Day: January 12, 2024

Updates usually add new features to apps, but an upcoming Google Assistant update will remove several.

These are seventeen features that are about to be removed from the service, and one in particular will have a significant impact on Google Pixel users.

In a post regarding these changes, Google explains that 17 little-used Assistant features will be eliminated soon

Starting January 26, when you use one of these features, you will receive a notification alerting you to its imminent removal.

One month later, these functions will disappear permanently.

Most actions involve controlling apps via voice commands and performing tasks on your smartwatch, smart speaker or smart display using your voice assistant.

Google admitted that these changes may cause discomfort for some users and proposed alternatives for performing the actions. Most of them are direct equivalents, but without the voice interaction.

These are the features that will be eliminated:

1. Set an alarm that uses media, music or radio.
2. Play and control audiobooks on Google Play Books with your voice assistant.
3. Manage a stopwatch on smart displays and speakers.
4. Send an email, video or audio message with your voice.
5. Reschedule an event in Google Calendar with your voice.
6. Use App Launcher in Google Assistant driving mode on Google Maps to read and send messages, make calls and control media.
7. View sleep summaries.
8. View time estimates for “Commute to Work” on smart displays.
9. View caller ID on calls made from speakers and smart displays (unless you’re using Duo).
10. Control personal travel itineraries via voice.
11. Request information about your contacts.
12. Request you to perform certain actions via voice, such as sending a payment, making a reservation, or posting on social media.
13. Access or manage cookbooks, transfer recipes from one device to another, play an instructional recipe video, or view step-by-step recipes.
14. Call a device or broadcast a message to your Google Family Group by voice.
15. Request to schedule or listen to previously scheduled Family Bell announcements.
16. Ask to meditate with Calm.
17. Control activities on Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 devices by voice.

Changes to the Google app itself are also coming that will particularly impact Pixel users.

Currently, users can tap the microphone in the search bar to activate Google Assistant and set a timer, send a message, or manage smart home tasks.

For Pixel phones, this includes the search bar on the home screen.

But soon, this will only lead to search results.

Google said users will still be able to activate Assistant by saying “Hey Google” or by holding down the home or power button

The tech giant, along with others like Amazon and Meta, cuts workforce amid slowing business forecasts over the past year

Google has laid off hundreds of employees working on its hardware, voice support and engineering teams as part of cost-cutting measures.

The plaintiffs say leaving Google with an “uncontrolled treasure trove of information” has learned what they search for online. Google agrees to settle $5 billion lawsuit that alleges it secretly tracked users. The cuts come as Google looks toward “responsibly investing in our company’s most important priorities and significant future opportunities,” the company said in a statement.

“Some teams are continuing to make these types of organizational changes, which include eliminating some roles globally,” he said.

Previously, Google said it was eliminating a few hundred roles in its engineering, hardware and virtual assistant teams, though most of the impacts hit the company’s augmented reality hardware division. The cuts follow pledges from executives at Google and its parent company, Alphabet, to cut costs. A year ago, Google announced it would lay off 12,000 employees, about 6% of its workforce.

On the day news of the cuts emerged, Google announced it would deprecate 17 “under-used” Google Assistant features, including playing audiobooks, sending emails, or starting a meditation session with Calm via voice command.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Alphabet Workers Union described the layoffs as “another round of unnecessary layoffs.”

“Our members and teammates work hard every day to build great products for our users, and the company cannot continue to fire our colleagues while making billions every quarter,” the union wrote. “We will not stop fighting until our jobs are safe!”

Google experienced record growth in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, but has had to adjust forecasts for its business as that expansion has slowed over the past year.

It’s not the only tech company in this situation. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has cut more than 20,000 jobs. Spotify announced in December that it was cutting 17% of its global workforce, the third round of layoffs in 2023 as it seeks to cut costs and improve its profitability.

Earlier this week, Amazon laid off hundreds of employees across its Prime Video and studio units. It will also lay off around 500 employees working on the live streaming platform Twitch. Amazon has cut thousands of jobs after a hiring frenzy during the pandemic. In March, the company announced plans to lay off 9,000 employees, in addition to the 18,000 announced in January 2023.

Currently, Google is engaged in a fierce rivalry with Microsoft, as both companies seek to lead in the artificial intelligence sector. The office software company has been beefing up its artificial intelligence offerings to compete with Google. In September, Microsoft introduced a Copilot feature that embeds artificial intelligence into products like the Bing search engine, Edge browser and Windows for its enterprise customers.