Personal Assistant Systems
Google's Amazon Echo Rival Launches in November
Google announced that its Home smart speaker will be available for preorder starting immediately, and will ship on Nov. 4. The company also shared more details about how Home will work, and which apps and gadgets it will be compatible with. Google says Home's design was inspired by standard household items, like wine glasses. Home can also be customized by swapping out the base portion, which will be available in multiple colors. Google Home will support Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music, and YouTube Music as well as a few other streaming services.
Google reveals Pixel phone that bakes in AI assistant, to let people chat with their handset
Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display
Google Home revealed: New robot assistant built to sit inside people's houses and listen to what they want
Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display
Google baked its AI 'Assistant' into the new Pixel phones
The Pixel and Pixel XL may look new on the outside, but just like grandma says, it's what's inside that counts. Google has tweaked the underlying software that powers the Pixels, baking its AI Assistant directly into the phones and launching them with Nougat 7.1. Assistant is Google's conversational AI helper, similar to Microsoft's Cortana or Apple's Siri. Assistant's machine learning capabilities already power Allo, Google's mobile-only messaging app, and it also shows up in products like Google Home. In Allo, Assistant allows users to search for things like directions, restaurant suggestions and weather conditions with conversational phrases, and it even suggests responses (a la Inbox).
Google Assistant will be the core of new hardware
Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off today's keynote event by emphasizing the company's shift in focus from "mobile first" to "AI first", and saying it wants to create a personal Google for each user. The company demonstrated the fruit of its efforts earlier this year by giving us a taste of its Assistant bot in its Allo messaging app. Pichai said for Assistant to be truly helpful, it needs to be available universally, and so the company today showed how it will be bringing the helper to phones and homes. Hardware chief Rick Osterloh detailed how the company is working on hardware built around Google Assistant, starting with the new Pixel phone. Google Assistant starts listening on the new Pixel phones when you hold down on the Home button (similar to how you'd activate Google Now before), or when you say the hotword ("Ok Google"). In a demonstration, Google Assistant brought up (and rattled off) a list of events from the Hearst Greek Theatre in response to a query about happenings there.
AI-powered voice-assistant Google Home costs 129
During its hardware-announcing extravaganza Google announced that its voice-powered assistant/Bluetooth speaker Google Home will cost 129 and will ship on November 4th. It's the stationary piece of Google's AI plans to make the platform all about you. "The goal is to build a personal Google for each and every user," CEO Sundar Pichai said. Like the Amazon Alexa platform, the voice-activated Google Home assistant will control connected home devices. But it also acts as a Chromecast that can stream and be used to control other Google casting devices with your voice.
Google Assistant takes centerstage at Google's gadget event
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai proclaimed Tuesday that we're evolving from a mobile-first world to an "AI-first world" -- and, of course, that Google is going to be at the forefront of that evolution. But to do that, Google is investing heavily in mobile -- specifically, smartphones. The tech giant introduced two new phones, the 5-inch Pixel and the 5.5-inch Pixel XL, at a San Francisco keynote event. The phones boast a camera that Google said earned a top rating for a smartphone camera, an unlimited amount of online photo storage, and a battery that gives you seven hours of battery life from just 15 minutes of charging. The new Pixel phones carry branding that identify them as "Phone by Google," which is a departure from the old Nexus "partner" branding but a crucial turn in what the company is trying to do: owning the phones as its own.
Google launches two Pixel phones, the showcase for Google Assistant
Google has announced its new Pixel and Pixel XL phones, as expected, which will be powered by Google's new Google Assistant. Google launched the Pixel in both a standard as well as a jumbo size, the Pixel XL. But the 5-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL aren't noteworthy because of their hardware, but because of the software and services attached to them: not only will users be able to launch the interactive Google Assistant from their home buttons, but the phones will come with an unlimited amount of cloud storage for photos and videos at original quality --even 4K!--compliments of Google. The Pixel will cost 649 (or 27 per month) exclusively from Verizon. Google didn't provide a price for the Pixel XL.
Google Pixel Sounds Like the Android Phone of Our Dreams
It's fitting, in a way, that Google's new Pixel phone resembles the iPhone. Apple's world-changing gadget is the very device Google is aiming for with. The 5-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL are meant to be the best, most powerful, most unified Android phones ever. They have best-in-class specs, best-in-class design, best-in-class everything. And for the first time, Google seems to want you to buy one.