Google Assistant has been losing features over the past several months and two more are gearing up to be quietly cut. Assignable reminders and location-based reminders will be sunset “soon” according to the Google Assistant support page. This might be a tricky change for people who have been relying on the features since they were introduced in 2019.
Assignable reminders are a great way to divide tasks among groups of people as they reduced the number of assignments and notifications individuals received when collaborating with others. Additionally, location-based reminders offered a similar kind of help but instead of simply assigning each notification to a single person, they allowed everyone in a specific area to share tasks. Now, both features will be cut at an unspecified future date.
Google reassures us you will still be able to assign individual reminders in Google Chat and Gmail, but the feature will be taken away in Assistant. Likewise, you will still have the option to set routines for a location, but not reminders for those in that specific place.
This comes following a previous cut to Google Assistant’s Snapshot feature which was a far more hidden application than assignable reminders and location-based reminders. While the motivations behind the feature cuts are currently unclear, they are in line with Google’s previous actions. The company seems quick to cut apps, features, and tech that it isn’t currently interested in so it would seem as if the changes to Google Assistant simply fall within Google’s “done with” box.
Some speculation has been making the internet rounds that Google might be gearing up to release some new type of virtual assistant software which would explain the inconsistent support for Assistant. While this is possible, the company has continued Assistant support in other areas and if it were getting ready to release something new, Google would have likely shared it at the recent Google I/O conference.
All signs point to this simply being a feature that Google doesn’t see a need for supporting anymore. Those still using the assignment reminders won’t be cut off quite yet, though Google gives a vague “soon” as the timeline for when Assistant will cease supporting the features.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.