Google’s Home ecosystem has been a boon for getting your home controlled under one interface, but it’s about to get a lot better: Home devices are getting a bunch of new features right as the holiday season starts.
The biggest draw among these will probably be new recommended recipes. If you use a Smart Display, you can already get step-by-step visual instructions to prepare an awesome meal, but with this update, Google Assistant will start learning which recipes you regularly prepare and recommend new recipes that are similar. Getting to those recipes will be even easier: just swipe right on your Smart Display’s home screen.
The recipes will be tailored by the day as well. For example, you’ll see Thanksgiving staples like turkey, ham, and more leading up to the holiday. Starting Black Friday though, it should switch to recommending what to do with all the leftovers that are in your house.
The next great addition—especially if you have more than one Google Home in your household—is enhancing the broadcast feature. Right now, someone in your house can use this to send a voice message to the other Google Assistant speakers or displays on your WiFi network (or if you’re outside your home, you can also use a phone with Google Assistant to broadcast a message to everyone in the house), but this is a one-way conversation. Starting soon, this will expand to let someone near those other devices respond to your messages. This will make it that much easier to ask your partner to double check the refrigerator before you buy a bunch of eggs for a recipe.
Smart Display owners will also be able to see and control what media is playing on TVs through the house, so long as those TVs are Assistant-compatible. That includes models from Roku, Panasonic, and LG, so if you have a newer set you should be covered.
Last but not least, Google is making it easier for your family to stick to routines. You’ll be able to create a new Google Assistant routine from inside the Google Clock app, just like you can from the Assistant app. The routine can be set to tell you about your commute, start your connected coffee maker, and put all your devices on do-not-disturb mode when it comes time to lie down. Your kids will also be able to hear characters from LEGO City, LEGO Life, LEGO Friends, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tell jokes, play music, and even wake them up in the morning.
Google didn’t give a timeline on when each of these new features would arrive, but with Thanksgiving next week, we’d hope some of them would be out soon. When these features do roll out, they’ll make managing the holidays and everyday life that much easier!
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