more conversions for less cost. With its use of machine learning, data-driven attribution is a more durable approach that will deliver results even when it’s difficult to observe conversions. Notino, an ecommerce beauty platform, says data-driven attribution in Google Analytics 4 is essential to its measurement strategy.

We have seen benefits with using a data-driven attribution model compared to last click and have rolled it out as a standard for 23 of our markets. We are now excited to use the next generation of attribution reporting in Google Analytics 4. Matěj Slavík
Head of Performance Marketing, Notino

Data-driven attribution will be available in attribution reports in the coming weeks. It will be available at the property level soon after, at which time you’ll be able to see attributed revenue and conversions in the Conversions report and in Explorations.

Address measurement gaps with Google’s machine learning

Using Google’s advanced modeling technology, the new Google Analytics allows you to fill gaps in your understanding of customer behavior when cookies and other identifiers aren’t available. It analyzes vast amounts of historical data, identifies correlations and trends between key data points, and uses those insights to make predictions about the customer journey.

We’re bringing a few new modeling capabilities to Google Analytics 4. First, conversion modeling is now used in attribution reports, the Conversions report, and Explorations to identify where conversions have come from and allocate them to the right Google and non-Google channels, such as Search ads, email, or paid social.

Second, behavioral modeling will soon be supported in reporting. Behavioral modeling uses rigorously tested and validated machine learning to fill gaps in behavioral data, like daily active users or average revenue per user. This allows you to conduct uninterrupted measurement across devices and platforms, and answer questions like, “How many new users did I acquire from my last campaign?” or “Which steps in my funnel have the highest user drop-off rates?”

Meet your marketing objectives

Customers are seeing success using the new Google Analytics to help achieve key marketing objectives like generating leads, acquiring new users, and driving online and offline sales. Líder, a grocery retailer owned by Walmart Chile, is driving in-app purchases using predictive metrics and audiences. By marketing to a new “Likely 7-day Purchasers” audience generated by Analytics based on predicted purchase behavior, Líder increased its conversion rate to 5.4% from 0.3% for other audiences, and saw an 85% decrease in overall app campaign CPA.

We’ve seen firsthand the value that the new Analytics has brought to our business and plan on using more new capabilities as they become available in Google Analytics 4 properties. Esteban Bascur Heredia
Manager of Marketing Technology, Walmart Chile

Global beauty brand, L’Oreal, is also using the new Google Analytics to help adapt its measurement foundation for the future, and simplify how the entire organization generates business insights.

Google Analytics 4 democratizes the use of advanced data and analysis, making insights more accessible. The migration has been an opportunity for us to unify media and analytics with a single infrastructure that simplifies decision making. Selim Decoufled
Global Analytics Manager, CDMO, L'Oréal

Now is the time to build the measurement foundation your business needs for the future. We encourage you to make full use of your Google Analytics 4 property and put it at the center of your measurement in place of Universal Analytics.

Chrome for iOS Update

Hi, everyone! We've just released Chrome 94 (94.0.4606.76) for iOS: it'll become available on App Store in the next few hours.

This release includes stability and performance improvements. You can see a full list of the changes in the Git log. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug.

Harry Souders

Google Chrome

Create meeting notes in Google Calendar

What’s changing

You can now quickly start and share a meeting notes document for your Calendar events.

GIF of adding Meeting notes in the Calendar details view
Meeting notes in the Calendar details view



Creating a notes document from Calendar will automatically populate the document with the event information and attach the document to the event.

You can also add this same meeting notes template into any doc by typing “@” in the doc and using the drop-down menu.

Add a meeting notes into a Doc using the @ menu
Add a meeting notes template into a Doc




These features are currently only available in Calendar and Docs on the web.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Meeting notes are one of the most common use cases in Docs, and an effective way to make meetings a good use of time. However, creating, sharing and finding them later involves several basic repetitive steps, and involves switching between Docs and Calendar. The meeting notes feature is a shortcut to create such documents with some quick clicks.

This feature streamlines the creation, sharing and attachment of meeting notes into Calendar events.

Additional details

In Calendar, this feature is only available to meeting organizers or guests with permissions to modify the event.

You can use this feature several ways:
  • While creating or editing an event, you’ll see a “Create meeting notes” button next to the attachment section. You can click this button to create a new document, which attaches it to the event upon saving the changes.
  • Clicking the “Take meeting notes” button in a scheduled event will create this document, and immediately open it in a new tab so users can get started capturing notes right away. In the background, this document will also be attached to the calendar event for future reference.

Once you make these meeting notes, we’ll automatically link back to the Calendar event from the doc, making it easy to navigate between places.

You’ll still be able to attach additional documents to the Calendar event.

Sharing the meeting notes 
  • If you click to “Create meeting notes” when creating a new event or editing an existing event, the notes doc will be shared with the attendees, including those outside your organization, once you hit “Save.”
  • If you click “Take meeting notes” on a scheduled Calendar event, attendees will not automatically have access and we’ll show you a prompt to share in Docs.
  • When capturing meeting notes for scheduled events from Google Docs:
    • If you’re the meeting organizer: A pop-up prompts you to share and attach the document to your event. To give access, click Share & attach.
    • If you’re not the meeting organizer: A pop-up prompts you to share the document. To give access, click Share. The document doesn't attach to the event.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about meeting notes in Calendar.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Introducing the new Nest Cam (indoor, wired)

Meet the second-generation Nest Cam (indoor, wired): a wired camera that helps you keep track of what’s going on inside your home and matches your unique interior decor. Starting at $99.99, it’s our most affordable Nest Cam ever. It has an adaptable design for tabletops or walls, and it comes in four colors: Snow, Linen, Fog and Sand with maple wood base ($119.99). 

The new Nest Cam has 10 times more machine learning power than the previous generation, enhanced HDR video quality, and processes events on-device, which makes for more accurate and timely alerts. It can detect people, animals and vehicles, only sending you alerts for what matters most. We’ve also included three hours of event video history and the ability to create Activity Zones (which help the camera focus on the important places in your home). All of this works without the need for a subscription. Nest Cam also has local storage backup to help with reliability: If your Wi-Fi goes out, it will keep recording and upload your clips to the Google Home app when service returns. 

Nest Cam is built specifically for the Google Home app, where you can view and control your camera anytime. You can choose which notifications you want to receive, set up Activity Zones and view your whole home history across your compatible devices, like displays, thermostats and new Nest Cams and Doorbell. A Nest Aware subscription expands your event video history to 30 days, and a Nest Aware Plus subscription provides 60 days of event video history and 10 days of continuous video history. Both subscriptions also come with Familiar Face detection to help your cameras identify people you know. 

We designed this Nest Cam for the many ways you can use an indoor camera. To show you just how versatile it is, here’s how members of the Nest team are using it in their own homes. 


Isabelle Olsson — Director, Design for Home
I installed my Nest Cam (in Sand with a wooden base) in my kids playroom. It naturally fits in with my wood shelving, and for the first time, I was comfortable installing a security camera in our most precious space. Being able to check in on my kids without interrupting their play is such a great, delightful experience. 


Félix Senepin — Product Manager 
I have my Nest Cam set up in my living room so I can keep an eye on my dog when I'm out or in a different room. She finds the sofas to be quite comfy…even though she's not allowed on all of them. So I created Activity Zones on those sofas, and set up alerts for animal detection there. Whenever she decides to take a nap in the wrong spot, I can talk to her through the camera. I'm glad the cable it comes with is pretty long so I could put it high on a piece of furniture and get the whole room in the field of view. 


Sung Bai — Industrial Design Manager 
I think about two things when I place an indoor, wired camera in my home: Is there an area that needs to be monitored and protected? And is there a place where the camera will fit naturally with everything else in the room? We have our Nest Cams in the office, living room and main bedroom. They’re on a shelf in the office, side table in the bedroom and we move the one in the living room around. The cameras all face doors or windows and handle backlighting well, so the video is always easy to view. Plus, we enabled Home & Away Routines so they turn off when we’re home. 


JJ Nold — User Experience Design Manager 
We placed our Nest Cam in the entryway of our new home. We mainly use it to keep an eye on who is coming and going when we're away, but it's also a great way to keep track of what our three cats (Bacon, Mac and Cheddar) are up to. 


George Hines — Software Engineer 
I’ve placed my Nest Cam in my favorite part of my home: It keeps a watchful eye on my "Evil Mad Scientist's lair" (aka, the garage). It’s reassuring to know it’s on the job 24/7, making sure no one is messing with my toys (aka, vintage bicycles and computers, which I fix up in my spare time) — and it can see clearly out the open garage door. 

Rue Song — User Experience Designer
We placed our Nest Cam Indoor in our living room to keep an eye on our dog when we’re out. We can see through the app that she mostly just naps, but occasionally we’ll use the built-in speaker and mic to remind her that our baby’s stuffed animals aren’t her toys. It works every time! 

Andy Hengel — Product Manager 
I put one of my Nest Cams inside my workshop and installed it with the built-in wall mount. A few family members have a key, so it's nice to know when tools go walking out the door. It also provides extra security since the workshop backs up to an alley, but so far the only intruder has been a wayward squirrel when I left the door open one afternoon. 

Make the new indoor wired Nest Cam your own — it’s available today on the Google Store and at select retailers.

Take the 2021 Google Publisher Tag developer survey

In 2020, we launched the first ever Google Publisher Tag (GPT) developer survey to learn more about our community and understand how we can improve the developer experience. Feedback from users like you directly inspired improvements to our sample offerings, release notes, and much more over the course of the past year.

As we look forward to a new year, it's time once again to check in with our developer community to see what's working well and what can be improved. Starting today, we're kicking off the 2021 GPT developer survey.



The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete, and it will be open through the end of October 2021. Most questions are optional and your answers are completely anonymous.

Remember that the feedback you provide influences what we work on over the course of the next year, so please let us know what matters most to you. Thanks in advance for taking the time to help improve the GPT developer experience!
 - Jonathon Imperiosi, Publisher Ads Audits Team