Google announced today that it is upgrading the Gemini for Home service with a "continued conversations" feature. Continued conversation allows a user to have a natural discussion with the Gemini platform without prefacing every follow-up request with the "Hey Google" prompt. The microphone will remain active on a smart device for a few seconds after the Gemini AI assistant provides its reply. During that window, the lights on the hardware will pulse or glow, indicating that you can keep chatting normally with the chatbot without needing a wake word. Gemini should retain the context as the conversation progresses, which should allow it to provide the desired information faster without the need for a user to repeat key details. The feature is rolling out today for all Gemini for Home voice assistant languages and in all supported regions. Continued conversations have to be manually enabled in the Google Home app through the settings menu under "Gemini for Home voice assistant." Google said that Gemini should be able to distinguish between follow-up questions addressed to the chatbot and other conversations happening in a room, but it should be interesting to track how successful that is given the past history of voice assistants unintentionally eavesdropping. Continued conversation was an option under the Google Assistant platform, but it had more limited availability. Google has been preparing Gemini for Home as a replacement for Google Assistant platform since the fall. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/google-now-lets-you-have-full-conversations-with-gemini-for-home-160000511.html?src=rss
Samsung is expanding the SmartThings connectivity platform to include many IKEA products . The company promises "seamless integration" with the furniture giant's Matter-over-Thread devices , which include stuff like smart lights , air quality sensors, remote controls and smart plugs. This is great news for IKEA fans who want to bark orders at a smart assistant to turn the lights off and on, as Samsung says users will be able to "effortlessly incorporate" these gadgets into daily life. The SmartThings platform allows for advanced home automation routines . Samsung Samsung says it "built enhanced integrations" for IKEA's devices and that the two companies "conducted multiple rounds of validation to enhance connectivity stability and implemented a dedicated user experience within the SmartThings app for full compatibility." This should translate into a plug-and-play experience with minimal frustration. The caveat here is that Matter is already supposed to offer a plug-and-play experience, without the need for this kind of intensive platform-specific work to get things going. IKEA customers have had serious problems connecting the company's Matter devices to networks . Matter is supposed to offer a comprehensive smart home integration solution to manufacturers, but that doesn't look to be working out . Samsung has steadily been improving the SmartThings platform. It recently integrated Siri voice commands . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/samsung-brings-smartthings-integration-to-ikeas-matter-devices-151819629.html?src=rss
