Month: December 2016

The Raspberry Pi 3, one of Android Things-supported devices. (credit: Raspberry Pi Foundation)

Today Google is announcing a developer preview and rebrand of Project Brillo, Google's Android-based Internet of Things initiative. The new name highlights the project's Android base—it's called "Android Things."

"Android Things" joins the Android family alongside Android TV, Android Auto, and Android Wear. At its heart, Android Things is a stripped-down version of Android aimed at cheap, ultra-low-end IoT hardware. Today Google's developer preview is offering "turnkey" support for the Intel Edison, NXP Pico, and the Raspberry Pi 3. If you remember the Raspberry Pi 3 showing up in Google's AOSP repository earlier this year, now we know why.

Google has also partnered with these companies to create a smooth upgrade path from development hardware to a large-scale production run.

When the Banjo Kazooie-inspired Yooka-Laylee was busy racking up over £2 million on Kickstarter back in early 2015, the game was promised for "Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U." Today, the team behind the game locked down an April 11, 2017 release date for all of those versions of the game... except the one on Wii U, which has been summarily cancelled.

A Kickstarter update for the game cites "unforeseen technical issues that unfortunately mean it will be impossible for us to release the game on Wii U as initially planned." In an accompanying FAQ, the developers at Playtonic (which include many former Rare employees) said they "worked tirelessly over many months in attempt to solve our technical issues," and stressed that "the Playtonic team wanted to explore every possible avenue before making the very difficult decision to transfer development from the Wii U."

The Wii U version's cancellation is particularly poignant for long-time Nintendo fans, since Yooka-Laylee's direct inspiration, the Banjo Kazooie series, is a well-remembered staple from the Nintendo 64 (and later, the Xbox 360). Kickstarter backers will be able to transfer their Wii U order to another platform at no charge, or they can e-mail the developers to request a full refund. They will also be able to wait for a newly announced Nintendo Switch version of the game, the details of which will be announced in 2017.

Enlarge / The AirPods given out to reviewers aren't necessarily representative of the final version. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

One of Apple's key justifications in dropping the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 was that wireless headphones were the future. To that end (and to combat the general flakiness of standard Bluetooth headphones and speakers), the company also announced a custom wireless chip called the "W1" and brand-new wireless headphones called AirPods. They wouldn't be available alongside the new iPhones, but they would launch by the end of October. Fast forward to the end of October, and Apple had delayed the AirPod launch indefinitely, saying only that the company "[doesn't] believe in shipping a product before it's ready" and that it needed "a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers." Apple gave no official explanation for the delay.

Fast forward again to Tuesday morning—we still have no explanation for the delay, but Apple has quietly released the AirPods for the promised price of $159, and a few lucky early birds were able to get them before Christmas. Buyers hoping for an expensive stocking stuffer are already out of luck, though, since as of this writing, the AirPods' shipping estimate has already climbed to four weeks. Vigilant shoppers may be able to find some at Apple's brick-and-mortar stores, but expect availability to be limited.

The release follows a Wall Street Journal report that claimed that wireless problems were holding up the launch, according to an anonymous person familiar with the matter. The report also strongly implied that Apple would completely miss the holiday launch window, though this didn't turn out to be the case (at least for the first few people who managed to get their orders in). Citing more anonymous sources, Daring Fireball's John Gruber suggests instead that the delay was caused by problems with manufacturing large quantities of AirPods, which would explain the limited availability at launch.

(credit: Gage Skidmore)

During a primary debate before the 2012 presidential election, then-Texas-Governor Rick Perry made a huge mistake. When asked to name the three federal agencies he said he would eliminate if elected, he could only come up with two on the spot. President-elect Donald Trump has now chosen Rick Perry to lead the agency Perry couldn’t remember that day—the Department of Energy.

The three-term Governor will take over an agency that has been run by individuals with a science background in recent years. After confirmation by the Senate, Perry will oversee an expected effort to reduce funding for research and development of renewable energy technology in favor of fossil fuels. Perry sits on the board of Energy Transfer Partners, a pipeline company whose subsidiary is behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

Perry has repeatedly rejected the conclusions of climate science over the years, even claiming that scientists have manipulated data to create the appearance of warming. But while he was friendly to Texas’ petroleum industry, he also oversaw a boom in wind energy in his state. Texas produces more wind energy than any other state, with farmers and ranchers taking advantage of wind turbine leases to add another source of income.

(credit: Cronologics)

The next version of Android Wear won't come out until early 2017, but Google is still doing what it can to improve its wearable OS in the meantime. The company just acquired Cronologics, a smartwatch OS startup that created the Amazon Alexa-equipped CoWatch. According to an announcement on Cronologics' website, those at the company will join the Android Wear team at Google to "help grow the portfolio of watches" running the system.

"We see strong alignment with Android Wear’s mission and look forward to working with our new colleagues at Google to continue pushing the frontier of wearable technology and smartwatches with Android Wear 2.0 and beyond," Cronologics said in the announcement.

Cronologics dates to 2014 when Lan Roche, Leor Stern, and John Lagerling started the company; all three had previously worked at Google. Cronologics' first device was the CoWatch, which was billed as the first smartwatch to incorporate Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. CoWatch users could speak to the device on their wrist, asking it to do things like call an Uber, order pizza, and a number of other things you can do using Alexa on an Amazon device like the Echo. As of today, the CoWatch Indiegogo campaign has raised nearly $300,000—but with the company now under the Google umbrella, the fate of the CoWatch is up in the air.