If you want to secure your home, Google's Nest range is one of the smartest and easiest ways. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. There's no need for an expensive, professionally installed home security system for a little peace of mind. You can keep tabs on your home when you're away, check in on your kids or pets, and discourage intruders with a few well-placed security cameras and connected devices.

Google's Gemini AI has offended my dog, but at least it can automatically turn the lights on for me. A cat jumped up on my couch. The alert about the leaping feline is something my Google Home app sent me when I was out at a party. Turns out it was my dog. This notification came through a day after I turned on Google's Gemini for Home capability in the Google Home app.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Google's Gemini lets you chat with your smart home With help from the revamped Google Home app, Gemini for Home promises to be the eyes and ears of your household. "Hey Google, set bedroom lamp to 50 percent." Such stilted voice commands have been the stuff of smart home for years, but with Gemini for Home, Google is promising a smart home you can have an actual conversation with. That idea--of a smart home that understands the big picture and can act with context in mind--underpins Google's ambitious Gemini for Home plans, which it's rolling out today following months of slow buildup.

The Google Home app has seen a host of small improvements over the last few months to enhance stability and polish. However, Google says with this new update, you can expect to see 70 percent faster startup with the app and 80 percent fewer crashes. There are battery life and memory optimizations, and scrubbing through the camera is six times smoother. The Home app is designed to be used easily one-handed, and you can use more gestures, such as swiping down to enter a camera view or swiping up to back out. You now get preview images from the last event before the live view loads, the ability to swipe between timeline and events, double-tap to fast forward or rewind, and better notifications with a static thumbnail expandable to a large animated preview. Google says the merger of features and devices from the old Nest app is now complete, and folks should be able to transition seamlessly, though the legacy app won't be disappearing yet.

The big smart home manufacturers have been leaking like sieves as of late, giving us juicy early previews of their super-secret upcoming releases. Philips Hue recently fell victim to its own leak that revealed its entire fall product lineup, and now Google appears to have unwittingly shared images of its new Nest cam hardware. First, a quick recap: Google had already teased--intentionally--a new Gemini smart speaker during its Pixel event a couple of weeks back, and just days ago it promised an upcoming Google Home update on October 1, complete with a partial image of what appears to be a new Nest camera. Instead, it seems Google may have inadvertently left images of its new Nest hardware in the Google Home app following a recent update. The images, which were spotted by Android Authority and appear to have been subsequently yanked from the app, don't reveal anything startlingly new about the new Nest cams, aside from the fact that they exist.

Google just announced a slew of features coming to Google Home, and one of them will come in particularly handy for Google TV users with Nest Cams guarding their households. Coming soon, Nest Cam feeds will get picture-in-picture support on Google TV devices, perfect for keeping eyes on your home while streaming your favorite shows. The long-awaited feature will make it easy to see who's at your door while in the middle of a binge-watching session, and you'll also be able to check the backyard or other Nest Cam-monitored areas without pausing the video. Google TV devices will soon get picture-in-picture support for live Nest Cam feeds. The new picture-in-picture mode is coming first to the Google TV Streamer, and you'll need to be in Google's public preview program.

Google is giving its smart-home range a shake-up, and is discontinuing two of its products to replace them with third-party collaborations. That means, after 12 years, it's time to say goodbye to the Nest Protect Smoke & CO Alarm, and it's also ending production of the Nest x Yale Lock, a smart lock that debuted in 2018. The Nest Protect's replacement comes from First Alert, a well-established player in the smoke detector space. Arriving in the coming months for 130 and available for preorder now, the First Alert Smart Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm will offer safety voice alerts, safety checkups, and the ability to silence alarms from the app. It'll connect with existing Nest Protect devices, so if you have one, you can still install the First Alert system in another spot, and if a fire is detected, both units will sound the alarm. Just like the Protect, it can be set up and controlled through the Google Home app.

Google is stepping up its Gemini AI rollout for smart home users, delivering access to a new Gemini-powered feature in the Google Home app. Android users enrolled in Google Home's Public Preview can now help test "Help me create," a Gemini AI-infused tool that lets you create Google Home automations from natural-language prompts. Here's how it works: You open the Google Home app, tap the Automations tab, tap Add, then tap "Help me create." Next, just describe in English (yes, just English, at least for now) what you'd like the automation to do. For example, you could type (or say) "Turn off the lights at 11 p.m. every night," "Lock all the doors when everyone's away," or "Set a meditation time reminder."

Amazon Prime Day is usually a great time to pick up things for your home, particularly smart home tech. This year, a bunch of Google's Nest devices have been discounted, with many down to record-low prices. These gadgets are best for anyone who already lives within the Google ecosystem, especially those who already rely on the Google Assistant to help them get things done. You'll find a few Nest security cameras on sale for Prime Day, as well as video doorbells and Wi-Fi systems. If you're looking for even more Prime Day deals, check out Engadget's Prime Day hub where you'll find all of the best tech deals you can get for the shopping event this year.

Google's wired Nest security camera has dropped to its lowest price to date. The second-gen device is for indoor use and it's motion sensitive. You can snap one up for 70, which is 30 or 30 percent off the regular price of 100, at Amazon if you opt for the fog or linen colorway. However, if you go for the snow variant you can save a little more. That one is on sale for 67.59, or 32 percent off.