This could just be Google’s next product

It’s well documented that Google’s parent company has its fingers in more than a few pies. Alphabet’s ‘Other Bets’, as they like to call them, extends to everything from self-driving cars to virtual reality and even an attempt to make ageing a thing of the past, but does that now include a new range of smart home appliances? Quite possibly on the latest evidence. Google acquired Nest Labs back in 2014 for $3.2bn and now carries a range of smart products for the home, namely a thermostat, smoke detector and security camera, but one of their engineers may have revealed a fresh addition to that family – a smart mirror.

In a post on Medium, Max Braun, a software engineer for what is now the world’s most valuable company, showed off a recent project of his, a bathroom mirror that displays everything you could possibly need to know in the morning. The device displays the weather, time, date and headlines all on a reflective surface that still allows you to observe yourself brushing your teeth first thing.

Sleek and stylish in appearance, the display is just a few millimetres thin and opens up to a medicine cabinet – frankly it looks like something out of Apple’s labs rather than Google. The mirror sadly is currently only a home DIY project, but that’s not to say Google won’t be capitalising on the genius in a commercial sense anytime soon.

The build utilises Android capabilities, pulling Forecast for the weather and the Associated Press for news, although Braun is still playing with adding traffic reminders and other functions.

“The idea is that you don’t need to interact with this UI. Instead, it updates automatically and there’s an open-ended voice search interface for anything else.”

Yes, a Siri-like digital personal assistant to get you ready for the day whilst you wash your face. Braun is not the first to develop a smart mirror for the home, but his is by far the best looking one to date, if not the most functional.