Google Assistant wants to talk you through your work day

Google continues its collection of updates focused on managing working from home and life in quarantine with Wednesday's announcement of Workday Routines and broader compatibility for smart-light sleep features. 

Workday Routines

With Workday Routines, you can create a scheduled set of Google Assistant reminders to keep you on track throughout your day. There's a preset routine in the Assistant app for iOS and Android, but you can customize each item to fit your day. 

You can set a routine, for example, that reminds you every weekday at 10 a.m. to stretch or drink a glass of water. Then, at 2 p.m., your assistant can remind you to take a walk or get ready for your daily conference call. 

In addition to specific reminders throughout the day, Google Assistant will regularly share the time with you. Workday Routines are rolling out this week in English for smart displays, phones and speakers. 

Gentle Sleep and Wake

Google Assistant is also stepping up its sleep game with expanded functionality for the Gentle Sleep and Wake feature with smart lights. The feature is rolling out to all smart lights; it previously was only compatible with Philips Hue bulbs. 

With the voice command, "Hey Google, sleep my lights at 10 p.m.," your lights will fade out to slowly encourage sleep. For a gentle wake up say, "Hey Google, wake my lights at 8 a.m.," and your lights will fade in and change color to wake you. If you have existing Google Assistant alarms, you can say, "Turn on Gentle Wake Up," for brightening 30 minutes prior to your alarm time. 

This is just one more update announcement in a slew of smart home updates Google has released this year. Netflix came to smart displays in July, while Zoom and Meet group calling also made their way to smart displays this summer. That's in addition to other smart display updates like better broadcasting, multiroom audio and visual games like Jeopardy. 

With a Sept. 30 event on the books, it's likely we'll see more smart home products and features announced very soon. Stay tuned to CNET for coverage of Google's event and all things Assistant.