The Google Home Speaker is getting a Gemini-driven refresh

Google announced a wave of hardware updates today, including giving some love to the Google Home Speaker. We saw a teaser for the revamped smart speaker last month, so the announcement isn't a surprise, but it does provide some specifics about what's coming to the company's smart home efforts.

This new Google Home Speaker puts the Gemini AI assistant front and center, as is the case with so much Google hardware these days. The light ring will also flash different colors to show when the AI model is listening, processing or responding. If you have a Google Home Premium subscription, you'll also be able to use the Home to access Gemini Live. The blog post promises "more natural conversations" with this model, which it says has custom processing to support the demands of running an AI assistant.

Google is also bringing 360-degree audio to the ...