Google Nest Hub at My Home #NAINAxGOOGLE #EyesForTechnology

The Google family at the Naina & Bharat home grows and grows. Courtesy Google India. Thanks to my continued association with Google, I get to play with some of the coolest technology on the planet.

This time, it’s the arrival of the Google Nest Hub to India. It’s available internationally in two versions – this one you see in the images, which is an approximately 7×4 inch screen – and then there’s a Google Nest Hub Max, which is larger, with a 10 inch screen ( not launched in India yet).

The one at our home is the Google Nest Hub with the 7 inch screen. It’s a touch screen and it is controlled by the Google Home app on my Pixel 3 XL. Setting it up was a walk in the park and while I didn’t think I’d be surprised or that I’d end up using the device in daily life… I’m very happy to report that I was wrong.

We live in a rented apartment and I didn’t think a non-smart home like ours would have any use for this Smart Home product. Google India also sent along a Smart Plug and a Syska Smart Bulb, so we do have two smart options integrated at home.

It’s ridiculous to be able to turn on the air-conditioning ( a regular window air conditioner no less ) using the Oak Plug that’s connected to the Google Nest Hub. Ridiculously good that is. The electricity bill is definitely going up because of that.

I’m most obsessed with the Photo Frame display on the Google Nest Hub. It accesses images from photos.google.com – images that are automatically uploaded from my Pixel 3 XL to the cloud. And the Nest Hub is smart enough to know which two portrait images to put together on the display. Obviously I have no idea how it’s doing it but I can tell it’s picking up on patterns, shapes and colours and I FUCKING LOVE IT!

I keep looking over to where the Nest Hub is on my bedside table, to see what new images it’s found. Ridiculously good algorithm there.

Because of this new member of the Google Family, I also ended up getting a Youtube Music subscription and I’m casting that onto the Nest Hub’s speakers pretty much the entire day. On low volume, music in the background, from my Youtube Music Mixtape.

I believe this is the device that’s broken me. I have finally given up trying to stay away from what’s inevitable. Google might not be SkyNet just yet but I’ve given up trying to pretend that I have any control over my information anymore. Of course you can do things like turn off the microphone on the device and go to your Google Account online and delete all the activity etc. But all that information is required if you’re going to have a truly incredible and joyful experience with all this amazing technology. It’s tailored and customized for you precisely because you’re telling it everything about yourself.

There’s no escape. Hail the overlords.

I’ve been going gaga over the device all over my Instagram stories. Last night, to turn off the music it was streaming for me, instead of saying, “Ok Google, stop.”, I said, “Ok Google, Goodnight.” It turned off the music on it’s own. It then proceeded to ask me, “What time would you like to set the alarm for, for tomorrow morning?” 9 a.m. I said. And then it turned on something called “Night CountrySide Sounds”, which was crickets chirping and general night sounds when you’re in the countryside – even in India. It’s fucking adorable. The screen dimmed and then I went to bed.

Of course, the power went out sometime in the night and the soothing night sounds stopped and I missed the Nest Hub alarm in the morning. Which was ok because I have my actual alarm on my Pixel 3 XL.

There will be no SkyNet without a power supply. Until solar power becomes ubiquitous. Then we will all be connected. The human race will be like a very large single organism. Moving together. Living together. And, hopefully, loving together.

Till then, I’m having fun with all this cool tech.

Available now in India, on Flipkart.

Google India | Google Nest | Made By Google | Naina

See here for previous NAINAxGOOGLE photo features, collaborations and pieces I’ve written.

See here for previous #EyesForTechnology photo features, collaborations and articles.

(All the art featured in the photographs has been hand-painted by Naina. See and shop the brooches and original art here : naina.co/shop.)