Google is developing a series of AI-powered features for Android O

Why it matters to you

The next major release of Google’s Android operating system might use artificial intelligence to save you time.

Android 7.0 Nougat may be less than half a year old, but Google has already turned most of its development efforts toward its next version. On Tuesday, VentureBeat reported that the Mountain View, California-based company is working on three new features that will coincide with the release of Android O. They’re described as “intelligent,” and said to bring Android to parity with Apple’s AI-powered efforts on iOS.

One feature, Copy Less, will combine machine learning — software that self-improves without human intervention — and computer vision — software that extracts and analyzes data from images — into a labor-saving feature. According to VentureBeat, it aims to cut down on the number of times users have to copy text from one app to another.

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Take food, for example. If you’re having a Facebook Messenger conversation with a friend about where to have dinner and switch to Yelp for recommendations, Copy Less will recognize the context — it will “know,” so to speak, that you’re looking for a nearby place to eat, and use that information to save you time. Once you’ve settled on a spot and switched back to the chat interface, Copy Less will suggest relevant replies to your friend’s questions. If he or she asks for the restaurant’s address, it will serve it up.

Another contextualization feature reportedly in tow is address recognition. When you receive a message with a street address, it will recognize the text as an address — tapping it will show the address in Google Maps.

According to VentureBeat, the implementation will be similar to Gmail’s web app. When a date or time appears in the body of an email, it’s automatically underlined, and when you hover over the text, a pop-up menu offers the option to add the event to your calendar.

Google has already experimented with context recognition in the form of Now on Tap (now Screen Search), an Android feature that launched with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Screen Search, once activated, suggests relevant links and shortcuts based on what you’re browsing. If you’re searching a Spanish web page, it will automatically translate sentences. If you’re on a band’s Facebook page, it will serve up quick links to concert tickets.

Google’s final major accessibility feature involves gestures. If you draw a letter C anywhere in Android, for example, a short list of contacts will appear onscreen.

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Google has toyed with the idea of gestures before. The Gesture Search app for Android provides gesture-based access to contacts, apps, and settings. And Google launched a gesture option on the web that lets you perform searches by scribbling in your phone’s browser. VentureBeat notes, however, that the gestures feature could be delayed or canceled.

Google is expected to unveil Android O at its I/O developer conference in May. If history is any guide, the search giant will release a series of work-in-progress developer previews ahead of a public launch in the fall.

Lip reading will soon offer another novel way to unlock your smartphone

Why it matters to you

Using a lip pattern as a password is harder to imitate than a regular code, tougher to trick than face recognition, and unlike fingerprints, could require little or no contact with the device.

Between fingerprints, face recognition, audio commands, and good old PIN numbers, passwords, and patterns, there is no shortage of ways to unlock your smartphone. Now, a team of researchers at Hong Kong Baptist University have added yet another way: Lip reading.

At first blush, using lip movement to authenticate a device might just seem like another frivolous method to accomplish something we already do on our devices every day easily enough, but there is actually a very strong case to be made for the idea, as the project’s leader Cheung Yiu-ming explained to the South China Morning Post.

“You can use English, Cantonese, or Putonghua,” the computer science engineer explained. “You can even mimic a bird chirping.”

More: Researchers find a way to hack your phone with hidden voice commands

Many forms of authentication rely on language, or numbers, or a complex software interface. What makes lip reading different is that anyone, anywhere can say a word or make a motion with their mouth. What makes it even more ingenious is that no two people will speak or move in exactly the same way.

“An imposter reading the same phrase would still be rejected by the system,” Cheung said, adding that, like other biometrics technologies, the user will have to demonstrate the triggering action multiple times so that the system can build a number of accepted responses on which to base a tolerance.

Right now, Cheung says his team of three has achieved a level of 90 percent accuracy and one of the major roadblocks to wide-scale implementation would be guaranteeing functionality in a variety of different lighting conditions. While the system should be harder to fool with a video recording than the way in which facial recognition prompts can be breached with a photograph, Cheung did not address that potential exploit.

The university has reportedly patented the technology and is exploring options for commercialization. Cheung says he hopes it could be ready for public use with another year of development.

Android O may introduce finger gestures and more… but also maybe not

Android’s next set of feature additions may include finger gestures, better copy and paste, and more robust messaging.

Good news comes to those who wait, and those who’ve been waiting for something as menial as the native ability to use finger gestures to come to Android should feel very jovial. An anonymous source from Google told VentureBeat that Android will soon support this specific feature, in addition to several others. Apparently, these features will be confirmed later this year at the company’s annual developer’s conference:

The features might or might not make their debut in the next version of Android, a source familiar with the matter told VentureBeat. Google is expected to unveil Android O at its I/O developer conference in May and then release it in the fall following multiple developer previews.

The gesture feature would enable you to bring up a list of recent contacts with the simple outline of the letter C on the screen, for instance, which would be faster than calling out the command to Assistant and waiting for it to respond. It’s possible, however, that Google’s gesture triggers “could get delayed or might not ever ship,” according to the source.

We also don’t know if Google will implement a feature called Copy Less, which could help cut down on the finicky process of copying text from one app and pasting it into another. However, this particular ability could come implemented in a future update of the GBoard virtual keyboard.

The source could also not confirm whether the next version of Android would have more robust messaging features, like the ability to tap on an address in a text message in Android Messages and start navigating in Google Maps.

None of these claims have been publicly confirmed by Google. For now, we can merely speculate what’s to come in Android O. And if you’re not entirely ready for that sort of rumor mongering, you can start smaller by guessing which dessert is the inspiration for the next version of Android.

Android 7.0 Nougat coming to Moto Z Play Droid Edition

Your days of waiting are over — multi-window multitasking, direct replies in the notification shade, and data saver functionality are now available for your modular device.

Faithful Moto Z Play Droid Edition users — say that in one breath! — your loyalty has been rewarded. Verizon has revealed that it’s seeded the update for Android 7.0 Nougat to your modular devices.

The Moto Z Play Droid can now take advantage of features like multi-window multitasking in both portrait and landscape modes, direct reply in the notifications shade, customizable quick settings, and all of the emojis your heart desires. There’s also a helpful Data Saver feature that comes built into the operating system, which you’ll definitely want to use if you’re not subscribed to Verizon’s unlimited data plan.

Ready for the update? If your phone is waiting on an update, you should have a notification waiting for your approval. If not, check to see if there’s an update available in the Settings panel. You can read more on the update at Verizon’s page.

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Google Pixel 2 might copy iPhone 7 and ditch the headphone jack

A new rumour about Google’s next Pixel flagship is floating around, and it suggests the 2017 phone will drop the headphone jack.Taking a page from Apple’s playbook, the second-generation Pixel (also called Pixel 2) may not offer a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. This news comes from 9to5Google, which cites one source that it hasn’t been able to confirm. The site didn’t even publish a news story but rather made an announcement in its comments section. So, who knows how credible this is, but 9to5Google does have a good track record.

Until the iPhone 7, all phones had headphone jacks. Now, with iPhone sparking this new trend, many have wondered what’s the point. In a nutshell: getting rid of the jack is literally like plugging a whole and therefore makes waterproofing easier for companies; getting rid of the jack allows a phone to be either smaller or incorporate a larger battery; and getting rid of the jack enables a phone to go completely wireless.

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Think about it. Without a headphone jack, you have to use wireless headphones (or you have to use an adapter with wired headphones). So those are the positives, but in terms of negatives, it will seem like Google is copying Apple. Plus, let’s not forget that Apple has faced a lot of criticism for ditching the headphone jack. Either way, we’re sure Google will spin its own marketing angle if it does indeed drop the jack.

Check out Pocket-lint’s Pixel 2 guide for more information about what we’d like the upcoming phone to feature.

Apple could unveil three new iPads in April at new spaceship campus

Will Apple hold a special event this spring? At least one report says yes.

Apple is rumoured to be developing three new iPad models that will release in 2017, including a refreshed 9.7-inch iPad model, a refreshed 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and an entirely new 10.5-inch iPad model with an edgeless display. Now, based on previous release patterns, we can expect Apple to hold a “special event” sometime around March, and at that event, we should see these new iPads debut. 

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Right on cue, a report from from Steve Sande of Apple World Today has arrived, suggesting the rumoured event will be held on 4 April. Sande has based his prediction after looking at various availability dates for the iPad Pro, and he noticed a pattern that pointed to 4 April. Sande also predicted the event will take place at the 1,000-seat Steve Jobs theatre in Apple’s new spaceship campus that’ll open around April.

All this evidence is circumstantial, of course, and there’s a whole lot of guess work applied here. It’s okay to be skeptical. Still, an April event does seem conceivable. Guess we’ll know more in the coming weeks. Check out Pocket-lint’s rumour round-up for more leaks and rumours about Apple’s upcoming iPad Pro refresh. 

New Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus leak shows two phones side by side

Want to see what Samsung’s next flagships might look like?

Slash Leaks has been showing off the upcoming devices from all angles with various image leaks. It’s now surfaced yet another image that puts the two devices side by side. Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S8 is expected to come in two sizes: one with a 5.7-inch display, and another with a 6.2-inch S8+. It’s also thought that Samsung will ditch its usual “edge” branding and that both models will come with curved edges.

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This new image, courtesy of user Dimitri12 on Slash Leaks, does indeed seem to confirm the curved panel on both devices. And without other objects to compare, both models appear massive in the image. That’s probably not helped by their thin bezels and longer 18:9 aspect ratio. Keep in mind the regular-sized Galaxy S8 is rumored to be about the same size as the S7, which only had a 5.1-inch display.

We’ll know more soon, as Samsung will unveil its Galaxy S8 flagship smartphones – called Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus – during a special Unpacked event in New York City on 29 March. Check out Pocket-lint’s rumour round-up for what else the phones might feature.

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Looney Tunes and other classic cartoons get a streaming service

Your favorite Saturday morning cartoons are going digital. Turner and Warner Bros. are teaming up for a new standalone video subscription service called Boomerang. It’ll offer over 5,000 titles from the Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes and MGM animation libraries when it launches this spring.

Boomerang launched in 2000 as a digital TV channel, but this is the first time it’s offering classic franchises like Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry, The Jetsons and The Flintstones on a streaming platform. It will also stream exclusive new episodes of Scooby-Doo, Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry, along with brand-new original series like a Wizard of Oz spinoff and a remake of the 1968 show Wacky Races.

Both Turner and Warner Bros. are owned by Time Warner, which has a firm foothold in the direct-to-consumer streaming market. It’s a co-owner of Hulu and it partnered with the Criterion Collection to launch Filmstruck, a Netflix-style service for classic movies.

Boomerang will be available ad-free on the web, iOS and Android devices for $4.99 per month or $39.99 annually. Turner and Warner Bros. plan to expand to several more platforms after launch, including Amazon, Roku and Apple TV.

Source: Time Warner

Mozilla is bringing modern video games to your browser

Modern 3D video games require a ton of processing power to look good and respond to player input quickly. That’s why most of the web-based games you see today are at best stripped down versions of their PC or console counterparts. The team behind the Firefox web browser would like to see that change, however. Mozilla released a version of the browser that includes WebAssembly – a new technology that enables high-resource apps like games, computer-aided design, video and image editing and scientific visualization to run in a browser almost as fast as they do on your local computer. It will also speed up existing web apps that use JavaScript.

With WebAssembly, developers will be able to code a game or app and know it will run in the same way on any supported browser, regardless of platform. Consumers get the convenience of using a web browser to run any WebAssembly-enabled game or app, regardless of platform or operating system.

WebAssembly is a low-level programming language that allows other, higher-level computer languages like C or C++ to run in a web browser. WebAssembly apps are parsed and compiled before they even hit your browser, which means that much of the heavy lifting has already been done. By comparison, a javascript app often pulls a bunch of code into the browser, then figures out how best to run it on your system, slowing the whole process down. Google and Microsoft’s browsers will support WebAssembly, though Firefox is the first browser to include the technology, thanks to Mozilla’s lead role in the research.

As WebAssembly matures, the Mozilla team hopes to bring it to mobile, as well. Imagine playing the modern version of Doom or running a CAD app on your Mac or PC, then loading it up onto your smartphone as you head out on your morning commute. All of this without plugins or the need to sacrifice speed for the convenience of the web.

The Firefox beta, available today for Mac, PC and Linux, also includes improvements to Wi-Fi portal detection and better warnings for insecure logins.

Source: Mozilla, Medium

Consumer Reports now rates product privacy and security

When you read a review for a product, you’re usually looking for tangible qualities like battery life and performance. As we’ve seen lately, though, the company’s respect for your data matters — a seemingly perfect gift may turn out to be a privacy nightmare. And Consumer Reports, at least, wants to do something about it. The publication has announced that it will start rating products’ privacy and security, and it’s working with several partners to create a standard by which products are judged. If a baby monitor or smart TV plays fast and loose with security, you’ll know.

Just what is the standard, though? From a cursory glimpse, the privacy standard mostly amounts to a few logical rules. An internet-connected device should ask you to sign in and transmit encrypted data, for example. Companies should also be clear about how they share your data, delete that info on request and behave in an ethical manner (say, not compromising for the sake of advertisers or authoritarian governments). And security? For the most part, it amounts to asking the Cyber Independent Testing Lab to use automated testing tools to look for commonly accepted security practices. CR may also ask experts to hack devices, but it says this is “impractical” for reviewing many products.

The company stresses that this is a “first draft” of its takes on privacy and security, and that it hopes outsiders will help improve its policies. From an initial glance, it’s setting expectations accordingly. These methods definitely won’t guarantee that a product is airtight, as automated checks and basic precautions can’t account for every possible vulnerability or dodgy privacy practice. The biggest concern may be getting companies to treat these ratings as baselines, rather than as gold standards. The whole point is to have manufacturers thinking about privacy and security when they design a product, not to pat them on the back for accomplishing the bare minimum.

Source: Consumer Reports