The Tech Landscape #142 🦠
This is issue 142 of The Tech Landscape, a weekly collection of news about consumer digital technology. Stories are selected by me, Peter Gasston, with a little insight and opinion where appropriate.
In 142 CE the Roman Emperor Antonius Pius ordered a second wall to be built some 180km north of Hadrian’s wall, presumably because the Scots were a right pain in the hole.
XR
Burberry’s products now appear in Google’s AR search results. I think it’s the first company to do this in the UK (I could be wrong). Burberry says “the inspiration phase of the decision to purchase is becoming increasingly important for luxury consumers”, and I think that more brands which make physical products should look at this.
burberryplc.com/en/news/news/corporate/2020/burberry-brings-products-to-google-search-through-augmented-real.html
I wrote a little thing about AR product previews and digital counterfeiting. medium.com/@stopsatgreen/digital-counterfeits-1c06666ba3e7
Facebook acquired Sanzaru Games, maker of VR games, for its Oculus division. Gaming is one of the few categories doing alright in VR.
oculus.com/blog/welcoming-sanzaru-games-to-facebook/
Assistants & Voice
Microsoft’s Cortana will lose abilities including music, connected home, and third-party skills in the next version of Windows 10 as the assistant is re-focused on productivity. Cortana never really provided any competition for Alexa or Google Assistant in the consumer space.
blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/02/28/cortana-in-the-upcoming-windows-10-release-focused-on-your-productivity-with-enhanced-security-and-privacy/
Just 7% of people regularly use voice assistants to purchase, down from 17% in 2019, according to a new report by Episerver. The number who use them to research a product or service declined from 22% to 8%. The main reason given for the decline is a lack of security features.
voicebot.ai/2020/02/27/privacy-concerns-are-limiting-voice-commerce-survey/
27% of children in the UK used smart speakers last year, up from 15% in 2018, according to Ofcom’s latest report on children’s media use.
ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/features-and-news/parents-more-concerned-about-their-children-online
Social
Facebook is rolling out a new feature that will let users of single-camera phones take 3D photos. Dual-camera phones have been able to do this since 2018.
ai.facebook.com/blog/-powered-by-ai-turning-any-2d-photo-into-3d-using-convolutional-neural-nets/
LinkedIn is testing the use of the Stories format with a view to rolling it out later this year. I seem to remember this being rumoured a while back, but this is the first official confirmation.
linkedin.com/pulse/testing-new-conversational-format-linkedin-stories-pete-davies/
Pinterest Lite, the stripped-down app aimed at developing markets, launched globally. It was previously only available in Central and South America.
newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/introducing-pinterest-lite
Rolls Royce announced Whispers, a social network, magazine, and members club for Rolls Royce owners.
press.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/rolls-royce-motor-cars-pressclub/article/detail/T0305941EN/rolls-royce-whispers:-a-digital-world-of-curated-luxury?language=en
Everything Else
Fears of the Covid-19 coronavirus have led to the cancellation of Facebook’s F8 developer conference in San Jose and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Facebook hope F8 will still proceed as local meetups and live-streamed video, while GDC aim to try again later in the year. I’m supposed to be going to SXSW in a couple of weeks, no idea if that’s going to happen.
developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2020/02/27/important-f8-2020-update/
techcrunch.com/2020/02/28/gdc-has-been-postponed/
The Firefox browser introduced a new privacy setting, called DNS over HTTPS, to users in the US. It encrypts the requests that the browser makes to lookup web URLs, stopping anyone from intercepting the request. The UK’s GCHQ has previously requested that Mozilla not enable it here.
blog.mozilla.org/blog/2020/02/25/firefox-continues-push-to-bring-dns-over-https-by-default-for-us-users/
Huawei says its app store has 400 million monthly users across 170 territories, making it the third biggest. The US ban on Huawei could end up backfiring on Google if Huawei’s store takes off more seriously.
prnewswire.com/news-releases/huawei-accelerates-the-development-of-the-hms-ecosystem-in-anticipation-of-the-5g-era-301010305.html
Amazon is opening its first Go Grocery store, in Seattle. It has 25 checkout-free convenience stores across the US, but this 2,400-square-metre unit is its first full supermarket.
geekwire.com/2020/amazon-goes-bigger-first-amazon-go-grocery-new-seattle-store-using-cashierless-technology/
Amazon announced Common Software for Devices, a new unified software to make it easier for manufacturers to create connected devices with Amazon services. It‘s a developer preview only, for now.
developer.amazon.com/en-US/blogs/alexa/device-makers/2020/02/introducing-amazon-common-software-for-devices-preview