Google Workspace Wednesday

Issue #35 / 24-JAN-24

Combine multiple video effects, improve lighting and audio in Google Meet

Google is launching new features to personalize your appearance in Google Meet. You can now combine multiple video effects on web and mobile, giving you the flexibility to find the right mix of effects that will represent you best during your meetings. There is also a new studio lighting on web feature, which can be used to simulate studio-quality lighting. Lastly, the new studio sound feature will automatically improve poor audio quality from typical bluetooth headsets and dial-in participants by using AI to recreate higher audio frequencies.

Join meetings as a guest without a Google account on mobile devices

You can now quickly join a Google Meet meeting as a guest without signing into a personal or work Google account or creating a new account. This functionality already exists for meetings on the web. By expanding to mobile, guests now have greater flexibility for joining Meet meetings on the go. To join as a guest, you need to be on the Calendar invite for the meeting or have been provided the meeting code or link beforehand. Before you join the meeting, you’ll be prompted to enter your name and “knock” to be admitted. Once a meeting host or co-host accepts your knock, you’ll jump right into the meeting.

Manage reported Google Chat content from the new moderation tool in the Admin console

Google is introducing a centralized location for reviewing and taking action on reported Google Chat content in the Admin console. Here can be found an overarching view of active and resolved reports, as well as additional information and context about reported messages. Super admins will have access to the moderation tool and can also assign users the new “Moderate Chat content report” privilege. The new privilege can be assigned to users in your organization who are best suited to review Chat content, helping to reduce the burden on super admins.

Star messages in Google Chat on mobile

Last November, Google introduced starred on web, an additional shortcut in the redesigned Google Chat navigation panel that helps you stay on top of your most important messages. Now, the feature is available on Android and iOS mobile devices. To star a message, long-press it and click star. You can unstar a message from the original message or unstar messages from the shortcut.

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