Introducing a dynamic fusion of convenience and connectivity in the digital realm: Google’s latest innovations are poised to revolutionize how we experience music and messaging across platforms.
From the potential integration of third-party apps into Google’s Gemini Assistant for seamless music playback to the cross-platform messaging capabilities of Google Chat with Microsoft Teams and Slack, these developments signal a new era of fluidity and collaboration in our online interactions.
Let’s delve into the details of these exciting advancements and their implications for the future of digital integration.
Google’s Gemini Assistant Could Soon Play Music From Third-Party Apps: Report
Google adds its native artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to the Android operating system as an on-device voice assistant earlier 2024.
This feature gave users the option to replace Google Assistant with Gemini as the default assistant for the smartphone.
But, there were certain drawbacks to using the AI chatbot as it cannot set alarms, add reminders or launch apps like its counterpart.
A new report has now found that the tech giant might soon add the capability for it to play music with a simple voice command.
This new feature was spot within the settings options of the Gemini app for Android.
Based on screenshots share, a new option was seen within Gemini Settings.
The second option from the bottom now has a Music option which features the description “Select prefer services to play music”.
Another screenshot shows that within the option, another title says “Choose your default media provider”.
As per the screenshot, the second setting page is currently empty.
The report did not mention whether the new setting was spotted within the codes in the latest version of the app or the beta build, but it highlight that the functionality is currently not available to use.
The feature does not show any third-party apps that can be connect with the Gemini Assistant.
But, the report adds that the feature could be launch in a future update.
It is not clear how the feature might work, but taking the reference of Google Assistant, it should be able to play music from Spotify or YouTube Music based on voice commands.
Google Gemini could also offer a song identification feature where a user asks the AI to listen to music playing somewhere or someone humming to identify its name and to play it through the music streaming app.
It is unlikely to feature any playlist creation features.
Earlier 2024, a report highlight that Google is working on adding Gemini to Google Assistant-power headphones.
This would allow the wearable devices to use Gemini as the voice assistant and connect with smartphones which are running the AI chatbot as the assistant.
As of now, despite having Gemini on the smartphone, these devices use Google Assistant when prompt.
Google Chat Rolls Out Cross-Platform Messaging With Microsoft Teams and Slack
Google Chat will now allow sending messages to Microsoft Teams and Slack with its new interoperability support.
The cross-platform messaging feature was first announce at the Google Cloud Next 2023 event, but so far the feature was available only in beta to a limited number of users.
With the new update, all paid subscribers of Google Workspace will be able to send messages to Teams and Slack users.
Users and organisations will need to use the Mio app to access the functionality.
This new feature was announce via a Google Workspace update.
Google said :
“Interoperability will enable organisations that use Google Chat and other messaging platforms within their domain to provide a more seamless experience for their users.”
This means users will only be able to use this feature to send messages to people within their own organisation.
This could be useful to text coworkers in different teams who use a separate app for communication.
The cross-platform messaging feature is not built into Google Chat.
So, users will need to download and install the Mio app to create the interoperability.
This will be the tricky part since organisations will need to purchase an additional license in order to use the feature.
Despite the extra steps, it can be a useful feature for large organisations that are not exclusively using a single communications platform for all the teams.
Cross-platform messaging feature between Google Chat, Microsoft Teams, and Slack was being test by Google for the last one year and its availability was limit to some users.
Google earlier announce in this year’s Cloud Next event that the feature will be roll out to all paid customers of Workspace, and starting last week, this feature is being roll out globally.
Separately, Slack release its artificial intelligence (AI) features to all paid users globally.
Users with a paid subscription of the platform can purchase an add-on to activate features such as recaps, search, and conversation summaries.
The Google also intends to add note-taking summary generation feature for its voice and video calling feature Huddle.
