Andrea Smith joins us from #CEWeek. We’ll talk about the avalanche of news from Google I/O, the Aereo decision in the US Supreme Court and what’s happening at CE Week in New York!
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Show Notes
Today’s guest: Andrea Smith, technology journalist talks CE Week
Headlines
Google vomited announcements all over the place at its 2.5 hour Google I/O Keynote this morning. Here are the highlights:
The next version of Android was not named, only referred to as Android L. It will get a new deisgn language as will Google’s Chrome OS and Web apps. The new look is called Material Design. It’s very card based, with bright colors and realistic transitions.
A new way to log in to a phone will include determining if it’s in a trusted environment, looking for a friendly device like a smartwatch or a trusted WiFi network, thus bypassing entering a PIN or pattern.
Android One is a program to design affordable hardware for partners to manufacture in developing markets. India’s Karbonn and Spice smartphone makers will be two of the first on board.
Android Auto will be completely voice enabled and contextually aware. The idea is to power everything through the phone but provide a better display experience in dash and the ability to use a steering wheel button along with voice. Twenty-five car manufacturers have promised to build Android-Auto powered cars and the first cars will roll off lots by the end of the year.
The Android Wear development kit is available today. That means developers can make apps work with Android-powered wearables now.
And three wearable devices were announced. The Samsung Gear Live and LG G watch are available to order today and the Moto 360, with a round face, is planned for release later this summer. The Gear Live runs $200 and ships beginning July 7th.
No, not even close to done. Android TV got some details as well. It’s a software system for use in TVs and other devices. It can be controlled by mobile phone or tablet and act as a Chromecast. It will run on a line of smart TVs from Sony, Sharp and TPVision, and come to other set-top boxes later this year.
The Chromecast itself will get the ability to mirror Android screens, accept streams from nearby devices even if they’re not on the same network, and a new feature called backdrop that puts up personal photos or information streams when the TV is not otherwise in use.
ChromeOS got some stage time as well with the announcement that Android apps can run in an emulator now. Chromebooks will also unlock themselves when your phone is around and then notify you of incoming calls and texts.
Google Drive made its presentation software Slides, available for mobile, announced the support of Word, Excel and Powerpoint formats natively in Docs. And Drive for Work gives unlimited storage for $10 a month per user.
And finally, Google got in the fitness tracking game with Google Fit. The platform aims to organize data from multiple apps, trackers and sensors, Google announced partnerships with RunKeeper, Basis, Adidas and Nike.
Now that’s not all. There were also announcements on Enterprise management, Cloud services and Gaming. But there were also two protestors. Neither of which were complaining about the length or volume of announcements in the keynote. The first was an elementary school teacher who complained of being evicted from his apartment by Google lawyer Jack Halprin. The second yelled “You all work for a totalitarian company that builds robots that kill people!”
GigaOm reports the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Aereo is a public performance. The service which rented microantennas to users to watch over the air broadcasts on the Internet will have to wind up its operations in all regions. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the opinion for the majority, arguing Aereo operated like a cable company and “Insofar as there are differences, those differences concern not the nature of the service that Aereo provides so much as the technological manner in which it provides the service.“ Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a dissent arguing that ignoring the technical aspect could hmean other services could suffer “guilt-by-resemblance.” Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia said the decision would cause a chilling effect but the company would continue to fight. However, part-owner Barry Diller told cnbc “it’s over now.” and a “a big loss for consumers.” Thanks to Hurmoth for submitting this on the subreddit.
The Wall Street Journal reports Kaplan is buying Dev Bootcamp, a school that offers crash courses for software developers. Code Schools, along with MOOCS (Massive online open courses) are seen as an alternative to a traditional four-year college degree. The school’s leadership team and curriculum will remain in place. Tuition, at $12,200 for the nine-week course, also will be unchanged.
As many on the subredddit noted, Google started offering $150 credits to Chrome Pixel owners whose Verizon service was cut off after one year despite being promised two years of free service. Now TechCrunch reports Verizon says it was all a big misunderstanding. See, a very small number of Chromebook Pixel customers MAY have been hit by an unforeseen problem and Verizon will work with these customers to resolve the issue.
The Next Web reports Barnes and Noble will spin off its Nook business after all. The company has confirmed the board has authorized the separation of retail and Nook Media businesses. Why? In order to optimize shareholder value of course.
The Next Web reports Facebook’s messaging app Slingshot is now available worldwide for Android and iOS. The app lets you send non-permanent photo and video messages to friends. The catch is that you can’t see what a friend sent you until you send them something back.
News From You
gewbert posted the MSNBC story about another US Supreme Court decision. In this one the justices ruled 9-0 that police need a warrant to search the cell phone of a person who has been arrested, in most circumstances. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. “The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought. Exigent circumstances like imminent danger to life or evidence destruction might justify searching a phone without a warrant, which is no different than most other cases.
metalfreak posted the unsurprising ZDNet story that Linux continues to dominate supercomputers. According to the latest rankings from the Top500 Group, 97 percent of the world’s fastest supercomputers run Linux. The growth rate in performance is slowing though. From 1994 to 2008 annual performance growth was 90%. Lately annual performance growth has been only 55%.
And KAPT_Kipper posted the EE press release that the UK telecom company will bring what they call “4G WiFi” to the Glastonbury Festival placed inside fiberglass cows modeled on Worthy Farm’s dairy cows and painted by Glastonbury bin artist Hank and team.
Pick of the day: Private Internet Access via Henrik from Bergin, Norway
Henrik from Bergin, Norway has some advice and a pick of the day: “If a VPN has a data cap that means it is storing at least some of the things you are doing. I would guess IP address in case someone else uses your user name and password, time and date you log in, and a program that keeps track of how big files you are downloading. If they are blocking certain things like BitTorrent they have to look at what you are doing. If it’s for privacy reasons I would use a VPN that claims not to log anything, and uses OpenVPN.
Henrik suggests as an alternative: http://privateinternetaccess.com/ $3.33 per month if you take the yearly subscription… They have many payment methods including Bitcoin. I have used them for over 2 years now, and I’m pretty happy with them. With the Netherlands and Sweden servers I pretty much have the same speed as with no VPN (25 Mbps). The US servers are slower for me at around 3-15Mbps. (Usually 10Mbps), but I live in Lovely Bergen (Norway), so that’s a long way… They even lets you chose how good encryption you want if you use their OpenVPN clients. https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/vpn-encryption
Calendar Item of the Day: CE Week New York
Today is the start of CE Week, the consumer electronics industry’s annual mid-year check-in in New York City.The Exhibits and Conference Program, better known as as ‘the place with all the shiny things you covet’, begins Wednesday June 25 — we’ll have a preview on tomorrow’s show. Want more? Check out ceweekny.com
Thursday’s Guest: Brian Brushwood and more from CE Week!
In 1945 – The first draft of a Report on the EDVAC was published. It discussed the advantages of using just one large internal memory, in which instructions as well as data could be held.