Turn Hangouts into business meetings with Google’s new hardware suite

Why it matters to you

Google’s new Hangouts Meet hardware aims to make virtual meetings better than a web cam with intelligent features.

Google Hangouts Meet is designed to transform the typical Hangout into a chat system for businesses and now the platform has the hardware to match. On Tuesday, October 31, Google announced the Hangouts Meet hardware, a set of tools for video chats for businesses, with a touchscreen controller, speaker mic, 4K camera and the Asus Chromebox.

Together, the system works as a way for businesses to allow video meetings without the low quality of a webcam but also without the complex set up of more advanced systems. Along with integration into Google Hangouts video chat, the system is also integrated with Google Calendar, with options to view the meeting or join a scheduled meeting with a tap on the touchscreen.  G Suite Enterprise customers can also save the recording to Google Drive.

Video is recorded through the Huddly Go, a 4K camera with a 120-degree angle that allows more meeting participants to fit in the field of view without crowding around each other. But besides the resolution and field of view, the Huddly Go uses machine learning to adapt to the number of people actually in that virtual meeting. Huddly said that the camera recognizes how many people are in the frame, then automatically adjusts the lighting and volume. That same software can also detect who is talking and use digital zoom and tilt to frame the speaker.

Huddly says that the camera’s wide-angle view, small design, and software coupled with an API program allowed for easy integration led to the camera’s inclusion on the hardware suite.

The camera is controlled through the touchscreen, along with options for presenting through a laptop using the HDMI port. Google designed the speaker mic with a focus on eliminating echoes and background noise. Up to five of the mics can be used with the system for larger meetings. An Asus Chromebox brings it all together, including automatic hardware updates.

The announcement also comes with new features for G Suite Enterprise, including meetings up to 50 people, more countries on the dial-in option and recording meetings to Google Drive.

“We are very excited about the new Hangouts Meet hardware, particularly the easy-to-use touchscreen,” Bradley Rhodes, an IT analyst at Woolworths Limited, said in a statement. “The enhancements greatly improve the user experience and simplify our meeting rooms. We have also seen it create new ways for our team to collaborate, like via the touch-to-record functionality which allows absent participants to catch up more effectively.”

The new hardware set retails for $1,999 for the entire suite. The Huddly Go camera also sells for $499 separately.

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Opinion: iPhone X? Nah. Here’s why I’m recommending the iPhone 6S

iPhone X? Pshaw. You don’t need it. Heck, most people don’t need it. In fact, when a friend asked me recently what he should buy, I pointed him toward a different phone. Not the iPhone 8, nor even the iPhone 7, which are both damn good options.

I pointed him toward the iPhone 6S. I’m not crazy, and I’m not alone. Digital Trends’ Senior Editor Caleb Denison bought a new iPhone last month: An iPhone 6S, knowing full well not one but two new iPhones were imminent. Here’s why.

Apple as a company has been on a tear recently, with gargantuan profits fueled by continued demand and increased sales of its flagship product — the iPhone line of smartphones. Like any commodity, the company unveils tiny tweaks to its product every year to juice sales without really changing the overall experience. This year’s Levi’s are a lot like last year’s Levi’s, and a new line of healthier modern options from Campbell’s (like Black Bean with Red Quinoa – yum!) doesn’t affect availability of classics like chicken noodle soup. For the most part, today’s iPhones are a lot like last year’s iPhones.

You’re easily looking at a $1,500 bill – all to impress your friends with your top of the line, cutting edge phone.

I know, the iPhone X changes that paradigm. It’s got a stunning new screen with OLED technology, meaning the blacks are even blacker and the colors are as vibrant as that neon ski jacket you thought was cool back in 1987. It has a new feature that unlocks the phone by scanning your face, which should simplify life (although our review notes it’s not as consistent as we’d like it to be). The iPhone X sounds great. Smartphone savant Julian Chokkattu called it “the breath of fresh air Apple fans were waiting for.”

But do YOU need it?

For one thing, you’ll pay an incredible premium, largely for the fancy OLED screen in the iPhone X. The iPhone starts at $1,000, and the higher storage model sells for $1,150. Toss in the new case you’re going to need, the wireless charger you’re going to want, some taxes, and you’re easily looking at a $1,500 bill – all to impress your friends with your top of the line, cutting edge phone.

“I want this,” a friend asked me a week or two ago. “I do … don’t I?”

I told him he wanted new Levi’s (his old ones had a big hole in the crotch). But as an upgrade to his cracked iPhone 5, the iPhone 6S is a fantastic option. Consider for starters the fact that it’s less than half as much as the iPhone X. You can buy a 32GB model from Apple for $450. Given how long this form factor has existed, there’s a vast array of cases to choose from at far more affordable prices.

Cutting edge flagship phones from Apple, Samsung, LG, and Google are aimed at a certain crowd of technosnobs, elite power users that DO take 4K videos and  ONLY pay using NFC communication. For the bulk of Americans, those features and phones are neat to read about, but cheaper mainstream tech is just as useful. The iPhone 6S was itself a flagship phone just two years ago: It boosted battery life over earlier models and added the 3D Touch feature that Apple’s still working to get developers to support. You think these same developers are going to leap to support new features in the X that only a fraction of users will have access to in the next 12 months?

For the most part, today’s iPhones are a lot like last year’s iPhones.

Oh, and about all the new features you’ll be missing in the 7 and 8 and X? Meh, I say. Apple hasn’t really done much to transform its flagship product over the years. Yes, newer models are faster and more powerful, but the 6S was a damn good phone. The 7 looked identical, improved the camera in ways many users will never notice, and annoyed the hell out of most people by removing the headphone jack – an act of “courage” according  to Apple that many viewed as a slap in the face.

The iPhone 8 looks identical to the 6S, improved the camera in marginal ways many users will never notice, and again will annoy you by not having a headphone jack. Yes, it adds wireless charging, which is convenient. But at the end of the day, you’re probably fine plugging your phone into a cable on your nightstand, right?

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Besides, a great deal of the improved features and functionality come in software upgrades to iOS 10 and the new iOS 11, including futuristic stuff like the ARKit software everyone’s buzzing about. Certain features will not be supported on earlier models, of course, so you won’t be able to shoot in HEIF and HEVC format, but your photos will still be damn good. The iPhone is the world’s most popular camera for a reason, after all. You won’t be able to send Animojis to your friends, and I can only imagine how disappointed your friends will be about this.

Apple’s iOS 11 runs just great on that iPhone 6S you’re about to buy. It also runs on the 6, and the SE, and even on the iPhone 5S.

But I don’t you think you should buy a 5S. What are you, a luddite or something?

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The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not reflect the beliefs of Digital Trends.

Google Docs glitch flags files for Terms of Service violations, locks users out

Why it matters to you

A Google Docs bug is randomly blocking users from accessing their own files, which is a great reminder to back up your documents!

The popular word processing service has been locking users out of accessing their own files within Google Drive. As Motherboard reported, a large number of people have already reached out to the Google Docs Twitter account about the bug.

The apparent Google Docs glitch has been randomly giving users the following error when the flagged Doc is currently in use — “This item has been flagged as inappropriate and can no longer be shared.” Secondly, when blocked out of a particular file, users have been getting this message: “You can’t access this item because it is in violation of our Terms of Service.” Neither are particularly comforting for those who are already concerned over internet privacy and the massive amount of information that is stored in the cloud.

The Google Docs Twitter account has been responding to the flood of tweets with the same message:

We understand your concern, Nathan. The team has been made aware and is investigating. Appreciate your patience.

— Google Docs (@googledocs) October 31, 2017

While the problem seems to only be some kind of a glitch, it does bring up some problematic questions about whether or not Google is reading users’ private files. Google does have a Privacy Policy, but it does not specifically mention anything about policies surrounding Google Drive, and whether or not private documents are being reviewed or scanned to meet the mentioned Terms of Service.

According to the Privacy Policy, Google uses the information it collects to “provide, maintain, protect and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users.”

Google has been scanning its users’ email for ad personalization for years now, which is something people seem to have accepted at this point. However, Google announced earlier this year that it would be halting ad personalization, and giving users the ability to choose how ads appear in Gmail. In other words, Google still reads your email, but for a reason other than giving you personalized ads.

As the tweet states above, Google seems to be looking into the issue, and will probably have it worked out soon enough. As for the larger issue of how and why Google is reading your documents — that’s another question that we all need clarification from Google about.

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New algorithm helps turn low-resolution images into detailed photos, ‘CSI’-style

Why it matters to you

The EnhanceNet-PAT algorithm could help with everything from restoring old photos to improving image recognition for self-driving cars.

Anyone who has ever worked with image files knows that, unlike the fictional world of shows like CSI, there’s no easy way to take a low-resolution image and magically transform it into a high-resolution picture using some fancy “enhance” tool. Fortunately, some brilliant computer scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany are working on the problem — and they’ve come up with a pretty nifty algorithm to address it.

What they have developed is a tool called EnhanceNet-PAT, which uses artificial intelligence to create high-definition versions of low-res images. While the solution is not a miracle fix, it does produce a noticeably better result than previous attempts, thanks to some smart machine-learning algorithms.

“The task of super-resolution has been studied for decades,” Mehdi M.S. Sajjadi, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “Before this work, even the state of the art has been producing very blurry images, especially at textured regions. The reason for this is that they asked their neural networks the impossible — to reconstruct the original image with pixel-perfect accuracy. Since this is impossible, the neural networks produce blurry results. We take a different approach [by instead asking] the neural network to produce realistic textures. To do this, the neural network takes a look at the whole image, detects regions, and uses this semantic information to produce realistic textures and sharper images.”

To train their algorithm, the researchers fed their neural network a large data set of images to build up its knowledge of different textures. The neural network only gets to see downsampled versions of the images, and is given the task of upsampling these pictures. Once the network produces an output image, the researchers then compare it with the original high-resolution image and tweak the algorithm to correct any errors, such as making it produce sharper edges or more realistic grass textures where it has not done so. After a while, the algorithm is able to do this on its own with no human intervention necessary.

“There are a lot of applications for this,” Sajjadi continued. “From upsampling old movies to 4K quality, restoring old family photographs that are too blurry when you want to get a large print, over to more general applications such as improving object detection. [It also] turns out that using our algorithm on images makes it easier for other neural networks to detect objects in images, which has wide applications, from Google image search to detecting pedestrians in self-driving cars.”

You can check out a paper describing the work here.

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Fast Pair is Google’s vision for fast, effortless Bluetooth pairing

Available now for Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later.

Bluetooth headphones have always been fairly popular, but with the rapid termination of the 3.5mm headphone jack, that point is only going to become more and more prominent over the next few years. Pairing Bluetooth devices to your phone has never been a beautiful process, but Google is aiming to alleviate this pain with the announcement of Fast Pair.

Similar to Apple’s W1 chip that was introduced with AirPods last year, Fast Pair lets you connect to a new pair of Bluetooth headphones or earbuds by simply being within close proximity of them. Just turn on pairing mode on the Bluetooth accessory you want to pair, put it near your Android device, and you’ll automatically get a notification to pair said accessory without having to jump through convoluted menus.

The only two headphones that currently work with Fast Pair include Google’s Pixelbuds and Libratone’s Q Adapt On-Ear, but Plantronics’ upcoming Voyager 8200 wireless headphones will also support the new tech.

Unlike accessories for iOS that only work with the special W1 chip built inside of them, Fast Pair is a technology that can be pushed out to virtually any pair of Bluetooth headphones – upcoming or existing ones already on the market. Better yet, as long as you’re using Google Play Services v11.7 or greater, you’ll be able to take advantage of Fast Pair on devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or later.

How much longer do we have to fight for the headphone jack?

Here’s how to (soon) charge the Pixel 2 while using wired headphones

A 2-in-1 adapter will let you listen while you charge.

The Pixel 2 delivers a great user experience, but the lack of a headphone jack has also incited panic in plenty of aux cord-using drivers and those of us who’ve grown attached to a specific pair of headphones. While the Pixel 2 comes with a 3.5mm adapter, this still causes issues for those who like to charge their phone and listen to music at the same time.

Thankfully, you can snag a 2-in-1 adapter that will let you charge up and plug in your headphones at the same time. We took a look at a few different adapters to get you the details you need!

A dearth of solid options

If you go hunting on Amazon or the like for a 2-in-1 adapter, then you’re probably not going to have a good time. That’s because unlike many other accessories you can easily find, snagging a 2-in-1 adapter is not an easy task. There aren’t many options, and of them, only a handful are available through Amazon Prime.

The other issue is that of the few adapters available, many have fewer than 20 reviews, and of those reviews, there are a number of complaints about shoddy craftsmanship or adapters that just out and out don’t work. We tried ordering two different adapters, one of which had a constant static-y noise, and the other refused to charge.

So trusting what you find on Amazon is a bit of a mixed bag, and you’re as lucky to have good luck as you are to have bad. For the time being, the Google Store doesn’t do much better. They have a Moshi USB-C adapter listed on the website, but it’s not yet available for purchase. It is coming soon, though, so keeping an eye out for when it becomes available isn’t a bad call.

Coming Soon: Moshi USB Type-C adapter

The Moshi USB Type-C adapter is the only 2-in-1 adapter that is available on the Google Store. It’s also a bit pricey for an adapter, running at $44.95. That being said, it’s got a solid titanium body, which means it’ll take bumps if you use it while driving, without breaking or falling apart.

While it isn’t available yet, you can check out the specs on the Google Store and see if it’s something you’ll want to grab once it becomes available.

See at Google

Questions?

While it’s unfortunate that there’s only not a solid option for being able to charge and listen to music through wired headphones, hopefully the Moshi adapter will be available for purchase soon. Is there an adapter that you’ve come to love? Will you be picking up a Moshi adapter when you can? Let us know about it in the comments below.

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Best Buy

Moto X4 now on sale for $399 in the U.S.

Motorola’s handling software updates, but you do get Amazon Alexa.

Motorola has a tendency to release multiple versions of the same phone, and that theme is definitely present with the Moto X4. The Android One version of the device has been available through Project Fi since September, pre-orders for the Prime Exclusive variant started earlier this month, and now you can purchase the regular version from your favorite retailer.

Although the look and feel of the software between the regular Moto X4 and Android One flavor are very similar in a lot of ways, there are a couple of big differences. Software updates on the non-Android One Moto X4 will likely be slower than its Project Fi cousin, and unlike the Android One option, the regular model comes equipped with Amazon Alexa.

Aside from those two differences, everything else is the same here. You’ve still got a 5.2-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 630 processor, dual 12MP rear-cameras, Android 7.1.1 Nougat, IP68 dust/water resistance, and plenty more.

In his full review of the Moto X4, Andrew said, “But even if you have to go with the regular unlocked version from Motorola, you’re going to be happy with the Moto X4. This is a mid-range Android phone done right.”

The Moto X4 will set you back $399, and you can check it out from the link below.

See at B&H

Top 5 things to do after switching to Nova Launcher

There’s a lot to love in Nova Launcher.

Nova Launcher has a lot of great settings for you to explore, and plenty of potential for awesome themes and customizable layouts. First things first, though, you have to actually download the launcher and get yourself used to it. Now, there is a learning curve to every launcher out there, but we have a few simple tips to help make your transition as smooth as possible.

Import your layout

You do not want to have to put everything back the way you had it on your old launcher, and Nova gets that. That’s why before you go futzing with element styles and shaders, you should import your old launcher’s layout so that you’re starting out from what you had rather than scratch.

Open Nova Settings.
Tap Backup & import settings.

Tap Import.

Read the warning that comes up and tap OK.
Tap the launcher you wish to import from.

If the data summary from what Nova Launcher found looks correct, tap Import.

Now, given the limitations on how launchers read and share widget data, you might have to re-create a few of your widgets on your newly imported home screen, but if you’re lucky, the placeholders will be the same size. Starting from the layout you had means that instead of fussing with getting back to speed, you can hit the ground running in Nova and start experimenting.

Desktop grid size (and subgrid positioning)

When screens were 4 inches, a 4×4 grid made sense. Screens are not 4 inches anymore. Home screens do not need to be confined to such a small grid. They waste space. They significantly limit the amount you can fit on a single screen. Here’s how to change that.

Open Nova Settings.
Tap Desktop.

Tap Desktop Grid.

Slide the row and column numbers to the size you want.

Tap Done.

While 5×5 will allow your icons to better line up with your dock, don’t be afraid to try out even bigger grid sizes — I use a 8×6 grid on my HTC 10 and it’s worked out quite well for me. Also, did you notice the setting hiding in the Desktop Grid screen?

Subgrid-positioning allows you to place things between the regular grid spaces, helping you better resize widgets and line things up to your desires. You might not want it on right this second, but once you turn it on, placing elements on your home screen gets a whole lot easier.

Icons

Icons on Android have always been kind of a mess — that’s how it is when you don’t force everyone to be the same rounded rectangle. That doesn’t mean we have to settle with the mishmash of icon styles that inevitably happens between your various apps. No, we have these wonderful things called icon packs to replace your boring old icons with something new, beautiful, and consistent.

Before you set an icon pack, you need to download one. These are our favorites!

Once you’ve got your icon pack, you can apply it like so:

Open Nova Settings.

Tap Look & feel.

Tap Icon theme.

Tap the icon pack you wish to use.

Beyond setting an icon pack, Nova Launcher can also take advantage of Android Oreo’s Adaptive Icons, allowing you to instead shape your icons in one of five shapes, from squares and circles to teardrops and those confounded squircles. The feature is still in its early stages, and it interacts oddly with some icon packs, but if you’re feeling brave, give it a try!

Hide unwanted apps

On most phones, there’s a laundry list of apps you don’t use and don’t need cluttering up your launcher. On most launchers, your choices are simple: disable the app or stick it in a folder. Nova Launcher gives you another option for apps that you can’t disable but still want to not look at: hide them from the launcher.

Open the app drawer.
Press and drag the app you wish to hide up towards the top of the screen.

Drag and drop the app you wish to hide on Edit.

Uncheck the Apps box to hide it from the drawer.

Tap Done.

Back it up once you’re happy

Once you have things the way you want them, you should back up your Nova setup. This will make it easier to set things back up once you go to a new phone, or a error forces you to factory reset your phone. It’s also helpful if you mess something up in your layout and want to get what you had back. Backups are easy, and we can send them directly to Google Drive so that they’re available on every phone you set up.

Open Nova Settings.
Tap Backup & import settings.

Tap Backup.

Name your backup. It defaults to a date and timestamp, but that doesn’t really tell you what the layout/theme is.
Tap the dropdown menu below the backup’s name.

Select Share.

Tap OK.
Nova will create the backup and bring up the Android Share menu. Select Save to Drive or whichever cloud service you wish to store your backup on.

Ensure the account and folder listed are where you wanted to back up to, then tap Save.

If you need any more help getting acclimated to Nova Launcher, sing out in the comments below, and in our forums!

We also have a wonderful article to explain the rest of the Nova Launcher settings we ignored this go around.

Updated October 2017: This article has been updated to reflect advancements in Nova’s features, especially in regards to icons.

Nokia 6 available online and in stores at Best Buy for $229

You now have two options for buying the Nokia 6 in the U.S.

HMD Global has been using the Nokia brand throughout 2017 to release a wide array of different Android smartphones, and one of them is the Nokia 6. The Nokia 6 has been available in the United States since July through Amazon, but you now have the option to purchase the phone online or in-store via Best Buy.

The Nokia 6 isn’t the best budget offering the market has to offer, and while Harish did have issues with the phone’s use of the Snapdragon 430 in his full review, fast software updates, a better-than-average camera for this price point, and a solid 5.5-inch 1080p IPS display are still reason enough to at least give it a look.

For $229, the Nokia 6 offers 32GB of expandable storage (up to 128GB), 16MP rear-facing camera, 8MP front-facing shooter, a fingerprint scanner, and stock build of Android 7.1.1 Nougat.

If you can’t decide whether or not the Nokia 6 is for you, check your local Best Buy’s availability so you can play around with the phone in person before making a final decision.

See at Best Buy

‘PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ arrives on Xbox One December 12th

For Xbox One owners, the wait to play PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) will end December 12th. The battle royale game consistently racks up 2 million daily players on Steam, and in just over a month it will transition to the Xbox Game Preview program as a work in progress, with studio Bluehole leaning on players to help guide the game’s development. “We can use it like Steam Early Access where we can develop on console with the community, and that’s going to be really essential — in our view — for getting a really great version on console,” creator Brendan Greene told Engadget.

The version that comes out in December won’t be a direct 1:1 port, though. At least not yet. The most noticeable difference is that PUBG on Xbox One won’t feature the PC version’s upcoming “Desert” map (below), which has a big emphasis on verticality in an urban environment. Greene said there wasn’t a timeframe for when Xbox fans will be able to explore that map. Other than that, he said that the two games are “essentially” the same.

That means the Xbox version will have vaulting and climbing at launch in December, which was announced back at E3 in June but still is in testing on PC. The game’s 1.0 version will release sometime later in December, according to a post on Xbox Wire.

What separates the pair is the development cycle. PUBG has been playable on PC since March, and as such it has a nine month (at least) lead time in terms of features. “We want the same game on both platforms, but the Xbox version is obviously lagging a little bit behind when it comes to the PC version,” Greene said. “There’s not a different feature set, it’s at just different points in development.”

When asked if Bluehole had a timeframe in mind for the PlayStation 4 version, Greene’s answer wasn’t hopeful. “No, not at all,” he admitted. He said that right now the team is focused just on getting the Xbox One port out the door.

And, since the PS4 doesn’t offer its own game preview program it’s anyone’s guess when that will happen, but games need to be pretty much feature complete for Sony to list them on the PlayStation Network Store. For example, Ark: Survival Evolved didn’t come out for PS4 until late this August, when the Xbox Game Preview version was released in December 2015.

Early Access isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. Sure, PC games like Dead Cells, Nuclear Throne and PUBG have benefitted greatly from fans being able to play works in progress. Their respective developers have been able to take good games and make them great, tapping the players for input about what does and doesn’t work. But there’s another side to this coin.

The aforementioned Ark currently sits with a 4/10 user score on Metacritic for its PC version, with the PS4 and Xbox One editions ranking 3.9/10 and 4.1, respectively. But with how PUBG has taken over Steam and Twitch, it doesn’t seem like that’ll be the case once the game arrives on Xbox One. The game had already sold 10 million copies on PC as of September.

Come December PUBG could very well be the poster child that the Game Preview program desperately needs: a high-profile indie that’s garnered almost universally positive acclaim during an extended — and public — test period. It won’t have much competition with other exclusives on the system this fall, that’s for sure.