Month: May 2018

Enlarge / We're guessing Fitbits will be a pretty popular gift this Mother's Day, at least as far as gadgets go. (credit: Valentina Palladino)

We won’t knock anyone who treats their mom to a brunch date, a box of chocolates, or some jewelry this Mother’s Day. But being a collection of tech-obsessed androids, we’d be remiss not to argue that the right gadget can make a more lasting and practical impact on Mom’s everyday life.

We’re still working on our mind-reading device here at Ars HQ, so for now, you know your mom better than we do. If she likes her current routines, don’t try to force some new gadget into her life just because you think it’s cool. But if she has room for a new piece of tech—or just wants an update to an old one—we have a few ideas for you, the nerdy child, so you can grab a gadget that may not immediately get stuffed in her bedroom closet. Here’s to doing a little bit more to pay Mom back for all the annoyance you’ve caused her over the years.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Enlarge / The Android Things Rainbow Hat from Pimoroni. (credit: PImoroni)

It's Google I/O week and even though the keynote isn't until tomorrow, news is already hitting the (Wi-Fi) airwaves. After being announced all the way back in 2016 and going through eight developer previews, Android Things is finally hitting version 1.0. Android Things is yet another Android OS form factor that lives alongside Android TV, Android Automotive, and (Android) Wear OS. Things is meant for IoT devices, with a special focus on fixing the security nightmare that IoT devices usually create.

Most Android devices are not known as bastions of security (the phrase "toxic hellstew" comes to mind) but the root cause of security problems on most Android devices is the same problem that plagues IoT: device makers don't want to update their devices. Google is going to solve this problem by just doing all the update work itself: every single Android Things-based product will get three years of OS updates, direct from Google, for free.

It sounds so simple doesn't it? Just make Google do it. But the reason Google can do all the updates for all the Android Things is because device makers aren't allowed to modify the Android Things OS. Just like Windows, Android Things is closed source and has a centralized update system. Google controls the operating system, and device makers can only make apps. Such a centralized update scheme could never work the open source Phone Android, where OEMs can—and do—change every little thing about the OS (usually for no good reason).

Google

Welcome to Day Zero of Google I/O 2018. The keynote might be tomorrow, but that isn't stopping one of the more interesting products from being announced a day ahead of time. Google and JBL have built the JBL Link Bar, a soundbar that combines the functionality of Android TV with Google Home. Your TV gets upgraded sound, the Android TV interface and apps, and always-on Google Home functionality, all in a compact soundbar package that can be wall-mounted.

Android TV devices have had the Google Assistant since 2017, and while this seems to have the usual Android TV Assistant commands, it also works as a smart speaker. It has the always-on "OK Google" hotword and four front lights, just like a Google Home. You can tell it to turn the TV on, all without touching a thing.

Enlarge / I haven't played any video games recently, but this "Switch" appeals to me somehow... (credit: YouTube / Aban Tech)

After a launch year "aimed at Nintendo fans and avid game players," Nintendo is planning to target less-traditional game players in the Switch's second fiscal year. That's according to outgoing Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima, who spoke about widening the system's appeal in a recent investor Q&A.

"In this second year, the initiatives we are planning come from our recognition that we also have to challenge ourselves to delivering Nintendo Switch into the hands of consumers who have never played a Nintendo platform before, and to those [who] have played before, but not recently," Kimishima said. Those "initiatives" include a software lineup "meant to attract people including those who have not been playing video games recently," he continued.

If that kind of phrasing sounds familiar, it's because Nintendo used similar language in describing the "Blue Ocean" strategy behind the Wii over a decade ago. The strategy that brought us games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit was one "which aimed to bring in lapsed gamers and to capture non-gamers," according to previous Nintendo Q&As. It was reflected in everything from the Wii's marketing and software to its reduced price point and simplified controller.

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SEATTLE—We've been tracking Microsoft's work to bring its machine learning platform to more developers and more applications over the last several years. What started as narrowly focused, specialized services have grown into a wider range of features that are more capable and more flexible, while also being more approachable to developers who aren't experts in the field of machine learning.

This year is no different. The core family of APIs covers the same ground as it has for a while—language recognition, translation, and image and video recognition—with Microsoft taking steps to make the services more capable and easier to integrate into applications.

The company's focus this year is on two main areas: customization and edge deployment. All the machine learning services operate in broadly the same way, with two distinct phases. The first phase is building a model: a set of test data (for example, text in one language and its translation into another language, or photos of animals along with information about which animal they are) is used to train neural networks to construct the model. The second phase is using the model: new data (say, untranslated text or an image of an unknown animal) is fed into the model and an output is produced according to what the neural nets learned (the translation, or the kind of animal pictured).