Google’s parent company quietly purchases U.K. startup Redux

CES 2018 is in full swing, and Google is busy showing off Google Assistant in smart displays, on the JBL Link View, and in a myriad of other devices. With all that going on, you’d be forgiven for not noticing that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, just quietly bought a U.K.-based startup that’s focused on integrating speaker functionality in smart device screens.

Redux has been working on technology that allows for sound to be emitted from underneath a device’s display, via an array of “micro-speaker” actuators placed beneath the touchscreen. These actuators create “bending waves” — or sound and vibration to the likes of you and me — that would effectively turn the device’s screen into a speaker. This would make a separate speaker redundant, and the extra space within the device could be used to increase battery size, add other components, or more completely waterproof the device. It’s an interesting idea, and one that Alphabet is clearly very interested in.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen tech like this; Sony built similar tech into last year’s Bravia A1E TVs, and building this sort of capability into increasingly space-starved smartphone design would be a massive boon for Google, who has been competing with Samsung and Apple for dominance of the premium smartphone market.

But that’s not all that Redux’s systems can be used for. Since sound is simply a series of vibrations, the micro-speaker array can also be used to create localized haptic feedback that could be used to mimic real-life touch. Imagine feeling a switch click under your finger, or be able to feel a rolling ball beneath your thumb, and you’ve got an idea of what such a system could be capable of. Smartphone touchscreens have plateaued over the last few years (with the exception of screen-based fingerprint scanning tech), and this sort of haptic feedback could signal a new beginning for smart devices of all types.

At the time of writing, Google has refused to release any details on the purchase, including how much Redux was purchased for, but it’s probably fair to say that Redux’s higher-ups won’t need to work for the rest of their lives. With much of the Google buzz at CES being centered around Google’s smart assistant and its integration into multiple devices, it might be that the reason we haven’t seen a Google-built smart speaker with a screen (like the Amazon Echo Show or JBL View Link) is because Google is planning to integrate this technology into a possible Google Home View — though that’s pure speculation at this time.

Redux’s website is now defunct, and can only be accessed by means of the Internet Archive service.

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Hackers may be able to access private WhatsApp conversations

Private conversations beware! Despite end-to-end encryption now being commonplace in WhatApp conversations, German cryptographers have discovered a minor flaw in WhatsApp’s security that could lead to private conversations being gatecrashed by uninvited hackers, bypassing the usual chat admin invitations.

In their paper, More is Less: On the End-to-End Security of Group Chats in Signal, WhatsApp, and Threema, presented to other enthusiasts at the Real World Crypto Symposium in Zurich, Switzerland, the team warned that WhatsApp has no security measures to stop invitations being spoofed from their own servers, leaving a hole that could leave millions of conversations at risk of being snooped on.

But it’s not all bad news. Essentially, the hacker would need to be in control of WhatsApp’s main chat servers — a fairly tall order — and only then would they be able to bypass the group’s administrator and insert users into any conversation. However, anyone who did manage to achieve this would then have near limitless power within the chat, being able to selectively block message visibility from accounts, and even block users from participating in the chat.

However, Facebook-owned WhatsApp doesn’t seem to be too worried about the potential hole in its security. A WhatsApp spokesperson (speaking to Wired) admitted that the flaw was real, but pointed out that there was no way that the added user could be hidden and receive messages from the group. WhatsApp has built-in security measures that stop hidden users from being able to participate in group chats, and anyone who wanted to snoop on a particular chat would find their cover quickly blown when the client announced their arrival to everyone in the chat, making it an inefficient way to spy on users. What’s more, disabling the flaw would likely break the “Group Invite Link” feature that many group chats enjoy — implying that the security issue likely stems from this particular feature.

However, Matthew Green of Johns Hopkins University called WhatsApp’s response “dumb,, likening it to leaving a bank’s vault open and relying on a single security camera to deter criminals. If any really sensitive information was stored in that group chat, then the hacker would have access to it, making WhatsApp’s lauded encryption useless.

WhatsApp has been in the news multiple times for reasons of security. After making all messages sent on its platform fully encrypted in 2016, the chat company has faced criticism from U.K. lawmakers, while action taken by Brazil was of a more serious nature.

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Boox Max 2 and Boox Note Pro hands-on review

Research Center:
Boox Max 2

E Ink screens are wonderfully versatile, and are surprisingly underused outside of ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle, and quirky devices like the Yotaphone. Boox — a name that’s pronounced like “books” — has been in the industry for years, but is only now branching out into selling its own hardware. At CES 2018 we met with the company to see its two latest products, the Boox Max2 and the Boox Note Pro, two big-screen, tablet-like devices that allow you to do so much more than just read the latest book.

We spent the most time using the Max2, which beats even the 12-inch iPad Pro when it comes to screen size. The massive E Ink Mobius display measures 13.1 inches and it has a 207dpi resolution. That’s higher than any other tablet of this size out there, and it makes a big difference. The screen is glorious — pin-sharp detail and crisp text, exactly what you want from a device like this. The screen is surrounded by a plastic bezel and wrapped in a very lightweight and slim metal body. It’s comfortable and easy to hold with one hand, and the sheer size gives a magazine-like reading experience.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

While reading on an E Ink screen is always the No. 1 reason for buying one, the Boox Max2 does plenty more. It comes with a Wacom stylus to annotate PDFs, take notes during meetings or class, or even write music. There are built-in templates for all this, plus for artists, there are a variety of brushes and fonts to draw on the pressure sensitive screen with. E Ink screens have a reputation for being slow, but the Max2 is fast and fluid, and the stylus is brilliant to use, with notes and text appearing instantly. Everything can be saved and exported using a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Micro USB connection.

Alongside the Micro USB port is a Micro HDMI port, which when connected to a computer turns the Max2 and Note Pro into a second display. This won’t be a feature for everyone, but could be useful for anyone who wants to avoid reading long documents on a PC screen. This is where E Ink screens excel — they don’t strain your eyes, which is why they’re so great for reading in bed.

Reading on an E Ink screen is always the number one reason for buying one.

Is the Max2 suitable for bedtime reading, considering its size? Possibly. Its definitely light enough, but it’s far from subtle. That’s where the Boox Note Pro comes in. It’s has a more sensible 10.3-inch screen size, with slim bezels running down the sides, yet still offers the same high resolution screen and speedy operation. The design is less businesslike as well. The two ebook readers have plenty of power with a 1.6GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM, and either 32GB or 64GB of storage space. The 4,100mAh battery should last around a month without recharging with average use.

Both Boox tablets run Android 6.0, and have custom user interfaces over the top. It’s not like using your smartphone, despite the presence of Google’s operating system. The Max2 has several physical buttons to accompany the touchscreen, while the smaller has a single home button below the screen. Operation is swift, although don’t expect it to be as fast as using an Android tablet or an iPad — E Ink screens and devices don’t work like that. The user interface is fine, although it was a little confusing to use, and finding your way out of apps was often confusing or took too long. This should disappear after you’ve used it for a while though.

There’s plenty of file support — 11 different types in all, including PDF and some comic book formats — and additional features that make it a cool creative tool as well. They are quite expensive. It’s $800 for the Max 2, and $500 for the Note Pro, and both should be available to buy soon. While these prices sound high when compared to Amazon ebook readers, it’s in line with other similar examples like the Sony DPT-S1 and the ReMarkable tablet.

We liked the Boox ebook readers a lot. The build is excellent, they feel great in the hand, and the screens look superb. Most of all, we liked the versatility. Read magazines, books, and music, take notes, listen to audio through the speaker, and even the bonus of it working as a second monitor. If you’re investing in a big-screen ebook reader, definitely consider a Boox.

Boox Max 2 Compared To

Kindle Oasis (2017)

Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2

Kobo Aura One

Kindle Oasis

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2015

Kindle Voyage

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2013)

Barnes & Noble Nook GlowLight

Kobo Aura HD

Kobo Mini

Sony Reader PRS-T2

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

Spring Design Alex

Barnes & Noble Nook

Sony PRS-700

You’ll soon be able to get Google AMP quality without that pesky AMP URL

Every good thing seems to come with a price, and when it came to Google’s fast-loading webpages, that price was seeing an Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)-specific URL instead of a normal web address. But luckily, it looks like Google’s no longer charging us with those URLs.

This week, Malte Ubl, the tech lead for the AMP Project, announced that a new version of the AMP Cache would make its debut. In short, the team is changing how AMP works in Google Search and other platforms, and will thereby allow linked pages to “appear under publishers’ URLs instead of the google.com/amp URL space.” Best of all, this change won’t have any effect on the speed or privacy that comes along with AMP Cache serving. 

“When we first launched AMP in Google Search we made a big trade-off: To achieve the user experience that users were telling us that they wanted, instant loading, we needed to start loading the page before the user clicked.” Malte explained in a blog post. He continued, however, “Privacy reasons make it basically impossible to load the page from the publisher’s server … Instead, AMP pages are loaded from the Google AMP Cache but with that behavior the URLs changed to include the google.com/amp/ URL prefix.”

But now, Google is looking into a new version of the AMP Cache that is predicated upon the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Packing standard, which should make the AMP addresses look like, well … any other web address. Thus far, Google’s tests have proven satisfactory, and Malte wrote, “The next steps are moving towards fully implementing the new web standard in web browsers and in the Google AMP Cache.” The goal is for Web Packaging to become “available in as many browsers as possible,” he noted. “In particular, we intend to extend existing work on WebKit to include the implementation of Web Packaging and the Google Chrome team’s implementation is getting started.”

The new changes are expected to begin reaching users in the second half of 2018, but in order to take advantage of this upgrade, you’ll have to be sure to update your browser.

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Online supermarket Ocado’s humanoid robot is the factory worker of the future

United Kingdom online supermarket Ocado wants to establish itself as one of the most tech-savvy ecommerce companies around — and it’s got the (prototype) robot to prove it. Called ARMAR-6, the humanoid bot is being developed as part of the European Commission’s SecondHands project. It is now being put through its paces by Ocado’s innovation wing, Ocado Technology, with the goal of one day working alongside humans in its warehouses.

“The SecondHands project aims to create a robot that provides help to our warehouse technicians in a proactive manner,” Alex Voica, head of Technology PR and Communications for Ocado, told Digital Trends. “Our warehouses include state-of-the-art automation and robotics systems, and our technicians and operations engineers are tasked with ensuring that they function 24/7, 365 days a year. The ultimate goal is for the robot to use machine learning and computer vision to scan its surrounding environment and identify tasks it could help with. So, for example, if it observes a technician attempting to change a panel and requiring a set of tools, it will come and offer its assistance — either by holding the panel for the engineer or grabbing the various tools that are needed.”

In addition to picking up objects and recognizing its surroundings, ARMAR-6 will also benefit from an Alexa-style speech recognition system, allowing conversations between the robot and the humans it works with. Development on the robot is being carried out by a number of universities, including the the Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), University College London, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and Sapienza University.

“The choice of a humanoid form factor was influenced primarily by its behavior when working with humans,” Voica continued. “While some industrial robots tend to position themselves in ways that are uncomfortable to humans, we really wanted to design a robot that can work seamlessly with our technicians and make their jobs easier instead of getting in the way. The choice of form also allowed the project to rely on [creator Professor Tamin Asfour’s] prior experience with building humanoid robots and accelerate the time to manufacture. Finally, having a humanoid behavior and form makes the interactions between humans and machines more natural. Research shows people are more comfortable working with both the morphology and behavior that they expect to see.”

At the end of the SecondHands project, the hope is that it will be possible to integrate all ARMAR’s separate technologies into one unified system. And after that? Smarter warehouses, hopefully. Who knows? If Ocado ever branches out into physical stores, we could even find ARMAR-6 on the shop floor.

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Digital Trends’ mobile team shares its picks for best tech of CES 2018

Though CES isn’t quite as big deal in the world of mobile devices as the annual Mobile World Congress conference, which occurs at the end of February in Barcelona this year, there was still a vast assortment of interesting mobile products to check out this week in Las Vegas. That was especially true when it came to peripherals like wearables.

From the drama surrounding a rumored brand partnership between Huawei and AT&T to the first working example of an in-display fingerprint sensor that we’ve seen, there was plenty to keep section editor Julian Chokkattu and associate editor Andy Boxall busy this week. Chokkattu and Boxall sat down at the Digital Trends booth to discuss the most interesting technology they saw at this years conference, sharing their insights into how and why each new piece of mobile technology will influence the direction of mobile phones in 2018.

“What the underglass fingerprint sensor means in terms of the general trends of this year is that it allows for more of a bezel-less design,” said Chokkattu of the new touch technology, which his team chose for their Top Tech of CES award in 2018, “This is going to change smartphone design, I think.”

In addition to their top tech pick, the duo spent some time discussing the latest phones from Blackberry and Sony — noting in particular that Sony’s latest entry-level and midtier mobile devices will finally have unlocked fingerprint sensors in the United States, which is something that the company has never done on previous phones, despite the fact that the sensor was installed on the device and usable in other countries.

Check out the full conversation with our mobile editors above, and be sure to read their roundup articles on the best mobile accessories of CES 2018, as well as the best overall technology that we saw in Las Vegas this year.

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Samsung partners with NextRadio to unlock FM Chip in future devices

While smartphones have FM radio built into it, most manufacturers don’t enable it. In partnership with NextRadio, Samsung announced it will be unlocking the FM Chip in its new smartphone models within the U.S. and Canada.

NextRadio — available on iOS and Android — is an app that allows you to stream live, local FM radio stations on your smartphone. If your phone’s FM chip is activated, the app will also provide you with emergency listening capabilities.

By unlocking the FM Chip, Samsung will allow users to listen to local stations, meaning you’ll use less data and battery to stream radio apps. More importantly, the chip will help those in emergency situations by providing important information from local radio stations when cellular coverage is unavailable.

Last year, LG revealed NextRadio was becoming a native platform on some of its top phones in North and South America. The phones not only have their FM chips enabled, but also already come pre-installed with the app.

NextRadio’s website lists over 200 radio-capable phones — most of which are Samsung phones, along with HTC, and Motorola devices — but the radio will only be available if you download the app.

While NextRadio is available for iOS, Apple smartphones are missing from the list. The iPhone 7 and its latest iPhone 8 are also both chip-free, with future models most likely continuing the pattern. The chip’s absence from iPhones could be due to the company not wanting consumers to use radio, since it may effect Apple Music subscriptions.

Ultimately, it’s the manufacturers that make the decision to enable the FM radio chip within its smartphones. But it does often rest on the carrier as well.

Even though FM radio chips are included in the chipset of most smartphones and can be activated by manufacturers, most carriers have no motive to do so. Having customers stream their music also means they’re using up more data, which allows carriers to make more money.

It’s clear that unlocking the FM Chip in smartphones is necessity when it comes to public safety — especially in the wake of recent natural disasters around the world — and manufacturers are noticing. If you’re looking for a smartphone with an FM radio, it’s clear that an Android device may be your best option.

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At CES, Fossil shows off smartwatches that are both useful and stylish

One of the biggest hurdles for smartwatch manufacturers early on was that its products tended to be (let’s not mince words) ugly. Consumers who prefer the timeless elegance of a proper watch may be excited to learn that fashionable watchmakers have begun to enter the smartwatch space, creating smartwatches that blend functionality with aesthetics.

Clothing retailer Fossil has been working to produce fashionable watches for the modern tech user, and Strategy Director Hannah Liu visited Digital Trends’ CES booth, showing off some new wearables for the tech user who likes to look good.

First up was the Kate Spade Scallop Android smartwatch. Kate Spade is a popular women’s fashion brand, and the Scallop is the latest example of manufacturers designing tech for women; it’s particularly notable for not following the “pink it and shrink it” approach, as one Kate Spade executive described it to DT.

The Scallop allows users to tailor the watch face to match their outfit. Simply input factors like the time of day, the color of the dress, the color of jewelry, etc, and the watch will adjust to suit your look. The Scallop was so impressive, DT awarded it the Top Tech of CES Award for Best Wearable.

For those who want a less feminine aesthetic, Liu also showed off the Skagen Falster. A Danish heritage brand, Skagen employs a minimalist style that Scandinavian fashion is known for. It’s a svelte watch, and the tech is so unobtrusive, onlookers might not even know you are wearing a smartwatch until you tell them.

While smartwatches probably won’t usurp Rolex or Grand Seiko as fashion statements, it’s nice to see that tech users can get smartwatches that won’t look ridiculous.

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Genetically engineered algae could bring off-grid solar power to rural Africa

From making eco-friendly shoes to creating a new type of biofuel, algae turns out to be a pretty darn versatile material. Researchers at the U.K.’s University of Cambridge have just demonstrated another use case: a more efficient bio solar cell that’s powered by genetically modified live algae.

“It’s been known for some time that photosynthetic microorganisms — single-celled algae — produce small amounts of electrons, stimulated by light, that can be harvested by electrodes to produce a current,” Professor Chris Howe, one of the lead researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “You can think of systems based on this as a biological version of a photovoltaic cell. At present, the power per unit area from those cells is low, with the maximum reported as 0.1 watt per square meter. However, we can use the devices to power small items such as environmental sensors. We’ve succeeded in increasing the power output fivefold.”

The new technique developed in collaboration by researchers from the university’s departments of biochemistry, chemistry, and physics involves a two-chamber system, in which the two central processes involved in the operation of a solar cell – generation of electrons and their conversion into power – are separated. This allowed them to improve the performance of the power delivery unit through miniaturization. Because fluids behave differently at miniature scales, this setup resulted in more efficient cells with lower internal resistance and decreased electrical losses.

Despite being 5 times more efficient than previous algae-powered bio cells, however, the team’s creation still produces only one-tenth the power density provided by conventional solar fuel cells. That doesn’t mean it’s without a use, though. “Conventional solar cells produce a higher power density than our devices, although our devices are likely to be cheaper to make — both in financial investment and energy investment — and to decommission at the end of their life,” Howe continued. “In addition, our devices can produce some power in the dark, using materials made by the algal cells in the light, in contrast to conventional solar cells.”

Howe noted that while conventional solar cells are likely to be preferred for large-scale energy production for grid supply, their bio solar cell could be useful in other scenarios. For example, in rural Africa, sunlight is abundant, but there’s no existing electric grid system.

Additional work needs to be carried out to reach that point, however. “Scaling up is always a big hurdle in moving from lab to real-world implementation,” Howe said. “We’re keen to commercialize the systems, but that will be a few years off.”

A paper describing the work was published recently in the journal Nature Energy.

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Smartglasses from eSight are changing blind people’s lives by enabling them to see

Every once in a while, we see technology that is unlikely to actually be experienced by most people, but is truly transformative and life-changing for select people. That perfectly describes eSight, a pair of smartglasses that give blind people the ability to see. That’s amazing enough, but the glasses — which look like a cross between PlayStation VR and the Avegant Glyph — are so effective that in some cases the previously blind person may have the best sight in the room when wearing them.

We met Rosa Henderson, who is legally blind and has been since birth, at CES 2018. She has been wearing eSight for several months, and her story is one that shows the human side of cutting-edge modern tech. She didn’t talk about how something helped her productivity, or solved a very specific problem, but about something that lets her live. She said eSight gives her control over everyday life, confidence, and independence like no other device before it. It enables her to do the everyday things most people take for granted.

High-tech vision

An example? Henderson talked about attending classes at college, where she would normally have to make special arrangements ahead of time to sit at the very front of the room, and often bring an assistant along to help with dictation and note-taking. That’s after making the journey to the college in the first place, which may have involved the help of other people, using a cane, or owning a service animal — and always required considerable planning. Not impossible, but hugely restrictive, and very reliant on others. It’s hard for sighted people to understand how difficult all this is. Imagine performing your everyday routine with your eyes closed, and it’s probably pretty similar.

Henderson explained that without eSight, she sees nothing long distance, and couldn’t make out my facial features at all when I was sat less than a meter away. Yet with eSight on, not only could she see what I looked like, but she attends those classes without making any prior arrangements, travels safely on her own, and works in the class on her own anywhere she likes.

The classroom experience is a microcosm of real life. Reading signs, being able to see long distances, crossing roads, recognizing people, and even using an Apple Watch is is now possible for Henderson and other eSight wearers. To hear her describe the difference it has made to her life is extremely uplifting.

It’s not the first assistive device she has used, having had experience with everything from a cane to a massive magnification machine that resembled an old microfiche reader and allowed her to view documents.  While these often assisted with a single task, none were very convenient, and some didn’t even work well at all.

Everything is solved with eSight, because it enables the wearer to actually see.

Better than 20/20

The eSight is a visor-like device worn on the head, with a pair of corrective glasses built in if they’re needed. A high-speed camera views the world around the wearer, projecting the image onto a pair of OLED screens, where special software enhances and cleans up the image. There’s no lag, the images produced don’t have a digital appearance, and because the visor can be lowered and lifted, peripheral vision isn’t ruined. It’s arguably the true definition of augmented reality.

A high-speed camera views the world around the wearer, projecting the image onto a pair of OLED screens, where special software enhances and cleans up the image.

How much does it change vision? Incredibly, Henderson has the equivalent of 20/20 sight using it. A zoom feature, which is controlled with a linked handset, means she may see further and often with more clarity than sighted people. There’s even an HDMI port to plug in a media device, so the headset acts like a virtual reality display for watching TV and movies. The whole thing is easy to put on, adjust, and take off, thanks to a clever system of magnets. Henderson admits the device could be lighter, but that’s something to work on for the next version.

Unfortunately, eSight costs $10,000, which makes it prohibitively expensive. However, the passion and commitment shown not just by Henderson, but also by Jeff Fenton, eSight’s Director of Outreach, is infectious. To help get eSight into the hands of people who need it, the company offers a financing plan, plus a way to donate and contribute to a worthy cause — making blindness a thing of the past by 2020. We may get all excited over the latest phone, wearable, or game console, but millions of people could experience the same level of freedom and independence as Henderson does by using eSight, and that puts it on a different level.

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