The Tech Landscape #204 đ
A Google IO and Snap Partner Summit special: this is issue 204 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.
Let me start by saying hello to all the new subscribers! There was a big batch of signups this week and Iâm not sure whyâalthough obviously Iâm delighted. So, hello and welcome, readers old and new, to a bumper edition of the newsletter with highlights from Google IO and the Snap Partner Summit. I like watching these big keynote presentations because you get to see how companies want themselves to be seen; and, of course, because there are lots of new product announcements, which are the bread and butter of this newsletter.
On a short, boring, admin-y note Iâm considering moving this newsletter to a different provider next weekâI want to try Revue now that itâs more integrated with Twitter. Hopefully theyâll be no ill effects from the move, but keep an eye on your Junk folders just in case.
Right, thatâs more than sufficient preamble: on with the newsletter! Hope youâre well!
Google IO 2021
Googleâs three-day developer conference kicked off with a two-hour keynote. Google had three messages it wanted to get across at IO: first, that itâs usefulâor, in its own phrasing, helpful in moments that matter; second, that itâs a global leader in AI; and third, that it really cares about your privacy and safetyâyouâd have had a good buzz on if you played a drinking game for âprivate by designâ and âwe never sell your dataâ.
If you want to get the lowdown on all the announcements you can watch a 9-minute video edit of the opening keynote, read the 25-article collection on Googleâs blog, read The Vergeâs take on the biggest announcementsâor read on for a few of what I think were the biggest announcements:
New features to improve shopping on the Web. The Chrome browser will show uncompleted shopping baskets when a new tab is opened, Google Photos will suggest Lens visual search for screenshots, and a future update will let users connect loyalty schemes to their Google account to highlight purchase options in search results. Shopping is becoming more important to Google as targeted advertising becomes less valuable, and Amazon currently leads in product search. Google made a big deal of its Shopping Graph (like the Knowledge Graph, but for shopping) which it says features 12bn listings globally.
blog.google/products/shopping/more-ways-to-shop/
Thereâs a new design language for Android, called Material You. It promises to bring more âemotion and expressivenessâ to Android through animation, redesigned elements, and personalisation, including adaptive colour palettes based on home screen wallpapers. It will come to Pixel phones first, before a wider rollout.
material.io/blog/announcing-material-you
Google is going to share development of its smart watch OS, Wear, with Samsung. The first result should be speed and battery improvements in the next software update, along with navigation changes and better integration with Fitbit data. Apple is miles ahead in smart watch share, so it makes sense for Google and Samsung to pool resources to try to compete.
blog.google/products/wear-os/wear-io21/
Googleâs AR software library, ARCore, gained new features for better AR experiences. Improvements to depth measurement and positioning, plus recording and sharing of 3D mapping data, should help build better AR for devices which donât have dedicated AR cameras.
developers.googleblog.com/2021/05/unlock-use-cases-and-increase-developer-velocity-with-new-capabilities-in-arcore.html
Google Mapsâ Live View will show information about nearby businesses and clearer street signs in directions. Other new features for Maps include busyness data for areas, and contextual highlighting of points of interest (coffee shops in the morning, restaurants in the evening, etc). Map data is pretty much standard across all competitors now, so Google is using more of its machine learning skills to add value.
blog.google/products/maps/five-maps-updates-io-2021/
Google Assistant gained new capabilities on smart displays and Android. As well as new tools for visual storytelling on smart displays, Assistant is becoming much more tightly integrated with Android apps such as âdeep linkingâ into app functions, and displaying the results of app widgets in Assistant itself. Building third-party voice Actions for Assistant isnât exactly dying, but neither is it exactly healthy.
developers.googleblog.com/2021/05/new-for-io-assistant-tools-and-features.html
There was a lot more (hereâs my Twitter thread for the as-live experience), but Iâm going to leave it for next week, maybe, to avoid Google overload.
Snap Partner Summit 2021
Snapâs second partner summit was a beautiful, slick virtual presentation. Iâm a huge Snapchat enthusiast because of its clear vision of what it wants to achieve and what it needs to get there. Sadly too many of my friends areâlike meâold, so I donât have anyone to use Snapchat with.
Snapchatâs vision is simple:
We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate.
And everything it announced was in service to that principle.
Thereâs a new version of Spectacles, with AR lenses for the first time. These Spectacles are intended for creators only, not for general sale, and donât have the same capabilities as rivals such as Microsoftâs HoloLensâthe field of view is much smaller, for exampleâbut theyâre lightweight, easy to use, and a step towards a full consumer release in the next version.
newsroom.snap.com/en-GB/introducing-the-next-generation-of-spectacles
Snap will promote Scan, its visual search tool, and is adding new digital fashion features for Lenses. Scan will get its own button in the Snapchat camera screen, making it easier to discover, and will add new categories including food and fashion. And Lens Studio is gaining: Connected Lenses, where users can collaborate in the same Lens; 3D Body Mesh and Cloth Simulation, so users can digitally âwearâ clothing; and audio models for SnapML to make Lenses that respond to sound. Snapâs AR tools are streets ahead of everyone elseâs, thanks to a strong vision supported by technical skills and good acquisitions.
newsroom.snap.com/en-GB/new-ar-tools-and-camera-experiences-for-snapchatters-creators-and-businesses
Story Studio is a standalone tool for creating content, and Gifting lets fans reward creators with micropayment stickers. Story Studio, available on iOS later this year, will let creators shoot and edit content using Snapchat tools, to share anywhereâthis is something Bytedance does successfully with TikTokâs tools in CapCut, and something that YouTube should have done a long time ago (its consistent failure to provide creation tools is a constant puzzle to me).
newsroom.snap.com/en-GB/new-tools-and-monetization-opportunities-for-creators
The Snap Map will gain Layers, working with partners to filter the information shown on the map. Itâs launching with The Ticketmaster layer, which will show live events nearby, and The Infatuation layer showing restaurants. This is exactly how I imagine an AR operating system will handle information overloadârevealing layers of data which can be switched between.
newsroom.snap.com/en-GB/new-partnerships-and-tools-for-developers-to-build-with-snapchat
If you want the vicarious as-live experience, hereâs my Twitter thread.
Accessibility
Spotify added auto-generated podcast transcriptions. Itâs part of a broader accessibility update which also includes buttons and text redesigned for clarity.
pr-newsroom-wp.appspot.com/2021-05-18/3-updates-on-the-spotify-mobile-experience-to-help-improve-accessibility/
Apple Watch is gaining touch-free controls based on clench and pinch motions of the hand wearing the watch. Itâs a genuinely impressive accessibility feature, opening up use of Watch to people with limited mobility and arm differences. Other Apple devices and software are also gaining more accessibility features, including richer auto-generated audio descriptions in images.
apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-previews-powerful-software-updates-designed-for-people-with-disabilities/
Everything Else
Oculus added Live Overlay, to layer video of the user in VR over a recording of their experience. It requires the Oculus app on iPhones with LiDAR, but the result is a pleasing shareable video. The same software update brought new tools laying the ground for the Quest to act as a productivity tool, which is a new area of focus for Oculus.
oculus.com/blog/see-yourself-in-vr-with-live-overlay-plus-new-infinite-office-features-and-more-in-latest-oculus-update/
XR
Pinterest launched Idea Pins, an extension of the previous Story Pins with more focus on video. They could be a good tool for discovery and inspiration, given Pinterestâs increasing move into commerce.
newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinterest-introduces-idea-pins-globally-and-launches-new-creator-discovery-features
Stories
Facebook Shops announced Live Shopping Fridays. Each Friday for three weeks three beauty, fashion, and wellbeing brands will run live shopping events, with promotion by Facebook, to help grow the audience for livestream ecommerce.
about.fb.com/news/2021/05/introducing-your-new-favorite-way-to-shop-live-shopping-fridays/
Commerce
Twitter added scheduling to Spaces and began testing ticketed entry. A single Space can be scheduled up to two weeks in advance, and soon users in the US can charge what they like for a ticket with Twitter taking a 20% cut. This is rapidly demolishing all of Clubhousesâs advantages; after years of barely shipping any features at all, Twitter is moving really quickly on social live audio.
theverge.com/2021/5/21/22447328/twitter-ticketed-spaces-monetization-stripe-approval
Social
Spotify will promote and sell tickets to virtual concerts. Well, it says theyâre virtual concerts, but they also say âprerecorded livestreamsâ, which doesnât sound like the same thingâI think to count as a virtual concert there has to be some kind of agency provided for fans to be participants, not just viewers. Itâll be interesting to see what happens here.
pr-newsroom-wp.appspot.com/2021-05-19/must-see-your-favorite-artists-perform-with-spotifys-virtual-concert-experience/
Entertainment
Apple Music will update all accounts to use lossless and spatial audio. Lossless is already available from rival services, but spatial audio is an emerging area with potential for new interactive experiences, so worth keeping an eye on.
apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/apple-music-announces-spatial-audio-and-lossless-audio/
Audio
Shazam results will display in an App Clip in the next version of iOS. When Shazam is launched in iOS 14.6 the found result will launch in an App Clip instead of directing to a web page as it did before. This is more integrated, and perhaps faster, but itâs also another example of the way Apple sees the Web as something to copy, not use. (Aside: I donât use an iPhone much, but Iâve yet to see an App Clip in the wild.)
9to5mac.com/2021/05/17/built-in-shazam-music-recognition-is-now-an-app-clip-in-ios-14-6/
Apps
The Ethereum blockchain is preparing a massive reduction in its energy usage. It involves a new method of authenticating transactions, which it says will reduce use by 99.5%. As Ethereum is one of the worst blockchains for environmental impact, this canât happen soon enough.
blog.ethereum.org/2021/05/18/country-power-no-more/
Environment
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