The Tech Landscape #186 đșđ€đ»
CES, Fitbit, and custom Alexa: this is issue 186 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.
Hello! Welcome to another week of it all.
Last week saw the annual CES trade show move online for the first time, like everything else. CES is rarely directly influential on what I write about here, as itâs largely showing off products that fall into three categories: the prosaic stuff that weâre going to use but are just new forms of existing appliances (TVs, laptops, WiFi routers, fridges, etc); the wild concepts that are talking points but unlikely to emerge in the forms that are shownââfantasies with a purposeâ, as Dieter Bohn called them; and the in-betweens, the almost-there devices, like AR headsets, which can be used now but wonât by most people until someone like Apple really thinks through the intention beyond the tech.
Samsung is an exemplary CES company; it announced a scattershot of new products including a massive TV and bespoke fridge, along with two new concept robots for looking after your health and helping you tidy up, and some artificial humans for customer support. It also revealed the new Galaxy S21 smartphone, with what Google calls âa more cohesive Android experienceâ including more Google apps by default, and a set of Bluetooth-powered smart tags for seemingly no other reason than Appleâs going to launch some soon.
If you want to get more insight on CES I recommend Dieter Bohn at The Verge and David Pierce at Protocol, and Wavemakerâs CES Takeaways.
AnywayâŠÂ on with the news!
Top Stories
Google announced the completion of its acquisition of Fitbit. The deal took a long time to complete as it was investigated by several competition bodies, but Google promised user data wonât be used for targeted ads; itâs about âdevices, not dataâ. This makes sense now as Wear OS needs a leg-up and fitness is the way to do it. But will it always be true? Google already has Fit and Wear OS, will it want to maintain a separate fitness tracking OS and service forever? Or will it, in some future strategy, be seen as just much easier to combine them all?
blog.google/products/devices-services/fitbit-acquisition/
Amazon announced Alexa Custom Assistant, giving service providers to Alexa-powered capabilities through a custom wake word. Itâs a lower-level service than the Alexa Skills Kit, letting businesses offer an intelligent assistant without building from scratchâtaking on rivals like Houndify. The first customer will be Fiat Chrysler, but the service is open to sectors beyond automotive.
developer.amazon.com/en-US/blogs/alexa/alexa-auto/2021/01/Amazon-Announces-Alexa-Custom-Assistant
Privacy
WhatsApp delayed its latest update after widespread confusion about privacy. A poorly-worded announcement lead people to believe private conversations would be shared with Facebook, when in actuality it only affected conversations with businesses; but the misunderstanding lead to a backlash which saw many people leave for rival messaging apps. Shows the importance of communication and trust.
blog.whatsapp.com/giving-more-time-for-our-recent-update
Facebook redesigned the Access Your Information pages to better display the data it holds on you. The pages might be clearer now, but theyâre still hard to findâI had to search because it wasnât linked from anywhere obvious. Still, a useful tool to point to in future privacy prosecutions.
about.fb.com/news/2021/01/introducing-the-new-access-your-information/
TikTok added new privacy settings and defaults for users aged under 16. New accounts will be private by default, commenting, Duet, Stitch, and downloading of videos by U16s will be disabled, among other changes.
newsroom.tiktok.com/en-gb/strengthening-privacy-and-safety-for-youth-on-tiktok
Google released Guest Mode for its smart speakers and displays. When enabled, all personal results are suppressed and no voice commands will be stored in your account.
blog.google/products/assistant/introducing-guest-mode/
Everything Else
Ecommerce YouTube confirmed that itâs trialling shoppable videos. Select creators will be able to tag products in their videos which will appear in a list below for purchase. The feature has long been rumoured, and Iâd be very surprised if it doesnât launch fully sometime this year, considering how eagerly Instagram/Facebook Shops is embracing the idea.
androidpolice.com/2021/01/14/google-might-turn-youtube-into-a-shopping-website/
Entertainment Sony unveiled Immersive Music Studios, a new subsidiary for making innovative music experiences. It follows a major investment in Epic Games last year, and the first project showcased was a virtual gig by the singer Madison Beer, made in Epicâs Unreal Engine.
musicbusinessworldwide.com/sony-takes-wraps-off-secret-unreal-engine-project-unveils-new-subsidiary-sony-immersive-music-studios/
Assistants & Voice The YouTube website added a voice input for searches and controls. Tapping the mic icon lets users search, play, and access common features like the library.
9to5google.com/2021/01/13/youtube-voice-commands/
Video YouTube added new pages to group all videos with the same hashtag. This feels like news from 15 years ago, but itâs actually just happening now.
support.google.com/youtube/thread/93057712?hl=en
Gaming Stadia launched State Share, which lets gamers share a âsliceâ of games to play. Players can record an image or video to share along with their current state in the game, enabling other players to play the same slice of the game. Slowly but surely the advantages of cloud gaming over regular gaming are emerging.
community.stadia.com/t5/Stadia-Community-Blog/Capture-and-share-playable-scenarios-with-State-Share-coming/ba-p/50835
Gaming New LG smart TVs will support Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce cloud gaming. The services will be available as apps in LGâs store, and all of LGs new TVs have better gaming support with adjustable âgame optimizerâ settings.
theverge.com/2021/1/11/22224359/google-stadia-nvidia-geforce-now-lg-tv-2021
Maps Snap Inc bought StreetCred, a startup which rewarded users for adding location data to maps. The team will work on Snap Maps and other location products, as Snapchat moves further into planet-scale experiences.
techcrunch.com/2021/01/11/snap-acquires-streetcred/
Stories LinkedIn added swipe-up links for Stories creators. I have seen exactly one LinkedIn Story so far; seems that the 20s video limit is insufficient time for thought leadership, so perhaps adding links will make it a bit more attractive.
socialmediatoday.com/news/linkedin-adds-swipe-up-links-to-linkedin-stories/593277/
Assistants & Voice Automobile tech company Cerence announced a new computer vision feature for its in-car platform. Cerence Look will integrate with cameras in the car to provide information about its surroundings; for example, âwhatâs that building?â. Mercedes-Benz will be the first manufacturer to add the feature.
voicebot.ai/2021/01/14/cerence-look-adds-visual-ai-to-automotive-virtual-assistants/
Stats of the Week
People watched 17bn hours of live streaming on Twitch in 2020, an 83% increase over the previous year. The most popular category was Just Chatting, which was more watched than any individual game.
blog.streamelements.com/state-of-the-stream-december-and-2020-year-in-review-aa4146f074be
Fortnite gamer The Grefg set a new record for concurrent live streams. Over 2 million people watched him unveil a new Fortnite skin, over three times the previous individual record and almost double the overall record.
theverge.com/2021/1/11/22225416/thegrefg-record-fortnite-viewers-icon-skin-reveal-eu-heretics
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