The Tech Landscape #124 😴
In 2001 the RAC (formerly the Royal Automobile Club) launched its own energy drink in collaboration with Sprite. Called RAC 124, it was intended to give sleepy drivers a 15-30 minute energy boost to get home safely, but was soon withdrawn from sale, reportedly after misuse led to crashes.
This week I was looking for futurist meetups to attend, but they’re all about nanotechnology and transhumanism, which isn’t interesting to me; I want groups that are intested in how people will use technology, rather than technology itself.
Made By Google
Google held its annual hardware event, Made By Google. It was, to be frank, pretty boring—a lot of the information had previously been leaked, and the presentation lacked somewhat. To be fair, boring is probably where Google needs to be to avoid criticism right now.
New devices included: the Pixel 4, with twin cameras and hands-free gestures powered by its Motion Sense (formerly Project Soli) chip; Pixel Buds, wireless ear buds with hands-free Google Assistant and adaptive audio; a new Nest (formerly Home) Mini with on-device Assistant access and Duo voice calling; and Nest Wifi with mesh networking and built-in Assistant.
blog.google/products/hardware/made-by-google-2019/
XR
Google’s VR effort, Daydream, is effectively over after the company confirmed the Pixel 4 is not compatible with the Daydream View headset, which has been removed from sale on the Google Store.
theverge.com/2019/10/15/20915609/google-pixel-4-no-daydream-support-view-vr-headset-discontinued
YouTube is expanding the availability of its augmeted reality cosmetics try-ons through Masthead and TrueView Discovery ads.
engadget.com/2019/10/14/youtube-ar-beauty-feature-ads/
Assistants & Voice
Amazon’s new Echo devices, including the updated Echo and Dot, announced a few weeks ago, are now available for preorder in the UK.
talkandroid.com/345265-amazon-echo-studio-flex-dot-show/
Indian telecoms giant Reliance Jio unveiled the Video Call Assistant which combines video and natural language understanding for video-based automated customer support.
techcrunch.com/2019/10/14/indias-reliance-jio-unveils-video-call-assistant-to-help-businesses-automate-customer-support/
Games
Google’s Stadia cloud gaming platform launches to early adopters on 19th November.
blog.google/products/stadia/stadia-arrives-november-19/
Giphy launched Arcade, a series of simple games that can be remixed with GIF assets and shared with friends.
venturebeat.com/2019/10/16/giphy-arcade-lets-you-play-remix-and-share-gif-based-microgames/
Video
Twitch is reportedly testing Amazon Prime Watch Parties with select creators. The feature will let creators start a viewing of a Prime Video show which any viewer with a Prime Video account can join in and watch.
engadget.com/2019/10/19/twitch-watch-parties-test/
TikTok is launching original educational content in India, under the #EduTok banner. It’s both a way to join the lucrative eLearning market and to reassure the Indian government of its wholesome content to avoid another ban.
thenextweb.com/in/2019/10/17/tiktok-enters-the-elearning-market-with-its-edutok-program-in-india/
Retail
Yandex (‘the Russian Google’) launched Sloy, a video social entertainment app, which can recognise fashion items in the video and find them for sale. It’s available in Russia now with a global rollout expected later.
thenextweb.com/apps/2019/10/14/yandexs-new-tiktok-style-app-can-identify-what-youre-wearing/
Samsung POS makes Samsung phones into contactless payment systems without requiring card readers as Stripe, Square etc do. Rolling out in Canada first with other countries to follow.
samsungmobilepress.com/news/samsung-and-mobeewave-partner-to-deploy-mpos-payments-worldwide
Everything Else
Digital advertising spend in the UK increased by 13% over the same period last year, with video advertising in particular seeing a lot of growth.
newdigitalage.co/2019/10/15/industry-reaction-digital-ad-spend-up-13-iab/
Google’s Nest Aware home security service will be able to use Nest and Home speakers to listen out for sounds such as breaking glass and smoke alarms and alert the homeowner. The service has also changed its pricing model to be per-home rather than per-device.
blog.google/products/google-nest/nest-aware/
Pinterest added a new tool for tuning the home feed, letting people opt in or out of certain recommendations as tastes/needs change.
newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/new-ways-to-control-the-ideas-you-see-in-your-home-feed
O2 is the latest UK carrier to launch its 5G network, in six UK cities. The data plans will be identical to 4G (for now).
news.o2.co.uk/2019/10/17/o2-switches-on-5g-with-unlimited-data-flexible-plans-and-no-premium-4/
DoNotPay now waits on hold for certain customer service lines, for a monthly fee. The app was originally set up to help people get out of parking tickets, but increasingly helps out with general irritants.
techcrunch.com/2019/10/16/avoid-waiting-on-hold/