The Tech Landscape #170 ⛰
Android 11, Fortnite concerts, and Facebook back on Campus: this is issue 169 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.
No intro this week. Sorry.
Top Stories
Google released Android 11, with a focus on communication, connected devices, and privacy. Highlighted features include a dedicated space for messaging in the notifications tray, essentially making it an aggregated messenger client; smart home device controls in a dedicated UI launched from the power button; and app permissions can be granted for a single use only, with previously granted permissions resetting automatically if the app hasn’t been used for a while. It’s not a hugely notable release, but phone OS’ are mostly mature so rarely suprising.
blog.google/products/android/android-11/
Android 11 also brought some features exclusive (for a while) to Pixel owners, most notably an enhancement to Google Maps which show AR ‘Live View’ directions to navigate to friends who share their live location.
blog.google/products/pixel/android11-exclusive-pixel-features/
Facebook announced Campus, a new section of the app designed to help college students connect with their peers… which is exactly what it was set up for in the first place, before it became the behemoth it is today. It’s far too early to say the News Feed is over, but its clear that having a single profile shared with family, friends, colleagues, peers, and interest groups is no longer as desirable as it seemed, so Facebook is splintering into groups and communities.
about.fb.com/news/2020/09/introducing-facebook-campus/
Fortnite announced a three-week live concert series for its Party Royale Island space. Acts will be streamed live from a specially-built studio space in LA. Owner Epic Games’ stated intention is to make Fortnite into “a tour stop”—a core part of artists’ plans to reach a larger audience. Super-interesting.
epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/news/fortnite-presents-spotlight-featuring-dominic-fike
Everything Else
Apple revealed new App Store rules for streaming game services like Microsoft’s xCloud and Google’s Stadia. Under these rules, all games on the service must have an App Store entry, and be installed to the service individually—ensuring Apple gets its 30% cut, of course. Microsoft has already complained that this is “a bad experience for customers”, and it seems particularly tone deaf from Apple at a time when its App Store model is under such scrutiny.
theverge.com/2020/9/11/21433071/microsoft-apple-app-store-rules-xcloud-game-streaming-xbox-game-pass
Amazon announced that Facebook, Garmin, and Xiaomi had all signed up to its Voice Interoperability Initiative, which aims to make devices work with any voice assistant. However, Apple, Google, and Samsung—who make the other most influential voice assistants—aren’t part of the initiative, which blunts it somewhat; Amazon needs to be on their devices more than they need Alexa.
developer.amazon.com/en-US/blogs/alexa/device-makers/2020/09/vii-announcement-new-members-and-multi-agent-desigh-guide
Twitch announced a private Beta of Versus, a suite of tools for creators to run their own eSports tournaments. Twitch has been broadening its audience beyond game streaming, but that’s still its bread and butter, so this is a move to stave off competition from a similar product by Facebook Gaming.
blog.twitch.tv/en/2020/09/09/versus-by-twitch-closed-beta-9-8-20/
Descript, a podcast editing tool, introduced Stock Voices: synthetic voice models to overdub audio without any recording required; type it, and the voice models say it. I knew this type of thing was coming, but it’s still amazing; voices on demand. Stock photos, video, music… and now voices.
blog.descript.com/overdub-stock-voices/
The latest project from Google’s Area 120 incubator is Fundo, a platform for running interactive, optionally paid, live video events. It’s aimed at creators, especially YouTube creators.
blog.google/technology/area-120/fundo/
Huawei announced the latest version of its operating system, HarmonyOS, and revealed that it will come to phones for the first time at the end of the year. Huawei has had to develop its own OS as it can no longer use Android outside of China thanks to the US ban. But the same ban also means Huawei is running out of chips to make its phones, so the OS will struggle to make an impact in the near future anyway.
theverge.com/2020/9/10/21430275/huawei-harmonyos-smartphones-release-date
The highest point in Denmark is Ejer Bavnehøj Møllehøj, which stands over 170 metres tall. It was declared the highest point in 2005 after a panel of experts ruled it is 9cm taller than Yding Skovhøj, which used to be the taller until it was decided a burial mound at the summit shouldn’t contribute to its height.