the Google smart home is getting one of its biggest upgrades in years. In addition to the recent launch of Google TV Streamer and the new Nest Learning Thermostat, the company also brought Gemini, its suite of products. artificial intelligence (AI) large language modeling (LLM), to smart home experiences with new AI-generated summaries, automations, and Gemini-powered search.
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Google Nest Security cameras can detect general movement, people and animals. Google recently updated its cameras with pass-through garage door detection Nest Aware register. This newer feature allows you to monitor — using AI image detection — whether your garage door is open or not.
Nest monitoring and search powered by Gemini
Starting today, Google is adding Gemini to its Nest smart home cameras Google Home appuses AI-powered image recognition to create a description of what the camera captured. This feature is only available for Nest Aware Plus subscription cameras.
Google shared an example of a camera looking into a backyard where kids jump into a swimming pool. The description reads: “Three children jump into a swimming pool, chasing a pool toy. The sun shines brightly, casting long shadows” instead of a vague “detected movement” .
This approach reduces false alarms and provides a rich description of the information obtained. I asked Google whether this feature would work with Nest Aware’s people recognition technology, which recognizes previously identified people to give you more specific warnings. Google says this option is not yet available but the company is working on it.
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Thanks to Gemini, you can also search for specific events in your activities, such as asking “When did the kids go swimming?” The AI assistant can consult a camera overlooking the pool to know when people enter.
For Nest Aware Plus subscribers who opt in to AI camera search this week, Nest cameras will show detailed descriptions of clips in the Google Home app and let you search for specific clips by looking up Save “white dog” or “Amazon delivery truck” for examples.
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Alerts powered by Gemini for Nest cameras will allow you to create automations based on what is detected in the images. For example, you can ask the Google Assistant if your child left their bike in the driveway, then ask the Assistant to remind them to bring their bike into the garage when they get home from school. Gemini will set up automation via cameras to notify anyone arriving between 3pm and 5pm to bring their bike into the garage.
Of course, these features would be even more useful if Google combined them with Nest Aware’s person recognition feature. For example, you might ask, “When does person X bring the groceries?” or send customized greetings or messages to different visitors through the video doorbell.
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Google says the updated Google Assistant powered by Gemini is in line with its “original vision for a virtual assistant.” Google Assistant now works as Amazon Alexa And Apple’s Siriwith natural language processing technology that generates responses to user queries, but is limited, for example because it cannot maintain enough context to answer follow-up questions.
The updated Google Assistant understands better and speaks more naturally than ever. Technology will handle follow-up questions, maintaining conversational context for more natural and fluid interactions. These updates to existing Nest smart speakers and displays are coming soon.
