Finally, the Nest smart thermostat has a new system health monitor that detects potential maintenance needs by tracking the behavior of your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system—for example, when your air conditioner suddenly isn’t cooling rooms as efficiently as it once was. Additionally, a new smart ventilation feature checks the quality of the outside air before bringing air into your home, which is especially helpful if the air quality in your area is poor.
The new Nest smart thermostat (plus the included sensor) is available for pre-order and costs $280. It goes on sale August 20.
The future of the Google Assistant
Google has been integrating its Gemini chatbot and large language models into its products and services over the past year, but what does that mean for Google Assistant? The Alexa and Siri competitor has been a mainstay for years but It was not mentioned even once During the Google developer conference in May, one might think that this meant the end of Google Assistant and that it would eventually end up in the Google GraveyardRight? Think again.
Kattukaran says Gemini’s great language models will power Google Assistant, allowing it to “redefine the next era of the smart home.” The most immediate change? Google Assistant’s voice will sound much more natural and human, with improved rhythm. It will offer a more conversational experience and be able to maintain the context of your conversation as you string together multiple commands and queries.
This Gemini-powered experience will also improve existing features. For example, motion alerts from security cameras will be much more detailed, allowing you to know exactly what’s happening without opening the camera feed. You can even ask Assistant for information from your camera feed, like whether a FedEx delivery person showed up. Google wants people to also ask Assistant to set up home automation without having to spend time in app menus.
None of this helps to address Gemini’s brand image problem: there are many variants with different capabilities, such as the Gemini Nano, Gemini Ultra, Gemini Flash, and most recently, the Gemini Live. Google Assistant, on the other hand, was an AI umbrella that took care of everything. But now that Assistant is getting help from Gemini, the company isn’t ready to replace it anytime soon, which means we’ll have to live with two assistants for even longer.
The new Google Assistant experience is available to select Nest Aware subscribers as part of a public preview and is expected to launch in 2025.