https://techcrunch.com/gallery/heres-everything-google-announced-today/
Google held a press conference yesterday in San Francisco, where the company announced everything from new phones to crazy machine learning-powered wearable cameras.
It was a flurry of news. Techcrunch condensed it all the highlights down well into one quick slideshow.
18 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google dropped the Pixel’s headphone jack to lay the groundwork for a bezel-free phone
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/04/google-dropped-the-pixels-headphone-jack-to-lay-the-groundwork-for-a-bezel-free-phone/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
Another domino has fallen in the march toward a post-headphone jack world. Today Google became the latest company to drop the once ubiquitous port from its phones, though it hardly devoted any time to its own courageous move. The driving motivation for dropping the jack is pretty clear after a quick survey of the mobile landscape: the Pixel is moving to an edge-to-edge display.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Debuts Its $400 Google Home Max Speaker To Rival Apple’s HomePod
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/10/04/203256/google-debuts-its-400-google-home-max-speaker-to-rival-apples-homepod
Google’s Home Max brings premium audio to its Assistant speaker
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/04/googles-home-max-brings-premium-audio-to-its-assistant-speaker/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Google Clips Camera Puts AI Behind the Lens
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/10/04/2336238/the-google-clips-camera-puts-ai-behind-the-lens
You know what a digital camera is. It’s a lens and a sensor, with a display to see what you’re looking at, and a button to take the picture. Google Clips is a camera, but it only has some of those parts. There’s no display. There’s a shutter button, but it’s completely optional to use. Instead, it takes pictures for you, using machine learning to recognize and learn faces and look for interesting moments to record. I don’t know if parents — Google’s target market — will want it.
The Google Clips camera puts AI behind the lens
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16405200/google-clips-camera-ai-photos-video-hands-on-wi-fi-direct
You know what a digital camera is. It’s a lens and a sensor, with a display to see what you’re looking at, and a button to take the picture. Google Clips is a camera, but it only has some of those parts. There’s no display. There’s a shutter button, but it’s completely optional to use. Instead, it takes pictures for you, using machine learning to recognize and learn faces and look for interesting moments to record.
Snee’s anecdote encapsulates the two ways to look at this little thing: it can capture endearing, heartwarming moments — but only if you’re okay with a camera that is always watching, looking for something to record.
I don’t know if parents — Google’s target market — will want it. I don’t know if Google can find a way to explain everything it is (and isn’t) to a broad enough audience to sell the thing in big numbers, especially at $249.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Behold the Pixel 2, Google’s New Flagship Android Phone
https://www.wired.com/story/google-pixel-2-new-flagship-android-phone/
The first Google Pixel was a remarkable device. Nobody ever gets their first phone right, but Google did. Thanks to a spectacular camera, a pure take on Android, and the brand-new Google Assistant, the first true Google Phone immediately claimed a place at the top of the smartphone pile.
Now Google’s back with Pixel. Actually two: the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL. The Pixel 2 has a 5-inch screen, the XL is an inch larger. Otherwise, the two models match in virtually every way. They’re refined, improved versions of last year’s models, adding a few features and removing a few as well. (Bye bye, headphone jack.) T
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Takes Its Assistant’s Fate Into Its Own Hands
https://www.wired.com/story/google-takes-assistants-fate-into-its-own-hands
Two smartphones. Three smart speakers. A gorgeous laptop and stylus. An upgraded virtual reality headset. A pair of wireless earbuds that can translate a conversation in real-time, like a Babel Fish. New as of Wednesday, all adding to Google’s existing stable of Chromecasts and Nest smart home devices. Most of them seem to exist for one simple reason: If you want something done right, do it yourself. That something, in this case, is Google Assistant.
The company’s pragmatically named AI helper already lives on Google Home, last year’s Pixels, and lots of other smartphones—including the iPhone. You’ll even find it in speakers from Sony and others later this year. But Google showed Wednesday that for Assistant to reach its true potential, and to realistically gain an edge over Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and the rest of its smart-assistant competition, it can’t rely on third-party partners, or glorified reference models. It needs an ecosystem. And it’s not interested in waiting for one to materialize.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Interview with Google SVP of hardware Rick Osterloh on HTC acquisition, Google’s smartphone plans, and integrating software and hardware
Google hardware is no longer a hobby
Rick Osterloh talks about what’s next for Google hardware
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16405184/rick-osterloh-interview-new-google-hardware-vision-htc-deal
Rick Osterloh has been on the job as the senior vice president of hardware at Google for just over 17 months now. In that time, he’s had to repeatedly answer the same questions from reporters like me: just how serious is Google about making its own hardware? Is it a hobby or is it going to genuinely affect Google’s financial bottom line? Is the company sure it won’t repeat the same mistakes it made with its ill-fated Motorola acquisition and subsequent sale years ago?
Last October, Google wanted to show it was serious about hardware with a wave of hardware announcements. But Osterloh had just started a few months earlier, so he acted as more of a master of ceremonies for products than the original architect of them.
This year, everything Google is announcing was created under his watch. It’s our first real look at Osterloh’s vision for what Google hardware should be. His vision includes no fewer than eight products, two of which are in completely new product categories for the company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Google debuts larger version of Home, called Home Max, with better speakers, two colors, coming in Dec. for $399, with 12-month free subscription to YouTube Red — Google Home is getting bigger, in more ways than one: Google announced a few updates for its smart home speaker line …
http://techcrunch.com/2017/10/04/googles-home-max-brings-premium-audio-to-its-assistant-speaker/
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Google debuts Home Mini with four LED lights under fabric exterior in three colors, available as $49 preorder, shipping October 19 — It’s a small, stone-shaped smart speaker — Google announced a smaller companion to its Google Home smart speaker today, called the Home Mini.
http://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16407344/google-home-mini-announced-price-release-date-smart-speaker
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Google is bringing new kid-focused features to Home, including story time, gaming, and parental controls
http://techcrunch.com/2017/10/04/google-is-making-home-better-for-families-and-kids/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ben Fox Rubin / CNET:
Walmart says customers can now start shopping for 2M+ Walmart items on Google Home devices
http://www.cnet.com/news/walmart-voice-shopping-on-google-home-is-now-live/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Interview with Sundar Pichai on AI and how it’s used in Google products, like its Clips camera, Google Maps, and Android — ‘We feel huge responsibility’ to get information right — Unbeknownst to me, at the very moment on Monday morning when I was asking Google CEO Sundar Pichai …
Sundar Pichai says the future of Google is AI. But can he fix the algorithm?
‘We feel huge responsibility’ to get information right
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16405174/ceo-sundar-pichai-interview-google-ai-artificial-intelligence-interface
Unbeknownst to me, at the very moment on Monday morning when I was asking Google CEO Sundar Pichai about the biggest ethical concern for AI today, Google’s algorithms were promoting misinformation about the Las Vegas shooting.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google has sold 55M Chromecasts, and provided 100M+ answers via Assistant
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/04/google-has-sold-55m-chromecasts-and-provided-100m-answers-via-assistant/
Google announced on stage a few numbers to update its progress on its hardware program – the company said that it’s sold over 55 million Chromecast devices, including Chromecasts and hardware with Chromecast built-in and that it has built up a database of over 100 million answers for users via Google Assistant, its voice-powered AI software.
The other success metric that Google noted was that its Google WiFi mesh networking router is the top-seller in that category in both the U.S. and Canada. It’s still a relatively young category, but there are lots of entrants now, so that’s impressive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Pixel Buds: is Babel fish dream of in-ear translation now a reality?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/google-pixel-buds-babel-fish-translation-in-ear-ai-wireless-language
AI-powered translation piped through wireless earbuds is another big step towards the removal of the language barrier
Alongside the new Pixel 2 smartphones Google unveiled on Wednesday night, the company also launched a set of Bluetooth earbuds called the Pixel Buds with one standout feature: instant translation between 40 different languages using a Pixel smartphone.
In a live demo on stage, the Pixel Buds were shown translating short phrases back and forth between English and Swedish using Google Translate running on a Pixel 2 smartphone.
“It’s like you’ve got your own personal translator with you everywhere you go. Say you’re in Little Italy, and you want to order your pasta like a pro. All you have to do is hold down on the right earbud and say, ‘Help me speak Italian’,” wrote Adam Champy, Google’s product manager for the Pixel Buds, on the company’s blog.
While the demonstration was impressive, this isn’t the first time Google has rolled out the ability to do near real-time translation back and forth between different languages, and it isn’t the first firm to put that capability into a set of earbuds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Up close with Pixel Buds, Google’s answer to AirPods
Neckbuds that talk to the Assistant
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16405202/google-pixel-buds-wireless-headphones-photos-video-hands-on
The new Pixel Buds borrow a lot of ideas from Apple’s AirPods: they have a new, easier way to pair with your phone, they come in a little battery case, they use touch controls, and they have tight integration with an intelligent assistant. They’re also priced exactly the same, at $159, and are coming out in November.
On the other hand, Pixel Buds are neckbuds, not truly wireless earbuds. They lack some of the technical whiz-bang of the AirPods, like auto-detecting when they’re in your ear. The choices Google made with the design of Pixel Buds speak to Google’s emerging values when it comes to its hardware products: be pragmatic and lean on Google’s core technologies whenever possible.
Neckbuds aren’t cool, but having headphones sitting around your neck all the time is definitely convenient.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pixel Buds are probably the most important gadget Google launched
http://mashable.com/2017/10/06/google-pixel-buds-apple-ai/#LUI_R4jwRPq04444
Out of all the products Google launched at its big event this week, there’s one that should have Apple really worried.
No, it’s not the Pixel phones (though they certainly seem like worthy iPhone competitors) or the MacBook-like Pixelbook, it’s the Pixel Buds.
More than any other gadget Google launched, the $159 Pixel Buds (which, by the way, are already out of stock on Google’s store), perfectly encapsulate how Google can use it’s incredible AI advantage to beat Apple at its own game.
To be clear, this isn’t about whether the Pixel Buds, as they are right now, are better than AirPods.
But I’m talking about much more than just aesthetics, which are easily fixed (particularly now that Google has an extra 2,000 engineers from HTC onboard).
That demo is perhaps Google’s best example of how its new “AI-first” vision can completely and radically change its hardware — and its ability to compete with Apple. Pixel Buds, which have Google Assistant and real-time translation for 40 languages built right in, are, for now, Google’s best example of this vision.
But Pixel Buds are only the beginning.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google shows off wireless headphones that it says can translate languages on the fly
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/04/google-translation-earbuds-google-pixel-buds-launched.html
Google released a line of new products on Wednesday.
When the Google Pixel Buds are paired with a new handset, the Google Pixel 2, the earbuds can tap into Google Assistant.
In addition to the translation of 40 languages, Google Assistant can also alert users to notifications, send texts and give directions.
Google released a line of new products on Wednesday, including its first pair of premium wireless headphones, which can support live translation between languages.
When the Google Pixel Buds are paired with a new handset, the Google Pixel 2, the earbuds can tap into Google Assistant, Google’s artificially intelligent voice-activated product.
In addition to the translation of 40 languages, Google Assistant can also alert users to notifications, send texts and give directions. The translation feature can be conjured by saying “help me speak French,” or any other language, according to The Verge, which got a preview of the device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Pixel Buds hands on
Google’s bitten the audio bullet and launched its first-ever pair of wireless headphones: Google Pixel Buds. They’re out in November, but we’ve managed to grab hold of a pair for a quick listen…
Read more at https://www.whathifi.com/google/pixel-buds/review#UYPo8lcfW4dHjc7A.99
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ry Crist / CNET:
Google Home Mini review: stylish-looking and sounds a bit better than Echo Dot but lacks a line-out jack, requires Chromecast Audio to use with another speaker
Google Home Mini sounds great but lacks vision
https://www.cnet.com/news/google-home-mini-review/
The Google Home Mini sounds better and looks better than the Echo Dot — but Google needs to innovate if it wants to catch Alexa.
The Good: The Google Home Mini is a stylish-looking speaker with surprisingly strong sound quality for its size. The Google Assistant is a capable Alexa competitor, especially thanks to its ability to search out detailed answers to a wide variety of questions.
The Bad: There isn’t much the Home Mini does that Alexa can’t do, too. It also lacks a line-out jack, and requires Chromecast Audio in order to connect with at external speaker setup.
The Bottom Line: The Google Home Mini is a great device, and a no-brainer for existing Google Home users — but it isn’t the Echo Dot-killer Google probably needs it to be.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Elon Musk: Google’s AI camera doesn’t even pretend to be innocent
https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musk-google-clips-doesnt-even-pretend-to-be-innocent/
Commentary: Google’s controversial AI-based Clips camera doesn’t seem to impress Tesla’s CEO.
Elon Musk isn’t sure about artificial intelligence.
He worries it could start World War III. He thinks it’s a far greater threat than North Korea. He wants it regulated immediately.
So when Google presented its new AI-based camera Google Clips last week, you might imagine that Musk wouldn’t be overly excited.
On Saturday, however, he seemed to accuse Google of a blatant disregard for privacy.
“This doesn’t even *seem* innocent,” he tweeted.
Clips, you see, works by using AI to instantly recognize faces of special interest to its owner and, when it spots those faces, takes candid pictures of them.
Without the face-owners necessarily knowing.
An LED light does flash to say the camera is on. There are, however, lots of those around the house that we happily ignore.