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Planned closure of Eves Valley Sawmill would affect 142 jobs, mayor says
Carter Holt Harvey plans to close Eves Valley Sawmill in near Nelson, the mayor says. 
© 2025 RadioNZ 9:15am Sickness, reliever shortage forces schools across country to close
Schools are having trouble finding reliever teachers, forcing them to close entirely.
© 2025 RadioNZ 8:55am Prisoner comes down from Otago jail roof
The remand prisoner got on to the roof of a unit at Otago Corrections Facility, near Milton, on Wednesday.
© 2025 RadioNZ 8:55am Justin Marshall pays tribute to ex-All Black, his great uncle, who has died
Lloyd Ashby played one test in 1958 and was a stalwart for Southland in inspiring a famous win over Australia and a Ranfurly Shield success.
© 2025 Stuff.co.nz 8:55am Google snuck a new smart speaker into its big Pixel event
Over the past several months, the question surrounding Google’s next smart devices hasn’t been when they will arrive, but if they will arrive.
After all, Google’s been slowly but steadily discontinuing older smart products (the Nest Protect, the Nest x Yale Lock) while leaving their replacements to third parties. At time same time, its aging line of Nest smart speakers and displays has been languishing.
But Google has previously hinted that new Google Home smart devices are on tap for later this year, and during the company’s big Made by Google event today, we may have gotten a glimpse of one.
During some pre-recorded banter between Milwaukee Bucks player Giannis Antetokounmpo and F1 driver Lando Norris, the camera panned over to reveal a small, slightly squished sphere with a gray exterior and a telltale light ring encircling its narrow base.
That sphere was clearly a smart speaker housing Gemini, with Norris chatting with the assistant in its Gemini Live mode.
The speaker only appeared in passing and was never mentioned directly during the presentation, but it seems likely to be the first new Google smart speaker since the Nest Audio debuted in 2020. I hesitate to call it a new Nest speaker, as I’m not entirely sure Google will stick with the Nest branding in this new age of Gemini. (That’s just a guess on my part.)
Speaking of Gemini, note that Alexa-like light ring replacing the four pulsing LEDs that used to represent Google Assistant. Google did just tell us that Google Assistant will soon be replaced by Gemini on its existing and forthcoming smart devices, so perhaps the light ring on the new speaker visually calls out the changing of the voice-assistant guard. (Of course, the four LEDs will remain on Google’s older Nest speakers.)
So, when will we find out more about this mysterious new speaker? If Google holds a fall Made for Google event as it has in the past, the new speaker might officially break cover then. Stay tuned.
This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers.
© 2025 PC World 8:45am 
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