Illustration: The Verge Google is adding a Google Home extension to the Gemini app, allowing you to control your smart home while chatting with the AI assistant. The update, which is available to Android users as part of Google Home's Public Preview program, will let you use natural language prompts, like Set the dining room for a romantic date night" to adjust lighting, or Help me clean up the kitchen" to turn on the vacuum.Previously, the Gemini app would open Google Assistant if you tried to control your smart home. With the new Google Home extension, you can perform actions across smart lighting, climate control, window coverings, TVs, speakers, and more from within the Gemini app. The extension in Gemini doesn't support all smart devices,... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google Workspace is rolling out a Gemini-powered AI image generator directly in Google Docs that lets you quickly whip up visuals for your writeups. Essentially, it's a clip art maker that follows in the footsteps of Microsoft's AI-generated art feature in its Office products.Google's image generator in Docs is available to paid Workspace accounts that include the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium, or Google One AI Premium add-ons.Those with the new feature can find it under Insert > Image > Help me create an image, which results in a Create an image" sidebar where you can type in a description of what you'd like to make. It also provides a drop-down to select an art style with options such as Photography" or... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Google Gemini can now remember" certain things about you, such as your interests and personal preferences. The change is rolling out to subscribers with access to Gemini Advanced, and it will allow the AI chatbot to tailor its responses based on your needs, according to Gemini's most recent release notes.As noted by Google, you can share your interests, as well as details about your work, hobbies, or aspirations, while chatting with Gemini. You can also enter relevant details about yourself within the bot's Saved Info" page, such as telling it to only suggest vegetarian recipes, or that you work as an accountant.

Illustration: The Verge One of the most important changes in Samsung's new phones is a simple one: when you long-press the side button on your phone, instead of activating Samsung's own Bixby assistant by default, you'll get Google Gemini.This is probably a good thing. Bixby was never a very good virtual assistant - Samsung originally built it primarily as a way to more simply navigate device settings, not to get information from the internet. It has gotten better since and can now do standard assistant things like performing visual searches and setting timers, but it never managed to catch up to the likes of Alexa, Google Assistant, and now, even Siri. So, if you're a Samsung user, this is good news! Your assistant is probably better now. (And if, for some unknown reason, you really do truly love Bixby, don't worry: there's still an app.)The switch to Gemini is an even bigger deal for Google. Google was caught off guard a couple of years ago when ChatGPT launched but has caught up in a big way. According to recent reporting from The Wall Street Journal, CEO Sundar Pichai now believes Gemini has surpassed ChatGPT, and he wants Google to have 500 million users by the end of this year. It might just... Read the full story at The Verge.