Google sold about 6 million Home speakers during the holidays

More than one Google Home was sold every second.

This past holiday season, there’s a good chance you either bought or received a smart speaker of some sort. Amazon’s been dominating this space since the first Echo Dot came out in 2016, but with the launch of the Google Home Mini in late 2017, Google finally had its own ultra-cheap speaker to get inside as many people’s homes as possible.

Google recently shared a post on its blog outlining the success of Home products and the Assistant throughout the past year, and perhaps the most surprising bit of news is that more than one Google Home product was sold every single second in 2017 after the Home Mini started shipping in October.

Google doesn’t really say if it started counting these sales on the Home Mini’s launch date (October 19) or later in the month when it actually began shipping to consumers, but even so, we can estimate that about 6 million Home speakers were sold. Google doesn’t say which of its three speakers accounted for the most sales, but seeing as how you could buy the Home Mini for just $29 throughout most of 2017, this is what we’re guessing was the most popular.

In addition to this, Google also says that the Assistant is now available on over 400 million devices and can control more than 1,500 smart home devices from over 225 different brands. Usage of Google Homes increased by nine times this past holiday season compared to the one in 2016, making it more apparent than ever that Google is coming at Amazon and its Echo brand with full force.

Now that we’re talking about it, did you buy or receive a Google Home during the holidays?

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Spotify tries using video loops as song artwork

Usually when you tap the now-playing bar while listening to Spotify on your phone, it brings up a static image related to the song you’re playing. But today, Music Ally noticed that one song on the New Music Friday playlist, Superorganism’s “Everybody Wants To Be Famous,” instead featured a looped video in the background rather than the typical artwork. The video, which multiple Engadget reporters have also now spotted on their Spotify accounts, lasts through the entirety of the song and is credited to Superorganism.

We reached out to Spotify to see if this is something we might be seeing more of, but a spokesperson for the company said that they had nothing to announce at this time. So it appears this is just a test. None of the other songs on the New Music Friday US playlist currently has an accompanying video and the feature doesn’t seem to extend to the desktop app.

Spotify has been pretty proactive in its efforts to engage its users. Its various personalized playlists and the multiple ways it brings new music to its listeners have been popular features for the music streaming service. Adding some video to songs could be another way to draw in users.

Spotify, which recently hit 70 million subscribers, has made some interesting moves of late. It acquired Soundtrap in November and has shaken up its own video and podcast strategy following a change of leadership. It also just took steps towards becoming a publicly traded company. So interesting new features might soon become even more valuable to the company as it continues to face mounting competition from rivals like Apple.

Via: Music Ally

Apple Orders ‘Home’ Docuseries Featuring Extraordinary Houses

Apple has inked a deal for yet another television show, this time a docuseries called “Home,” reports Variety.

The series will offer a “never-before-seen look inside the world’s most extraordinary homes” while also delving into the imaginations of the visionaries who dreamed them up and built them. Based on the show’s description, it sounds a little bit like MTV’s “Cribs” but with more of a design and architecture focus.

Apple has ordered 10 one-hour episodes of the “Home” docuseries, which is produced by Matt Tynauer and Corey Reese of Altimeter Films.

“Home” is the first documentary-style series that Apple has ordered thus far under the leadership of Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, two former Sony executives Apple brought on last June to run a new video content division within the company.

Apple is working on several other shows in addition to “Home,” including a revival of 1985 Steven Spielberg sci-fi series “Amazing Stories,” an untitled space drama developed by Ronald D. Moore, known for “Battlestar Galactica,” an untitled “morning show drama” starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, and “Are You Sleeping,” a psychological thriller starring Octavia Spencer that focuses on a podcast that reopens a murder case.

It’s not yet clear when the first of Apple’s original TV shows will premiere, but it’s possible at least one series will debut later in 2018.

Related Roundup: Apple TVTag: Apple’s Hollywood ambitionsBuyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Buy Now)
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Fitbit could add glucose monitors to future health-monitoring devices

Fitbit just invested over $6 million in a company called Sano that’s working on a coin-sized patch that monitors blood sugar, CNBC reports. The wearables-maker already incorporates other glucose-tracking devices’ data into its Ionic smartwatch, but this investment suggests that the company might be looking to more directly incorporate a monitor into its devices. “This fits into our strategy of looking beyond the device and thinking more about (health) solutions,” Fitbit CEO James Park told CNBC. “I think the complete solution comes in the form of having some monitoring solution that is coupled with a display, and a wearable that can give you the interventions at the right moment.”

Fitbit isn’t the only one interested in a built-in blood sugar monitor. Reports surfaced early last year that Apple was working on one itself, but while Sano’s product uses tiny needles to take its measurements, Apple has reportedly been chasing a device that has so far proved unattainable — a non-invasive, continuously monitoring device. For Fitbit, working this kind of feature into its products could be a smart move as some of its competitors have started to move past them in the wearables field. While Fitbit previously dominated the market, it lost quite a bit of market share to Apple and Xiaomi last year, both of which took turns leading the market last year, quarter to quarter.

Park stopped short of saying future Fitbit devices will have built-in blood sugar monitors, naturally, but this investment shows the company is at least interested in that direction. Sano’s tracker won’t be available to consumers for at least another year.

Via: CNBC

Google is helping a Chinese game streaming platform go global

Google’s search engine might be banned in China, but it’s been finding more and more ways to establish its presence in the country. Its latest effort is leading a $120 million investment in Chushou, a Chinese online e-sports platform that specializes in mobile game livestreams. The website is already pretty big, with 8 million users and as many as 250,000 livestreams a day, and it’s unclear what percentage of total funding came from Google. According to CNBC, though, the big G will help the platform grow even bigger, more international, in order to make it look more inviting to potential users outside China.

So far, the number of mobile gamers in China is almost double the number of people in the US, so Chushou definitely has the potential to become a proper Twitch competitor. Livestreaming is immensely popular in China, as well — Chushou rival Douyu TV, for instance, says it has around 30 million daily active users. That makes Google’s new ally look tiny in comparison.

Back in 2015, Google also joined a $75 million funding round for Beijing-based AI startup Mobvoi. It’s a small company, but it’s already released an Assistant-capable smart home device and a decent $100 Android Wear smartwatch. Last year, Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo competed against top Chinese Go players in the province of Zhejiang, and the company also opened an AI lab in Beijing.

Source: CNBC

The best treadmill

By Shannon Palus

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.

After walking and running over 45 miles on nine treadmills, we think the best treadmill for most people is the ProForm 505 CST. It has speed and incline features that are comparable to treadmills twice the price, and it adjusts quickly between them, too. The interface was the easiest to navigate of all the treadmills we tested. The belt is 55 inches long—enough space for all but the tallest runners—and there are 18 workout programs, features that a treadmill that costs any less will lack.

Who should get a treadmill?

If you have established a walking or running habit, having a treadmill in your home might make it easier or more fun. You’ll save time and money by not having to commute to the gym, and you have more control over your workout environment.

But if you haven’t yet started walking or running regularly, the experts I spoke with all advised against making this several-hundred-dollar purchase right off the bat. It’s better to first learn about your exercise preferences and make sure you’ll actually stick with your new routine.

How we picked and tested

Having pared down many options, the nine treadmills we chose to test. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

To find the best treadmill, we looked for models with a belt length of at least 55 inches, the minimum that’s generally recommended for runners 6 feet tall and under. If you’re over 6 feet, consider a machine with a belt that’s at least 60 inches. No matter your height, you’ll want a treadmill that offers a variety of incline options, which mimic the stress of exercising on hilly terrains. You’ll also want a treadmill that can reach 10 mph and hold the body weight of anyone who will be using it. It should also come with a variety of interval programs, which vary speed and incline to keep exercise interesting.

To test each treadmill, four of my colleagues and I spent a week running, jogging, and walking on nine treadmills. After using each treadmill, we noted how it felt underfoot and how intuitive it was to use. I also measured each treadmill’s dimensions, as well as the time it took to reach different speeds. Finally, I repeatedly folded the treads and adjusted the belts, to mimic storage and maintenance.

Our pick: ProForm 505 CST

Our pick, the ProForm 505 CST. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

The ProForm 505 CST has all the features you need in a treadmill and costs about half as much as many other models we considered. The interface is easy and pleasant to use, and the belt is relatively quiet. The ProForm inclines to 10 percent, goes as fast as 10 mph (a six-minute mile, nearly twice as fast as a leisurely jogging pace), and offers 18 interval programs.

The console features two large water-bottle holders and two media shelves: one beneath the display, and one above it. The display itself simply shows distance, speed, calories, and time. There’s not much to figure out, and no way to get lost if you push the wrong button. It also comes with a warranty rivaled only by that of our upgrade pick: a lifetime frame warranty, 25-year motor warranty, and one-year parts and labor warranty.

Runner-up: Gold’s Gym Trainer 720

Our runner-up treadmill pick, the Gold’s Gym Trainer 720. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

If our top pick is sold out or the price spikes, we’d go with the Gold’s Gym Trainer 720 instead. It’s made by the same company and is in the same price bracket as the ProForm 505 CST, and it shows: They feel similar underfoot, offer the same range for speed and incline, match warranties, and cost about the same. However, the display is harder to read, cycling through key stats rather than leaving them up on the screen, and the 720 lacks a graphic display to show the contours of an interval workout.

The Gold’s Gym Trainer 720 goes up to 10 mph, and inclines up to 10 percent. It’s foldable, but lifting the belt takes a little effort. It comes with 18 interval programs, but there is no graphical display to show the content of those at a glance. Still, the display was “very straightforward and easy to understand,” according to one of our testers.

Upgrade pick: NordicTrack c990

Our upgrade treadmill pick, the NordicTrack c990. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

If you want more interval workouts, a detailed graph of the speed and incline of your workout, or are over 6 feet tall, we recommend the NordicTrack c990. Though it’s several hundred dollars more than our top pick and has a touchscreen that comes with a bit of a learning curve, it offers extra features that more frequent treadmill users will like, such as more interval workouts and a fan that actually makes a difference. It also has the best warranty of any treadmill we tested: a lifetime frame and motor warranty, a three-year parts warranty, and a one-year labor warranty.

The NordicTrack c990 can go up to 12 mph (a five-minute mile) and a 12 percent incline, nearly the fastest and highest of all the treadmills we tested. It comes with 32 interval programs, and you can see summaries of several of them at once when making a selection. During a workout, the screen can display up to seven stats simultaneously. However, the fancy screen can be confusing to operate at times, and the machine often tries to sell you on a $9/month subscription to iFit, Icon Fitness’s extra-content service.

This guide may have been updated by Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

Note from Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

David Letterman’s Netflix talk show snags Obama as the first guest

While Chelsea Handler’s talk show on Netflix is on its way out, the company is taking a different approach with a new attempt featuring David Letterman as shown by its first trailer. My Next Guest Needs No Introduction is scheduled for six 60-minute episodes with George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Jay-Z, Tina Fey, Howard Stern and President Barack Obama slated to visit. The first episode, with Obama, will arrive January 12th, with new ones released monthly. The show will take place inside and outside the studio, as Letterman returns to TV for the first time since leaving the Late Show on CBS in 2015.

Obama.
Clooney.
Malala.
Fey.
Stern.
Jay-Z.#MyNextGuestNeedsNoIntroductionWithDavidLetterman@Letterman do you think we need a shorter hashtag?

— Netflix US (@netflix) January 5, 2018

Source: Netflix (YouTube)

Meltdown and Spectre are wakeup calls for the tech industry

It’s not hyperbole to say that Meltdown and Spectre CPU vulnerabilities are a disaster. They affect pretty much every processor used over the past two decades and practically every device. In the right hands, they could reveal things like passwords and other secure information. While many companies have rushed to patch against Meltdown, which specifically affects Intel chips and lets hackers access the memory of apps being used by an operating system, Spectre is more stubborn. It won’t be fully resolved until chip makers move to new architectures — a process that could take years.

While these are some of the most critical exploits the computing world has seen, their existence has made it clear that, in extreme cases like this, technology companies have to work together. That’s not exactly news to the collaboration-focused security research community, which initially discovered the vulnerabilities and alerted affected companies. But now, even major competitors are being forced to tackle this issue together to avoid a potential computing apocalypse.

“The chip companies and the OS vendors are doing a pretty good job of handling this,” Jack Gold, president of the strategic consulting firm J. Gold Associates, told Engadget. “The fact that Intel, AMD and ARM were all working in unison on this, which they never really do, bodes well for the industry as everyone tries to mitigate this potential threat.”

Both exploits rely on the use of “speculative execution” in modern chip architecture, which is one way manufacturers speed up performance. The technique lets processors perform some potential work ahead of time, giving them the leg up in case that’s something you need them to do. They could be used to access memory locations, which we previously thought were protected, and get any potentially secure information that they hold.

Notably, though, they don’t let hackers access information on storage devices like hard drives. And, as Gold notes in a report, it might also be tough for them to access the on-memory data in the first place since “it requires understanding the relationship between data locations which are highly variable and actual data content, and requires a good amount of processing/decoding.” Basically, while these exploits are potentially serious, it’s currently tough for someone to easily use them.

By next week, Intel says it’ll have patched 90 percent of its affected CPUs released within the past five years. ARM has released patches for several of its chips affected by Spectre, and AMD says there is “near zero risk” to its products at the moment. Microsoft, Google, Apple and the Linux community have also released patches to protect against Meltdown. There could be a potential performance hit for Intel users, but the company says it will be “highly workload dependent” and not noticeable by typical users. Researchers, meanwhile, speculate the patches could reduce CPU speeds by up 20 to 30 percent, something that could severely cut into your rendering time or game performance.

Paul Kocher, an independent researcher who worked with the teams at Google Project Zero and Rambus, which initially found the exploits, told the New York Times that Spectre is an example of how the technology industry is emphasizing speed over security. But Gold rejects that assertion:

“It was an issue of designing an architecture into the chips that no one foresaw could be exploited effectively,” he said. “Both the chip and OS took pains to try and make the kernel memory protected and secure but in this case, others found a way around that. The fact that there are no known cases of this exploit in the wild means that for many years, this was assumed to be a secure implementation. Don’t forget that Intel and others have been using this same basic architecture for decades, and it’s just now coming to light that there may be a problem. It means that this is a pretty hard, esoteric vulnerability to discover.”

As long as you update your personal devices, you likely won’t have to worry about these exploits much. The situation is tougher for cloud computing providers like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, since a hacker could conceivable use Meltdown to access information from other clients on a shared server. Google says it’s already deployed two techniques against the exploit on its servers, and so far it’s seen a “negligible” performance impact. Microsoft has patched its Azure servers, though some users in Western Europe are now reporting issues with their virtual machines. And Amazon Web Services was also quick to secure its systems, but some customers are also reporting slowdowns in their instances.

True to its name, Spectre will haunt the technology world for years. Cloud providers, in particular, will have to remain vigilant against potential attacks. At this point, almost every consumer service relies on the cloud in some form — it’s simply too expensive and inconvenient to manage your own server hardware. Instead of rushing to deliver the fastest chips possible, the next race for Intel, AMD and ARM is to come up with new architecture that will bust Spectre for good.

Amazon brings Alexa to headphones and smartwatches

Amazon is integrating Alexa with services that help around the house, from turning on the microwave to charging your plugged-in EV. For its next trick, the tech giant wants to push its voice assistant into devices you take on the go. Today, Amazon introduced the ‘Alexa Mobile Accessory Kit,’ software that lets developers hook up their Bluetooth-equipped wearables and headphones to the voice-controlled service.

The kit enables OEM devices to connect over Bluetooth to the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) through the Alexa app on iOS or Android devices. There are already devices that hook up to Amazon’s voice assistant, of course, but routing through the app is a lighter-weight option than building in functionality via the AVS Device SDK released last August. Perhaps this easier option will help Amazon keep Alexa adoption ahead of rival services as they try to shorten the lead, with Google releasing an SDK for its Assistant last month.

The kit isn’t ready to use just yet — it’s coming later this year — but developers can sign up here to be notified when it’s available. According to Amazon’s post, Bose, Jabra, iHome, and Beyerdynamic have committed to connecting their devices to Alexa with the kit later this year.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Amazon

Apple Now Faces 23+ Lawsuits for ‘Purposefully’ or ‘Secretly’ Slowing Down Older iPhones

Apple now faces over two dozen lawsuits around the world that either accuse the company of intentionally slowing down older iPhones, or at least of failing to disclose power management changes it made starting in iOS 10.2.1.

The lawsuits include 23 class action complaints in the United States, with the latest two filed on Thursday by Marc Honigman and Lauri Sullivan-Stefanou in New York and Ohio respectively, according to electronic court records reviewed by MacRumors. Apple is also being sued in Israel and France.

An excerpt from Sullivan-Stefanou’s complaint:

Unbeknownst to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPhone 6s owners, Apple inserted code into iOS 10.2.1 that deliberately slowed down the processing performance of these phones by linking each phone’s processing performance with its battery health. Absent the code inserted by Apple, the reduced battery capacity of these phones would not have negatively affected processing performance.

Many of the lawsuits demand Apple compensate all iPhone users who have experienced slowdowns, offer free battery replacements, refund customers who purchased brand new iPhones to regain maximum performance, and add info to iOS explaining how replacing an iPhone’s battery can prevent slowdowns.

The legal action comes after Apple’s revelation it may at times dynamically manage the maximum performance of some older iPhone models with chemically aged batteries in order to prevent the devices from unexpectedly shutting down, an issue that can be made worse by cold temperatures or a low charge.

Apple never mentioned the power management changes, which it calls a feature, when it released iOS 10.2.1 nearly a year ago. A month after the software update became available, Apple still only vaguely mentioned that it made “improvements” that resulted in a significant reduction in unexpected shutdowns.

Apple only revealed exactly what the so-called “improvements” were after Primate Labs founder John Poole visualized that some iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 devices suddenly had lower benchmark scores starting with iOS 10.2.1 and iOS 11.2 respectively despite operating at maximum performance on previous versions.

Poole’s analysis was in response to a Reddit user who claimed his iPhone 6s was significantly faster after replacing the device’s battery. The discussion generated over 1,000 comments, and reinforced an opinion held by some that Apple purposefully slows down older iPhones so customers buy newer ones.

Honigman’s complaint, edited very slightly for clarity, echoes this opinion:

Apple’s intentional degradation of the iPhone’s performance through the release of iOS impacted the usability of the device. Effectively, Apple has forced the obsolescence of iPhones by secretly diminishing their performance. Thus, Apple’s admission has confirmed what iPhone users have long suspected – i.e., that Apple deliberately degrades the performance of older iPhone models through iOS updates to encourage users to buy new iPhones.

Apple has since issued an apology for its lack of communication, and it has reduced the price of battery replacements to $29 for iPhone 6 and newer through the end of 2018. Apple has also promised to release an iOS update early this year that will give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery.

Keep in mind that Apple is not permanently or persistently slowing down older iPhones. Even if your iPhone is affected, the performance limitations only happen intermittently, and only when the device is completing demanding tasks.

We recently answered many frequently asked questions about Apple’s power management process, which can’t be disabled, but can be avoided by replacing your iPhone’s battery if necessary. Read our guide on how to get an iPhone’s battery replaced at an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Related Roundups: iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone SETag: lawsuitBuyer’s Guide: iPhone 8 (Buy Now), iPhone 8 (Buy Now), iPhone SE (Don’t Buy)
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