Tag Archives: Google Assistant

Hands-free hotel stays, with Google

If you're like me, you're more than ready to at least start thinking about a future getaway. Or maybe your travel remains essential and you are still on the road. Whatever reason is driving you to consider staying in a hotel room, you know you want to take as many precautions as possible. With Google’s new hospitality solution, we are partnering with hotels of every size to bring the best of Google to your hotel while also helping make your stay more contactless.

Use your voice to access guest amenities 

From a Nest Hub smart display set up in each hotel room, hotels can tailor the guest experience with Google to specifically address common service requests from guests through a simple voice command. So you can say things like  “Hey Google, schedule a wake up call,” or “Hey Google, ask my hotel for extra towels,” or “Hey Google, what time does the pool close?” and get answers immediately. 

At some hotels, you can also start a fast check out using Google Assistant when your stay is over so you don’t have to stand in line. For hotels, this ensures fast turnover for the next guest. Google Assistant can even surface a mid-stay survey to gauge satisfaction level, and the hotel is notified if something is going poorly. Hotels can even promote current or upcoming specials by providing a summary when you ask “Hey Google, tell me about the specials.” 

Enjoy your personal hotel media hub

The Nest Hub is also a great device for hands-free, in-room entertainment: Guests can access YouTube to find news, music and exercise videos, all through voice command. You can connect your phone via Bluetooth to play your own music, too. Use Google Assistant to turn the volume up or down, or skip a track, hands-free. The new experience can also be configured by the hotel to let you control and manage devices in the room, like blinds, TVs, lights and more.  

Find local answers, easily

You can ask for the weather forecast, learn about local sites and  get news updates from Google Assistant. You can even find updated hours for restaurants and shops, as well as other info related to COVID-19 (including symptoms and prevention provided by the CDC) in your area. Depending on where you're visiting, you can use Google Assistant to make restaurant reservations. 

While convenience is important, we’re also dedicated to protecting privacy. You won’t need to sign into the device, and no activity will be linked to your personal account. There is no camera on the Nest Hub, and the physical mic switch can be turned off for additional privacy. No audio is ever stored, and any activities will be immediately wiped from the device when it’s reset for the next guest. 

Today you can experience the best of Google at hotels including Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale, Dr. Wilkinson’s Resortin Calistoga, Gale and Shelborne South Beach in Miami, Gansevoort Meatpacking and Synergy Chelsea in New York City, Hotel Zena and Viceroy D.C., as well as Village Hotels in the U.K. 

Additional hotel partnerships coming soon. To learn more about Google’s new hospitality solution and how to bring it to your guests, we’d love to hear from you. We partner with trusted system integrators, including Volara and SONIFI, to help customize this system to your business and branding needs. 


Join us for Google Assistant Developer Day on October 8

Posted by Baris Gultekin, Director, Product Management Google Assistant and
Payam Shodjai, Director, Product Management Google Assistant

More and more people turn to Google Assistant every day to help them get the most out of their phones and smart displays: From playing games to using their favorite app by voice, there are more opportunities than ever for developers to create new and engaging experiences for Google Assistant.

We welcome you to join us virtually at our Google Assistant Developer Day on Thursday, October 8, to learn more about new tools and features we’re building for developers to bring Google Assistant to mobile apps and Smart Displays and help drive discoverability and engagement via voice. This will also be a great chance to chat live with Google leaders and engineers on the team to get your questions answered.

You’ll hear from our product experts and partnership leads on best practices to integrate with Google Assistant to help users more easily engage with their favorite apps by voice. Other sessions will include in-depth conversations around native development on Google Assistant, with so much more.

We’ll also have guest speakers like: Garrett Gaudini, Head of Product at Postmates, Laurens Rutten, Founder & CEO of CoolGames, Corey Bozarth, VP of Product & Monetization at MyFitnessPal and many other, join us on stage to share their stories about how voice has transformed the way people interact with their apps and services.

Whether you build for mobile or smart home, these new tools will help make your content and services available to people who want to use their voice to get things done.

Registration is FREE! Head on over to the event website to register and check out the schedule.

Boost your bass and share your sounds, with Pixel Buds

Today, we’re dropping new features for Pixel Buds to help you customise your sound experience, find your earbuds more easily if you misplace them and get more done with your earbuds—including an experimental feature that alerts you to what's going on around you even when you have your Pixel Buds in. 


Personalise your audio experience 
When Pixel Buds launched earlier this year, we heard people wanted more control and customisation over their audio experience. So today, we’re introducing bass boost1 and sharing detection1 to give you more options to use Pixel Buds in a way that’s unique to you. You can enhance your bass directly in the Pixel Buds settings, and if you decide to share one of your earbuds with someone, you no longer have to sacrifice your volume preferences thanks to sharing detection. When on, sharing detection automatically detects when you're sharing an earbud with someone and you can both individually swipe on your respective earbud to control your own volume. So whether you’re listening to music or watching a movie with a friend, you can seamlessly share your Pixel Buds. 
Translate, transcribe and transform your conversations 
Building on the helpfulness of Pixel Buds’ conversation mode translate feature, which helps when you’re talking back and forth with another person, the new transcribe mode lets you follow along by reading the translated speech directly into your ear, helping you understand the gist of what’s being said during longer listening experiences. Launching initially for French, German, Italian and Spanish speakers to translate English speech, transcribe mode can help you stay present in the moment and focus on the person speaking. Transcribe mode works best in a quiet environment where one person is speaking at a time. For example, simply say “Hey Google, aiutami a capire l’inglese”2 to start listening, and optionally follow along on your phone screen to see the translated transcript. 


More helpful features 
If your dog barks, baby cries or an emergency vehicle drives by with sirens ringing, Attention Alerts3—an experimental feature that notifies you of important things happening around you—lowers the volume of your content momentarily to alert you to what’s going on. 
We launched ring my earbuds earlier this year so you can hear where your Pixel Buds are if you’ve misplaced them. Now, you can see them too. We’ve added an update to Find My Device4 that will show you the last known location of your Pixel Buds on a map even when they’re no longer connected to your Android phone. 
Ask Google Assistant 
Google Assistant on Pixel Buds is becoming even more helpful by allowing you to do more with your earbuds while on the go. Now, you can ask Google to turn touch controls on and off, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally triggering them. Just say, “Hey Google, turn off touch controls”5 or adjust settings in the Pixel Buds app. And you can now ask Google Assistant to help check your battery life by saying "Hey Google, what's the battery level on my earbuds?”5 
All of this begins rolling out today to Pixel Buds users. To learn more, head to the help center. 



1 Requires a device running Android 6.0 or newer.
2 Requires an Assistant-enabled Android 6.0+ device, a Google Account and an Internet connection. Data rates may apply. Transcribe mode translates from English to Spanish, German, French and Italian. Translation is not instantaneous. For available languages and minimum requirements, go to g.co/pixelbuds/help. 
3 Requires a device running Android 6.0 or newer. Attention Alerts may not detect all instances of supported alerts, and similar sounds may be mistaken for alerts. Attention Alerts should not be relied upon in circumstances that have potentially serious consequences, such as when personal injury or property damage may result.
4 Requires Google Pixel Buds paired with Fast Pair to a phone running Android 6.0 or newer, with location history enabled. 
5 Requires an Assistant-enabled Android 6.0+ device, a Google Account and an Internet connection. Data rates may apply. For available languages and minimum requirements, go to g.co/pixelbuds/help.


Posted by Tricia Fu, Product Manager, Google

A new way to video call with Google

Like many people, I went through my fair share of "quarantine trends." I baked all kinds of bread and organized a closet or two. Plenty of activities momentarily kept my interest over the last five months, but one thing that isn't going anywhere? Video calling. While I miss visiting in person, for me, the next best thing has been video calls. Nest Hub Max and Google Assistant already offer a host of ways to stay connected with Duo and Google Meet. And soon you’ll have one more option to use the video calling service of your choice: Zoom is coming to Assistant-enabled Smart Displays, including Nest Hub Max, by the end of the year.

We want everyone to be able to keep in touch while staying safe, and that's why we want you to be able to use the video calling option of your choice. Here's a quick run-down of some of the various ways you can use your Nest Hub Max and Google Assistant to stay in touch: 


Gather for group calls

It’s easy to start or join a group video call on your Nest Hub Max. You can say “Hey Google, start a meeting” to connect with up to 100 people with Google Meet, and soon, anyone with a Zoom account—whether it’s free or paid—will also be able to join a video call from their Hub Max or other Assistant-enabled Smart Display. With Meet or Zoom, you can easily move from one call to the next. To join your next meeting, say "Hey Google, join my next meeting" to easily connect to the next call on your personal Google Calendar. 

You can easily invite others to join your Meet group video call from your phone with the Assistant app for Android or iOS. Beta support for G Suite accounts is also available to sign up for at g.co/gsuiteassistantbeta. 

With Duo, simply create groups in the Duo mobile app and then ask your Hub Max, “Hey Google, make a group call,” and tap on the Duo group you want to connect with. Don’t have time for a call? Duo lets you leave video messages from your Hub Max: Just say “Hey Google, leave a video message for Linda,” or send a video message from your phone for someone to see when they walk up to the Hub Max.


Put your VIPs on “speed dial”

Whether it’s the people you call every day, or the contacts that you want handy at any time (like your dog walker or babysitter), household contacts are the new “speed dial.” Once set up, anyone in your household can say "Hey Google, call Alex” or tap on Alex’s name on your Nest Hub Max’s household contacts list.


Communicate around the house with ease

You’ve always been able to broadcast a message across the entire house, but now ringing the dinner bell is even easier with broadcasting to a room or specific device. Say “Hey Google, broadcast to the study room, ‘Dinner is ready!’” Or if you’re headed home with tonight’s takeout, you can let your family know you’re almost there by asking your Assistant-enabled phone, “Hey Google, broadcast ‘I’m pulling into the driveway soon.'"

Whether it’s for work or play, we’re here for your communication needs. And now you have even more options to stay in touch with Google. 

6 ways to use your voice to get more done

Whether you’re cooking, driving or running errands, sometimes we can all use a little extra help. While we can’t offer you another hand, there are a handful of ways that Google Assistant can be the next best thing, thanks to voice control. Here are six ways you can use your voice to get more done with Google Assistant on phones. 

Google Assistant_audio message.png

  1. Send audio messages:Voice-messaging is the modern day walkie-talkie. For me, sometimes it’s the easiest way to send a quick note to my friends and family. You can now send audio messages with Google Assistant on Android smart phones--without holding down the little mic icon. To get started, just say, “Hey Google, send an audio message” or “Hey Google, send an audio message to Paul saying I’m on the way.” The feature is available in English-speaking countries around the globe, as well as in Portuguese in Brazil.

  2. Get help reading web articles:Between staying informed and entertained, I find myself reading a lot of content on my phone these days. With Google Assistant, your browser can read web articles out loud. Whenever a web article is displayed on your browser in your Android phone, you can say, “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page” and it will immediately read aloud the content of the web page.

  3. Find restaurants offering delivery or takeout:Some days, it feels like I blink and it’s suddenly 5 p.m. On days when I don’t have time to cook dinner but need to get a meal on the table, I say, “Hey Google, find restaurants that deliver near me” or “Hey Google, show me restaurants with takeout.”

  4. Snap a selfie:I recently took a trip to Yosemite and wanted to quickly capture the perfect family photo during our hike—including the deer behind us. By saying, “Hey Google, take a selfie,” Assistant will open your phone’s front-facing camera and snap a picture on the count of three. 

  5. Call or text your best friend:I have a standing call with my best friend every other week. When it’s time to hop on the line, all I need to say is “Hey Google, video call Taylor.” And if I’m running late to our call, I can always just ask Google to send her a text by saying, “Hey Google, tell Taylor I’m running late.”

  6. Share your favorite content:You can easily share things from your phone with friends using your voice, like articles or photos. Simply say “Hey Google, share this with Taylor” and Google Assistant will share that link or image with the person you chose. 



House music: New multi-room audio control from Nest

As a new parent, my Nest home audio system has become a go-to, whether it’s to keep my daughter entertained during bathtime with some music...or keep myself entertained with a podcast while I’m making a bottle at 3 a.m. Controlling the audio throughout my home, no matter who’s listening, has been incredibly helpful. 

Today, we’re expanding that control. You can already manually group Nest devices in order to play the same music on various speakers at the same time, and now we’re launching multi-room control so you can dynamically group multiple cast-enabled Nest devices (speakers, Smart Displays, Chromecasts) in real-time to fill multiple rooms with music. Multi-room control works with your favorite audio apps, including YouTube Music, Spotify, Pandora and more. If you have more than one Google Assistant-enabled smart speaker or Smart Display, tap the icon in the bottom left corner of the screen when any audio content is playing, and you’ll easily be able to add or remove your other devices throughout your home.

This update helps Nest devices come together as a whole-home audio system. Here are a few other ways I take advantage of mine:  

  • Move music from one room to another: Stream transfer lets you easily move music, videos, podcasts and more between compatible devices in your home using your voice, the Google Home app or the touchscreen on your Nest smart display.

  • Experience stereo sound: Stereo pair two Nest Mini or Google Home Max devices in the Google Home app for room-filling sound and even more immersive left and right channel separation. 

  • Get new music recommendations: YouTube Music and Spotify Premium subscribers can ask, “Hey Google, recommend some music” and Google Assistant will offer multiple choices from artists and genres that they like, and others like them to choose from.

The multi-room control interface will start rolling out to all Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max and other compatible Assistant-enabled Smart Displays today, and the same functionality will be coming to the Google Home app later this fall. 


Get ready for the school year with Google

I've always loved the start of a new school year. There's something magical about watching my kids reach new milestones, tackle new assignments and surprise me with their newfound interests and passions. While heading back to school won’t be the same this year, Google is helping families like mine stay on track with new features like Family Bell, communicate better with targeted broadcast messages and make learning from home a little more fun.


Virtual class - Family Bells, Google Assistant

Keep your family on track and organized

These days, my family can use extra help keeping on top of our schedules. With a new feature called Family Bell, we can add bell reminders throughout the day that announce when it's time to start an online class, take a break, settle in for reading time, have a snack or even for bedtime. To get started, simply say “Hey Google, create a Family Bell” or tap on Family Bell in your Assistant settings. It includes suggested bells for activities like recess, nap time or math time, or you can customize bells to alert someone in your household of an upcoming activity. One of my bells helps keep my son on track by saying, “Hi superhero, it’s time for math!”  You can even have different bells go off at the same time on different devices—super helpful when both of my kids have various activities going on. You can create and manage bells on Assistant-enabled Android and iOS phones to play on smart speakers or Smart Displays in your home. This feature is starting to roll out today in English in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia and India.

And surely, most parents can relate when I say that sometimes my kids need that little nudge to get excited about the day—whether that means heading to school or starting a day of virtual learning. I can say, “Hey Google, start the school day!” or “Hey Google, school’s in session!” and Smart Displays like Nest Hub Max will show a school-themed visual and play the familiar sounds of school—like kids ruffling through their lockers. And since we have smart lights set up in our living room, this will also trigger the lights to flash upbeat red, orange and yellow colors—which my kids love. This feature also works on Assistant-enabled smart speakers and is now available around the globe.

Bells

A popular feature on Google Assistant is the ability to broadcast and reply to messages around the house, and starting to roll out today, you can broadcast to a specific room or device—making it even easier to communicate at home (no shouting needed). So when I’m working in my bedroom office, my husband can broadcast a message to me by saying, “Hey Google, broadcast to the bedroom, ‘breakfast is ready!’” This feature is rolling out in English on Assistant-enabled smart speakers and Smart Displays around the world.

And to remind learners when to start homework, try setting a fun alarm with some of their favorite characters. Just ask your Assistant-enabled smart speaker or Smart Display, “Hey Google, set a Hatchimals alarm for 4:00 p.m.” and you’ll hear signature music, jokes, facts, words of encouragement and other fun messages when it goes off. 


Make learning from home fun

I appreciate getting to spend extra time with my kids, and now Google helps me make the most of it by teaching my daughter (and often me) some new facts. On Assistant-enabled smart speakers and Smart Displays in the U.S., say, “Hey Google, tell me about the animal of the day” and hear fun facts about a new animal every day, listen to the sound each animal makes and even receive a creative daily challenge, like drawing what the animal looks like.

From homework help to how-to’s, on YouTube Kids you’ll find videos that give kids a greater understanding of the world around them. To get started, make sure you’ve linked your YouTube Kids account in your Google Home app. Try watching a video on your Smart Display by saying,“Hey Google, watch Brave Wilderness on YouTube Kids.” 

To get some help together, parents and older learners can also ask, “Hey Google, help me with my homework" for suggestions to learn about historical events, the periodic table or for help with calculations. Google can also help with spelling (“Hey Google, how do you spell rhythm?”) or math (“Hey Google, what's 3 x 7 + 80?”). Google Assistant can even act as a translator and interpreter for language learning—try asking, “Hey Google, how do you say butter in Spanish?” 

With their parent's permission, children under 13 (or the applicable age in their country) can have their own personalized Google Assistant experience when they log in with their own account, powered by Family Link.


Spend quality time together as a family

Game nights have surged in popularity at our house. My kids like to ask, “Hey Google, play a kids game” to discover new games.

And when it’s time to wind down for the day, say, “Hey Google, tell me a story,” or if your family loves fairy tales like mine, try “Hey Google, tell me a fairy tale” and listen along. We also enjoy listening to classics from Storynory, like “Beauty and the Beast,” “Cinderella,” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and more. 

The balancing act of working, parenting and schooling at home continues, and as it does, we hope these new tools will help  keep your family on track in your new routine.


“Hey Google, let’s play a game” on your Smart Display

Google Assistant smart speakers have always been a great way to play voice-based games. Just say, “Hey Google, let’s play a game,” and within moments you’ll find yourself humming along to "Song Quiz," or testing your trivia skills with "Are You Feeling Lucky."

With Smart Displays, like Nest Hub Max, you also have access to brand new games designed with visuals in mind. These games take full advantage of the screen, and combine with voice and touch controls for instant, easy fun.

One of my favorite new games is “Guess the Drawing” by CoolGames, where you guess what’s being drawn on the screen as quickly as you can. Test your skills with new drawings every day, or compete real-time with other players in Party mode. Just say “Hey Google, let’s play Guess the Drawing” to get started.

Guess the drawing.gif

But that’s just my personal favorite; there are so many other games available on your Smart Display to try. 

TV trivia, in your home

For trivia die-hards, step up to the podium to play a wide range of categories in “Jeopardy!” hosted by Alex Trebek, or use a lifeline in case you run into trouble on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” And if you play often, you’ll even be able to see how you compete with players around the world with weekly leaderboards. 

I’d also suggest giving “Trivia Crack” a try. You can play solo to challenge yourself, or play with your friends or family to answer questions about History, Sports, Art, Entertainment, Geography and Science. 

A way with words

A quick wit will help you in “Categories Battle,” an interactive game where you need to come up with items in a range of categories (for example, your category could be “animals”) where the word begins with a random letter (let’s say “P”). How many answers will you come up with in less than a minute?

Want a hands-free crossword challenge from the convenience of your kitchen? “Puzzle of the Day” will help keep your mind sharp with daily word puzzles that are adapted specifically for your smart display.  

Lighten up your day

Google Assistant also has plenty of other ways to keep everyone entertained at home. “MadLibs,” the classic template word game, lets you create silly stories and is perfect for a quick laugh. Or you can “Talk to The Wiggles” for a choose-your-own-adventure surprise or sing along with the band. Then there’s “Escape the Room,” which brings the fun of an escape room into your own home.

You can also ask Google Assistant to play animal sounds or to tell you a story. And of course, if you just need a good laugh, you can always rely on the classic: “Hey Google, tell me a joke.”  

Things to come

These are just a few of the games available today on your Smart Display, and it doesn’t stop there. We’re continuing to work directly with top game developers to to bring even more immersive games to your smart display. Stay tuned for the lineup of new titles we’ll be introducing throughout the year. All you’ll have to say is “Hey Google, Let’s Play a Game” to browse the latest and greatest games.

Netflix arrives on Nest Hub and Hub Max

The kitchen is a popular place for smart displays in many homes, and for good reason. Whether you’re listening to music, getting the news or catching up on a popular TV show, your Nest Hub or Next Hub Max keep you entertained while you’re prepping dinner or doing the dishes. It’s also the ultimate cooking companion, with access to tons of YouTube videos ranging from cooking clips to how-to videos. And now, for the first time on any smart display, you can add watching Netflix to your list of kitchen activities: Starting today, Netflix is available on Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max. 


The only display for your Netflix fix

Netflix is rolling out on Nest smart displays globally wherever the service and Nest devices are currently available. If you have a Netflix subscription, simply link your account in the Google Home or Assistant app and you can play Netflix movies, TV shows and documentaries by using your voice. Say, “Hey Google, play Queer Eye” to start streaming instantly, or try, “Hey Google, open Netflix” to scroll through select content and start watching with a simple tap. Hands tied up while you’re cooking? Just pause, play or skip forward with a simple ask. Or if you’re watching on your Hub Max while doing the dishes or making dinner, Quick Gestures lets you easily pause or resume your video—just look at the device and raise your hand.


Hands tied up, but still want to watch? Just ask

Has your latest baking endeavor left you covered in flour? You can still stream without coating your display in fingerprints.  By simply using your voice, you can stream many of the services you’re subscribed to. You can turn to Hulu for your sitcoms and dramas, or get your news fix, watch hit shows, or catch the latest sports updates with CBS All Access and SLING TV. All you have to do is say “Hey Google, watch (pick your favorite show) on Hulu” and you’ll instantly start streaming. 


The smart display with the most entertainment 

There’s so much to watch, you might even start volunteering to clean up after dinner every night: You can now cast Peacock from your compatible mobile devicesto your Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max, joining other subscription streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, SHOWTIME and thousands of other apps that have mobile cast support by opening the streaming service’s mobile app and tapping the Cast icon. 


Catching all your favorite shows on your Nest display just got a little more affordable, too: Head over to the Google Store for deals on Nest devices, including Hub Max, that are running over the next few weeks. With so many entertainment options on your Nest smart display, your biggest challenge now might just be deciding what to watch.  


Use Google to read and translate text—now on KaiOS

Google’s philosophy has always been to build for everyone -- to break down language barriers, make knowledge accessible, and enable people to communicate how they want and what they want, effortlessly. In India, our rich diversity of languages presents an exciting challenge especially in the context of millions of new users coming online every day. Nine out of ten of these new users are non-English speakers. While many would be fluent at speaking and understanding their native language, there are others who might struggle when it comes to reading and writing it.


Google Assistant has made it easy for users in India to find answers and get things done on their devices using their voice. Since its launch at Google for India in 2017, we’ve worked hard to bring more helpful features like integrated voice typing on KaiOS, voice-based language selection, and support for Indian languages to help first-time internet users overcome barriers to literacy and interact with technology and their devices more naturally. 


At Google I/O in 2019, we brought camera-based translation to Google Lens to help you understand information you find in the real world. With Lens, you can point your camera at text you see and translate it into more than 100 languages. Lens can even speak the words out loud in your preferred language. We brought these Lens capabilities to Google Go, too, so even those on the most affordable smartphones can access them.




Today we are extending this capability to the millions of Google Assistant users on KaiOS devices in India. From Assistant, they can click the camera icon to simply point their phone at real-world text (like a product label, street sign, or document, for example,) and have it read back in their preferred language, translated, or defined. Just long press the center button from the home screen to get started with Assistant.

Within Google Assistant, KaiOS users can now use Google Lens  to read, translate and define words in the real word


It is currently available for English and several Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil, and will soon be available in Kannada and Gujarati. Users can simply press the right soft key once within Assistant to access and use this feature.


This is another step in our commitment to make language more accessible to everyone, and we hope this will enable millions of KaiOS users across the country to have a more seamless language experience.

Posted by Shriya Raghunathan, Product Manager Google Assistant, and Harsh Kharbanda, Product Manager Google Lens