Google Android discussion - Page 82

Back at Google I/O 2017, the company showed off a cool new image obstruction removal feature that Sundar said would be coming “very soon.” Obviously, it never shipped. And today, with I/O 2018 behind us, there’s still no solid word on when it will arrive. We did get a chance to talk to Google about it, though, and they gave us some answers — although we’re not sure how valuable they are.

First of all, Google did reassure us that the feature is indeed real and that the technology exists. So that’s good to know. But the real answer they gave us on why it’s not happening is because the company just didn’t have it high on the priority list. Other AI-powered features, like the ones that Google did show off at the keynote earlier this week, were simply higher priority. So that’s Google’s on-the-record stance.

But I also just directly asked them, even a year later, if they would reiterate Sundar’s “coming very soon” quote from last year. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t. “I wouldn’t say it’s coming very soon,” the Product Lead for Google Photos told us.

So that sounds as dreary and negative as it can get for those of us hoping to remove countless fences from the many photos we have of our kids at baseball games. (Seriously, though, when you think about it, is this really that important of a feature to have? The more I think about it, the more I understand why Google didn’t prioritize it… but I digress.) But the bad news doesn’t stop there.

We’re told by a tipster that it might be a little more than just a shift in priority that has kept the feature from coming out. This person told us that it had some “really severe underlying issues” which the company is still trying to address to this day. What are those problems? I don’t know. But this person doubled-down on the not-soon timeline. They don’t think it’s coming “as originally advertised.”

YouTube is getting ready to a launch a new version of its music service — and at the same time it is getting ready to charge more to see originals shows like a “Karate Kid” spinoff.

Background: Two years ago, YouTube launched YouTube Red, a service that gave subscribers an on-demand music service, more or less similar to Spotify or Apple Music — as well as access to original programming created just for the service. YouTube Red also removed ads from the world’s largest video service.

All of that cost $10. But now that’s changing.

Next week, YouTube is launching YouTube Music — a revamped version of its existing music service that is functionally the same, but comes with extra bells and whistles like personalized playlists based on your YouTube history and other usage patterns.

That service, which is supposed to soft-launch on Tuesday, will cost $10 a month after a trial period. (That same service will eventually also replace Google Play Music, a rival music service Google has inexplicably operated at the same time it was trying to get YouTube Music off the ground.)

Now YouTube intends to charge $2 more for the other parts of YouTube Red, which will be renamed YouTube Premium — but will require you to also pay for YouTube Music.

That is: If you want to watch ad-free, YouTube original shows like “Cobra Kai,” which appears to have a bit of buzz and four million views, you’re now going to have pay $12 a month, instead of $10 a month.

More detail: YouTube Music’s $10 a month removes ads from music videos - but not the rest of YouTube. It also allows you to download music for offline listening, and to play music in the background while you do other things. YouTube Premium’s $12 a month removes ads from all of YouTube, like YouTube Red used to do.

Gray G. Lee, head of the AI Center under Samsung Research, said Thursday the upcoming flagship Galaxy Note 9 will adopt an upgraded artificial intelligence platform, Bixby 2.0.

To the question of the expected launch of Bixby 2.0, Lee told The Korea Herald that the upcoming flagship smartphone model in the second half of the year would feature the advanced Bixby platform, after a press conference to announce Samsung’s vision for AI.

According to his remarks, Bixby 2.0 will be upgraded with enhanced natural language processes, improved noise resistance capability and quicker response times.

Samsung is preparing to unveil the Galaxy Note 9 in August, which will be one of the attention-grabbing high-end smartphones to be launched in the second half of this year.

To improve its AI platform and technologies, Samsung plans to expand its workforce that specializes in AI to up to 1,000, continue creating AI centers in different parts of the world, and consider mergers and acquisitions of promising AI businesses, Lee said.

“Samsung’s AI vision has five directions: user centric, always learning, always there, always helpful and always safe,” Lee said.

Samsung plans to connect a total of 14 million units of its products with the Bixby platform this year, and aims to connect all by 2020.

On August 20 2018 23:48 Broetchenholer wrote:
I created a new thread for this question in tech support, because i thought this thread wasn't really for discussing hardware but more for pgogramming apps etc. SIlly me. Acrofales hushed me over

I will have to buy a new phone in the next two weeks as i am still using my work phone and have quit that job. I have so far been against smartphones because i don't believe i need them but have now decided that i will finally enter this domain. However, i have absolutely no idea about the whole technology, i am not trusting available retailers one bit and i currently don't have the time to investigate enough to come to an informed decision. So let's abuse the community :D

I am looking for a small, practical smart phone with good battery. It doesn't need to be fancy, i will (try to) only use it for calling, texting, occasionally using GPS, making a photo or checking some important informtion on the interwebs. It should also be able to play mp3s without jumping through a lot of hoops, i think iphones are out because of that, right?

Basically, i don't have spending limit but i refuse to pay money for a company tag, i want it to be small so that carrying it around won't inconvenience me and i really need it to have a long battery life. Using chip.de as a source for testing i would probably look at something like a Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact but i really have no perspective besides that site telling me this is a good phone for the size and with regard to battery life. Any suggestions or pointers where to look?

Here is his response as i can't simply migrate the whole thread over
+ Show Spoiler + Trademark by Acrofales

On August 22 2018 02:12 Dangermousecatdog wrote:
My research has indicated that any modern phone recent modern smartphone should have usable map apps, though there are some phones that may have greater access to certain global navigation satellite systems, and some chips are more accurate than others though phone manufacturers and sellers seem to refuse to give out that information in an accessible manner.