The Tech Landscape #122 🧵
Hadrian’s Wall, begun in 122 CE, was garrisoned by soldiers from across the Roman empire, including troops from (modern day) Belgium, Romania, Spain, and Syria.
Last week it was Microsoft’s turn to announce their new hardware range, but it’s very hard to get excited about Microsoft anymore.
Assistants & Voice
A new Google Assistant feature called Action Blocks lets Android users assign commands to homescreen shortcuts. It’s intended to help people with cognitive impairment to repeat common phone actions, but has the potential to be a rich automation service like Siri Shortcuts.
blog.google/outreach-initiatives/accessibility/action-blocks/
Alexa owners can now invoke custom Skills from within Routines—previously, only native Alexa functionality could be invoked. This is a good move for retention.
developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/cf65c68e-f3df-475e-939d-4ea2771b20b7/tell-your-customers-they-can-now-invoke-your-skill-from-routines
Alexa launched in Brazilian Portuguese, along with the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show 5. Alexa Voice Service is also available to third-party device manufacturers.
press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/alexa-and-amazon-echo-now-available-brazil
Ring, the smart doorbell owned by Amazon, will soon get a feature called Doorbell Concierge which will ask questions about the nature of a caller’s visit and send a message to notify the owner.
voicebot.ai/2019/09/30/doorbell-concierge-is-alexa-with-agency-an-assistant-that-can-do-something-when-you-are-not-present/
A new voice-for-auto agency called Cerence has entered the market, spun off from voice tech giant Nuance. Cerence will compete with Amazon, Apple, Google, and Soundhound for in-car voice assistant systems.
voicebot.ai/2019/10/02/a-voice-giant-is-born-cerence-now-houses-all-of-nuances-automotive-solutions-and-customers/
XR
Google’s Duo video-calling app has now got in on the (Snapchat) face lens movement, with 13 effects starting to roll out to users—I haven’t got them yet.
androidpolice.com/2019/10/01/google-duo-filters-effects/
Select cosmetics and eyewear brands on Instagram can now offer AR try-ons of their products, with the option to buy through Checkout.
mashable.com/article/instagagram-adds-augmented-reality-shopping/
Huawei announced a new VR headset which actually looks like glasses rather than a box strapped to your head. 3K resolution and IMAX certified, they can take content from smartphones, laptops, or tablets. No word on a launch outside of China yet, especially not in the current political climate.
pandaily.com/huawei-launches-another-virtual-reality-headset/
Verizon has bought software and technology assets from Jaunt, a VR company which has recently pivoted to volumetric AR capture. It’s unclear at the moment what the purpose of this is, although hopefully it turns out more successfully than the Yahoo/Tumble acquisitions.
cnbc.com/2019/09/30/verizon-is-buying-virtual-reality-company-jaunt.html
Computer Vision
Google Photos can now search for text in images. This is super-useful: photos as visual notebook.
9to5google.com/2019/08/22/google-photos-text-search/
Google Lens will now give fashion inspiration with a new feature called Style Ideas, which shows not only matching items but also complementary looks. This is matching similar features from Amazon and Pinterest, among others. US-only for now.
blog.google/products/google-lens/get-outfit-inspiration-style-ideas-google-lens/
Retail
Google Shopping got a few new features: price tracking to alert users when chosen products fall in price; and filter by nearby stores to buy products locally. The new Shopping is still US-only for now.
blog.google/products/shopping/find-best-prices-and-places-buy-google-shopping/
Instagram is testing a ‘drop reminders’ feature which lets users sign up for a notification when a new product becomes available. It’s initially available from 20 fashion brand partners.
business.instagram.com/blog/new-testing-product-launches-for-instagram-shopping/
Money
PayPal has become the first foreign company to be granted a payments license in China, following its majority purchase of Gopay. Big players Alipay and Tenpay have over 9/10 of the market between them, although it’s a £32 trillion market so there’s still plenty of money to be made.
ft.com/content/ec16ab7c-e37e-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc
Samsung US is launching a virtual prepaid debit card, Samsung Pay Cash. Top up from within the Samsung Pay app, use like any contactless debit card.
news.samsung.com/us/samsung-pay-cash-new-way-to-shop-and-spend/
Privacy
Google announced new security and privacy updates: Incognito mode in Maps, auto-delete history in YouTube, voice-controlled history deletion for Assistant, and a password checkup tool for finding compromised credentials.
blog.google/technology/safety-security/keeping-privacy-and-security-simple-you/
The European Court of Justice (EUCJ) has ruled that websites must now get ‘active consent’ from visitors to use non-essential cookies—in other words, no pre-filled checkboxes are permissible as consent. It’s a win for user privacy, a blow against adtech.
techcrunch.com/2019/10/01/europes-top-court-says-active-consent-is-needed-for-tracking-cookies/
The EUCJ ruled that member nations can order Facebook to globally remove defamatory content, even if the content wouldn’t be defamatory under the laws of other countries. I need to read more about this, but it sounds like a quite ill-considered ruling.
theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/03/facebook-faces-tougher-controls-after-eu-ruling
Everything Else
Instagram launched Threads, a ‘camera-first messaging app’ that essentially pulls Direct functionality out of the core app and works with your Close Friends list. But I don’t really get what it’s for; I’m guessing some kind of long-term strategy that’s not obvious yet.
newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/10/introducing-threads/
Version 2.0 of TensorFlow, the Google-backed de facto standard machine learning framework, is now available. The new release is said to be significantly easier to use for developers.
medium.com/tensorflow/tensorflow-2-0-is-now-available-57d706c2a9ab
Microsoft announced new hardware at its Surface event. Notable items include wireless earbuds (which control Powerpoint!), a twin-screen tablet running Windows, and a twin-screen phone running Android.
theverge.com/2019/10/2/20885196/microsoft-surface-event-news-products-announcements-updates-highlights-windows-10
Google and Levi’s have teamed up for again on a second version of the smart trucker jacket, using a smaller, updated Jacquard controller.
blog.google/products/atap/smarter-wardrobe-jacquard-google/
Google is working on a Personal Safety app which uses location, accelerometers, and ambient audio to detect if a user has been in an accident, and automatically call 911 (it’s US only) if no response is given. The app was accidentally published to the Play Store then quickly taken down again.
theverge.com/2019/10/1/20892875/google-pixel-personal-safety-app-car-crash-detection
Google TV, the subscription streaming service, is now available to owners of Fire TV devices in the US. Google and Amazon seem to be over the dispute which saw Google withhold YouTube from Amazon devices and Amazon refuse to sell Chromecast devices.
amazonfiretv.blog/can-i-watch-youtube-tv-on-fire-tv-4a95287b26de
Spotify has launched mixed music and podcast playlists, opening the door to custom ‘radio stations’.
newsroom.spotify.com/2019-09-30/how-to-make-your-own-podcast-playlists/
Sony has cut the price of its PlayStation Now cloud gaming service by around a third, in the face of future competition by Microsoft and Google.
blog.eu.playstation.com/2019/10/01/playstation-now-update-brings-new-subscription-pricing-adds-gta-v-god-of-war-uncharted-4-and-more/
Apple has reportedly bought iKinema, a UK-based digital animation studio that specialises in motion capture for games, movies, VR, and virtual characters.
9to5mac.com/2019/10/04/apple-ikinema-acquisition/