Google wants to make sure you're using its Assistant around the house. To that end, the company announced a bunch of new home-focused features for its Assistant system at CES, most notably one that lets you schedule actions in advance—so you can tell your coffee maker to start at 6 a.m. or your air conditioner to stop at 10 p.m.

That feature is called Scheduled Actions, and it's coming later this year. It'll work with existing Google-compatible devices as well as new categories, such as AC units, bathtubs, coffee makers, and robot vacuums, the company says. ("Hey Google, run me a bath" is strangely compelling.)

The company also wants to festoon your home with its Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max screens, so it's adding the ability to use Nest devices as family bulletin boards. By saying "Hey Google, leave a note," a sticky note will appear on a Google-powered smart display, so the other folks in your house can know what's up.

If you want to walk around the house while listening to an article read out to you, a new "Hey Google, read it!" feature will read long-form content aloud in a more natural voice than the current Assistant would—turning articles into little audiobooks or podcasts, as long as you're connected.

The company is also trying to plug and promote what it says are privacy features, but my eyes are rolling a little at this one. Google insists it doesn't retain your audio recordings, and it has voice commands like "Hey Google, delete everything I said to you this week." A new command, "Hey Google, that wasn't for you," will immediately delete the most recent action.

As Mashable notes, meanwhile, you'll also be able to set contacts on "speed dial" for your smart speakers and smart displays later in 2020.

Google Translates for Everyone

Google also announced that its "interpreter mode" is coming to a bunch of airports, hotels, and tourist attractions, letting people converse more easily across the language barrier in 29 languages.

Interpreter mode already exists; it's on Android phones and Nest devices. The trick here is working with systems integrators Volara and Sonifi to get the devices properly set up, configured, and supported in a business environment.

Working with those firms, Google is putting Nest Hubs in JFK Airport's Terminal 4, Caesar's and Best Western hotels, and HSBC banks, for instance. Terminal 4, Google points out, is a particularly prime location for an interpreter system: it's home to flights from 29 international airlines from AeroMexico to Xiamen Air, as well as a large library of Delta transatlantic flights. More than 21 million passengers use it per year, Google said.

Other businesses can now work through Volara and Sonifi to get the system up and running. Sonifi is probably better known under its former name LodgeNet: it's responsible for the vast majority of hotel TV pay-per-view systems in the US, which means it's in a prime position to plant devices on hotel front desks.