Google today announced a major update to Meet, the video conferencing service, which offers several UI customizations for desktop users, as well as a good number of new functionality, including multipinning, so you can highlight multiple feeds instead of just one, as well as new AI -controlled video capabilities for light adjustments, auto zoom and a new Data Saver feature that limits data usage on slower cellular networks.
If you’re anything like me, you get more and more tired of video conferencing (to the point where I often just keep the camera off). But the reality is that this style of meeting will be with us for the foreseeable future whether we like it or not.
Image Credits: Google
Google notes that today’s release aims to make meetings “ more immersive, inclusive and productive. ” The new UI doesn’t seem to be a radical change, but it puts more controls and functions at your fingertips instead of hiding them in a menu. It also consolidates them in the bottom row instead of the current system that spreads functions between the main menu bar and an extra small menu at the top.
For presenters who don’t want to see themselves on the screen, Meet now also lets you minimize or hide your own video feed – and if you really want to look into your own eyes, you can pin your feed to the rest of the grid too. Google says it also plans to disable your self-feed for all Meet calls soon.
Image Credits: Google
Speaking of pinning, one feature that seems especially useful is the ability to flag multiple feeds. For example, this new multipinning capability makes it easier to focus on the chat participants who are most active. This feature will be rolled out in the coming months.
And in a few months, some of those flagged feeds will look a bit more interesting (or annoying, depending on your opinion), because a new feature that Google has planned – but isn’t ready to roll out yet – is video background. replacement. For now, Google only offers three scenes: a classroom, a party, and a forest. The company says there are more to come, but it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to bring your own videos to this feature anytime soon.
Image Credits: Google
Other new features in this release include Meet’s ability to automatically spruce up your video feed a bit to make you more visible in a dark environment and to enhance your video when sitting in front of a bright background. This will be rolled out in the coming weeks. There’s also auto zoom, which uses AI to automatically zoom in on you and place you in the center of your frame. That’s coming to paid Google Workspace subscribers in the coming months.