Google Meet begins rollout of custom backgrounds on web app

Custom backgrounds are popular on Zoom, so it wasn't a surprise when Google announced it was bringing the feature to Google Meet. Now, the new feature has started to roll out to most users on Chrome OS, Windows, and Mac, given that you access Meet through Chrome. You won't be required to install an extension or additional software. Mobile support is "coming soon," according to Google.

Google offers a library of images to choose from, or you can upload your background of choice. If you can't access the feature yet, just be patient. It could take the company up to seven days to roll out this new functionality. Once it is live, you will see an icon on the bottom right of the interface that lets you change your background.

Source: Engadget

Google Meet adds breakout rooms to allow smaller group discussions

Source: Google

Online classes with tons of students can be overwhelming for both the learners and the teachers, especially when you want to encourage interaction. Google hopes to help out by rolling out breakout rooms for its Meet app. It's rolling out first to Enterprise for Education customers, but it will be available to more users later this year. This highly requested feature will let educators divide participants into smaller groups. Moderators can create up to 100 breakout rooms, with participants randomly and evenly distributed across rooms. But the organizers can move participants around manually, too. Teachers and moderators can jump from one breakout room to another to supervise or join discussions. 

Source: Engadget

Google Meet to add Q&A, polls for G Suite paid users

Source: Google

Google Meet is adding two highly-requested features on October 8: Q&A and polls. The functionalities will be available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers. Both are useful to help facilitate smooth meetings and classes held on the video conferencing platform. 

Q&A will allow attendees or students to submit questions that hosts, moderators, and teachers can answer without interrupting the discussion flow. Or to give those, as Google describes, "who may be soft-spoken, joining from a noisy environment, or need more time to process their thoughts" an opportunity to ask or share their insight. Participants can also upvote their favourite questions.

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Google Meet free plans will limit meetings to 60 minutes starting Sept. 30

Source: Google

When Google allowed all Meet users to get unlimited-length meetings for up to 100 people on the video chat app, the company said it'll only be available until the end of September. Google is sticking to its word with free versions of Meet being limited to 60-minute meetings at a time. 

Access to advanced features for G Suite and G Suite for Education customers will also be taken away from users who aren't part of the "enterprise" tier of G Suite. These included allowing meetings for up to 250 participants, live-stream to up to 100,000 people within a single domain, and save meeting recordings to Google Drive.

If you're not interested in updating to a paid Meet plan, all you will be losing is less time for conference calls. And sometimes, that isn't the worst thing.

Source: The Verge

Update on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 at 8:08AM by Nicole Batac

Just a day before Google was set to enforce a 60-minute limit for free Gmail users utilizing Google Meet, the company has extended that deadline to March 31, 2021. The search giant cites the busy holiday season as a reason for extending the unlimited time offer for its free users.

As we look ahead to a holiday season with less travel and important milestones like family reunions, PTA meetings and weddings hosted over video, we want to continue helping those who rely on Meet to stay in touch over the coming months. As a sign of our commitment, today we’re continuing unlimited Meet calls (up to 24 hours) in the free version through March 31, 2021 for Gmail accounts. 

Source: 9to5Google