Made by Google 2019: Getting closer to bringing seamless 'ambient' computing to life

Google unveiled a new Pixel smartphone and other hardware devices Tuesday, all aimed at getting people even more reliant on its artificial-intelligence services. NEW YORK – It's not the computers you can see that are going to matter most, it's the one you can't. At least, that's the argument Google made at their Made by Google hardware launch event here, as they unveiled a number of new products that provide intelligence or interactions in ways that blend in with the environment around us. The tech industry has been talking about this notion of "ambient computing" for some time, but it's taken advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud-based services and wireless connectivity to start to make it real. To be clear, the kinds of things Google debuted at their event – from the widely expected Pixel 4 smartphone, to Pixel Bud earbuds, and updated versions of their Nest mini smart speaker (previously Google Home Mini) and Next WiFi (formerly Google WiFi) mesh routing system – have not reached cloak of invisibility-level powers. However, the refinements the company added to these products, in conjunction with the software advancements in Android and the Google Assistant, are making it easier to get access to the kinds of information we expect from our computing devices in more natural ways.