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Google's themed timers on the Nest Hub are breaking
Now you have to remember what food you put in the oven
Sometimes, just setting a plain-old timer isn't enough. In the heart of the pandemic, Google aimed to make cooking a little more festive and enjoyable by introducing themed timers on Nest Hub smart displays that could pair the countdown with an illustration of the food you're preparing. For the past few weeks, though, a number of users have been reporting that their smart displays no longer show these cute, custom timers.
Make your home merry and bright with $60 off this Google Nest Hub bundle
Get the Google Nest Hub bundled up with a smart light bulb for $39 at Walmart
If you still haven't worked out what to get all your loved ones this holiday season, we have just the thing: a smart-home mini starter kit featuring the Google Nest Hub. Not only does it include this awesome smart display to help start smartening up a home, but also tosses in a smart light bulb. The second-gen Google Nest Hub was already an affordable tool for controlling a whole home of smart devices at its regular $99 price, but this bundle deal at Walmart for a mere $39 is something really special.
Every music service supported on Google Assistant and Google Nest speakers
Use Google Assistant to play your favorite tunes
Whether you are busy cleaning, cooking, or relaxing, Google Nest smart speakers are a perfect companion to lighten up your mood. Thanks to a seamless Google Assistant integration, Google Nest and other Google Assistant smart speakers can control your smart home and play favorite songs from music streaming services using voice commands. That said, Google Assistant doesn’t work with every music service. Here are the top music services you can use with Google Assistant and Nest speakers.
This guy installed Ubuntu Linux on his Google Nest Hub
A USB bug in the bootloader made it possible to break secure boot and run arbitrary code
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The 2nd-gen Google Nest Hub is Google’s smartest smart display yet, offering sleep tracking, passable performance, and all the Assistant intelligence you could need. For all its smarts, the Nest Hub still isn’t a full computing device, though — the OS is far too limited. While Google is hard at work building a Pixel tablet as an alternative, it will still take some time until it sees the light of day. In the meantime, an avid hacker has managed to turn the existing Nest Hub hardware into a device that actually runs Linux distribution Ubuntu, teaching Google some security lessons while at it.
Everything Google launched in 2021 (and what we're hoping for in 2022)
We see into the future for this year's Nests and Pixels
Here at Android Police, we take pride and pity in covering what Google creates in one hand and kills with another. This year has seen plenty of additions to the graveyard, but what about the things that the company let live? How have they fared in critical view? And how will they continue to hold up? We take a look back... and forth.
Google gives the Nest Hub another year to convince you sleep tracking's worth paying for
Complete with some enhanced tracking and detection
Earlier this year, Google surprised us with the launch of a second-gen Nest Hub. With improved performance and a lower price, it was an easy recommendation for first-time buyers. However, its big new feature, sleep tracking, wasn't quite as powerful as we hoped it would be. More than six months after release, Google has returned to give the Nest Hub a boost for sleep tracking — along with some more details on when the feature might cost money to use.
Google adds an 'app drawer' to the Nest Hub, proving once again that smart displays are just fancy tablets
Quick access to all of your favorite services
Google’s Nest Hubs — and smart displays in general — are perfect for everything from alarms and weather alerts to recipes and streaming entertainment. With Assistant baked right in, requesting specific apps and services with a couple of key voice commands is quick and easy, but it’s tough to beat an actual launcher interface. As part of a new update, Nest Hubs are finally getting a long-awaited app drawer.
Google Nest Hub could get a new gesture that makes browsing through images easier
All thanks to the Soli radar
Thanks to the built-in Soli radar and Motion Sense, the second-gen Nest Hub supports two Quick Gestures: hold your hand up to play/pause music and wave your hand to dismiss timers and snooze alarms. Now, it looks like Google is preparing to add a third gesture to its smart display to make browsing through your Photos library easier.
The Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max have completed Spanish 101
Google is improving the smart screens' Spanish support
In 2019, Google brought the Nest Hub to a dozen new countries, just as it received a fresh rebranding. Spain was among the twelve regions chosen for official support, but Spanish-language options have been lacking in the US ever since. After two years, Google is finally bringing broader support for how the device functions with one of the most popular spoken languages in the world.
Google seems to finally be getting serious about Nest Hub apps
A video showing off an app tray surfaced on Reddit
At their core, Google's smart displays are permanently-docked tablets designed to stay in a single location in your home. Despite featuring screen sizes large enough to run full-blown Android, they're using special software perfect for glanceable information like cards and slideshows. However, a new video showing a fresh app UI for the Nest Hub series could be a preview of more functionality coming soon.
Nest smart displays are getting one of the most commonly requested features
Behold: an on-screen keyboard. Plus, Guest Mode is getting support for more languages, among other tweaks
Google has been busy bringing new features to its hardware in the last week, with the June Pixel Drop including a lot more than we expected. As the Fuchsia-and-Flutter-based update for the OG Nest Hub continues to roll out, another set of features is also rolling out to Nest smart displays, though Google's changelog skips out on one big tweak: an on-screen keyboard.
Google Nest Hub and Sleep Sensing long-term review: I remain unconvinced
Sleep Sensing works, but I wouldn't pay extra for it
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Google released the original Nest Hub (née Home Hub) in 2018, and we liked it even at $150. That price came down substantially, giving more people a chance to try out what was arguably the best Assistant smart display. Google says one in five people put that device in their bedrooms, thanks largely to the lack of a camera. The second-gen Hub still doesn't have a camera, but it does watch you. Hiding inside the almost identical chassis is a Soli radar module, which monitors your movement and breathing to track sleep. Any technology product that watches you sleep is bound to come off a little creepy, but there's more to the Hub than sleep tracking.
The new Soli-integrated Nest Hub is now available in even more places
It's faster and tracks your sleep, but you'll have to pass if you need live video calls
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The new Nest Hub has been available in the US for about a month. It offers improved performance and, most importantly, a new sleep tracking feature thanks to its built-in Soli radar. The device is now starting to sell in a bunch of other countries.
Ask us anything about the Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) (Q&A)
Then subscribe to the Android Police Newsletter to read our answers
Google's smart home hubs have gone through many iterations, launching first as Google-branded products before falling under Nest's purview in 2019. Now the newest member of the Nest lineup is officially here. Our reviews editor Ryan Whitwam has been testing out the Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) for a week, and he's ready to tell you what you want to know.
Google Nest Hub 2 leaks on retailer's website
Revealing everything you’d probably want to know about the smart display
Someone at B&H Photo Video has jumped the gun and already listed Google's next-gen smart display, the Nest Hub 2. While the listing doesn't reveal images, it doesn't shy away from giving out possibly everything else you'd want to know about the device, including its price.