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Google Assistant has, especially in the context of the smart home, been crumbling over the past couple of years. In a post this evening, Google’s lead for Home and Nest has acknowledged Assistant issues while also teasing “major improvements” coming later this year.

As Google has been moving towards Gemini, the experience of using Google Assistant has been, in a word, chaos. It works sometimes, but “reliable” certainly doesn’t come to mind for Assistant nowadays. This is especially true in the smart home, as Google Assistant speakers and just general controls through the voice assistant haven’t been working as well as they used to.

In a post on Twitter/X, Google’s Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer over Google Home and Nest, has acknowledged “recent feedback” over Google Assistant reliability.

Kattukaran explains:

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Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices. I sincerely apologize for what you’re experiencing and feeling!

We hear you loud and clear and are committed to getting this right — and making sure we have a long term solution that provides better reliability and capability. We have been actively working on major improvements for [some time] and will have more to share in the fall.

Beyond just acknowledging what’s going on, the post teases “major improvements” in the pipeline. While it’s not directly named, it seems reasonable to assume Gemini is involved. Google last year teased Assistant improvements which have started to surface in recent months. Presumably, we could hear more as Google’s August 20 launch event for the Pixel 10 series nears, but it could also be after that given the “Fall” timeline.

How has Assistant been working for you as of late?

More on Google Home:

Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram

Google Assistant has, especially in the context of the smart home, been crumbling over the past couple of years. In a post this evening, Google’s lead for Home and Nest has acknowledged Assistant issues while also teasing “major improvements” coming later this year.

As Google has been moving towards Gemini, the experience of using Google Assistant has been, in a word, chaos. It works sometimes, but “reliable” certainly doesn’t come to mind for Assistant nowadays. This is especially true in the smart home, as Google Assistant speakers and just general controls through the voice assistant haven’t been working as well as they used to.

In a post on Twitter/X, Google’s Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer over Google Home and Nest, has acknowledged “recent feedback” over Google Assistant reliability.

Kattukaran explains:

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices. I sincerely apologize for what you’re experiencing and feeling!

We hear you loud and clear and are committed to getting this right — and making sure we have a long term solution that provides better reliability and capability. We have been actively working on major improvements for [some time] and will have more to share in the fall.

Beyond just acknowledging what’s going on, the post teases “major improvements” in the pipeline. While it’s not directly named, it seems reasonable to assume Gemini is involved. Google last year teased Assistant improvements which have started to surface in recent months. Presumably, we could hear more as Google’s August 20 launch event for the Pixel 10 series nears, but it could also be after that given the “Fall” timeline.

How has Assistant been working for you as of late?

More on Google Home:

Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram

As you’ll see in the many images below, this Game Boy doesn’t rely on miniature hats for its iconic fuchsia A and B buttons — Lego has seemingly created pitch-perfect buttons that appear to recess into the frame. The console’s curves are also captured remarkably well!

And unless I’m very much mistaken, it comes with printed tiles rather than sticker labels to help replicate the Game Boy’s many, many iconic labels for its buttons, volume dial, on-off switch, “Dot Matrix With Stereo Sound” highlight, as well as larger features like the Game Boy’s mono speaker grille, battery compartment latch, and serial number around back that have proven difficult to emulate in bricks. (That serial number has an easter egg, by the way.)

But perhaps best of all, this Lego Game Boy can show off actual scenes from the classic games using swappable lenticular lenses that’ll show you different images when viewed from different angles. You can pop in a brick-built cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening or Super Mario Land, and “watch” the classic Nintendo logo drop as you rotate the screen downwards (you’ll have to imagine the Game Boy’s da-DING beep). Or, pop in a different lenticular lens to see Link cozy up to Marin on the beach in Awakening’s most bittersweet scene:

I built Nick Lever’s fan-designed Lego Game Boy myself, and have the real deal that plays actual cartridges too, but I’m going to be mighty tempted to pick up the official Lego one as well. If those buttons move when you push them, I doubt I’ll resist! Do wish it came with Tetris, too, though.

As you’ll see in the many images below, this Game Boy doesn’t rely on miniature hats for its iconic fuchsia A and B buttons — Lego has seemingly created pitch-perfect buttons that appear to recess into the frame. The console’s curves are also captured remarkably well!

And unless I’m very much mistaken, it comes with printed tiles rather than sticker labels to help replicate the Game Boy’s many, many iconic labels for its buttons, volume dial, on-off switch, “Dot Matrix With Stereo Sound” highlight, as well as larger features like the Game Boy’s mono speaker grille, battery compartment latch, and serial number around back that have proven difficult to emulate in bricks. (That serial number has an easter egg, by the way.)

But perhaps best of all, this Lego Game Boy can show off actual scenes from the classic games using swappable lenticular lenses that’ll show you different images when viewed from different angles. You can pop in a brick-built cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening or Super Mario Land, and “watch” the classic Nintendo logo drop as you rotate the screen downwards (you’ll have to imagine the Game Boy’s da-DING beep). Or, pop in a different lenticular lens to see Link cozy up to Marin on the beach in Awakening’s most bittersweet scene:

I built Nick Lever’s fan-designed Lego Game Boy myself, and have the real deal that plays actual cartridges too, but I’m going to be mighty tempted to pick up the official Lego one as well. If those buttons move when you push them, I doubt I’ll resist! Do wish it came with Tetris, too, though.

As you’ll see in the many images below, this Game Boy doesn’t rely on miniature hats for its iconic fuchsia A and B buttons — Lego has seemingly created pitch-perfect buttons that appear to recess into the frame. The console’s curves are also captured remarkably well!

And unless I’m very much mistaken, it comes with printed tiles rather than sticker labels to help replicate the Game Boy’s many, many iconic labels for its buttons, volume dial, on-off switch, “Dot Matrix With Stereo Sound” highlight, as well as larger features like the Game Boy’s mono speaker grille, battery compartment latch, and serial number around back that have proven difficult to emulate in bricks. (That serial number has an easter egg, by the way.)

But perhaps best of all, this Lego Game Boy can show off actual scenes from the classic games using swappable lenticular lenses that’ll show you different images when viewed from different angles. You can pop in a brick-built cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening or Super Mario Land, and “watch” the classic Nintendo logo drop as you rotate the screen downwards (you’ll have to imagine the Game Boy’s da-DING beep). Or, pop in a different lenticular lens to see Link cozy up to Marin on the beach in Awakening’s most bittersweet scene:

I built Nick Lever’s fan-designed Lego Game Boy myself, and have the real deal that plays actual cartridges too, but I’m going to be mighty tempted to pick up the official Lego one as well. If those buttons move when you push them, I doubt I’ll resist! Do wish it came with Tetris, too, though.

As you’ll see in the many images below, this Game Boy doesn’t rely on miniature hats for its iconic fuchsia A and B buttons — Lego has seemingly created pitch-perfect buttons that appear to recess into the frame. The console’s curves are also captured remarkably well!

And unless I’m very much mistaken, it comes with printed tiles rather than sticker labels to help replicate the Game Boy’s many, many iconic labels for its buttons, volume dial, on-off switch, “Dot Matrix With Stereo Sound” highlight, as well as larger features like the Game Boy’s mono speaker grille, battery compartment latch, and serial number around back that have proven difficult to emulate in bricks. (That serial number has an easter egg, by the way.)

But perhaps best of all, this Lego Game Boy can show off actual scenes from the classic games using swappable lenticular lenses that’ll show you different images when viewed from different angles. You can pop in a brick-built cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening or Super Mario Land, and “watch” the classic Nintendo logo drop as you rotate the screen downwards (you’ll have to imagine the Game Boy’s da-DING beep). Or, pop in a different lenticular lens to see Link cozy up to Marin on the beach in Awakening’s most bittersweet scene:

I built Nick Lever’s fan-designed Lego Game Boy myself, and have the real deal that plays actual cartridges too, but I’m going to be mighty tempted to pick up the official Lego one as well. If those buttons move when you push them, I doubt I’ll resist! Do wish it came with Tetris, too, though.

As you’ll see in the many images below, this Game Boy doesn’t rely on miniature hats for its iconic fuchsia A and B buttons — Lego has seemingly created pitch-perfect buttons that appear to recess into the frame. The console’s curves are also captured remarkably well!

And unless I’m very much mistaken, it comes with printed tiles rather than sticker labels to help replicate the Game Boy’s many, many iconic labels for its buttons, volume dial, on-off switch, “Dot Matrix With Stereo Sound” highlight, as well as larger features like the Game Boy’s mono speaker grille, battery compartment latch, and serial number around back that have proven difficult to emulate in bricks. (That serial number has an easter egg, by the way.)

But perhaps best of all, this Lego Game Boy can show off actual scenes from the classic games using swappable lenticular lenses that’ll show you different images when viewed from different angles. You can pop in a brick-built cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening or Super Mario Land, and “watch” the classic Nintendo logo drop as you rotate the screen downwards (you’ll have to imagine the Game Boy’s da-DING beep). Or, pop in a different lenticular lens to see Link cozy up to Marin on the beach in Awakening’s most bittersweet scene:

I built Nick Lever’s fan-designed Lego Game Boy myself, and have the real deal that plays actual cartridges too, but I’m going to be mighty tempted to pick up the official Lego one as well. If those buttons move when you push them, I doubt I’ll resist! Do wish it came with Tetris, too, though.

As you’ll see in the many images below, this Game Boy doesn’t rely on miniature hats for its iconic fuchsia A and B buttons — Lego has seemingly created pitch-perfect buttons that appear to recess into the frame. The console’s curves are also captured remarkably well!

And unless I’m very much mistaken, it comes with printed tiles rather than sticker labels to help replicate the Game Boy’s many, many iconic labels for its buttons, volume dial, on-off switch, “Dot Matrix With Stereo Sound” highlight, as well as larger features like the Game Boy’s mono speaker grille, battery compartment latch, and serial number around back that have proven difficult to emulate in bricks. (That serial number has an easter egg, by the way.)

But perhaps best of all, this Lego Game Boy can show off actual scenes from the classic games using swappable lenticular lenses that’ll show you different images when viewed from different angles. You can pop in a brick-built cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening or Super Mario Land, and “watch” the classic Nintendo logo drop as you rotate the screen downwards (you’ll have to imagine the Game Boy’s da-DING beep). Or, pop in a different lenticular lens to see Link cozy up to Marin on the beach in Awakening’s most bittersweet scene:

I built Nick Lever’s fan-designed Lego Game Boy myself, and have the real deal that plays actual cartridges too, but I’m going to be mighty tempted to pick up the official Lego one as well. If those buttons move when you push them, I doubt I’ll resist! Do wish it came with Tetris, too, though.

As you’ll see in the many images below, this Game Boy doesn’t rely on miniature hats for its iconic fuchsia A and B buttons — Lego has seemingly created pitch-perfect buttons that appear to recess into the frame. The console’s curves are also captured remarkably well!

And unless I’m very much mistaken, it comes with printed tiles rather than sticker labels to help replicate the Game Boy’s many, many iconic labels for its buttons, volume dial, on-off switch, “Dot Matrix With Stereo Sound” highlight, as well as larger features like the Game Boy’s mono speaker grille, battery compartment latch, and serial number around back that have proven difficult to emulate in bricks. (That serial number has an easter egg, by the way.)

But perhaps best of all, this Lego Game Boy can show off actual scenes from the classic games using swappable lenticular lenses that’ll show you different images when viewed from different angles. You can pop in a brick-built cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening or Super Mario Land, and “watch” the classic Nintendo logo drop as you rotate the screen downwards (you’ll have to imagine the Game Boy’s da-DING beep). Or, pop in a different lenticular lens to see Link cozy up to Marin on the beach in Awakening’s most bittersweet scene:

I built Nick Lever’s fan-designed Lego Game Boy myself, and have the real deal that plays actual cartridges too, but I’m going to be mighty tempted to pick up the official Lego one as well. If those buttons move when you push them, I doubt I’ll resist! Do wish it came with Tetris, too, though.

The latest Pokémon Presents broadcast earlier this week gave trainers all-new details about the upcoming Switch and Switch 2 release Pokémon Legends Z-A.

This included the news about a new Switch 2 bundle and details about pre-order bonuses. Now, retailers in the US have shared some bonuses you can get if you decide to pre-order the physical copy ahead of the full release this October.

If you place a pre-order at Walmart, you can get an exclusive mystery pin pre-order bonus. As mentioned in the fine print, this offer begins this week and is available “while supplies last” and is limited to “one gift per purchase”. The Switch 2 version here will set you back $69.00 and the Switch version is available for $59.88.

Apart from this offer, Best Buy is offering a “free gamer mat” with Pokémon Legends: Z–A pre-orders. According to the description, this mat can be used for playing the Pokémon Trading Card game or as a mouse pad.

This item will also be available in “limited quantities” and is available while supplies last. And if you’ve already pre-ordered, you’ll also receive the gamer mat. The Switch 2 version here is $69.99 and the Switch version is priced at $59.99.

As already revealed by The Pokémon Company, trainers across the globe can also get an “early-purchase bonus” in the form of a Ralts holding a Gardevoirite stone as a gift. Additionally, the digital version early-purchase bonus includes “a gift of 100 Poké Balls” (both of these gifts are available to claim until February 28th, 2026).

Pre-orders for the new Nintendo Switch 2 + Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Bundle have also gone live and will arrive on the same date as the new game on 16th October 2025.