Google Assistant & Google Nest

What Is AQI on Google Nest?

Google Nest Hubs are handy little weather stations. You can easily see the current temperature and look into the forecast. They can also show you information about the air quality (AQI). In some places, that’s important to kn…

Joe Fedewa Sep 19th

How to Create a Google Assistant Checklist (for Morning or Bedtime)

Google Assistant has a lot of tools that can help you organize your day. You can create an interactive checklist for your morning or nighttime routine. It’s great for kids and works with smart displays and speakers….

Joe Fedewa Sep 18th

How Google Assistant Will Guide You Through LEGOLAND

Google is working with the popular theme park LEGOLAND to bring Google Assistant to the park’s experience. Google will implement Nest Hubs in every room and add Assistant commands specific to the LEGOLAND park….

Dave LeClair Aug 18th

PSA: You Can Answer and Reject Calls with Google Assistant

Controlling a phone with your voice still feels futuristic. Google Assistant makes a lot of this possible, and if you have an Android phone, you can even answer or reject calls without touching your device. We’ll show you how…

Joe Fedewa Aug 17th

Hey Google, Scheduled Actions Are Giving People Nightmares

When smart home gadgets don’t work correctly, old-school switches start to look more appealing. This is true with a nasty bug in Google Assistant. It can be used to schedule things, but there’s no way to cancel those schedule…

Joe Fedewa Aug 13th

Google Search Is Getting an Interactive Periodic Table (and More Learning Tools)

Google announced a slew of new changes coming to Assistant and Search that are primarily designed to make family time smoother and more pleasant. For example, Search is getting a cool interactive periodic table, Family Bell w…

Dave LeClair Aug 11th

How to Set Up and Use Google Assistant’s ‘Good Morning’ Routine

Google Assistant routines are one of the most powerful features on Nest smart speakers and displays. Make the start of your day a little less stressful by using the “Good Morning” routine to automate your home….

Joe Fedewa Aug 10th

Google’s New Nest Cameras Are Finally Battery-Powered

Google has announced a new set of Nest cameras and a Nest doorbell, and the most exciting thing about them is that they’re battery-powered. That means you won’t need to have hideous wires hanging down your walls to keep track…

Dave LeClair Aug 5th

How to Use Google Assistant on Your Chromebook

Google Assistant is available on almost every smartphone, tablet, and a good number of smart speakers. If you have a Chromebook, you have another device that can use the virtual assistant. We’ll show you how to get it set up …

Joe Fedewa Jul 24th

How to Disable the Google Assistant Swipe Gesture on Android

Google wants you to use Google Assistant, which is why it’s available in so many places. Some Android devices can launch Assistant with a swipe gesture from the bottom corners. If you’re annoyed by this, it can be disabled….

Joe Fedewa Jul 21st

Can Power Companies Remotely Adjust Your Smart Thermostat?

You may have heard that smart thermostats in Texas have been automatically turned up by power companies in order to conserve energy. Don’t panic— they were given permission by the homeowners. But why is this incentivized ad…

Nicholas Fysz Jul 21st

How to Get a Fullscreen Clock on the Google Nest Hub

Many love using their Google Nest Hubs to show off pictures, but you don’t have to use the display as a photo frame. We’ll show you how to turn it into a fullscreen—digital or analog—clock.

Joe Fedewa Jul 1st

The Best Relaxation & Inspiration Tips for Google Assistant

Google Assistant is packed with features to help you increase daily productivity, so what can it do to help you unwind? Here are the best features from Google Assistant for relaxation at the end of each day, whether you’re us…

Nicholas Fysz Jun 30th

How to Factory Reset the Google Nest Hub

Part of owning gadgets is the occasional need to reset them. Google Nest Hubs are no different, but it’s not super clear how to do it. We’ll show you how to perform a factory reset of your Google Assistant smart display….

Joe Fedewa Jun 29th

How to Use Hand Gestures with the Google Nest Hub

You can use hand gestures to control the Google Nest Hub (second-generation) and Nest Hub Max. These gestures make it easy to pause music, dismiss timers, and snooze alarms without needing to use your voice or touch the displ…

Joe Fedewa Jun 24th

How to Turn on Dark Mode on a Nest Hub

Google’s smart displays are great at detecting ambient light. Whether the room is light, dim, or pitch black, the Nest Hub will match it with a theme of its own. However, some people prefer Dark Mode all the time, and you can…

Joe Fedewa Jun 12th

How to Track Sleep With the Google Nest Hub

Google’s second-generation Nest Hub smart display has the ability to track your sleep using Soli radar technology. It doesn’t watch you with cameras, and you don’t need to wear anything on your body. We’ll show you how to set…

Joe Fedewa May 21st

How to Turn off the Google Assistant Power Button on Android

There are multiple ways to launch Assistant on Pixel smartphones and Android devices. The list of options increased with the release of Android 12. Instead of long-pressing the Side button to open a power menu, Pixels defaul…

Joe Fedewa May 20th

How to Teach Google Assistant Unique Contact Names

Google Assistant on your Nest or Home smart speaker or display won’t work very well if it can’t understand what you’re saying. If there’s someone in your life with a particularly complex name to pronounce, Assistant might str…

Joe Fedewa May 18th

How to Completely Turn off the Google Nest Hub Display at Night

The Google Nest Hub is great at adjusting display brightness and color temperature to match the room’s lighting. It will even switch to a dim clock mode when in complete darkness, but if you’re using it on your bedside table,…

Joe Fedewa May 14th

How to Call Google Assistant Speakers and Displays in Your Home

You unlock some handy features by having several Google Assistant speakers or smart displays spread throughout your home. One such feature is the option to make audio and video calls between rooms using Nest devices or even …

Joe Fedewa May 12th

How to Leave a Family Note on the Google Nest Hub

Google smart displays are great central hubs for households. One feature that ties into this is “Family Notes.” It’s essentially a modern version of leaving a sticky note on the fridge. We’ll show you how to use them….

Joe Fedewa May 10th

How to Turn off Google Assistant Repeat Command Suggestions

Google Assistant can be great, but it’s not without annoying tendencies. If you use Google Assistant commands a lot, you’ve probably received friendly “suggestions” to use commands again. Thankfully, these suggestions can be …

Joe Fedewa Apr 28th

How to Send Text Messages with Google Assistant

Sometimes your hands are full and can’t grab your phone to type out a text message. Thankfully, Google Assistant makes it easy to send SMS with only your voice. We’ll show you how it works on phones and smart speakers….

Joe Fedewa Apr 23rd

How to Order Food Using Google Assistant

There’s a good chance that you use your smartphone to order food from restaurants. There are tons of apps that make it easy to do. However, Google Assistant on Android makes it even easier. We’ll show you how….

Joe Fedewa Apr 22nd