The Tech Landscape #131 🔋
EN 131 is the European standard for professional and non-professional ladders, but not telescopic ladders—that would be a step too far.
The digital creative industry isn’t entirely blameless for the over-reach of Facebook’s data gathering, regardless of what some people might imply on stage at digital creative industry conferences.
Assistants & Voice
Amazon announced the Echo Input Portable, a battery-powered smart speaker available in India only at first.
androidauthority.com/amazon-echo-input-portable-1062608/
Google Assistant got a couple of useful new features including easier sharing of photos and better integration with note-taking apps.
blog.google/products/assistant/5-ways-beat-holiday-stress-google-assistant/
Xiaomi’s digital assistant, Xiao AI, can now continue conversations, screen phone calls, and offers a male voice for the first time. Despite a late start, the Chinese assistant is catching up to its Western counterparts.
voicebot.ai/2019/11/29/xiaomi-voice-assistant-adds-continuous-dialogue-and-phone-answering-service/
XR
Apple’s Clips video editing tool was updated to include Memoji and Animoji AR stickers and other effects. I continue to think AR avatars and how we represent ourselves in immersive spaces is an interesting area to follow.
apple.com/newsroom/2019/12/clips-now-features-memoji-and-animoji-new-stickers-and-more/
Niantic says its working on a pair of AR glasses, with no timeframe for delivery. It’s partnering with Qualcomm, as is everyone else who isn’t Apple.
cnet.com/news/new-smartglasses-are-coming-from-qualcomm-and-pokemon-go-creator-niantic/
Social
Facebook announced that users will soon be able to automatically export their photos to Google Photos. It’s the first step in a planned longer-term effort by the major platforms to make user data more portable.
about.fb.com/news/2019/12/data-portability-photo-transfer-tool/
Snapchat is trialling Cameos, a new feature that uses a selfie to replace the face of a character in a short video loop. Currently only available in France, it seems.
techcrunch.com/2019/12/08/snapchat-cameo-edits-your-face-into-videos/
Machine Learning
Amazon announced some new machine learning services at its Re:Invent conference, including a new speech transcription service for medical professionals.
press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/aws-announces-five-new-machine-learning-services-reinvent-and
Amazon will sell a (music) keyboard called DeepComposer, not really intended for musicians but for developers; it connects to Amazon’s cloud services where it can use machine learning models to create human-AI hybrid music.
fastcompany.com/90437625/amazons-kooky-new-keyboard-lets-humans-and-ai-write-music-together
Retail
Amazon announced that this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday events set new sales records, as usual. Best-selling devices included the Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa.
press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-customers-shop-record-levels-again-holiday-season-cyber
Amazon is testing the Dash Smart Shelf, a business product which automatically re-orders supplies when they run low.
theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/11/21/20974790/amazon-dash-smart-shelf-order-office-supplies-automatically-small-businesses
Everything Else
Google Photos is getting a new conversational interface for sharing photos, replacing the existing album with comments interface. YouTube tried this before but recently removed it, so will be interesting to see if Photos is any different.
blog.google/products/photos/now-its-easier-to-share-everyday-moments-in-google-photos/
Fortnite’s latest in-game event will be an exclusive preview of a clip from the new Star Wars movie in its cinema. Fortnite is more than a game, it’s a social platform.
eurogamer.net/articles/2019-12-07-fortnite-will-premiere-star-wars-rise-of-skywalker-scene-at-its-in-game-drive-in-cinema
Google announced Focus Mode, a new ‘digital wellbeing’ tool for Android which blocks access to distracting apps when turned on. It will come to all new Android 9 & 10 phones.
blog.google/products/android/android-focus-mode/