Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 09/25 - It's Alexas All The Way Down!

Episode Date: September 25, 2019

Amazon’s hardware event gives us more Alexa in just about anything you can think of, Oculus has some news on the VR front, the 2020 iPhones might echo the iPhone 4 design, and those dog like robots from Boston Dynamics are finally leaving the lab, but to adopt one, you need to think through a use case. Sponsors: Metalab.co AirMedcareNetwork.com/tech code: tech Links: Amazon announces high-end $199 Echo Studio speaker (The Verge) Alexa gains multilingual mode, celebrity voices, and frustration detection (Venture Beat) Amazon’s new Echo Show 8 combines the best of its big and small smart displays (The Verge) Amazon announces new $99 Eero mesh router with Alexa voice controls (The Verge) Amazon Sidewalk is a new long-range wireless network for your stuff (TechCrunch) Kuo: 2020 iPhones to Have Redesigned Metal Frame Similar to iPhone 4 (MacRumors) You can now sign up for Microsoft’s xCloud game streaming preview (The Verge) Boston Dynamics’ Spot is leaving the laboratory (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech Meme right home for Wednesday, September 25th, 2019. I'm Brian McCullough today. Amazon's hardware event gives us more Alexa in just about anything you can think of. Oculus has some news on the VR front. The 2020 iPhones might echo the iPhone 4 design.

And those dog-like robots from Boston Dynamics are finally leaving the lab, but to adopt one, you need to think of a use case first. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. It's a sign of how things have changed that a few years ago, we didn't actually really have regular Amazon hardware events. But if you'll recall, last year Amazon announced like a thousand products with Alexa baked into them. So now Amazon hardware events are a thing. This is happening late in the day. So forgive me for just running down the headlines in hopefully something that approximates a coherent order. But today at Amazon's now annual hardware events.

event, say hello to the high-end Echo, the Echo Studio, available for pre-order today, packed with five speakers and 3D audio support. Quoting The Verge, the studio has five drivers to deliver powerful sound, including three mid-range speakers, a tweeter, and a woofer. Amazon says it's working with record labels like Sony, Universal, and Warner to get more tracks to support 3D audio, end quote. It also apparently can be used as a surround Atmos speaker when it's paired with a fire TV. Next, say hello to the echo dot with clock, available for pre-order today for $49.

So picture your regular echo dot except in the speaker grill. A little digital clock shines through, quoting CNET. The white LED display works with several Alexa functions. The display is primarily a clock, but you can also use it to show countdowns for timers and see outside temperature when you ask Alexa about the weather. As an alarm clock, it includes an automatic snooze option. When your alarm goes off, you'll be able to tap the top and start. a nine-minute snooze, end quote.

Don't worry, by the way, the regular old echo dots are still available. Also, the third-generation plain old echo is available for the same price of $100, but Amazon says it has improved the audio quality of the run-of-the-mill echo with stronger bass and added a twilight blue color. And the Echo Show 8 is here, standing in between the standard 10.1-inch Echo Show and the smaller 5.5-inch Echo Show models available for pre-ord today for $129. Quote, the Echo Show 8 includes an HD display and a privacy shutter so you can cover the video chat camera when it's not in use. Amazon says it offers similar speaker performance to the full-size Echo Show.

The company also introduced new software features including drop-in on all, which immediately starts a group video audio chat with everyone in your family that owns an Echo device. And free time, Amazon's bundle of content and games meant for children is coming to Echo Show devices, end quote. Now, say hello to the new ERO mesh routers that have Alexa voice control built right in, naturally. Available today in the U.S. for $99 a piece or $249 for a three-pack, quoting the verge. The new router promises ease of use with set up in 10 minutes or less, with a dual-based, radio system and support for the Eero Secure and EeroCure Plus premium subscription services. Also new are deeper Alexa controls, something that both ERO and other routers have supported

before in a less integrated fashion, which will allow for granular voice control of your network, like turning off Wi-Fi for a specific device, say a video game system or a child's tablet, or activating a guest network all through the voice control, end quote. Also, big news on the Alexa platform overall. The platform now has a new multilingual mode. And you can pay for celebrity voices to become the voice of Alexa. It'll cost you 99 cents a pop to get a celeb to talk to you. The first voice available is Samuel L. Jackson's.

But back to the multilingual mode, quoting Venture Beat. Starting today, Amazon's launching a multilingual mode that can automatically detect both Spanish and English in the U.S., French and English in Canada, and Hindi, and English in India, end quote. So basically start talking in a different language, and Alexa will detect that and respond accordingly. Quoting once more. Additionally, Amazon's rolling out celebrity voices generated by an AI model, starting with Samuel L. Jackson. He'll tell you jokes, let you know if it's raining, set timers and alarms, play music and more, according to the tech giant. There are two versions of his voice, explicit and non-explicit, both of which will roll out later this year and cost 99 cents for a limited time, end quote.

And if you think Amazon is only for your home, well, you're wrong. As rumored, Amazon unveiled Echo Buds, $129 Alexa enabled wireless earbuds that track steps with a claimed battery life of five hours and 20 hours with the charging case. There's also Bose noise reduction, and they have, of course, tap gestures to control. Let's see what else. GM says it will add Alexa to the infotainment systems on its Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac vehicles from 2018 onwards, and that integration will begin rolling out in the first half of 2020. Amazon has a new fetch pet tracker that uses new sidewalk networking.

What is sidewalk networking? It's a new long-range wireless network for your stuff, quoting TechCrunch. Amazon argues that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi don't have enough range, while 5G takes too much power and is too complex. We came up with something that we call Amazon Sidewalk. Amazon's device chief Dave Limp said at the event today, Amazon Sidewalk is a brand-new, low bandwidth network that uses the already existing free over the air 900 megahertz spectrum. We think it will be great for keeping track of things, keeping things up to date, but first and foremost, it will extend in the distance at which you can control these kinds of simple,

low-cost, easy-to-use devices. The details here remain a bit vague, but Amazon says that you may be able to use sidewalk to connect two devices that can be up to a mile away, depending on how the base station and devices are positioned, end quote. What else? What about wearables? Let's begin with the echo frames. Yes, smart eyeglasses from Amazon. Eyeglasses in any prescription you want, but with tiny speakers and microphones inside the frames to send you notifications and for you to send messages, I guess. And in addition to that, a ring, a ring that you wear on your finger. It's called the Echo Loop.

It's made of titanium. It has two microphones in there as well that are activated by a button on the bottom, a tiny haptic, engine is also present to get a vibration for notifications. And I forgot the prices on those. $179 for the smart glasses, $129 for the ring. I'm sorry, Echo Loop. Those are introductory prices for now and limited quantities because Amazon basically says these are essentially sort of like beta products. Okay, there was actually more. There were 15 total hardware products announced today. These are the biggies. I guess we'll just have to digest all of this tomorrow. Also late today, at the exact same time as the Amazon event, Facebook kicked off its annual Oculus Connect event.

And they had some announcements as well. First up, hand tracking. No more need for controllers to manipulate things in your VR environment. Because now the Oculus Quest will have the ability to track the movements of your hands. Actually, they'll have that ability coming in 2020, which will enable natural interaction with VR with no extra hardware required. Quote, hand tracking uses sophisticated AI to help a computer such as a VR or AR system recognize the shapes of hands and individual fingers interpreting gestures as input commands. A wave of the hand left or right may switch pages, pointing at an object may select it. Grasping the object could allow you to manipulate it in 3D space. Microsoft's HoloLens has used a similar system for input. but since its release rather than requiring handheld controllers, end quote.

So that would be useful for manipulating things in virtual environments like, say, the newly announced Facebook Horizon platform. Facebook describes Horizon as the first step in an ever-expanding world of connection and exploration where anything becomes possible. Explore places, play games, build communities, and even create your own entirely new experience with easy-to-use tools like WorldBuilder that require no coding skills. Launching in 2020, Facebook says Horizon will allow users to design their own diverse avatars,

hop between virtual locales through portals called telepods, watch movies and consume other media with friends and play multiplayer games together like Wingstrikers. It will also include human guides known as Horizon Locals who can give users assistance and protect their safety in the VR world so trolls can't run rampant. Users interested in early access can apply for a beta. As part of the launch, Facebook will shut down. its existing social VR experiences, Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms on October 25th, leaving a bit of a gap until Horizon launches. Oculus Rooms debuted in 2016 as your decoratable private VR apartment, while spaces first launched in 2017 to let users chat, watch movies, and take VR selfies with friends.

Both felt more like lobby waiting rooms with a few social features that were merely meant as a preamble to full-fledged VR games. In contrast, Horizon is designed to be a destination, not a novelty, where users could spend tons of time, end quote. So a virtual world to hang out in, sort of Fortnite style, but maybe without the shooting. Maybe. But if you do want shooting, Oculus also revealed Medal of Honor above and beyond, a new version of the hit franchise for the Oculus system as well as Vader Immortal, a Star Wars VR series episode two, Asgard's wealth and Stormland with pre-orders open now. Facebook also demoed shares spaces, the latest iteration of 3D real-world

recreations that two people can be co-present in using Oculus avatars and have shared experiences. And speaking of the avatars, you can now have full-bodied codec avatars animated in real-time based on your movements. Apple Rumor Maestro and analyst Ming Chi Quo has a research note out that posits that the 2020 iPhone design will switch to a new metal frame structure reminiscent of the iPhone for design. Quoting Mac Rumors, in his research note with T. International Securities, Quo says Apple will change its flagship iPhone design significantly next year.

Specifically, the new devices will feature a new metal frame with, quote, a more complex segmentation design, new trenching and injection molding procedures, and sapphire or glass cover assembly to protect the trench injection molding structure, end quote. Quo believes the grooving and injecting of the metal in next year's iPhone frame will reduce the negative impact of metal shielding on the high frequency and transmission efficiency of the internal antenna, while the use of sapphire or tempered glass on the groove will serve to protect the injection molded structure, end quote. So a new design for better antenna reception going hand in hand with the leap to 5G certainly makes sense. Plus, a lot of people feel that the

iPhone 4 was maybe the iconic iPhone design. So if this proves out, I think a lot of people will be excited. By the way, gamers, Microsoft has opened registrations for the public previews of its Project X-Cloud Gaming Service, which is coming in October to the U.S. UK and Korea. Quoting the Verge, Microsoft hasn't put a specific date on X-Cloud public trials other than October, and the company is planning to, quote, send invites in the coming weeks to, quote, a small number of participants, end quote. Microsoft is keeping this initial preview small and select even down to the number of games that X-Cloud testers will be able to play. In the first phase of the project X-Cloud Public View, featured games will be Gears 5, Halo 5, Guardians, Killer Instinct, and Sea of Thieves, explains a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to the Verge.

For initial testing purposes, we aim to gather insights from engage in active players from those communities. We'll continue to expand our content catalog over the course of the preview, and we'll share more details in the near future, end quote. So if you want to get your game on, click through to the link in the Verge story, but also note, you'll need to have an Android phone or tablet running Android 6 and above, Bluetooth 4 support, a Microsoft account, and a Bluetooth-enabled Xbox-1 controller. And the wait is over if you've wanted to get your hands on one of those Boston dynamics four-legged robots, the robots known as Spot. Yes, that quadrupedal robot has been making the rounds on the internet on videos for years. It can walk, it can keep its balance doing just about anything, and it can now be yours

with a catch. You have to have something in mind for Spot. to do, quoting the verge. The spot isn't going on sale exactly, but if you're a company with a good idea and some money, you'll be able to get one. That also means for the average person on the street that the odds of seeing a spot in the wild just got a lot better. The capabilities are more or less what the company showed off in June, but it's still impressive to see them in person. The spot can go to where you tell it, avoid obstacles, and keep its balance under extreme circumstances, which are all crucial skills if you're trying to navigate an unknown environment.

The spot can also carry up to four hardware modules on its back, giving companies a way to swap in whatever skills the robot needs for this particular job. If it's checking for gas leaks, you can build in a methane detector, say. If you need connectivity over longer distances, you can attach a mesh radio module. Boston Dynamics is already outfitting units with LiDAR rigs from Velodyne, a favorite component for self-driving car projects, to create 3D maps of indoor spaces. Since the spot is designed to work in the rain, outdoor spaces are on the table too, end quote. Again, I'm going to suggest for the story that you also click through to the story in the show notes, because Boston Dynamics has released another video of the robot in action. As Neil Blomkamp tweeted,

The survivors of the nuclear fire called the War Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare, the war against the machines. Ugh Amazon and Oculus did this to me last year, too. Two big events at the exact same time and late in the day. No time to talk about anything else

because as I type these words, it's already 249, so hopefully you're hearing this not too late after 5 p.m. Talk to you tomorrow.