Technology - Google News

Learn Everything About Football With This Alexa Skill - Lifehacker
Google's Next-Gen Fuchsia OS Confirmed To Run Android Apps - Hot Hardware
Apple seeks to end bent iPad Pro controversy with new support page - The Verge

Learn Everything About Football With This Alexa Skill - Lifehacker

Posted: 05 Jan 2019 07:00 AM PST

Football is the one sport I never really got into. I’m typically the friend trying to rally the troops to attend baseball and hockey games, and in my home state of North Carolina basketball is a religion… but football has always evaded me. I guess it’s just not my sport.

That means that when I do join friends to watch a game, I end up being that person asking what a specific term means or what the deal is with a specific player. Now there’s an app for that. Or a skill, rather.

The Rookie’s Guide to the NFL is an Alexa skill created by the National Football League to help rookies and perma-rookies like myself learn about football. Once enabled, the skill can answer basic questions like “How many players are on a team?” And “What’s the difference between a running back and a wide receiver?” as well as more specific trivia like “How tall is Aaron Rodgers?”

The skill is loaded with information about the rules, penalties, scoring plays, commentator lingo, previous Super Bowls, team formations, and other basic trivia. The idea being that if you have a football-related question while you’re watching the game, you can get a quick (and accurate) answer.

During the NFL’s postseason the skill will also have a weekly 5-minute podcast called “Game Plan” that preps viewers for the next round of playoff games.

It’s meant to be used when watching NFL games, but it could come in handy watching anyone playing—especially if you’re the one constantly asking questions.

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Google's Next-Gen Fuchsia OS Confirmed To Run Android Apps - Hot Hardware

Posted: 04 Jan 2019 12:08 PM PST

Over the past few years, there has been a trickle of information leaking out regarding Fuchsia, which is the rumored successor to Google’s Android and potentially Chrome OS operating systems. When we last visited Fuchsia, it had made its way to the Android Runtime branch, which fueled hopes that it would include native support for Android apps.

This week, however, 9to5Google has uncovered changes within the Android Open Source Project (ASOP) that leads the publication to believe that native Android compatibility will indeed be baked in from the start. Not only was the Fuchsia SDK detailed, which is used to build native Fuchsia apps, but also an Android emulator.

The emulator would give Fuchsia users the ability to run their legacy apps in the new operating system environment. Emulation isn't exactly ideal, but given the complete dominance of Android in the operating system space these days and the proliferation of Android apps, having this backwards compatibility is an obvious and highly beneficial move on Google's part. Making the transition from Android to Fuchsia needs to be as seamless as possible for consumers, and this is definitely a step in the right direction – at least until Android developers can start cranking out reliable native Fuchsia apps.

"Fuchsia will use a specially designed version of the Android Runtime (“ART” above) to run Android applications," writes 9to5Google. "This version of ART will be installable on any Fuchsia device using a .far file, Fuchsia’s equivalent of Android’s APK."

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Fuchsia first burst onto the scene on GitHub back in 2016 and has slowly been massaged into a back-to-basics operating system with the potential to be used in a wide variety of devices including smartphones, tablets, and even convertibles. And rather than being based on Linux, like Android and Chrome OS, Fuchsia is instead built on the Zircon kernel.

Although it's not much to look at right now, you can take a peek at an early version of Fuchsia right here on your smartphone (or PC) web browser.

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Apple seeks to end bent iPad Pro controversy with new support page - The Verge

Posted: 05 Jan 2019 07:50 AM PST

Hoping to put a lid on any perceived controversy around bent 2018 iPad Pros, Apple published a support page late Friday night that details the device's manufacturing process. The page is titled "iPad Pro unibody enclosure design" and starts off by saying that Apple's latest tablet is "strong, light, and durable." The company goes on to note that the new design has flat edges "instead of the curved edges found on previous-generation iPad models." (Some believe that these straight edges are making slight bends more noticeable and easier to see with the naked eye, and Apple later mentions that very point.)

Apple focuses the article on the Wi-Fi + Cellular iPad Pro, which has seen the most reports of a slight bend — almost always at the antenna line at the top edge of the device. Here's that section, and I've emphasized the most important parts:

To provide optimal cellular performance, small vertical bands or "splits" in the sides of the iPad allow parts of the enclosure to function as cellular antennas. For the first time ever on an iPad, these bands are manufactured using a process called co-molding. In this high-temperature process, plastic is injected into precisely milled channels in the aluminum enclosure where it bonds to micro-pores in the aluminum surface. After the plastic cools, the entire enclosure is finished with a precision CNC machining operation, yielding a seamless integration of plastic and aluminum into a single, strong enclosure.

These precision manufacturing techniques and a rigorous inspection process ensure that these new iPad Pro models meet an even tighter specification for flatness than previous generations. This flatness specification allows for no more than 400 microns of deviation across the length of any side — less than the thickness of four sheets of paper. The new straight edges and the presence of the antenna splits may make subtle deviations in flatness more visible only from certain viewing angles that are imperceptible during normal use. These small variances do not affect the strength of the enclosure or the function of the product and will not change over time through normal use.

As you can see, Apple is reiterating what it previously told The Verge last month: any slight bends are a result of the iPad Pro's manufacturing and cooling process, and the company seems to suggest that so long as any "subtle deviations in flatness" aren't perceptible during normal scenarios — meaning when you're facing the iPad head on and actually using it — they shouldn't be a concern to customers. The 400-micron flatness specification first revealed by hardware VP Dan Riccio also gets another mention (this time with the added context that it applies across the length of any side).

If 300-400 microns is noticeably bent, I think this is a problem. The photos of bent iPads people are sharing look like they're bent a lot more than 0.4mm. But it's only 5.9mm thick so maybe 0.4mm *is* noticeable?
— John Gruber (@gruber) December 21, 2018

But Apple doesn't provide a visual example of what an iPad with a 400-micron deviation looks like. What is this in laymen's terms? Is an iPad Pro that lifts off a flat surface out of spec? There are several images of bent iPad Pros on the web that are clearly warped beyond that measurement, but should people be stacking sheets of paper to figure out the close calls?

But I read the bit about the antenna line and flat edges making any deviations "more visible" to mean yes, even bends that fall into this spec might be noticeable if you know where to look. When a device gets as thin as 0.23 inches (5.9 millimeters), your eye is going to have an easier time finding slight imperfections. I've seen relatively few complaints about bending with the Wi-Fi-only model, as it's got metal running around the entire outer edge without the antenna splits.

Again, as it first told The Verge last month, Apple is adamant that a bend within spec will not compromise the device's structural strength, impact performance, or grow worse over time. The company doesn't go into how it's so confident in that statement, but presumably the iPad Pro has been through a gamut of testing. The support page mentions its inspection process, but doesn't address durability checks.

Apple urges anyone who believes their iPad Pro enclosure has a warp or bend beyond 400 microns to contact the company's support channels, and also reminds customers of its 14-day return policy. The statement stops short of issuing a formal replacement program for devices outside that return window, but the punt to customer support tells me that representatives are likely well aware of the situation.

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