Google Podcasts can now generate a smart news playlist in the U.S.
What you need to know
- Google brings Your News Update to the Podcasts app.
- It's a smart audio playlist of personalised news stories read out by a natural sounding voice.
- It is being made available only to U.S. listeners at the moment.
The Google Podcasts app is adding a new feature that previously used to be an Assistant exclusive, the "Your News Update" feature. That feature would previously aggregate and read out a mix of news stories Google thinks you'd be interested in on a Nest Mini or other Google-Assistant enabled smart speaker.
Google says that the Your News Update podcasts are customized based on what data it has on you, like your location, interests, and preferences. "If you're a music fan living in Los Angeles, for example, you might hear a local story on Governor Gavin Newsom's latest announcement, and then a review of the latest Katy Perry album, followed by a deep dive of the upcoming election," said Liz Gannes, Product Manager of News.
Google has also done some work so that the generated news bulletin sounds less like a robot and more like a real person.
Gannes explained:
We're all used to music apps generating a mix based on your interests, but a playlist created for Podcasts like this is a little novel. As it's a U.S exclusive, not everyone will be able to try it, but Google says U.S. customers should be able to get access to it now.
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