Outside of Assistant displays and speakers, as well as thermostats and Wi-Fi routers, Google’s smart home lineup is quite old and due for an overhaul. Google looks to be laying the groundwork for that by selling out of the Nest Detect and removing product listings for the Nest Cam IQ Indoor and Outdoor.
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After an update last month focused on Wi-Fi management, the latest version of the Google Home app greatly improves the Nest Hello experience with more controls.
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Privacy and security are hugely important for home security devices such as cameras, and today, Google Nest is committing further to building up security and privacy including a new promise of at least five years of support.
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Some Nest Cam owners this evening are unable to access live video or history with devices returning an offline status. This looks to be a separate issue from another one earlier today.
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Google last month started to sell a $24.99 accessory for Thermostat owners with otherwise incompatible setups. Some are now being offered a free Nest Power Connector to resolve their issues.
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Just last week, Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) was rebranded ahead of the first devices launching later this year. Google, at I/O 2021, announced support for Matter on Android and Google Nest devices.
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While there’s no hardware presence at I/O 2021, Made by Google today did release the Nest Power Connector as a “simple and affordable alternative to a C wire” for Thermostat setups that require consistent power.
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Back in March, Google kicked off a “Get back to what you love” Search campaign. The latest iteration of that message to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine comes from Made by Google and was captured by a Nest Hello.
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At the end of March, Made by Google started shipping its latest Smart Display in six countries. Google will be making the new Nest Hub (2nd gen) more widely available in Europe next month.
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With a relative lull until the next wave of product launches, the Google Store is starting to show reviews and ratings. An early effort, it’s not clear where the reviews are being sourced from as you can’t leave them directly on the site.
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In late 2020, Google announced a massive long-term partnership with renowned home security company ADT, and now, we’re seeing the first part of that deal come to fruition. More ADT security systems now work with Google Assistant, and ADT is now selling select Nest gear.
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Back in January, Google told us that it would release a “new lineup of security cameras for 2021” following the Nest Cam IQ Outdoor going out of stock. The Nest Cam IQ Indoor is now similarly sold out.
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At the start of the year, the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max started playing a new sound following a successful Casting connection, and that updated chime is now appearing on Google Home and Nest speakers.
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Version 2.35 of the Google Home app is rolling out on Android and iOS with some user-facing tweaks. The Home companion client today also reveals the backside of a new Google Nest device, which could be a next-generation Hello doorbell.
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Technology today is already quite assistive, from location-aware reminders to notifications telling you when to leave, factoring in live traffic conditions. In fact, that’s now the base level of usefulness we expect from our gadgets. After using Google’s 2nd-gen Nest Hub for the past week, I experienced the next level of computers passively suggesting what improvements can be made in your life, and it will take some time to get used to.
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Besides music and relaxing sounds, Google’s Assistant devices are frequently used for podcasts. However, a bug has emerged in the past few days that sees Google Home and Nest speakers play the wrong podcast.
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If you’re getting notifications from Nest that some of your cameras are offline, you’re not alone. Nest has confirmed a partial outage today that seems to be affecting some cameras, especially the Nest Hello video doorbell.
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In deciding to not put a camera on what was initially called the Home Hub, Google made its first Assistant Smart Display ideal for nightstands. The new 2nd-generation Nest Hub is further embracing that role with Sleep Sensing to track your rest. Otherwise, it looks the same and is not that much more expensive than the original.
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Back in 2019, the Nest website stopped listing products and sent buyers to the Google Store. That original brand has almost entirely been replaced by Google Nest at this point, with Nest.com no more today as part of a Store redirect.
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The Nest Thermostat is Google’s cheapest offering in that smart home category partly because the Thermostat E is no longer available for regular consumers to buy. Now limited to Nest Pro installers, Google late last month announced the “Nest Thermostat E + Goodman.”
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Made by Google is comprised of several brands, including Pixel, Pixelbook, and Nest. The latter — fully known as “Google Nest” — is losing its social media accounts next month in a move that will see all of Google hardware communicate from one unified account.
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Back in June, Google made its energy saving tuning program available to all Nest Thermostat owners after previously restricting to certain partner public utilities. The wider availability of Seasonal Savings is continuing this winter with Nest Thermostats starting to show the prompt.
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The Nest brand has built up a considerable collection of smart home hardware, and starting next year, that hardware is getting a new feature. All Google Nest devices will soon be supported in the Samsung SmartThings app.
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Last year, Google revamped Nest Aware with a fixed pricing model but allowed customers to stick to the previous structure. Due to a billing error, some users still on that old plan have not had to pay for Nest Aware since November, but they should expect a charge in the coming weeks following that delay.
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