The Tech Landscape #98
In Japan a mukoyōshi (婿養子) is an adult man adopted by a family with no male heir. The practice is centuries-old but continues today; a 2014 report said that it accounts for 98% of all adoptions in the country.
Welcome to the roundup of an unexpectedly busy week of digital technology news. A special welcome to all the new subscribers—hope you find this useful, and do get in touch if you’ve got any feedback for me.
Assistants & Voice
The global smart speaker will grow 82% to over 200 million devices in 2019, according to a new forecast from Canalys. Much of the growth will come from Asia, especially China, although more mature markets like the UK and US will also grow, by a little under 50%.
canalys.com/newsroom/canalys-global-smart-speaker-installed-base-to-top-200-million-by-end-of-2019
Facebook has confirmed it’s working on a voice assistant, aimed largely at its AR/VR/home products. The project was initially rumoured under the codename ‘Aloha’.
theverge.com/2019/4/17/18412757/facebook-ai-voice-assistant-portal-oculus-vr-ar-products
Anker released the Roav Bolt, a device to bring Google Assistant to cars. It takes power from the cigarette lighter, connects to a phone and car stereo to give hands-free Assistant access to drivers, as Amazon’s Echo Auto does for Alexa.
androidpolice.com/2019/04/17/anker-roav-bolt-now-available-bringing-google-assistant-to-the-car-for-the-first-time/
The Amazfit Verge smart watch now has (apparently limited) Alexa functionality. This seems to be through the app rather than directly on the watch. You may not have heard of the product, but it’s Alexa’s first appearance on a smart watch.
androidpolice.com/2019/04/18/alexa-comes-to-the-amazfit-verge-fitness-smartwatch/
Amazon and Google both announced that their respective smart speakers will now be available to play songs from their respective music services even without a subscription.
voicebot.ai/2019/04/18/amazon-and-google-both-launch-free-ad-supported-music-streaming-for-smart-speaker-owners/
Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy Fold, the first smartphone with a foldable screen, is set to go on sale soon. It will have a limited release and cost almost $2,000, so isn’t intended for the mass market. Early hands-ons were generally positive, with the consensus seeming to be that it works better as a contracting tablet than an expanding phone. However, some reviewers have complained that their units have already broken.
theverge.com/2019/4/15/18311109/samsung-galaxy-fold-photos-video-foldable-screen-phone-hands-on-impressions
The Google Store is teasing “something big coming to the Pixel universe” on 7th May; it’s strongly suspected to be the ‘Pixel 3a’, a cheaper, plastic version of the Pixel 3, likely with some kind of Avengers tie-in.
theverge.com/2019/4/15/18312052/google-pixel-3a-announcement-teaser-io-2019-event-may-7
Sony have released the first details of their next-generation console. The ‘PS5’ (not the official title) will be much faster, as expected, but also perhaps unexpectedly will still use physical media like Blu-Ray; this bucks the trend of other consoles and services moving to downloading or streaming only.
wired.com/story/exclusive-sony-next-gen-console/
Video
Amazon and Google reached agreement in their streaming dispute; the result will see YouTube return to FireTV and Prime Video gain Chromecast support.
theverge.com/2019/4/18/18412525/youtube-amazon-fire-tv-prime-video-chromecast-return-announcement
The Indian government have asked Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores in the country. The ban is related to the difficulty of policing content on the platform.
economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/software/no-sc-stay-on-ban-government-asks-apple-google-to-take-down-tiktok-app/articleshow/68898483.cms
Everything Else
Android users in Europe will soon be presented with a new screen offering alternatives to Google’s pre-installed products. It’s part of Google’s attempted appeasement of the EU over supposed monopolistic practices.
blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/presenting-search-app-and-browser-options-android-users-europe/
The Pixel 3 exclusive Photobooth mode for Google Camera, which automatically detects smiles and facial poses and takes photos without a button press, can now also detect kisses.
ai.googleblog.com/2019/04/take-your-best-selfie-automatically.html
The AMP Project, the Google-backed effort to make mobile web pages run faster, announced Signed Exchanges, a method of ‘trusting’ search engines (like, ahem, Google) to serve content on behalf of another site, using that site’s URL instead of the search engine’s.
theverge.com/2019/4/16/18402628/google-amp-url-problem-signed-exchange-original-chrome-cloudflare
Facebook’s Messenger will remove the P2P payments service in the UK and France from June. No reason was given, but it’s suspected that the service wasn’t popular; imminent changes to European banking regulations may also be a motive.
techcrunch.com/2019/04/16/facebook-is-discontinuing-p2p-payments-in-messenger-in-the-uk-and-france-on-june-15/
Facebook introduced a new advertising device called Inventory Filters, which gives advertisers better risk control over where their ads appear. It’s intended to replace their current system of excluding categories, which was well-intentioned but wide open to abuse.
thedrum.com/news/2019/04/10/facebook-introduces-new-inventory-filter-latest-move-drive-brand-safety
Amazon will close down its marketplace in China, in the face of stiff competition from local competitors like Alibaba and JD. The Kindle and AWS services will continue.
theverge.com/2019/4/18/18485578/amazon-china-marketplace-alibaba-jd-e-commerce-compete
Spotify has opened a new R&D hub in London, its first outside Sweden and the US. It will employ a further 300 people on top of its present 250 UK staff.
gizmodo.co.uk/2019/04/spotify-opens-london-rd-site-and-needs-300-new-staff/