Google Rolls out Pixels and Adds to the Line; Sonos Bows New Speaker
Posted: October 4, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AirPlay 2, Alexa, Google, Google Home Max, Google Home Mini, One, Pixel, Pixel 2, Pixel 2XL, Pixel Buds, PixelBook, Sonos Leave a commentThe highly anticipated Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL today. The XL has a whopping 6 inch OLED screen, all aluminum body, and better image stabilization…although still a single lens cam. Cnet.com reports that it supports AR Core, the Google AR programming interface. The HTC made phone has the squeezable sides to activate Google Assistant, and has always on display for notifications. The handsets are on pre-order now, and start at $649 for the 2 and $849 for the 2XL…they should be on the streets in a couple weeks.
Google Pixel Buds were also rolled out…the earbuds are joined by a neck cord and have a charging case that gives you up to 24 hours use. They work with Google Assistant on Pixel phones, are available in black, white, and blue, and preorders have started. They run $159, and are available next month.
Also bowing today where Google Home Mini and Home Max. The Mini is a smaller version of the Home Assistant speaker, while the Max is geared more towards the audiophile. The max goes on preorder in November, and will be available in December for $399.The Mini can be preordered now, and is $49…should be out in a couple weeks.
The Google PixelBook was also rolled out…a replacement for the Chromebook Pixel of 2 years ago. It’s still Chrome OS, but has Android app support, and quick charges for up to 10 hours battery life. It has instant tethering to Pixel phones, and Google Assistant is baked in. The PixelBooks start a $999, can be preordered now, and will be out the end of the month.
Google also showed an updated Daydream View. It’s $99, and available October 19th. A surprise reveal is Google Clips…a standalone cam that captures short clips. It auto-selects and learns who you want in shots and which shots, and builds clips from them…then uploads on demand. No release date, but it will be $249.
Sonos has rolled out the new One wireless speaker. According to 9to5mac.com, it has Alexa voice control, and will support AirPlay 2 by the first of the year. It doesn’t actually have Siri, but with the Airplay function, can be controlled by any Siri enabled device like iPhones and iPads. It’s $199, and will be out October 24th…preorders are open now.
GM Will Have 20+ Electric Cars by 2023; Apple’s TrueDepth Cam is 2-1/2 Years Ahead of Android; Walmart Buys Delivery Service Parcel; Headphones Customize Music to Your Hearing
Posted: October 3, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Android, Electric cars, Face ID, General Motors, GM, Headphones, iPhone X, Jet, Nura, Nuraphones, Otoacoustic emissions, Package delivery, Parcel, True Depth Camera, Walmart Leave a commentJoining a growing number of car makers, General Motors will launch at least 20 all electric cars by 2023. Theverge.com reports that two of those will join the Bolt in the next 18 months, and that the General will also make a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. GM has said it is committed to an all-electric future. Daimler has said they will have an electric model of every Mercedes-Benz by 2022, Volkswagen will be completely electrified by 2030, and Volvo plant to cease production of gas-only vehicles by 2019.
According to an analysis by KGI Securities, it will take Android makers 2-1/2 years to catch up to the functionality of Apple’s True Depth Camera featured on the iPhone X. 9to5mac.com reports that Apple will ship 30-35 million of the new hero phone by year’s end. The True Depth cam system enables Face ID, and other advanced features like face tracking and analysis for the Animoji. Apparently, it is the difficulty in making the cam system that has delayed production of the iPhone X, which the majority of people seem to be waiting for over the just-released iPhone 8.
With Amazon now doing some of its own deliveries, and not relying on UPS and the post office for everything, Walmart has jumped into the logistics business and picked up Parcel, a Brooklyn based delivery startup. Arstechnica.com says the 4 year old company has focused on getting city dwellers packages at convenient times. They offer a 2 hour pick up window, so your orders aren’t stolen off the porch or out of the entryway. Parcel also sends live updates over text to recipients and shippers updating them on last mile location of the package as its delivered. Walmart plans to expand service beyond New York City, combining Parcel’s infrastructure with that of Jet, which it bought a year ago.
Always of interest to those of us who have made our living wearing headphones…better headphones! According to engadget.com, those might be the Nuraphones. Nura claims they are like prescription headphones for your ears. The cans are over the ear, but contain earbud like inserts inside. They tune themselves to your ears using ‘otoacoustic emissions’…sound returns from the inner ear when stimulated…that produce an aural ‘fingerprint’ of sorts. The processor then creates a personal equalization setting for each ear, custom tailored to your hearing. The app that works on either Android or iOS gives you 3 different hearing profiles, and there are a couple programmable buttons on the headphones. They last 20 hours on a charge, and speaking of charges, they will set you back a princely $399!
Facebook to Hire 1000 To Battle Election Interference; Facebook Testing Face Recognition to Unlock Accounts; Apple Looking To Roll Own on Mac Chips; Google Launches “Made for Google” Accessory Program
Posted: October 2, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Advertising, Apple, Arm chips, Certified accessories, Congress, Facebook, Facial recognition, Google, Intel, Media Tea, Qualcomm, Russian election meddling Leave a commentFacebook is making changes in the wake of the Congressional investigation of Russian election meddling via social media including Facebook. TechCrunch.com says that includes hiring 1000 more people to its global ads review team over the next year, and making it so anyone can see any ad run by any organization on Facebook instead of only the ads targeted to them.
Facebook is also testing out facial recognition as a way to get back into your account if you’re locked out. 9to5mac.com points out that if you are on the road, and don’t have roaming available, you can’t even use 2 factor identification. The face recognition would not be Apple’s Face ID, but Facebook’s own system, and it would be in addition to two-factor authentication using SMS….as noted, where SMS might not be available. It’s not clear if or when the feature will be rolled out.
Future laptops from Apple may feature Apple designed chips in place of ones from Intel. Businessinsider.com says this is coming on the heels of Apple’s new iPhone 8 models with Apple designed ARM chips that can outperform a MacBook Pro in bench tests. Apple is also apparently looking at designing custom silicon for their modem chips, too in place of Qualcomm or Media Tek.
Google is readying a ‘Made for Google’ program to certify accessories from its partners. According to 9to5google.com, it should work similarly to Apple’s accessory program, giving users a little peace of mind about buying gear that they can know will work well with Google hardware devices. No time frame as yet, but we may hear more later this week when Google bows the Pixel 2 family of products in San Francisco.
San Francisco War of the Worlds-Radio play Produced & Directed by Sebastian Kunz
Posted: October 1, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
Amazon Drops New Echos; Google Making Higher End Home ‘Max;’ Next LED iPhones May Be Bezel-less, Too
Posted: September 28, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alexa, Amazon, Bezel free, Connect, Echo, Google, iPhone 8, iPhone X, LED screens, Max, Premium sound 4 CommentsAmazon rolled out 2nd generation Echos yesterday, and they’re shorter by half, have a dedicated bass speaker, and are on sale for $99. Theverge.com reports that you can also pick up a 3 pack for $250, so you can have multi-room coverage. The new Echos can also make free calls to the US, Canada, and Mexico. If you just want the calling, Amazon also dropped a $35 gadget called Connect.
With the new Amazon Echos, upgraded Sonos speakers coming, and the Apple iHome looming in December, Google isn’t sitting on its hands, either. According to bgr.com, there’s an upgraded Google Home in the works called the Max. It will be a higher end version with so-called premium sound to compete with the Sonos and iHome. Since the Pixel 2 phones are supposed to roll out next week, maybe Google will tease the Max or even show it.
The iPhone X will be out in November in very short supply, and now we’re hearing the phones for next year may not all go to OLED screens like it has…Apple may stick with LCD for it’s lower tier phones. 9to5mac.com says Apple is working on a new form of advanced LED panel that will give the phones a near bezel free design like the OLED iPhone X has. Since LED screens cost less, it will help keep the price down on the successor to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
Twitter Doubling Tweet Length to 280 Characters; iPhone X Shortage Will Be Due to Facial Recognition Hardware; Dyson Building Electric Car
Posted: September 27, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 280 characters, 3D Facial recognition, Apple, Dot projector, Dyson, Electric cars, iPhone X, Tweets, Twitter Leave a commentTwitter is testing out doubling Tweet length to 280 characters for some users. 9to5google.com reports that the company decided on the expansion after finally noting that character count allowed vastly more information in some languages like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Those languages can convey about twice as much information per character as can English, Spanish, or French. Twitter noted that 9% of Tweets in English hit the limit, but only .4% do so in Japanese. They still may not expand to everybody if they feel the test goes badly.
Apple’s iPhone X delay and expected shortage is apparently due to part of the module that allows 3D facial recognition. According to macrumors.com, it is taking more time to assemble the dot projector that beams 30,000 invisible dots to your face and allows the phone to map it, determining that it’s you. The hero iPhone may be hard to get through the first quarter of next year because of the issue.
Dyson is working on an electric car. One analyst at cnet.com joked that If it’s priced like its vacuums, it will cost 12 million dollars and have lots of vortices. Actually, James Dyson had already been working on vehicle-related pollution issues since 1990. Now, the company has confirmed that it will build an electric car. Dyson announced Tuesday that his company will build a battery-electric vehicle and it should by ready by 2020. A 400-plus-person team is already hard at work on the car. James Dyson said he’s committed to investing $2.68 billion on the project. No truth to the rumor that it will have 16 vortex nozzles, or that it will Hoover up road debris as you drive…
Google Assistant Now Controls Smart Appliances; App to Download Streamed Netflix & HBO Shows to Watch Offline; BMW Charging Pad..for Cars; Microsoft Dives Into Quantum Computing
Posted: September 26, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 530e, Amazon, BMW, Google Assistant, HBO, Hulu, LG, Microsoft, Netflix, Offline viewing, PlayOn Cloud, Quantum computing, Smart Appliances, Wireless charging Leave a commentGoogle Assistant can now control more smart devices, including appliances from LG. 9to5google.com reports that included are fridges, AC, ovens, washers & dryers…almost 90 different appliances. There are also some new headphone models that utilize Google Assistant. LG is even offering a deal…get an LG smart Wi-Fi appliance between October 8th and October 25th, and you’re eligible for a free Google Home unit.
When you’re binge watching a show from Netflix. Amazon, Hulu, or HBO, sometimes things get glitchy. Now, there’s an app on Android and iOS that lets you download the shows for later viewing OFFLINE! According to thenextweb.com the app, PlayOn Cloud, also supports YouTube, Yahoo Views, CBS, PBS CW, ABC, NBC, & Fox. There is an extra charge, though. It’s $0.99 per recording, or there are bundles for $0.20 each. Netflix has offered offline downloads as has Amazon, but they expire. With PlayOn, the videos are deleted from the cloud after 30 days, but anything you have downloaded stays on your device.
We’ve all been in places like Starbucks and seen the wireless charging pads, and of course Apple has made a big deal about joining the wireless charging smartphone club now with Qi charging…pads are already available from Mophie and Kensington. Theverge.com says BMW is getting ready to roll out one for their 530e iPerformance plug in hybrid. They claim 3.5 hour charging without a cable. The pad requires a 22o volt outlet, and is still awaiting final testing and UL approval, so it may be a year or more away, but faster, hassle free charging for cars will only accelerate the move to electric vehicles.
On Monday, Microsoft announced that it is going to be moving into the next big thing in computing….quantum computing. According to arstechnica.com, this should allow computers to do absolutely amazing things in the future. Redmond plans to release a new quantum computing programming language late this year, with full Visual Studio integration. If quantum computing sounds like Greek to you, don’t feel bad. In a Wall St. Journal interview, Bill Gates noted that while he was good at math and physics…probably an understatement….when the quantum computing slides came up in a presentation, it looked like hieroglyphics to HIM!
Tesla May Build Convenience Stores At Superchargers; Apple May Keep Some LCD Screen iPhones; Now YOU Can Have a $350 Smart Jacket
Posted: September 25, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 6 inch iPhone, Commuter Trucker Jacket, convenience stores, Google, LCD, Levis, OLED, Restaurants, Smart Jacket, Superchargers, Tesla Leave a commentTesla is adding still more Superchanger charging stations this year, and now it appears they may add small convenience stores so you can refill yourself (or empty your tank!) while you wait on the car to charge. According to engadget.com, Tesla’s CTO JB Straubel showed mockups at the FSTEC food tech conference last week. The company is already working with some restaurants on installing some charging stations along the roadways.
A report out of Korea says Apple is thinking of ditching the smaller 5.28 inch iPhone next year in favor of a bigger LCD screen phone with over 6 inches of screen real estate. Up to now, most analysts have thought Apple would switch all iPhones to OLED screens eventually. 9to5mac.com reports that orders for the bigger LCD panels have already been placed with Japan Display. The same report indicates that there will be 2 iPhones with the OLED screens like the iPhone X, however. It’s early, and just one report, so a little skepticism is in order on this one!
Ever wanted to control your smart devices from your jacket? That time has arrived. The Google powered Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket is finally out. Thenextweb.com says it uses Bluetooth and touch sensitive controls that allow you to play and pass music, get directions over your phone audio, and read incoming messages. It all works with touch sensitive fabric around the cuff, and is powered by a snap tag on one of the cuffs. (Watch someone wash it without removing the tag and ruin it right after they get it.) The real questions are: 1) would you wear a denim trucker jacket if you want to play with touch sensitive controls on your sleeve, and 2) would you drop $350 bucks on it? If so, it’s on sale Wednesday at select shops, and online next week at levis.com.
Tesla Working on Own Self-Driving aI Chip; Google Acquires People and IP Rights from HTC; Nest Bows Smart Doorbell and Security System
Posted: September 21, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, AMD, Autopilot, Google, Hello doorbell, HTC, In-house chip, Nest, Nest Secure, Nest Tag, Nvidia, Pixel, Security System, Tesla Leave a commentTesla is teaming up with AMD to make its own AI processor for their self-driving systems. Techcrunch.com notes that the e-car maker already has a relationship with Nvidia, whose GPUs run its Autopilot system. The new in-house designed chip could reduce or eliminate relying on third party AI software. Tesla reportedly already has pre-production samples in hand. The autopilot program at Tesla is run by Jim Keller, who spent much of his career at AMD and then Apple…he helped design the Apple A4 and A5 chips.
Google has struck a deal with HTC to acquire intellectual property rights (non-exclusively) and certain employees for 1.1 billion. The employees were ones already working with Google to develop Pixel smartphones. Google will continue to partner with HTC on smartphones and other hardware, including virtual reality.
Nest showed off new product lines in San Francisco yesterday. Cnet.com reports they include the Nest Hello…a connected doorbell with cam, speaker and microphone. The entryway gadget wasn’t priced, but will be out 1st quarter of next year. Also debuting was the Nest Secure security system. It has a keypad and motion sensor, and a key fob they call the Nest Tag. Systems start at $500, and roll out in November. A new iteration of cam was also revealed, the Nest Cam IQ…which comes in outdoor and indoor versions. The indoor model will have Google Assistant built in. The cam is $255.
Amazon Working on Alexa Powered Smart Specs; 2018 iPhones All Get Face ID; Gmail Finally Catches Up
Posted: September 20, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alexa, Amazon, Apple, clickable links, Face ID, Gmail, Google, GoogleGlass, iPhone, Security cam, TouchID, TrueDepth camera Leave a commentGoogle has updated Glass on a small scale and on the down low after the uproar the original GlassHoles created. It’s been reported that Apple is also working on smart glasses, and now Amazon is working at putting Alexa into smart glasses. Babak Parviz, who founded Google Glass, has been working at Amazon since 2014. According to an Financial Times report picked up by thenextweb.com, Amazon is also working on a home security cam that would tie into its ‘ecosystem of products.’
Unless Apple’s new Face ID is absolutely and roundly despised and panned, expect it on all 2018 iPhones. That’s the take of KGI Securities’ MIng-Chi Kuo, probably the preeminent Apple analyst in the world. Appleinsider.com notes that the TrueDepth camera needed for Face ID can bring other cool and innovative applications. It is still possible that Apple will bring back TouchID under screens as a second biometric, which would allow for a second layer of authentication for secure apps like banking.
Google has finally given Gmail something most other email clients…and even Apple’s iMessage have had. Clickable links allow you to easily save and add names, addresses, and email addresses into your contact file, Google Maps, and clicking on a phone number will call it. Mashable.com reports that the rollout should be complete to everyone with Gmail in a couple more days.
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