The Tech Landscape #145 š”
This is issue 145 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.
The Grand Union Canal Race is an ultramarathon which follows the route of the Grand Union Canal (of course) from Birmingham to London, a distance of 145 miles. The record completion time is 22 hours 16 minutes.
The World Health Organisationās Health Alert is a service providing COVID19 information and news alerts on WhatsApp.
bit.ly/who-covid-19-share
XR
Appleās new iPad Pro comes with a LiDAR Scanner, which creates a rapid depth map of the immediate physical environment for high-fidelity AR experiences. LiDAR technology is used in self-driving cars, so making it small enough to fit in a portable device is quite a breakthrough. Expect to see this technology in this yearās high-end iPhone, and then in an AR headset in the next few years.
apple.com/newsroom/2020/03/apple-unveils-new-ipad-pro-with-lidar-scanner-and-trackpad-support-in-ipados/
Magic Leap released a major update for developers, including cross-platform location-based experiences, video and voice calling, and object recognition. There are persistent rumours that Magic Leap is up for sale; there are some great ideas in this software update which I hope donāt get lost if thatās true.
magicleap.com/en-us/news/product-updates/lumin-sdk-0-24-and-the-magicverse-sdk-technical-preview
Magic Leap also released a major software update for users, including a desktop app to easily send assets from a 2D workspace, and enterprise meeting tools.
magicleap.com/en-us/news/product-updates/lumin-os-0-98-10
Oculus Quest will get a refreshed UI with easier access to apps and social features, and multi-window support in the browser.
developer.oculus.com/blog/introducing-the-new-oculus-quest-system-experience/
Assistants & Voice
27% of US households own a smart speaker, up from 23% last year, according to the latest Infinite Dial report. Over half those own at least two speakers. Almost two-thirds of people surveyed use a voice assistant on any device.
edisonresearch.com/the-infinite-dial-2020/
Google Assistant can now send and read messages from Line, the messaging app popular in Japan.
engadget.com/2020/03/17/google-assistant-line-android-app/
Everything Else
The UK will introduce a Digital Services Tax in April, charging 2% of revenue from providers of a āsocial media platform, search engine or an online marketplace to UK usersā which earn more than Ā£500m globally, at least Ā£25m of which are derived from UK users. A ābig techā tax, in other words.
gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-the-new-digital-services-tax/introduction-of-the-new-digital-services-tax
Google announced Camera Go, a new default camera app for the Android (Go edition) OS developed for lower-powered phones. It will bring some of Googleās AI camera modes to a reported 100m users.
blog.google/products/android/android-go-camera-go/
Spain is the latest country to get RCS messaging through Googleās Messages app. RCS, youāll recall, is the upgrade of SMS which Google tried to get network carriers to implement before eventually giving up and running the service itself.
espana.googleblog.com/2020/03/nuevas-funciones-de-chat-para-la.html
Google Translate can transcribe long passages of foreign-language text for translation. Itās very impressive.
blog.google/products/translate/transcribe-speech/
Samsung is shutting down PlayGalaxy Link, its PC game streaming service launched just three months ago. Last month Samsung announced a partnership with Microsoftās xCloud game streaming service, which makes more sense than trying to run their own service.
androidpolice.com/2020/03/17/samsungs-playgalaxy-link-game-streaming-service-is-shutting-down-after-only-3-months/