0
Applied AI·July 1, 2026·1 min read

Google built a great smart speaker, but Gemini isn’t ready for it

Share

A strong Google smart speaker hamstrung by Gemini’s current behavior shows the hardware is ahead of the assistant UX. For anyone building on top of home assistants, treat 2026 as an integration and experimentation year — not yet the moment to bet core workflows on always-on conversational agents in the kitchen.

Applied AI

‘Families, farmers, and small businesses should not be forced to cover the costs of new power generation’: Forget Trump’s voluntary commitment, this new bipartisan act wants to force AI companies to pay for the energy they use

The Ratepayer Protection Act is a clear signal that AI power demand is becoming a political cost center—expect direct cost-recovery mechanisms tied to data centers and model training. If you’re planning large AI workloads in the US, bake potential energy surcharges and location-specific regulation into your 3–5 year TCO models now.