Google Dating video chats should now be more useful if you need to get some work done or just don’t want them hogging your screen. Google is rolling out several updates to Workspace that include offering Meet video chats directly in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. You can start a virtual meeting and transfer it to the document you’re working on to help you collaborate without switching between tabs. You can also showcase this content if it’s out of the box. This should be available in the “coming weeks,” Google said.
You will have the freedom to switch tabs if you wish, however. Google is also introducing picture-in-picture (middle) support for Meet in April. You’ll need to use Chrome, but the feature will let you see up to four video thumbnails in a separate window as you jump between other tabs and apps. This will come in handy if you need to view different tabs during a presentation, but let’s be honest – it will also help you keep a video chat running when you can’t (or don’t want to) devote your full attention.
Other improvements coming to Meet include in-meeting emoji reactions (coming April) and the ability to add your own video thumbnail from interactive Companion Mode and your laptop camera (coming later). This year). Meet hardware is also starting to offer automatic noise cancellation. The Spaces collaborative environment, meanwhile, will finally offer online threading to keep your conversations tidy.
The improvements are acknowledgments that remote and hybrid working is here to stay despite return-to-office plans at many companies. At the same time, they seem like really useful features that might encourage you to use Workspace… and, of course, skip rivals like Microsoft Teams.
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