Google I/O 2016: Here’s what to expect from the keynote

It’s that time of year again.

Google’s I/O 2016 annual developer conference is scheduled to kick off in San Francisco on 18 May, with a main keynote that begins at 9:30 AM PST. It should last about 2.5 hours. You can tune into the live-stream from here. Until then, Pocket-lint has browsed through all the speculation and rumours to round up everything Google might discuss during its lengthy presentation.

Google typically uses I/O to unveil the next major update to Android or showcase upcoming products (both hardware and software). We plan to continually update this article with leaks and more, so bookmark this page for all the latest. If you’d like to know more about how to get tickets to Google I/O, so you can watch things go down in person, check out this round-up.

Google I/O 2016: What events are scheduled?

Google’s I/O website doesn’t yet reveal which events are scheduled between 18 May and 20 May (the dates of the actual conference), but the company has announced that its main keynote – now called the “developer festival” – will be held at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View.

Google I/O 2016: When can you expect from the keynote?

Google

Android N

Keep in mind there is typically a two-year gap between major updates to Android. This year’s update goes by the codename Android N, though it’ll eventually get a dessert-inspired name. (Android Lollipop was once Android L.)

Google might preview Android 7.0 Nougat or Nutella or some other sweet that begins with N. New features are thought to include improved battery management options, a Dark Theme, and a Force Touch-like pressure technology.

• Read more: Want to name Android N?
• Pocket-lint hub: Android N

Pocket-lint

Chrome OS

The Wall Street Journal claimed Chrome OS will be unified with Android, this merging Google’s laptop and mobile experiences. Google later said it’s been working on ways to bring “together the best of both operating systems.”

• Read more: Google on Chrome OS Android
• Pocket-lint hub: Chrome OS

Pocket-lint

Android Wear

Google has updated Android Wear over the last year, adding better gesture support and Wi-Fi capabilities, but it might announce more improvements, such as improved voice control and more gesture controls.

It could even showcase new devices. Also, Android Wear became iOS compatible in 2015, so Windows Phone could be up next.

• Read more: What’s Android Wear really like on iPhone?
• Pocket-lint hub: Android Wear

Google

Android Auto

It’s likely that Google will announce new car models compatible with Android Auto as well as more third-party apps compatible with company’s infotainment system. Waze, which Google acquired, could even be integrated.

• Read more: Android Auto: How does it work and when will it be out?
• Pocket-lint hub: Android Wear

Pocket-lint

Virtual reality

Google is going to go all out with virtual reality in 2016.

Google is reportedly developing a VR headset that is more legit than Cardboard but requires a smartphone. The Wall Street Journal claimed Google is also developing a device described as an “all-in-one virtual-reality headset”, and it doesn’t require a phone, PC, or a game console.

We’re in early-days territory still however, so who knows if Google will elaborate on its VR plans during Google I/O in May.

• Read more: Google’s virtual reality headset: What’s the story so far?
• Pocket-lint hub: Virtual Reality

Google

Self-driving cars

Google could give an update on its driverless vehicle program, including what’s next for the prototype. Keep in mind Google said in September that it doesn’t actually intend to manufacture physical cars to sell to customers.

• Read more: Google is testing wireless charging for self-driving cars
• Pocket-lint hub: Driverless Cars

Google Images

Project Ara

Google’s modular smartphone project debuted in 2013 but still hasn’t released. The official Project Ara Twitter page claimed the device would go on sale in 2016 in the US but not much else is known. Google could therefore provide us with more details about the project at Google I/O.

• Read more: Google’s Project Ara: Everything you need to know
• Pocket-lint hub: Project Ara

Lenovo

Project Tango

At CES in January, Lenovo announced it plans to launch a Project Tango smartphone this summer. We can expect to hear more on this at I/O. This phone would use motion-tracking and depth-sensing to overlay a 3D world onto physical surroundings (aka augmented reality).

• Read more: Project Tango hits smartphones
• Pocket-lint hub: Project Tango

Google

Project Fi

Google’s Project Fi is a cross-carrier network that automatically switches carriers and finds open Wi-Fi to provide you with a solid connection at all times. It is only available for Nexus devices, but Google could announce an expansion to non-Nexus devices during Google I/O.

• Read more: Project Fi: 9 things to know
• Pocket-lint hub: Project Fi

Google

Smarthome

Google offers the OnHub wireless smart router. Plus, it acquired Nest in 2014, a maker of smart thermostats and more. And during its last I/O event, Google announced Google Brillo, an operating system designed specifically for the Internet of Things sector. 

We are therefore certain Google will make IoT a focus at I/O 2016.

• Read more: What is Google Brillo and when will it arrive?
• Pocket-lint hub: Google Brillo

Yahoo welcomes the rise of eSports with its own hub

Yahoo clearly wants a piece of the growing eSports pie. Despite having to shutter almost all its verticals recently, the company has launched a new hub for competitive video gaming under the Yahoo Sports banner. In its announcement post, Yahoo Sports Media Vice President Bob Condor said that “with a global audience reach of more than 226 million,” the company has “identified an incredible opportunity” in competitive gaming. Yahoo Esports is meant to be a comprehensive guide that regularly publishes match scores, stats and schedules. The team behind it will concentrate on producing video content, though, including live tournament coverage hosted by various gaming personalities like Andrea Rene.

A quick peek at the portal shows you the titles Yahoo intends to focus on at the moment. The categories right under the banner are named CS:GO, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, Street Fighter V and, of course, League of Legends. You can also find a spoiler toggle you can switch on/off and a built-in chat feature where visitors can mingle.

The hub already has videos and posts you can watch and read if you want to sample what Yahoo can offer. In case you find it lacking, you can always check out one of its competitors — Yahoo isn’t the only company trying to cash in on competitive gaming’s booming popularity. ESPN, for one, launched an eSports section back in January despite its president going on record that he doesn’t consider competitive gaming a sport.

Source: Yahoo, Tumblr

Make a pit stop, take a detour with Google Maps for iOS – CNET

Getting there is half the fun, they say. The “they” in question probably aren’t traveling with kids, but no matter your reason for stopping along the way, Google Maps now makes it easier to add a pit stop or detour to your trip. Google Maps for Android added this ability last fall, and now the feature has arrived for iOS.

While in navigation mode on your iPhone, you can now search for gas stations, restaurants and other points of interest along your route. Prior to this update, you would need to leave your turn-by-turn directions to search the map for a gas station, for example, and then jump back into navigation mode. Not only can you add a stop to your directions, but Google Maps also shows an estimate for how long a stop will add to your trip while keeping you on your route. And when you search for a gas station, Google Maps shows you the price at each station, although in my experience it skewed heavily toward Mobile stations.

To search for a stop while in navigation mode, tap the magnifying glass in the upper-right corner and select Gas stations, Restaurants, Grocery stores, Coffee shops or Search for more places. The last option lets you search by keyword.

Enlarge Image

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

If you don’t find, say, a gas station in your current location on the map, you can pan and zoom in and out to search the map. You can also keep a search open as you travel and tap the blue Refresh button in the lower-right corner to see new results.

Tap a search result on your map and the Add Stop button to add it to your route. If you decide later that you want to drive a bit longer before pulling off the road, you can remove a stop by tapping the search button again and then tapping Remove stop. You will then return to your original route.

The other part of the update adds support for 3D Touch. If you have added home or work addresses in Google Maps, then you can 3D Touch on the Google Maps app icon to get shortcuts for directions to home or work.

(Via Google Maps Lat Long blog)

How to help your phone survive a long-haul flight

Travel can be tough on your phone.

For many of us, smartphones are a hugely important part of traveling by air — whether it’s through airline apps and mobile boarding passes, using indoor maps to find your way around the terminal, or just distracting yourself from the stress and boredom of the whole experience.

But flying can be tough on your phone. Browsing or using apps for hours while waiting for a flight can eat a significant chunk of your batter, as can listening to music or watching movies while airborne. And that’s to say nothing of the risk of physical damage as you’re taking devices through security and onto the plane.

So we’ve compiled a few tips to help you and your device make it safely to your destination. Head past the break to get started.

Keeping things charged

This is a no-brainer — many flights now provide seat-back USB charging ports, but these are by no means guaranteed. Same deal with charging spots at airport terminals. And with many destinations now requiring phones power on as part of enhanced security measures, it’s never been more important to keep your phone juiced up as you travel. (Especially if that’s where your boarding pass lives.)

It’s more important than ever to keep your phone juiced up.

So it’s worth making absolutely sure you have your own way of keeping your device charged. The easiest way to do this is with an external battery — or if your phone supports it, an additional removable battery.

Devices like the LG G4 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 let you swap out a dead battery for a fresh one, which is a really convenient way to go from zero to 100 percent instantly.

See Android batteries on ShopAndroid

Otherwise, a portable USB battery can help your phone survive a long stretch without access to a wall outlet. If you’ve got a modern Android phone that supports Qualcomm QuickCharge, two of the best options come from Samsung and Aukey.

Samsung’s 5,200mAh Fast Charge battery works with any USB-powered phone, but can rapidly charge devices supporting the Quick Charge 2.0 standard. It’s also small enough to fit in a jeans pocket, and comes with a small microUSB cable. It’ll provide enough power to get most phones from dead to fully charged, and then some.

If you’re after even more juice for multiple recharges (or charging multiple devices at once), Aukey’s 10,000mAh Quick Charge battery is a good option. It’s got one port that supports QuickCharge 2.0, and another for regular (slower) 5V/1A charging.

• See Samsung Fast Charge battery on ShopAndroid
• See Aukey 10,000mAh Quick Charge battery on Amazon

If all else fails, you can save battery power by turning down your backlight, using Wi-Fi instead of mobile data where possible, and using your phone’s built-in power-saving modes.

Loading up on storage

If you’re planning on spending your flight listening to music or watching movies on your phone, you’ll want to pre-load this content in advance. (Even if you’ve got in-flight Wi-Fi, there’s often not enough bandwidth for streaming, and services may be blocked anyway.)

Even if you’ve got in-flight Wi-Fi, don’t count on being able to stream reliably.

Apps like Google Play Music and Spotify let you offload your music cache to a microSD card, if your phone has that slot. That’s a good place to start if you’re using good old-fashioned MP3s, too.

Alternatively, you may want to give your phone’s internal storage a little spring-cleaning, removing unused apps and offloading stuff like photos and videos to the cloud. Remember that things like web browsers and social apps can cache a lot of data on your phone, so clearing out these can free up a lot of space.

See microSD cards on ShopAndroid

Keeping things protected

I’ve lost track of how many times my phones have acquired mystery scratches after going through an airport or a long flight. As you’re moving devices in and out of security bins, and juggling stuff between pockets and tray tables, it’s easy for accidents to happen.

As you’re juggling phones between security bins, pockets, bags and tray tables, it’s easy for accidents to happen.

For that reason, even if you normally use your phone without a case, you might want to think about investing in one while you’re on the road. There are a bunch of cases available for popular Android phones, but if you’re not planning on using one every day then a pocket pouch is a useful way to keep phones protected in bags or security bins.

• See smartphone pocket pouches on ShopAndroid
• See all Android cases

Always pack spares

Cables have a nasty habit of going walkabout when you travel.

Your phone will have come with at least one charging cable. And if you’re a longtime Android user then chances are you’ll have some spares from older phones knocking about. Do yourself a favor and pack more than one charging cable — or if you only have one, pick up a spare before you leave.

This applies doubly if you’re using a phone with the newer USB-C standard, like the Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X or OnePlus 2. These cables are much harder to come by in the wild, so you’re going to want to pack at least one spare.

• See microUSB cables for Android phones
• See USB-C cables for Nexus 6P, 5X and other Type-C devices

How do you use your phone when you travel? Any tips to share? Shout out in the comments!

BlackBerry Priv now available from Verizon

If you’ve patiently been awaiting the arrival of the BlackBerry Priv on Verizon, it looks like your time has come. BlackBerry’s first Android-powered smartphone is now available to order from Verizon’s website, further expanding the Priv’s reach across carriers.

As for pricing, Verizon is offering the Priv at $30 per month for 24 months or, for those looking to buy outright, at a full retail price of $720. The Priv’s listing on Verizon’s online store came with zero fanfare, so it’s unclear when we may see the smartphone land in retail stores, but we hope to hear more on that soon.

For the time being, interested buyers can check out Verizon’s website at the link below for more. Not sure if the Priv is for you? Be sure to give our full review a gander.

See at Verizon

Dubai hosts the first World Drone Prix on March 11th

While there are plenty of efforts to make drone racing a serious sport, Dubai is determined to outdo them all. It’s about to host the World Drone Prix, which will robotic fliers against each other in high-speed (over 62MPH) competition. Over 100 teams will participate in “American Idol-style” qualifiers between March 7th and 8th; the top 32 from that bunch will make it to the actual races on March 11th and 12th.

This isn’t about to usher in a Formula 1-like pro racing league, but this does have a shot at succeeding where other leagues might struggle. Besides the lavish production values (see the supercar-laden promo video below if you need proof), it’s handing out a total of $1 million in prizes, including $250,000 for the winner. Although that pales in comparison to what top-tier race car leagues offer, it’s a big enough incentive that it could keep teams coming back for future events.

Source: World Drone Prix

Play as two new heroes in the next ‘Battlefront’ DLC

DICE has announced the next map and character DLC pack for its wildly popular Star Wars: Battlefront game. The new pack, dubbed Outer Rim, will feature two new maps including a close-range field within Jabba the Hutt’s palace and garage complex as well as a second map for Sullust (which already has one in-game), a lava-laden industrial planet.

Greedo and Nien Nunb will make their Battlefront debuts with Outer Rim and players will have access to five new weapons as well. You will need to purchase the $50 Season Pass to access the new content, though that investment will also cover a couple more DLCs scheduled to arrive before the end of 2016.

Via: IGN

Source: Star Wars: Battlefront

1,000-pixel headlights could offer improved vision at night

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a new headlight technology that automatically and intelligently adapt to the current traffic conditions. The team, led by Dr. Hermann Oppermann, essentially wired four, 256-pixel LED arrays together and connected them to a driver electronics chip. With it drivers will be able to have permanent high-beams that automatically dim when an oncoming car is detected. The head lights will also follow the course of the road (like an old 1940’s Tucker) by blinking individual pixels on and off. What’s more the system will reportedly be exceedingly efficient since it automatically turns off any unneeded pixels.

In order to be able to control each point of light independently a gold nano-sponge establishes the contact between each individual pixels and the driver chip. The nanoporous gold structure compresses like a real sponge and can be precisely adapted to the topography of the component. © Photo Fraunhofer IZM

Infineon, Osram, Hella and Daimler all collaborated with Fraunhofer to create the new headlights but, despite the backing of one of the world’s biggest automakers, there’s no word yet on when or even if the lights will make it to market.

Via: Gizmag

Source: Fraunhofer

Finn from ‘Star Wars’ wants a story mode for ‘Battlefront’

Electronic Arts and DICE have gone on record saying that the “Battle of Jakku” map is the closest we’re going to get to any content in Star Wars: Battlefront that wasn’t in the classic trilogy. But does that edict mean the development teams will ignore the request of one of The Force Awakens’ breakout stars, John Boyega (disgraced stormtrooper Finn), for a “full on offline” story mode? Time will tell. “It’s more of an enjoyable way to learn controls,” he tweeted. He isn’t wrong, either: Trying to learn any game’s intricacies while also dodging incoming fire from folks online is a pain.

@EAStarWars Will fans get a full on offline story mode? It’s more of an enjoyable way to learn controls.

— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) March 2, 2016

Boyega said he’s been playing the series for years and that it was pretty weird killing stormtroopers online before he actually offed them in Episode VII. Now, remember, there is an offline portion of the game dubbed “missions” where you can race through the forests of Endor on a speeder bike or participate in a pretty weak version of the Battle of Hoth, among other scenarios. It’s something the person running the EA Star Wars Twitter account was quick to point out.

@JohnBoyega Have you had a chance to try the Missions?

— EAStarWars (@EAStarWars) March 2, 2016

But Boyega shares another sentiment with folks playing Battlefront in that respect as well:

@EAStarWars yeah thought it was great! But definitely leaves you wanting to engage within a narrative. Can I visit your base in the uk?

— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) March 3, 2016

So says Finn, so say we all. From the looks of it, Boyega will get one of his wishes granted, though: A tour through EA’s offices in the UK — maybe he’ll inquire more about the campaign while there.

Via: Kotaku

Source: John Boyega (Twitter)

iCloud Backups Not as Secure as iOS Devices to Make Restoring Data Easier

Apple’s ongoing fight with the FBI over whether the company can be compelled to help the government unlock the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook has brought the full range of Apple’s privacy policies into the spotlight.

The details surrounding the case have made it clear that while Apple is unable to access information on iOS devices, the same is not true of iCloud backups. Apple can decrypt an iCloud backup and provide the information to authorities when ordered to do so via a warrant, as it did in the San Bernardino case.

In a piece posted on The Verge entitled “The iCloud Loophole,” Walt Mossberg takes a look at Apple’s iCloud backups and explains the reason why iCloud data can’t be made as secure as data stored solely on an iPhone or iPad.

Apple is able to decrypt “most” of the data included in an iCloud backup, and an Apple official told Mossberg that’s because the company views privacy and security issues differently between physical devices that can be lost and iCloud. With iCloud, it needs to be accessible by Apple so it can be used for restoring data.

However, in the case of iCloud, while security must also be strong, Apple says it must leave itself the ability to help the user restore their data, since that’s a key purpose of the service. This difference also helps dictate Apple’s response to law enforcement requests. The company’s position is that it will provide whatever relevant information it has to government agencies with proper, legal requests. However, it says, it doesn’t have the information needed to open a passcode-protected iPhone, so it has nothing to give. In the case of iCloud backups, however, it can access the information, so it can comply.

iCloud backups contain iMessages and texts, content purchase history, photos and videos, device settings, app data, voicemail password, and health data. Backups don’t include information that’s easily downloadable, such as emails from servers or apps, and while iCloud backup does encompass iCloud keychain, Wi-Fi passwords, and passwords for third-party services, that information is encrypted in a way that makes it inaccessible to Apple.

Mossberg suggests customers who don’t want to upload data to Apple via an iCloud backup make local encrypted backups through iTunes using a Mac or PC, and he points out that other cloud storage services, like Dropbox, are no more secure.

Mossberg’s full exploration of iCloud is available over at The Verge and is well worth reading for anyone interested in the security of data stored in the cloud.

Tags: theverge.com, iCloud
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