Google Home update upgrades Gemini weather forecasts, media on Nest Hub, and voice commands as a whole

Google is rolling out another Gemini for Home update, offering more detailed visuals to smart displays when you ask about the weather or media.

Changes are coming to early access users, starting with weather accuracy changes. This follows a recent update that added “Pet Memory” and expanded “Ask Home.”

No, this isn’t an update to Google’s weather app to bring better forecasts to users who decide to rely on it. Instead, Google’s Gemini for Home will let users ask for specific hourly weather forecasts. A detailed hourly weather forecast will be rendered on the smart display, like a Nest Hub. Google notes that temperature unit accuracy will be improved, so you’re getting the right readings for your region.

Smart displays are also getting an upgrade to what their main purpose is – to display media. Users will be able to ask about music videos, movies, and TV shows to watch on the smart display. Google says movies and TV shows from streaming services will be avilable to play using natural voice commands.

Use natural language to browse, find, and play video, movies, and TV shows on your smart displays, getting you to the right content more quickly:

• Enhanced Video Browsing: Stream your favorite music videos, launch recommended playlists, or trigger video search queries naturally on YouTube.
• TV & Movie Playback: Stream movies and TV shows on smart displays directly from your favorite subscribed services using natural voice commands.
• Conversational Volume Controls: Control your device volume naturally using casual or conversational phrasing (e.g. “lower it a tad”).

Across all Nest devices and speakers with access to Gemini, Google is making it easier to ask for news briefs and summaries in a more conversational manner. The changelog states that results played through the speaker will be more customized to the user’s unique interests.

What plays will trail off with an open mic, so users can have a more conversational approach to news updates. Results are determined by selected news provider preferences in the Google Home settings.

We have updated the news experience on Gemini for Home, shifting from static broadcasts to interactive, customized narratives that adapt to your unique interests. You can now engage in natural, back-and-forth conversations to dive deeper into specific headlines, or listen to your preferred providers through a customized ‘News Brief’. You can adjust your selected News Brief providers directly in the Google Home app.

Try saying:

• “Play my news brief” to hear from your selected news providers’ broadcasts
• “Tell me the latest news” or “What’s the news?” to hear interactive summaries
• Ask for news on specific topics “Catch me up on tech news.” or “What’s the local news for today?”
• “Tell me more about the second story” after a news summary to dive deeper into a story

Google says all of this, in addition to performance upgrades to make responses much faster, is rolling out in Google Home version 4.18.