The Tech Landscape #93
The earliest known example of the practice of dactylonomy, or counting on the fingers, came from ancient Persia. In that system the number 93 was represented by a closed fist, so a miserly person was said to have “hands making 93”.
After Mark Zuckerberg’s big announcement about Facebook’s move away from the News Feed (see last week’s newsletter), there are a couple more interesting links about their future this week. I only mention it because it gives me an opportunity to promote my article Trends in Consumer Digital Technology for 2019, in which I noted that this was on the cards. I’ll stop blowing my own trumpet now.
XR
Google has closed its Spotlight Stories group, which made immersive films for VR. One film, Pearl, was Oscar-nominated; but this is a clear sign that VR is no longer on Google’s agenda.
variety.com/2019/digital/news/google-spotlight-stories-shutting-down-1203163117/
Snapchat introduced image markers, which allow brands (invited only, for now) to make interactive artworks. This type of thing has been possible for a while, but not in an app with the reach of Snapchat.
adage.com/article/digital/sxsw-snapchat-lenses-focus-game-thrones-pikachu/316922/
AR companies Torch and 6D.ai have teamed up to create a super-powerful AR prototyping app with visual mapping tools.
torch.app/blog/expanding-augmented-reality-creator-platform-6d-ai-torch
In last week’s newsletter I linked to the rumour that Apple will start production on their own XR glasses later this year. I took a look back at Apple’s acquisitions of companies in the XR space in the past six years: there are quite a lot.
Assistants & Voice
Apple acquired LaserLike, ‘an interest-based personalised search engine’. It’s widely expected that this will be used to improve Siri, which scores poorly against other voice assistants for general information queries.
voicebot.ai/2019/03/14/apple-acquires-laserlike-in-another-move-to-shore-up-siri/
Voicebot’s latest Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report is now available. One in four adults in the US now have access to a smart speaker, growth of almost 40% over last year.
voicebot.ai/smart-speaker-consumer-adoption-report-2019/
Media
Spotify filed a complaint about Apple’s App Store with a European commission. It says Apple’s 30% cut of all subscriptions is unfair and restrictive. It is the latest in a number of companies taking on mobile app stores.
theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/13/spotify-claim-apple-30-percent-app-store-commission-unfair-european-commission-complaint
Apple wrote a strongly-worded response to Spotify’s claims, disputing their version and attacking them for unfair payments to artists.
apple.com/newsroom/2019/03/addressing-spotifys-claims/
Apple sent a press invitation to a new event on 25th April. It’s widely expected they’ll announce a subscription service for News, and a streaming TV service.
macrumors.com/2019/03/11/apple-media-event-march-25/
Machine Learning
Google released Lookout, a new computer vision tool that describes the environment for people with vision impairment. Announced at IO last year, it’s available for Pixel phones in the US now.
blog.google/outreach-initiatives/accessibility/lookout-discover-your-surroundings-help-ai/
Google’s Gboard now uses an on-device machine learning model for speech recognition, making it faster and more private. This is the latest in a series of privacy-focused machine learning tools Google has announced.
ai.googleblog.com/2019/03/an-all-neural-on-device-speech.html
Social Media
A couple of high-profile executive changes at Facebook indicate that the News Feed has peaked and reinforce Mark Zuckerberg’s commitment to pivoting the company to messaging and Stories.
theverge.com/2019/3/15/18266488/chris-cox-quits-facebook-news-feed-privacy-pivot
Twitter is rolling out an app update with a focus on the camera, making it easier to take photos and stream live to Periscope.
theverge.com/2019/3/13/18262207/twitter-camera-update-smart-tags-periscope-instagram
Gaming
The annual Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) takes place this week. As well as the usual news from game publishers, it’s noticeable this year that tech and social media companies are leaning more heavily into the space; there’s a lot of money to be made in gaming.
Facebook will promote its Gaming section to a main app tab. This is a big deal. As more sharing takes place in messaging and Stories, which are harder to monetise with advertising, Facebook are attempting to broaden their revenue channels with a cut of in-game purchasing.
developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2019/03/14/new-home-facebook-gaming/
Snapchat are rumoured to be launching their own games platform, possibly as early as next month.
theverge.com/2019/3/15/18267602/snapchat-gaming-platform-rumor-launch-april-developers
Videogame company, Valve, announced Steam Link Anywhere, a platform for streaming games to the desktop or Android phones. Google are strongly rumoured to release their own competing version of this at GDC.
theverge.com/2019/3/14/18265818/valve-steam-link-anywhere-personal-cloud-service-gaming-pc-gdc-2019
Niantic Labs, makers of Pokémon Go, announced their follow-up title. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite follows similar gameplay to their earlier title but with extra layers of interaction and immersion.
theguardian.com/games/2019/mar/11/harry-potter-wizards-unite-game-details-pokemon-go
Google’s Maps for Games platform had its first major update since it launched.
cloud.google.com/blog/products/maps-platform/announcing-new-styling-and-gameplay-features
Everything Else
The first Beta of Android Q was released. It has a heavy emphasis on privacy, including new limits on background location use by apps.
android-developers.googleblog.com/2019/03/introducing-android-q-beta.html
Chrome’s Android browser will now, under some circumstances, serve stripped-down web pages for faster loading in areas / on devices with poor connectivity.
blog.chromium.org/2019/03/chrome-lite-pages-for-faster-leaner.html
Mozilla launched Firefox Send, a privacy-focused file transfer service. It’s been in Beta for a while.
blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/03/12/introducing-firefox-send-providing-free-file-transfers-while-keeping-your-personal-information-private/
The National Health Service has announced a new digital, data, and technology unit called NHSX. It will partner with the tech industry to build digital services.
gov.uk/government/news/nhsx-new-joint-organisation-for-digital-data-and-technology