Google has announced several updates for its Google Assistant at CES 2020. Some of the important ones include the ability to schedule actions for later, read articles out loud in over 42 languages, and ease of access to privacy settings. Google further said that the assistant is now available on over 1 billion devices worldwide used by over 500 million people every month across devices like smartphones, smart speakers, TVs, cars, smart displays, and more.
Here are all the new updates for Google Assistant:
Scheduled Actions
With this feature, users will be able to ask the Assistant to perform a task in the future. For instance, you could ask the assistant to turn on a smart connected device, say an air purifier, at a specific time or ask Google to play music via Spotify in the morning when you get up. Google said that you can control over 20 new devices, including ACs, air purifiers, bathtubs, coffee makers, vacuums and more, from the Google Home app.
Screen Reading
Google Assistant will now be able to read long-form articles. “Unlike traditional screen readers, this experience is built on new voice datasets to create more expressive and more natural sounding voices, so it's easier to listen for a longer period of time. There are many potential ways in which this can be helpful, but one area we're exploring is reading webpages with long-form content on your phone—like a news article, blog or short story—out loud,” the company explains in its blog post. Users need to say “Hey Google, read it” or “Hey Google, read this page” while viewing an article, and the Assistant would read it out loud. Taking this feature further, Google says that the content can be translated into 42 languages, including Hindi, German or Spanish. This feature will be available later this year on devices running Android 5.0 and above.
Ease of Access to Privacy Settings
Users will now be able to access privacy controls via the voice assistant. Users can get answers to common privacy and security questions by just asking the Google Assistant. Users can use the command “Hey Google, delete everything I said to you this week” and the activity will be deleted easily. Google is also adding new privacy-related voice actions. By saying “Hey Google, that wasn't for you,” users can tell the Assistant to forget what it heard. By saying “Hey Google, are you saving my audio data?” users can learn about the privacy controls and go directly into the settings screen to change preferences.
Household Notes on Smart Displays
There is an update for Google Assistant-powered smart displays. Users will now be to create household notes on the display for family or friends living at your house. Basically, Google is replacing sticky notes that you might leave on the refrigerator.
Extended Device List
Google also announced that the Assistant will work on more devices in 2020 including August Smart Locks, Philips Hue HDMI Sync Box, Telus Wi-Fi Hub routers, GE Appliances Ultrafresh Front Load Washer, MOEN shower, D-Link Outdoor Wi-Fi Spotlight camera, VIAROOM Smart, Somfy TaHoma Hub, Yeelight Staria Bedside Lamp Pro and MerossSmart's garage door opener. Google is also expanding the Assistant to smart TVs through Android TV which has been updated to allow TV manufacturers to build far-field mics into their TVs starting with Hisense and TCL and Samsung.
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