If Google gets its way, you will explore the world with your phone strapped over your eyes.
At its annual developer conference in Silicon Valley, the internet company showed how it plans to get more people using virtual reality in the coming year by baking the technology into newer smartphones. The vision is for the world’s billions of people to ditch the physical world and explore far off places, take in the news, meet a friend or, as Google repeatedly demonstrated Thursday, water a virtual garden.
“It’s very natural to water things in VR when you have a watering can,” said Clay Bavor, Google’s vice-president of virtual reality.
While rival technology companies such as Facebook are building state-of-the-art virtual reality tools that rely on powerful desktop computers, Google is taking a different path. On Thursday, it said it will soon start selling a plastic headset in which consumers will insert their smartphones and a controller that serves as a virtual hand. Google currently offers a cardboard smartphone holder that acts as a low-tech headset but offers a less-than-realistic virtual world.
“We’re really obsessed about this idea of democratizing VR,” Bavor said on stage. Google for instance announced it will start offering YouTube videos for virtual reality and has partnered with news organizations, such as the New York Times, to try to bring readers into stories.
According to a reliable source, Google plans to hold a major event focusing on hardware October 4th. It will use the event to announce its new Pixel-branded smartphones Pixel and Pixel XL, a 4K Chromecast, fully detail Google Home, and reveal the company's in-house design for a Daydream VR viewer device (Google previously confirmed this was happening). Here is what we know.
The 4K Chromecast will do 4K and be called either the Chromecast Plus or Chromecast Ultra (makes sense - ultra HD). We aren't sure which.
The Daydream device may be called Daydream View.
Google was allegedly planning to announce a 4K version of the Chromecast last year, but seems to have scuttled the launch for some reason.
Other than that, we don't have anything new to report but that October 4th date. We don't know what time or where Google will hold the event, though San Francisco and New York have been their host cities of choice in the recent past. We also still don't know when the Pixel phones will go on sale or how much they'll cost. The same goes for any of the hardware to be announced at the event.
What we can say is that the Pixel phones will be available on or some time after October 4th, obviously. So, mark your calendars, everyone: it's Nexus Pixel season.
October 4th was previously proposed as a launch date for Google's new phones by Droid Life. It looks like they were right.
As a disclaimer: dates are always subject to change. Things can happen, unforeseen circumstances can emerge, and venues aren't always available. While October 4th is very much what we believe is the plan for Google's announcement, we can't say it's a 100% certainty because it's probably not even a certainty for Google. Additionally, products are also subject to change or delay - so keep that in mind.
Google is working on a secret universal cable box — and, bizarrely, the project was just exposed by the cable companies it would harm.
The "Future of TV" coalition, which includes Comcast and Time Warner, sent Tech Insider a press release that seems to blow the lid on the unannounced device:
Staffers in Congress received an unusual off-the-record email Thursday, inviting them to an invite-only meeting at Google’s DC office to “test drive” something called the “competitive video solution”.
The release is light on details of the technology, but one imagines it would resemble a Google-branded Roku or Apple TV with a port for a cable cord. That was, after all, similar to the original plan for the Apple TV in 2014, according to Bloomberg. In an email to Tech Insider, a Google spokesperson confirmed the demonstration of the set-top box.
Cable company executives have good reason to be worried. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a proposal Wednesday to force them to make their services compatible with third-party set-top boxes. The move would save consumers billions in monthly rentals of Time Warner, Comcast, and co.'s proprietary devices.
Samsung is now urging customers who have already received their Galaxy Note 7 units to take their handsets back to where they bought them from and turn them in so that they may receive a replacement. All existing customers are eligible to receive a new unit from Samsung as a replacement. The company is going to ship new inventory in over a week but it’s advising customers to power down their Galaxy Note 7 immediately and exchange it right away. It will provide them with a Galaxy J series handset as a loaner to keep them connected until their new unit arrives.
Customers have two options. The first involves exchanging their current handset for a new one. Until the new handset arrives, customers will be given a Galaxy J series smartphone as a loaner. They will have to return it when they claim their new Galaxy Note 7 unit. Many Samsung carrier and retail partners will offer the loaner handset so check with the place you bought your Galaxy Note 7 from.
Samsung will also allow customers in certain markets to immediately exchange their Galaxy Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge. The company will refund the price difference between the two devices. For inconveniencing its customers, Samsung is also going to throw in a $25 gift card, in-store credit or bill credit from selected retail outlets who are participating in this exchange program for the Galaxy Note 7.
Samsung has received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the U.S., including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage, including fires in cars and a garage.
I heard a report on the radio the other day where Samsung is deploying a software update to recalled Note7 devices which will limit their max battery capacity to 60% (so it will stop charging if the battery gets that high) so it won't explode.
EPT
