The Google Assistant was updated with over a dozen new actions earlier this week as the Mountain View-based tech giant’s voice-enabled companion received the ability to keep track of grocery expiration dates, read Jaden Smith’s quotes, control Neato-made robot vacuums, and more. While the Google Assistant was already capable of keeping track of groceries thanks to its Google Keep integration, its new action Chefling allows it to also keep tabs on your existing food reserves and their expiration dates. Furthermore, Chefling is capable of suggesting recipes that are meant to utilize the ingredients you already have at your disposal, which is another useful feature that will help you avoid scenarios in which your food goes bad. Chefling previously debuted on Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo and proved to be relatively popular among consumers, so its Google Assistant integration will likely make Google’s digital companion even more useful.
The Google Assistant also received an action allowing it to access IMDB ratings, in addition to getting access to a large knowledge database on congenital heart disease, Mars, and horse races in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Neato’s Google Assistant action allows users to control their robot vacuum cleaners with voice commands, while the Bugle Notes action will help U.S. Military Academy’s cadets learn The Soldier’s Creed and some other vital information. Finally, the aforementioned action designed to quote Will Smith’s 18-year-old son wasn’t made in jest as its 16-year-old creator Matthew Gillen reportedly finds Jaden Smith’s words to be moving and inspiring.
All of the Google Assistant actions outlined above can be added to your digital companion through the Google Home app. Once you’ve opened it, navigate to its Settings menu and tap the “Services” option which will allow you to download all available third-party actions released for the Google Assistant to date. The Alphabet-owned Internet company added third-party action support to the Google Assistant in late 2016 and has already prompted more than a 100 developers to release useful add-ons for its digital companion that recently started rolling out to a large number of Android smartphones. As its user base keeps growing, the Google Assistant will likely receive more useful skills in the future.