Technology - Google News

After five years of Amazon’s Alexa, why isn’t it better? - The Verge
Fossil’s Hybrid HR has a smarter display, 2-week battery, syncs w/ Google Fit - 9to5Google
Apple’s Radical New iPhone Suddenly Takes Shape - Forbes

After five years of Amazon’s Alexa, why isn’t it better? - The Verge

Posted: 06 Nov 2019 07:03 AM PST

Five years ago today, Amazon surprised the tech press by unveiling Alexa and the Echo, its first smart speaker. "Well this one came out of nowhere," was the reaction of Verge reporter Chris Welch.

Five years later, Alexa is a household name — literally. If you have children and an Alexa device, they probably know how to ask the robot to play their favorite songs at breakfast. You might have Alexa in your kitchen, on your bedside table, or even in your car.

But half a decade after Alexa launched, there's a lingering question: has Amazon's assistant actually become more useful?

For me, the answer is a clear "no." I started using an Echo speaker not long after it became available in the UK, and after messing around with some lackluster skills on Amazon's haunted house of an app store, I quickly settled on a few key use cases: playing music and radio, setting timers, and occasionally asking about the weather and Wikipedia-level trivia. Years later, I still have an Echo, and I still use it for the exact same tasks. Nothing has changed. Don't get me wrong, I think the Echo performs these functions pretty well. But like many users, I've learned that posing any trickier queries is asking for trouble.

No one would disagree that Alexa has been a huge success for Amazon. The company has added its voice assistant to a cornucopia of gadgets, from smart rings to microwaves. It's sold more than 100 million Echo devices, integrated Alexa with 85,000 smart home products, and its app store now boasts over 100,000 skills. On a cultural level, Alexa has even managed to give the cut-throat and merciless Amazon a bit of personality.

The company has also poured huge resources into making Alexa more usable. It's churned out new features like whisper mode, Alexa Guard, and Alexa routines while banging away at the underlying promise that Alexa is slowly getting better at conversations and chit-chat. This, says Amazon, will allow it to tackle more complex tasks (like ordering an Uber or notifying you about a delayed flight) more naturally and gracefully. But Amazon has been promising this sort of functionality for a long time, and it doesn't seem to be a whole lot closer to its goal.

There are a few factors at play. First is the difficulty of getting computers to understand language, a challenge I saw first-hand while covering Amazon's $3.5 million Alexa Prize. Thanks to new machine learning techniques, we've gotten pretty good at turning the audio of speech into text from which we can extract basic commands. But any interaction more complex than that is still out of bounds. Language is just inherently nuanced and human. It's our greatest civilization tool, and although we can use verbal tricks to give computers the appearance of comprehension, these shortcuts don't hold up for long.

Second is Alexa's absence on mobile devices. It's omnipresent in households, but I don't know anyone who uses it instead of Siri or Google Assistant on their phone. This puts a limit on its ability to function as a daily helper. You live on your phone; any assistant needs to be there, too.

The third problem is the most immediate: getting Alexa to work as advertised requires too much effort and trust from users. You might use Alexa to set up a morning routine in your smart home, but that will take time. It also means you have to trust Alexa, not only in terms of privacy (where Amazon has made repeated mistakes) but also trusting that the assistant will do what you've asked. I don't use Alexa to shop on Amazon, for example, because I don't trust that I'm getting all the information I need about what I'm buying. It's just not reliable in a way that encourages repeat use.

All the while, Amazon's competitors have been working hard to catch up. Google, in particular, has rapidly improved its Assistant. I'm not a regular user myself, but colleagues who are say its ability to answer questions is leaps ahead of Alexa. That sort of trustworthiness goes a long way to making the use of Assistant a reflex, like Googling a question. However, I don't believe that even Google's machine learning might is enough to "solve" the underlying challenges of computer conversation anytime soon.

Ultimately, Amazon has been extremely — even scarily — successful at spreading Alexa over the world of internet-enabled gadgets, but its functionality still feels thin. It's a technology that is miles wide but inches deep, always there in a pinch but never quite as good as you'd like. And in many cases, it adds exactly zero intelligence to gizmos, just tacking on voice controls instead. Amazon doesn't help with this. Even at its most recent Echo event, the company wowed us with product after product but no sense of clear direction.

I'm happy to use Alexa for the same jobs I used it for years ago, but I'd also swap my Echo for a generic voice-controlled speaker that can perform those same functions. Perhaps that's just me. Perhaps I'm just not comfortable doing more with Alexa. But I don't think there's anything unique about this technology or, after years of development, that it's close to living up to its promises.

If Amazon doesn't improve its tech over the next five years, then Google, Apple, and plenty of others have shown they're eager to step into Alexa's shoes.

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Fossil’s Hybrid HR has a smarter display, 2-week battery, syncs w/ Google Fit - 9to5Google

Posted: 06 Nov 2019 05:22 AM PST

Hybrid smartwatches usually have great designs and battery life but at the sacrifice of intelligent interfaces and features. Today, Fossil is announcing a smartwatch that bridges the gap better than any we've seen. The Fossil Hybrid HR has 2-week battery life, an e-ink display, and even syncs with Google Fit.

Nomad case for Pixel 3

Available starting today from $195, the Fossil Hybrid HR is the company's first to include this e-ink display technology. Other companies such as Pebble (RIP) have used this sort of technology in the past and just like on those devices, it enables Fossil's watch to save power while still leaving more room for notifications, activity tracking, and more.

Unlike the company's Wear OS smartwatches, the Hybrid HR manages to include these features with a battery that lasts a whopping 2 weeks on a single charge. The platform itself is internally developed, though, so we don't expect any third-party apps anytime soon like you'd find on Wear OS. What is encouraging, though, is that the Fossil Hybrid HR can still sync with Google Fit, a major win for Android users.

The Fossil Hybrid HR is available today starting at $195 in several styles.

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Apple’s Radical New iPhone Suddenly Takes Shape - Forbes

Posted: 05 Nov 2019 06:20 PM PST

Apple played safe with its (intelligently upgraded) iPhone 11 series and the result is a rock solid range which gets the basics right. But they don't quicken pulse rates like what is coming next.

Apple iPhone 2020, Apple iPhone 12, — Apple iPhone render based on extensive leaks
PhoneArena

Apple iOS 13.2 Release: Should You Upgrade? [Updated]

Forbes Gordon Kelly

Following a series of leaks (1,2,3,4,5), we know a lot about Apple's plans to launch a radically redesigned 2020 iPhone and now expert render artists at PhoneArea have put them all together for the first time.

The big takeaways are Apple's repeatedly leaked plans to return the so-called iPhone 12 to a boxier design akin to the iPhone 4, as well as shrinking the notch. Apple is also adding an additional Time Of Flight (ToF) camera (like most rivals) with Bloomberg detailing the inclusion of long-range 3D capabilities to the primary camera to enable the mapping of surroundings up to 15 feet away. A feature designed to boost augmented reality apps.

Flaws? I understand that there won't be a fourth camera because a ToF sensor is tiny and 3D will come to the primary lens, so the existing triple array will appear largely unchanged. That said, PhoneArena does a superb job of illustrating the broad brushstrokes of what we can expect.

Apple's 2020 iPhone Restores Touch ID, New Patents Add Detail

Forbes Gordon Kelly

And what PhoneArena can't show, are the mass of internal changes Apple also has planned. Perhaps the biggest is the inclusion of 5G on every model, though the return of Touch ID could prove just as popular along with ProMotion displays. The long-awaited switch to USB-C from Lightning should also prove popular in tempting Android owners to switch camps.

The one fly in the ointment is cost, with reports breaking earlier this week that all these upgrades could result in major price hikes. But if Apple can keep this down, the 2020 iPhone may just be one of the most exciting iPhones in years.

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