Author Archives: Brianna LaFleur

The Nest team let us in on their at-home sound setups

No two homes are alike: The things, people and routines that fill them are totally unique. That’s why the Nest team is so focused on creating flexible, customizable products and tools that can help everyone—and every home—function more smoothly, and more joyfully. 


Personally, my recipe for Nest-enabled home happiness starts in the kitchen with my Google Nest Hub Max, which I consider my personal sous chef. There’s a Google Nest Wifi point (which doubles as a smart speaker) in the guest room-turned-makeshift-home-office and an original Google Home in the dining room (turned-second-makeshift-home-office). A Google Nest Hub sits on my nightstand, and a Google Nest Mini lives in the entryway. Then, I have our newest product, two Google Nest Audios, stereo-paired in the living room for premium sound. That might sound like a lot of devices for a two-bedroom apartment, but my husband and I have found that having them throughout our place helps us make the most of all the time we’re spending here, whether it's setting the mood with our favorite music or getting helpful information from Google Assistant. 


Today, you can buy Nest Audio online at the Google Store and at other retailers including Target, Best Buy and more. So, to celebrate, I asked around the Nest team to see what my colleagues' at-home setups look like, too. 


Indu Ancha, Product Design Engineering Lead

My husband and I have a Nest Hub Max in our kitchen, which opens directly into our living room, so it essentially sits in both. We also use it to look in on the house when we aren’t home...or to catch the dog sneaking onto the couch! Of course we most often rely on it for features like setting cooking timers. And we actually use it as the main control for our TV since we paired it with the latest Chromecast with Google TV. We use the Nest Audio in the office—it’s perfect for WFH jam sessions, and to play music that helps us focus. And then there’s a Nest Mini upstairs in the guest room. We regularly use the broadcast function, too, especially if one of us is upstairs and the other is downstairs. And because we have Nest Wifi points around the house, everything works super reliably. 


Jesper Ramsgaard, Audio User Experience Researcher 

Because of COVID-19, like many people my wife and I have been staying home more this year...which I think our two cats appreciate. The time at home has definitely led us to make plenty of use of our Nest speaker system: We have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, two Nest Audios in the living room and a Nest Mini in the bedroom. The Nest Hub Max in the kitchen is great for finding recipes and setting cooking timers, but we also use it to watch Netflix or YouTube and to video call our family. And we have our Nest Audios in stereo setup in the living room, which really fills the house with music if we want it to. It’s been encouraging to listen to more music and really enjoy it more on a daily basis. 


Gabe Slotnick, Audio Engineering Lead

I live with my wife and dog, and we have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, a Google Home Max in the living room, and a stereo pair of Nest Audios in the bedroom. Oh, and I also have the new Chromecast with Google TV paired with our living room TV and a Chromecast Audio for my old traditional stereo system. I’ve found that mixing smart displays and speakers throughout our home creates an amazing combination of fantastic sound quality and contextual reminders throughout the day. I love the flexibility of how the devices can interact with each other and how I can access different features and services as I move around my house.


Arianna Clem, Beta Programs Manager

I have two Nest Audios set up using the speaker pair in my room, to give me full surround sound while I get into the zone—which is so helpful when I’m working from home. Of course, it’s also great for dance breaks! I use my Nest Mini while I’m getting ready for the day to go over my schedule and start off the morning with some news and good tunes. Once I’m ready, I use stream transfer to move whatever I’m listening to my other Nest Mini in my work space. 


Erick Low, Senior Product Marketing Manager

My family of four—my wife, myself and our two daughters—love to listen to music in our house, especially while we’re cooking or throwing mini dance parties in the family room. While sheltering in place, we’ve spent a lot more time at home and music makes everything more fun. Most of the time, we use a speaker group to listen to music on all our devices throughout the house. And since we have several Nest Minis, a Nest Audio, a Nest Hub Max, a Nest Hub and Google Home speakers, we can really jam out when we want to! My daughters really enjoy using Disney Read Along on our Nest Hub Max in the family room, and my wife and I like to listen to background music on our Nest Hub Max in our office while we’re working.

The Nest team let us in on their at-home sound setups

No two homes are alike: The things, people and routines that fill them are totally unique. That’s why the Nest team is so focused on creating flexible, customizable products and tools that can help everyone—and every home—function more smoothly, and more joyfully. 


Personally, my recipe for Nest-enabled home happiness starts in the kitchen with my Google Nest Hub Max, which I consider my personal sous chef. There’s a Google Nest Wifi point (which doubles as a smart speaker) in the guest room-turned-makeshift-home-office and an original Google Home in the dining room (turned-second-makeshift-home-office). A Google Nest Hub sits on my nightstand, and a Google Nest Mini lives in the entryway. Then, I have our newest product, two Google Nest Audios, stereo-paired in the living room for premium sound. That might sound like a lot of devices for a two-bedroom apartment, but my husband and I have found that having them throughout our place helps us make the most of all the time we’re spending here, whether it's setting the mood with our favorite music or getting helpful information from Google Assistant. 


Today, you can buy Nest Audio online at the Google Store and at other retailers including Target, Best Buy and more. So, to celebrate, I asked around the Nest team to see what my colleagues' at-home setups look like, too. 


Indu Ancha, Product Design Engineering Lead

My husband and I have a Nest Hub Max in our kitchen, which opens directly into our living room, so it essentially sits in both. We also use it to look in on the house when we aren’t home...or to catch the dog sneaking onto the couch! Of course we most often rely on it for features like setting cooking timers. And we actually use it as the main control for our TV since we paired it with the latest Chromecast with Google TV. We use the Nest Audio in the office—it’s perfect for WFH jam sessions, and to play music that helps us focus. And then there’s a Nest Mini upstairs in the guest room. We regularly use the broadcast function, too, especially if one of us is upstairs and the other is downstairs. And because we have Nest Wifi points around the house, everything works super reliably. 


Jesper Ramsgaard, Audio User Experience Researcher 

Because of COVID-19, like many people my wife and I have been staying home more this year...which I think our two cats appreciate. The time at home has definitely led us to make plenty of use of our Nest speaker system: We have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, two Nest Audios in the living room and a Nest Mini in the bedroom. The Nest Hub Max in the kitchen is great for finding recipes and setting cooking timers, but we also use it to watch Netflix or YouTube and to video call our family. And we have our Nest Audios in stereo setup in the living room, which really fills the house with music if we want it to. It’s been encouraging to listen to more music and really enjoy it more on a daily basis. 


Gabe Slotnick, Audio Engineering Lead

I live with my wife and dog, and we have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, a Google Home Max in the living room, and a stereo pair of Nest Audios in the bedroom. Oh, and I also have the new Chromecast with Google TV paired with our living room TV and a Chromecast Audio for my old traditional stereo system. I’ve found that mixing smart displays and speakers throughout our home creates an amazing combination of fantastic sound quality and contextual reminders throughout the day. I love the flexibility of how the devices can interact with each other and how I can access different features and services as I move around my house.


Arianna Clem, Beta Programs Manager

I have two Nest Audios set up using the speaker pair in my room, to give me full surround sound while I get into the zone—which is so helpful when I’m working from home. Of course, it’s also great for dance breaks! I use my Nest Mini while I’m getting ready for the day to go over my schedule and start off the morning with some news and good tunes. Once I’m ready, I use stream transfer to move whatever I’m listening to my other Nest Mini in my work space. 


Erick Low, Senior Product Marketing Manager

My family of four—my wife, myself and our two daughters—love to listen to music in our house, especially while we’re cooking or throwing mini dance parties in the family room. While sheltering in place, we’ve spent a lot more time at home and music makes everything more fun. Most of the time, we use a speaker group to listen to music on all our devices throughout the house. And since we have several Nest Minis, a Nest Audio, a Nest Hub Max, a Nest Hub and Google Home speakers, we can really jam out when we want to! My daughters really enjoy using Disney Read Along on our Nest Hub Max in the family room, and my wife and I like to listen to background music on our Nest Hub Max in our office while we’re working.

The Nest team let us in on their at-home sound setups

No two homes are alike: The things, people and routines that fill them are totally unique. That’s why the Nest team is so focused on creating flexible, customizable products and tools that can help everyone—and every home—function more smoothly, and more joyfully. 


Personally, my recipe for Nest-enabled home happiness starts in the kitchen with my Google Nest Hub Max, which I consider my personal sous chef. There’s a Google Nest Wifi point (which doubles as a smart speaker) in the guest room-turned-makeshift-home-office and an original Google Home in the dining room (turned-second-makeshift-home-office). A Google Nest Hub sits on my nightstand, and a Google Nest Mini lives in the entryway. Then, I have our newest product, two Google Nest Audios, stereo-paired in the living room for premium sound. That might sound like a lot of devices for a two-bedroom apartment, but my husband and I have found that having them throughout our place helps us make the most of all the time we’re spending here, whether it's setting the mood with our favorite music or getting helpful information from Google Assistant. 


Today, you can buy Nest Audio online at the Google Store and at other retailers including Target, Best Buy and more. So, to celebrate, I asked around the Nest team to see what my colleagues' at-home setups look like, too. 


Indu Ancha, Product Design Engineering Lead

My husband and I have a Nest Hub Max in our kitchen, which opens directly into our living room, so it essentially sits in both. We also use it to look in on the house when we aren’t home...or to catch the dog sneaking onto the couch! Of course we most often rely on it for features like setting cooking timers. And we actually use it as the main control for our TV since we paired it with the latest Chromecast with Google TV. We use the Nest Audio in the office—it’s perfect for WFH jam sessions, and to play music that helps us focus. And then there’s a Nest Mini upstairs in the guest room. We regularly use the broadcast function, too, especially if one of us is upstairs and the other is downstairs. And because we have Nest Wifi points around the house, everything works super reliably. 


Jesper Ramsgaard, Audio User Experience Researcher 

Because of COVID-19, like many people my wife and I have been staying home more this year...which I think our two cats appreciate. The time at home has definitely led us to make plenty of use of our Nest speaker system: We have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, two Nest Audios in the living room and a Nest Mini in the bedroom. The Nest Hub Max in the kitchen is great for finding recipes and setting cooking timers, but we also use it to watch Netflix or YouTube and to video call our family. And we have our Nest Audios in stereo setup in the living room, which really fills the house with music if we want it to. It’s been encouraging to listen to more music and really enjoy it more on a daily basis. 


Gabe Slotnick, Audio Engineering Lead

I live with my wife and dog, and we have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, a Google Home Max in the living room, and a stereo pair of Nest Audios in the bedroom. Oh, and I also have the new Chromecast with Google TV paired with our living room TV and a Chromecast Audio for my old traditional stereo system. I’ve found that mixing smart displays and speakers throughout our home creates an amazing combination of fantastic sound quality and contextual reminders throughout the day. I love the flexibility of how the devices can interact with each other and how I can access different features and services as I move around my house.


Arianna Clem, Beta Programs Manager

I have two Nest Audios set up using the speaker pair in my room, to give me full surround sound while I get into the zone—which is so helpful when I’m working from home. Of course, it’s also great for dance breaks! I use my Nest Mini while I’m getting ready for the day to go over my schedule and start off the morning with some news and good tunes. Once I’m ready, I use stream transfer to move whatever I’m listening to my other Nest Mini in my work space. 


Erick Low, Senior Product Marketing Manager

My family of four—my wife, myself and our two daughters—love to listen to music in our house, especially while we’re cooking or throwing mini dance parties in the family room. While sheltering in place, we’ve spent a lot more time at home and music makes everything more fun. Most of the time, we use a speaker group to listen to music on all our devices throughout the house. And since we have several Nest Minis, a Nest Audio, a Nest Hub Max, a Nest Hub and Google Home speakers, we can really jam out when we want to! My daughters really enjoy using Disney Read Along on our Nest Hub Max in the family room, and my wife and I like to listen to background music on our Nest Hub Max in our office while we’re working.

Nest and Spotify are bringing you the sounds of summer

My favorite part of summertime is that it means music festival season is upon us. For me, there’s nothing better than getting together with all my friends and listening to our favorite bands on a warm, sunny day. This year, the festivals will have to wait, and while I’ll miss the jam-packed action of a live show, thankfully I have a back up system powered by Spotify, and Nest and Google Home smart speakers and displays.

Nest Mini, Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max and Google Home Max, to name a few, all work together to build a sound system that can cover your whole home. Plus, Spotify Premium users can ask Google Assistant to recommend some music and Google Assistant will offer multiple choices from artists and genres that they like, and others like them to choose from.

Obviously, I’m not the only one curating my own concerts at home: Here’s a look at how some of you have been listening to Spotify on Nest and Google Home devices.

Quarantine streams

Spotify shared how people have been listening to Spotify on Nest and Google Home smart speakers and displays between May 10 and June 10 of this year, in all parts of the world where both Spotify and our devices are available. Suffice it to say that quarantine apparently has many of us in our feelings, with Drake as the top-streamed artist on Nest devices. And given the stress of 2020, it's no surprise the top playlists are all related to sleep and relaxation. In fact, Google Trends backed up Spotify’s data , showing that searches for “insomnia” reached an all-time high in April of this year.

R2_V2-1.png

We also took a look at Google Trends to see which of the three top artists are being searched the most by country, which you can see below.

Screenshot 2020-06-22 at 9.46.02 PM.png

Songs of summer 

Summer couldn’t come soon enough. According to Google Trends, searches for “summertime songs” spiked more than 1,150 percent and searches for “songs that remind you of summer” spiked more than 1,000 percent in the past 90 days worldwide. Thankfully, Spotify can help listeners land on a summer jam. 

Spanning a variety of genres—from hip-hop to indie—Spotify’s Songs of Summer predictions are based on a number of factors like streaming numbers, current trajectory and future forecasting from their global curation team. This year, the team at Spotify predicts that “This is America” by Childish Gambino and “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar are likely to be mainstays during summer 2020.  The resurgence of these older tracks is likely due to cultural conversations focused on supporting the Black community. In fact, global Google Trends searches for the meaning of “This is America,” by Childish Gambino spiked more than 700 percent over the past month. 

In no particular order, here’s Spotify’s playlist of predictions for summer 2020, which you can stream on your Nest device by saying, “Hey Google, play Songs of Summer.” The playlist includes current hits like “ROCKSTAR” by DaBaby, featuring Roddy Ricch and “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles.  

Your Summer Rewind playlist from Spotify

This year, it feels especially important to relive the glory of summers past. To help, Spotify is re-introducing Your Summer Rewind, a personalized collection of your favorite summer jams from previous years. It will be available in all of Spotify’s Northern Hemisphere markets for both Free and Premium listeners on iOS and Android starting today.  Make sure your Spotify account is linked in the Google Home app and say, “Hey Google, play Your Summer Rewind playlist on Spotify” to get started. 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who will be missing music festivals this year, but Nest and Spotify will certainly help me party at home, and cure some of my quarantine woes this summer.

Nest and Spotify are bringing you the sounds of summer

My favorite part of summertime is that it means music festival season is upon us. For me, there’s nothing better than getting together with all my friends and listening to our favorite bands on a warm, sunny day. This year, the festivals will have to wait, and while I’ll miss the jam-packed action of a live show, thankfully I have a back up system powered by Spotify, and Nest and Google Home smart speakers and displays.

Nest Mini, Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max and Google Home Max, to name a few, all work together to build a sound system that can cover your whole home. Plus, Spotify Premium users can ask Google Assistant to recommend some music and Google Assistant will offer multiple choices from artists and genres that they like, and others like them to choose from.

Obviously, I’m not the only one curating my own concerts at home: Here’s a look at how some of you have been listening to Spotify on Nest and Google Home devices.

Quarantine streams

Spotify shared how people have been listening to Spotify on Nest and Google Home smart speakers and displays between May 10 and June 10 of this year, in all parts of the world where both Spotify and our devices are available. Suffice it to say that quarantine apparently has many of us in our feelings, with Drake as the top-streamed artist on Nest devices. And given the stress of 2020, it's no surprise the top playlists are all related to sleep and relaxation. In fact, Google Trends backed up Spotify’s data , showing that searches for “insomnia” reached an all-time high in April of this year.

R2_V2-1.png

We also took a look at Google Trends to see which of the three top artists are being searched the most by country, which you can see below.

Screenshot 2020-06-22 at 9.46.02 PM.png

Songs of summer 

Summer couldn’t come soon enough. According to Google Trends, searches for “summertime songs” spiked more than 1,150 percent and searches for “songs that remind you of summer” spiked more than 1,000 percent in the past 90 days worldwide. Thankfully, Spotify can help listeners land on a summer jam. 

Spanning a variety of genres—from hip-hop to indie—Spotify’s Songs of Summer predictions are based on a number of factors like streaming numbers, current trajectory and future forecasting from their global curation team. This year, the team at Spotify predicts that “This is America” by Childish Gambino and “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar are likely to be mainstays during summer 2020.  The resurgence of these older tracks is likely due to cultural conversations focused on supporting the Black community. In fact, global Google Trends searches for the meaning of “This is America,” by Childish Gambino spiked more than 700 percent over the past month. 

In no particular order, here’s Spotify’s playlist of predictions for summer 2020, which you can stream on your Nest device by saying, “Hey Google, play Songs of Summer.” The playlist includes current hits like “ROCKSTAR” by DaBaby, featuring Roddy Ricch and “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles.  

Your Summer Rewind playlist from Spotify

This year, it feels especially important to relive the glory of summers past. To help, Spotify is re-introducing Your Summer Rewind, a personalized collection of your favorite summer jams from previous years. It will be available in all of Spotify’s Northern Hemisphere markets for both Free and Premium listeners on iOS and Android starting today.  Make sure your Spotify account is linked in the Google Home app and say, “Hey Google, play Your Summer Rewind playlist on Spotify” to get started. 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who will be missing music festivals this year, but Nest and Spotify will certainly help me party at home, and cure some of my quarantine woes this summer.

Nest and Spotify are bringing you the sounds of summer

My favorite part of summertime is that it means music festival season is upon us. For me, there’s nothing better than getting together with all my friends and listening to our favorite bands on a warm, sunny day. This year, the festivals will have to wait, and while I’ll miss the jam-packed action of a live show, thankfully I have a back up system powered by Spotify, and Nest and Google Home smart speakers and displays.

Nest Mini, Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max and Google Home Max, to name a few, all work together to build a sound system that can cover your whole home. Plus, Spotify Premium users can ask Google Assistant to recommend some music and Google Assistant will offer multiple choices from artists and genres that they like, and others like them to choose from.

Obviously, I’m not the only one curating my own concerts at home: Here’s a look at how some of you have been listening to Spotify on Nest and Google Home devices.

Quarantine streams

Spotify shared how people have been listening to Spotify on Nest and Google Home smart speakers and displays between May 10 and June 10 of this year, in all parts of the world where both Spotify and our devices are available. Suffice it to say that quarantine apparently has many of us in our feelings, with Drake as the top-streamed artist on Nest devices. And given the stress of 2020, it's no surprise the top playlists are all related to sleep and relaxation. In fact, Google Trends backed up Spotify’s data , showing that searches for “insomnia” reached an all-time high in April of this year.

R2_V2-1.png

We also took a look at Google Trends to see which of the three top artists are being searched the most by country, which you can see below.

Screenshot 2020-06-22 at 9.46.02 PM.png

Songs of summer 

Summer couldn’t come soon enough. According to Google Trends, searches for “summertime songs” spiked more than 1,150 percent and searches for “songs that remind you of summer” spiked more than 1,000 percent in the past 90 days worldwide. Thankfully, Spotify can help listeners land on a summer jam. 

Spanning a variety of genres—from hip-hop to indie—Spotify’s Songs of Summer predictions are based on a number of factors like streaming numbers, current trajectory and future forecasting from their global curation team. This year, the team at Spotify predicts that “This is America” by Childish Gambino and “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar are likely to be mainstays during summer 2020.  The resurgence of these older tracks is likely due to cultural conversations focused on supporting the Black community. In fact, global Google Trends searches for the meaning of “This is America,” by Childish Gambino spiked more than 700 percent over the past month. 

In no particular order, here’s Spotify’s playlist of predictions for summer 2020, which you can stream on your Nest device by saying, “Hey Google, play Songs of Summer.” The playlist includes current hits like “ROCKSTAR” by DaBaby, featuring Roddy Ricch and “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles.  

Your Summer Rewind playlist from Spotify

This year, it feels especially important to relive the glory of summers past. To help, Spotify is re-introducing Your Summer Rewind, a personalized collection of your favorite summer jams from previous years. It will be available in all of Spotify’s Northern Hemisphere markets for both Free and Premium listeners on iOS and Android starting today.  Make sure your Spotify account is linked in the Google Home app and say, “Hey Google, play Your Summer Rewind playlist on Spotify” to get started. 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who will be missing music festivals this year, but Nest and Spotify will certainly help me party at home, and cure some of my quarantine woes this summer.

How the Nest Wifi team set up their home networks

The building I live in was built in 1912—and 100 years ago, nobody was thinking about Wi-Fi signals when building homes. So I’ve had to improvise. My fiancé and I have a Nest Wifi router set up in our living room, at the far end of our one-bedroom apartment. But even though our apartment is only 850 square feet, we’ve found having a Nest Wifi point gives us the signal boost we need, even down three stories to the building’s garage and backyard. We placed our Nest Wifi point in the kitchen, and since the device doubles as a smart speaker with the Google Assistant, I can listen to music and my favorite podcasts while I’m cooking dinner or doing the dishes. 


Every home is unique, and that’s why we designed the Nest Wifi system to be completely modular. While most homes up to 3,800 square feet will be covered by a Nest Wifi router and point, you can also get a three-pack consisting of a Nest Wifi router and two points for homes up to 5,400 square feet. You can even purchase a standalone Nest Wifi router for a smaller home, or a standalone Nest Wifi point to add to an existing network. Plus, Nest Wifi is backward compatible with Google Wifi, so you can easily upgrade your network. 


Nest Wifi is on shelves today at the Google Store, Amazon, Target, Best Buy and more retailers. Here’s how a few people behind Nest Wifi have used it to make the most of their home’s connectivity.


Pushkar Sharma, product manager

I live in a 1300-square-foot house with a large backyard. I have a Nest Wifi router in my garage, because that’s where our cable drops in. But one of the bedrooms behind the kitchen often drops to low speeds. I have now added a Wifi point in my daughter’s bedroom, and it extends our signal to all rooms and even the backyard. So now I can make Google Duo video calls on my phone to my parents while I sit outside. As a family, we love asking the Google Assistant on our Wifi point to answer questions or play Bollywood songs.


Shea Ritchie, product marketing manager

We live in a long, old, San Francisco apartment, with high ceilings and thick walls, and the cable box is in the living room, on one end of the apartment. Our Nest Wifi router sits in there next to the TV–we cut the cord last year, so good Wi-Fi is critical for watching our favorite shows and sports without constant buffering. My boyfriend works from home, so halfway down the hall in his office we have his work’s access point plugged into the Google Wifi point we’ve been using for the last few years. Without the Google Wifi point in the office, his work network wouldn’t be strong enough for him to actually get online. At the other end of the apartment, I keep the Nest Wifi point in Mist next to my bed so I can listen to guided meditation at night and the news every morning. We use the Google Home app to manage our network, share the guest network password and troubleshoot from anywhere. 


Melissa Dominguez, engineering manager

We live in a two-story house with a large backyard. We have the Nest Wifi router in the office, which is downstairs at the front of the house, and a Nest Wifi point in the master bedroom, which is upstairs at the back of the house. This gives us great coverage for the whole house and yard, access to the Assistant from the adjoining bathroom so I can ask about the weather while I get ready. Plus, I can enforce bedtime with Wi-Fi pause schedules and remind the kids to get out the door on time with a scheduled broadcast reminder. This helps the kids build good habits without constant nagging from their parents. 


Sanjay Noronha, product manager

We have a U-shaped house with stucco exterior walls—a big no-no for Wi-Fi signal. The Nest Wifi router is at the end of one of the legs of the “U.” We put a Nest Wifi point in the kitchen, which is at the opposite side. We spend most of our time in the kitchen, where having a Wifi point in plain view allows for a fast and robust signal where we need it the most. Even our garage door opener is Wi-Fi connected, so we can verify we didn’t forget to close it after we’ve left home. I’ve got Safesearch turned on for everyone so we don’t stumble upon explicit content, and we have Wi-Fi schedules set up for the kids.