Buying a Nest doorbell? New Halloween features make it far more kid-friendly
Trick or greet
If you're thinking of buying a Nest Hello to add some security to your family home, you'll be pleased to know that a spooky new feature has made the smart video doorbell more kid-friendly than ever before.
Just in time for Halloween, Google has furnished the Nest Hello with some eerie new chimes, which the company says will "make your front door a neighborhood destination on Halloween night".
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According to a Google blog post, US Nest Hello users will have the ability to "transform their doorbell chime into a cackling witch, a ghost, a vampire or a scary monster", which will no doubt delight trick-or-treaters on the spookiest night of the year.
This will also work on Nest smart displays like the Google Nest Hub Max – you just need to enable the visitor announcements feature.
"Hey Google, get spooky"
Google says that it plans to add "winter ringtones" in late November, so get ready to hear Jingle Bells every time a visitor comes to your door.
While the Nest Hello is primarily a smart doorbell, it also doubles up as a security camera – useful for this time of year when mischievous teens set out to decorate the neighborhood with eggs and toilet paper.
If you have a Nest Hello, or a security camera like the Nest Cam Outdoor, you'll be notified when activity is detected around your house, and you can talk and listen through the Nest app on your smartphone or tablet to deter trespassers.
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Google is certainly getting into the Halloween spirit this year; if you have a Google Nest speaker or display, you can say "hey Google, get spooky", to trigger an hour-long playlist of eerie sounds and music.
While Google's blog post specifically mentions Nest speaker, we imagine this will work with the original Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Home Hub speakers too; after all they all use the same Google Assistant ecosystem.
Via Engadget
Olivia was previously TechRadar's Senior Editor - Home Entertainment, covering everything from headphones to TVs. Based in London, she's a popular music graduate who worked in the music industry before finding her calling in journalism. She's previously been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live on the subject of multi-room audio, chaired panel discussions on diversity in music festival lineups, and her bylines include T3, Stereoboard, What to Watch, Top Ten Reviews, Creative Bloq, and Croco Magazine. Olivia now has a career in PR.