- Google TV home screen will receive a “personalized stream of snackable videos”
- New Generative AI Features on TCL Gemini Compatible TVs Arriving Today
- Improvements to Google Photos and screensavers
Google TV is getting an upgrade (such as it is) that many people won’t like. This summer, the company will bring vertical videos to the home screen of U.S. viewers in the form of YouTube Shorts clips.
According to FlatpanelsHD, the situation could get worse: Google has not ruled out also adding vertical videos from TikTok and Instagram.
Google isn’t the first big tech company to add vertical video to its TV viewing. Disney+ did this earlier this year, and Instagram also has a TV app, but those are within the apps and aren’t just streamed directly to you when you turn on the TV.
Why is Google adding vertical video to Google TV?
Adding Google Shorts to your home screen is part of Google’s broader mission to keep you in its ecosystem and watching its ads. Right now, the Home screen recommendations are for movies and shows, often sending you other services; By adding YouTube Shorts to the mix, you could potentially watch lots of videos from Google’s own services, each with ads.
Vertical video isn’t the only addition to Google TV. Starting today, if you own a TCL TV with Gemini in the US (like the TCL QM8K), you can access more generative AI tools in the form of the Nano Banana and Veo apps, to generate images and videos, respectively. They will be rolling out to more Gemini-enabled TVs and devices in the coming months.
There’s a new Remix feature in Google Photos that lets you change the styles and backgrounds of existing photos via voice commands, and you’ll be able to search for specific photos via voice. There is also a dynamic slideshows feature that will display a selected Google Photos album as a screensaver. This one doesn’t require Gemini.
Whether you like or dislike these features will depend on how you use your TV. As Google describes it, the new features are “designed to help you connect, create and share laughs together” by “unlocking the TV’s potential as a shared creative canvas.”
The new generative AI tools will be available today on compatible US TCL TVs, with most of the new features rolling out to US users this summer. Dynamic slideshows will be available worldwide again this summer.
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