The Tech Landscape #197 🎧
Audio social, virtual assistants, and Instagram clones TikTok again: this is issue 197 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! It’s the Easter bank holiday in the UK this weekend so you’re getting this email a day later. That means a few extra stories from today (Monday) which you wouldn’t usually see until next week; consider it an Easter treat.
No long intro this week, I’ve written some extra stuff about audio social instead.
On with the newsletter. Hope you’re well!
Audio Social
Clubhouse brough the concept of ‘audio social’ to the mainstream, but it has a lot of work to do to beat off competitors.
This week Spotify bought social audio app Locker Room, and says it will launch its own live audio experience soon.
newsroom.spotify.com/2021-03-30/spotify-acquires-locker-room-and-announces-plans-for-a-new-live-audio-experience/
Messaging app Telegram launched voice chat for public channels two weeks ago, and this week Discord launched Stage Channels, its own audio social feature.
blog.discord.com/captivate-your-community-with-stage-channels-46bbb756e89b
LinkedIn says its working on its own audio social feature / Clubhouse competitor.
techcrunch.com/2021/03/30/linkedin-confirms-its-working-on-a-clubhouse-rival-too/
And Slack says its working on its own version too.
protocol.com/bulletins/slack-audio-features
We already know Facebook is working on its own version, Live Audio Rooms, and Twitter is currently beta testing Twitter Spaces—currently on mobile apps, but there will be a desktop Web interface for Spaces too.
theverge.com/2021/4/1/22363221/twitter-spaces-desktop-web-browsers-clubhouse
There are a couple of things to note here: the speed with which all of these platforms have implemented (or are implementing) social audio; and that each of them has an existing social graph.
Someone trying to build an audio social following on Clubhouse would have to start from scratch whereas on Discord, Twitter, etc, there’s a social graph in place already. So it seems to make more sense for audio social to be a feature of existing social networks than to be a product of its own.
I suppose only the long-term success (or otherwise) of Clubhouse will prove that. In an effort to attract and retain creators, it’s introduced Payments for creators to accept voluntary tips. The payments will be processed by Stripe and, interestingly, Clubhouse will take no share of the revenue.
joinclubhouse.com/introducing-payments
Assistants & Voice
Fiat launched a Hey Google version of its popular 500 car family. The Hey Google badged car will have Assistant built in, but also an associated Action to remotely check if the doors are locked, the fuel levels, and more.
blog.google/products/assistant/fiat-500-family-hey-google/
Apple is adding new English voice options for Siri and will no longer default to the ‘female’ voice on iOS. All the major voice assistants provide options, but Siri will be the first to have users choose their voice before using it.
techcrunch.com/2021/03/31/apple-adds-two-siri-voices/
Microsoft ended support for its Cortana app on Android and iOS. The shut down was announced last year so its not a surprise, but it does mean that Cortana now only exists on Microsoft products.
support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/using-cortana-on-ios-or-android-caaa50e4-31f1-4165-9659-3caf125ebd38
Everything Else
HTC announced a facial tracker for its Vive Pro VR headset. It uses cameras and IR to track lip, cheek, and jaw movements—adding the capacity for real-time facial puppetry for avatars.
theverge.com/2021/3/10/22323093/htc-vive-pro-vr-facial-lip-tracker-third-gen-tracker-announcement-price
XR
Facebook added new features to try to improve the quality of reading and discussions. People can now choose to opt out of the algorithmic timeline and see items by recency (like Twitter offers), and also control the audience who can comment on posts—hopefully eliminating drive-bys and pile-ons from trolls.
about.fb.com/news/2021/03/more-control-and-context-in-news-feed/
Social
Instagram launched Remix for Reels, the latest feature cloned from TikTok. It lets users respond to other users with side-by-side video recordings—for examples of how to use it, see TikTok.
twitter.com/instagram/status/1377304845204422661?s=20
Social
Google Maps announced indoor Live View, expanding its AR way-finding tool to work at selected shopping malls and airports. It also added a new map layer showing air quality and weather, and will consider fuel consumption when route planning for more eco-friendly travel.
blog.google/products/maps/redefining-what-map-can-be-new-information-and-ai/
Maps
Google began a trial of FLoC, its replacement for third-party advertising cookies in Chrome. Only a small percentage of users will be in the trial to begin with, as Google evaluates privacy concerns—just last week it revealed that FLoC may not be compatible with EU regulations.
blog.google/products/chrome/privacy-sustainability-and-the-importance-of-and/
Advertising
Fortnite players can now stream their games to friends in Houseparty. Its like Twitch but for smaller friend circles. Fortnite uses Houseparty for live in-game chat already, and back in November acquired a startup which turns video streams into avatars in real time.
epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/news/stream-your-fortnite-gameplay-to-friends-inside-houseparty
Gaming
Niantic showed off a demo of a new multiplayer AR game. Codename: Urban Legends is intended to showcase 5G for rich outdoor experiences; it doesn’t seem to actually be playable yet, though.
nianticlabs.com/blog/niantic-planet-scale-ar-5g-urban-legends/?hl=en
XR
Google and T-Mobile (US) entered into a closer collaboration to promote Android, YouTube TV, and Pixel. New Android devices on the carrier will use Messages as the default SMS app and Google One for backups and storage, T-Mobile will promote Pixel and Android on its 5G network, and T-Mobile will shut down its own TV service and use YouTube TV instead.
t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/t-mobile-and-google
Operating Systems
Google acquired Dysonic, a startup which makes 3D audio technology. The deal happened back in December, so its technology may make its way to the next version of its Pixel Buds, and could also be used in Nest devices and future AR headsets.
protocol.com/google-dysonics-acquisition-3d-audio
Audio
Amazon bought Perpule, an Indian startup which helps physical retailers get online using a cloud-based POS. India is a market with huge potential, as payments are going digital at a rapid pace while the majority of purchases still happen offline.
techcrunch.com/2021/03/30/amazon-acquires-indian-retail-startup-perpule/
Commerce
Google is expanding the range of apps for Android Auto. Developers can now publish charging, navigation, and parking apps to the Auto Play store. Android Auto is also being rolled out to many more countries.
android-developers.googleblog.com/2021/04/start-your-engines-launch-new-android.html
Transit
WhatsApp launched P2P payments in its app in Brazil. The feature was originally released last summer but quickly banned by Brazil’s central bank as it would have competed with its own new payments service, Pix. WhatsApp payments are now back in a new form, in partnership with Mastercard and Visa.
reuters.com/article/us-facebook-brazil-payments-idUSKBN2BM37H
Payments
PayPal users in the US can now choose to pay with certain cryptocurrencies. Checkout With Crypto will convert Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin at the point of purchase. This is pretty irresponsible when you consider the environmental cost of mining Bitcoin and Ethereum, in particular.
newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2021-03-30-PayPal-Launches-Checkout-with-Crypto
Payments
Funko, which makes pop culture collectables, bought a majority stake in TokenWave, developer of an NFT marketplace. Lots happening in the licensing and ‘ownership’ spaces.
geekwire.com/2021/funko-getting-nfts-combining-physical-digital-pop-culture-products-acquiring-key-app/
Blockchain
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