Weird VR project shows you life through the eyes of a frustrated Roomba vacuum

Until Skynet takes over and we start reconsidering our desire to give robots all the dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs we don’t want to do, chances are that few of us will spend much time pondering what it’s like to live as a smart vacuum cleaner. Well, unless you’re a collective of artists called Automato, that is!

The Shanghai-based group has created a multi-user installation called “Objective Realities,” in which users are asked to don virtual reality headsets — made to look like a variety of smart objects — and then spend a few minutes looking at life through the eyes of a connected device. The idea of walking around with a Roomba on your head is certainly pretty weird, but strangely neat at the same time.

“The experience is made of two main parts: Custom helmets for each of the objects and a networked virtual home,” Matthieu Cherubini, one of the project’s creators, told Digital Trends. “Once you ‘wear’ one of the objects on your head, you become an everyday thing like a fan or a cleaning robot or a plug, and you will only be able to act on the environment around you as the object you just became. You will be sweeping the floors like a cleaning robot, blowing things around the house like a fan, or moving from plug to plug across the electrical wires.”

Of course, in today’s hyper-connected world, you’re not left alone. Since you’re in a networked and connected home, you’re also able to interact with other objects (played by other people). That can lead to some hilarious interactions, such as cleaning robots getting annoyed at fans for making a mess, plugs switching off other objects to save energy, and the like.

“We had a first exhibition in [France] in early February during Interaction18, an international design conference, to gather first reactions,” Saurabh Datta, another member of the team, told Digital Trends. “It’s been pretty amazing to see people enjoying being fans, Roombas, and plugs, and interpret their role of things in the home. Some wanted to destroy and make a mess, some wanted to clean and be very obedient objects, some really enjoyed the peace of the limits of being a fan, some blamed people for a very non-Roomba friendly architecture.”

In the future, the team (which also includes third teammate Simone Rebaudengo) plans to expand the experience by adding more objects and collaborations. Welcome to the art world in 2018!

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best iRobot Roomba deals to make cleaning your home a breeze
• Here are 9 hot deals on a range of smart home devices
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Heated gloves, smart bike lights, tiny Game Boys
• I spend 8 hours a day on Amazon — my personal wish list may give you some ideas
• Here’s a rundown of Google Home-compatible devices

Stanford’s ‘diamond anvil’ technology could be a game-changer for chemistry

Koichi Yajima / EyeEm / Getty Images

Diamonds are pretty darn tough. How tough? Tough enough that squeezing a couple of them together in a molecular diamond anvil — a technique that’s capable of achieving 100 times the pressure experienced at the bottom of the Mariana Trench — can be used to create custom molecules through the triggering of unique chemical reactions.

“Chemical reactions are at the core of modern-day society, from making new therapeutic drugs to fertilizer for food,” Nicholas Melosh, an associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University, told Digital Trends. “Most of these reactions are carried out using chemicals or heat to drive the reaction. However, it’s long been a goal to realize alternative ways to perform chemical reactions, such as with mechanical force.”

In their demonstration, the Stanford researchers demonstrated a first step toward this goal by showing that rigid molecules can be used as “molecular anvils” to crush a softer molecular component, thereby causing a reaction.

“This is a new idea,” Melosh continued. “It came about after we had synthesized one of the precursor molecules for a different project. That molecule was actually one that didn’t react with mechanical force, but it got us thinking about whether such a thing could be possible by altering the molecule shape we used. After compressing a few different candidates in collaboration with a fantastic group that does high pressure at Stanford, Wendy Mao, we found what we were looking for: An irreversible electrochemical reaction purely driven by mechanical force.”

As noted, at this stage it’s still more of a fancy tech demo than anything. But the work could have real-world applications. Melosh said that he hoped the model can be applied to other chemical systems as well — improving the selectivity and efficiency of the reactions. “We would love to develop mechanical approaches for difficult reactions, like CO2 reduction, that, while quite hard, could have considerable impact,” he said. One day, it may be used to create custom molecules on-demand for use in pharmaceuticals.

A paper describing the work, “Sterically controlled mechanochemistry under hydrostatic pressure,” was recently published in the journal Nature.

Editors’ Recommendations

• MIT’s new ultrafine, ultrastrong fibers could make future body armor tougher
• 9 amazing uses for graphene, from filtering seawater to smart paint
• ‘Dreams’ is a game about making games, and it goes as deep as you want
• Physicists create a new type of light, and it’s heavier than before
• IBM’s new A.I. predicts chemical reactions, could revolutionize drug development

Check out these cool tech toys from the 2018 New York Toy Fair

The annual New York Toy Fair gives retailers a sneak peak at what are sure to be the hottest toys for the upcoming year. Following our visit to the London Toy Fair in January, we decided to stop by the New York Toy Fair this month to check out some of the newest tech toys. Here are a few of our favorites.

Jurassic World Kamigami Robots

One of the absolute coolest toys we saw at this year’s New York Toy Fair, Jurassic World Kamigami Robots allows you to build your own custom robot in one of two different colors. Once you’ve built your robot, you can connect it to the Kamigami Jurassic World mobile app to customize its movements and even allow it to interact with other robots.

Mattel’s newest Kamigami robots come in at $60, and you should expect to see them on store shelves shortly before the release of Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom in June.

Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit

Although the Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit is marketed toward younger children, it was one of our absolute favorites at this year’s New York Toy Fair. Winner of 2018 Toy of the Year award for best creative toy, the Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit allows you to build your very own R2-D2 and take him on one of sixteen different missions.

The Droid Inventor Kit rolls in at $100 and is now available online and in stores.

Arcade1Up

If you’re looking for a retro gaming experience, Arcade1Up’s collection of game cabinets may be the perfect fit. The company has created five custom cabinets, each containing three to five games. Game selection includes, Street Fighter II, Atari’s Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, among othes.

Compared to other game cabinets, Arcade1Up’s selection is a steal at $400, but you’ll probably want to add a riser to the mix, since they’re a little on the short side at four feet tall. Expect to see the full collection of gaming cabinets on sale in the fall.

Jurassic World Pterano Drone

While the Jurassic World Pterano Drone is marketed toward children 8 and up, adults will certainly love it as well. A kid-friendly spin on the classic quadcopter, the Jurassic World Pterano Drone operates via a durable remote and features mesmerizing wings.

Jurassic World Pterano Drones will fly into stores this spring. The drone will set you back $120, but it’s definitely worth the price.

Dropmix Music Mixing Game

Although the Dropmix Music Mixing Gamei is not technically new, it remains one of our favorite toys for children and adults in 2018. Dropmix teaches you the basics of music composition with color-coded cards that allow you to create your very own mix. And if you want to add friends into the mix, Drop mix has an awesome game component for up to four players.

Dropmix is available now online and in stores. The gaming system starts at $100, while Playlist Packs come in at $15 and are updated throughout the year.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The 20 best tech toys for kids will make you wish you were 10 again
• Need a last-minute gift idea? Check out the hottest toys of 2017
• 7 super cool tech toys we saw at the London Toy Fair 2018
• These ridiculously fun remote-control toys will make you feel like a kid again
• The Turtlebacker Trailer lets you go camping with all of your outdoor toys

Watch this inflatable robot slither around Harvard using artificial snakeskin

We’ve covered some cool crawling snake robots before here at Digital Trends, but most of these differ from real-life serpents in one crucial way: They don’t have scaly skin. While that might sound like a matter of aesthetics more than practicality, in fact, a snake’s skin plays a crucial role in helping them crawl about; enabling them to grip onto surfaces to gain the necessary friction to move forward.

That is something that researchers at Harvard University are aiming to set straight and they are turning to the ancient Japanese paper cutting art of kirigami to help them. The resulting laser-cut material is a low-cost textured skin, designed to help robots better maneuver on rough surfaces.

“Although bio-inspired soft machines made of highly deformable materials are enabling a variety of innovative applications, their locomotion typically requires several actuators that are independently activated,” Katia Bertoldi, professor of Applied Mechanics at Harvard, told Digital Trends. “In this work, we harness kirigami principles to significantly enhance their ability to crawl. We [designed] highly stretchable kirigami surfaces comprising periodic arrays of cuts and exploit mechanical instabilities to induce a transformation from flat sheets to 3D-textured surfaces akin to the scaled snakeskin.”

By wrapping their artificial scaly skin around simple tube-like robots containing air-powered actuators, the researchers found that there was a dramatic change in their frictional properties, giving the robot-enhanced crawling capabilities. Inflating the actuator caused the snake robot to move forward by popping up the scales so that they gripped the ground. Deflating the actuator flattened the scales, which anchored the robot so that it didn’t slide backward. By carrying out a continuous inflation and deflation, the snake robot was able to slither forward like … well, a snake.

Interestingly, the team discovered that switching between different shapes of the scales — such as triangular, circular, trapezoidal or linear — changed the speed and the efficiency of the crawling action.

“We believe that our kirigami-based strategy opens avenues for the design of a new class of soft crawlers that can travel across complex environments for search and rescue, exploration and inspection operations, environmental monitoring and medical procedures,” Bertoldi continued.

She said that there are no current plans for commercialization of the technology, although the team does plan to continue developing it. Future steps will involve applying the principles to different types of soft actuators, such as those based on dielectric elastomers and shape memory alloys, as well as using kirigami skins to explore and enhance other types of motions.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Science Robotics.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Spirit animals: 9 revolutionary robots inspired by real-world creatures
• Origami-inspired artificial muscles can lift 1,000 times their body weight
• Sharkskin helped Phelps swim faster — can it make drones fly better?
• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Heated gloves, smart bike lights, tiny Game Boys
• Purdue’s microbots are designed to wander around inside your body

Rez Infinite VR for Daydream review: Psychedelic techno bliss

Finding this game in the Google Play Store was a Daydream come true!

Have you ever played a game that just stuck with you? Perhaps you only had a limited time with it, yet years later you still occasionally find yourself daydreaming about it.

For me, that game is Rez. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast way back in 2002, it was and is still the most unique game I’ve ever played — a mash-up between a rail-shooter and a music game set in a trippy cyberspace world.

I remember first experiencing the Rez demo on a disc that came with a PlayStation magazine and it blew my mind, but I could never track down a full copy of the game and I wasn’t about to overpay for a used copy off of eBay.

This is by far the best VR experience I’ve had with my Google Daydream!

Then I learned Rez Infinite VR had been released for Google Daydream and realized my life is complete. Hyperbole aside, this is by far the best VR experience I’ve had with my Google Daydream. While I had a blast playing this game on a CRT TV in my parents’ basement 15 years ago, this game is so perfectly suited for VR I can’t handle it.

The gameplay in this game is just unreal. You use the Daydream controller to aim your targeting icon, pressing the touchpad to lock onto targets and releasing to fire. Everything is kept to the beat, so it’s like you’re controlling the music with every enemy you shoot down. As you progress through the different areas in each level, everything intensifies. The music gets louder and more intense, the visuals get brighter and more explosive with colors, and the enemies arrive in larger numbers and faster. It’s brilliant and just sucks you right in.

Rez Infinte VR includes the original game recreated for VR, along with time attack modes and other quick-play options when you beat the core game. There’s also a new mode, Area X, which ditches the rail-shooting aspect and lets you freely roam around the environment. I haven’t spent a ton of time playing this mode, but it’s definitely fun to cruise around the Rez universe on your own — in VR no less!

The problem is that it’s really hard to describe this game in words to someone who’s never heard of or played it before. You can show them playthroughs of the HD remake from 2008 or compare it to that trippy Star Gate scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. But until they’ve experienced the game for themselves, it’s still too abstract to fully comprehend or appreciate.

That’s why I love watching the reaction when I introduce Rez Infinite VR to friends. While you can’t see exactly what they’re seeing, you see the smile spread across their face and their head start bobbing along to the infectious beat. Yes, this game has still got it going on in 2018, and is perfectly suited for virtual reality.

There is a narrative underpinning the game here that deals with the world of hacking and some heavy-handed metaphors about technology and life, birth and death, and other philisophical musings. It’s there for astute gamers to dwell upon… but really the main draw here is the crazy visuals and catchy music. Just like the original stuck with me for all these years, this game leaves an impression on anyone who plays it.

Rez Infinite VR is available as a free trial in the Google Play Store, but you should absolutely unlock the full game for $10. It’s well worth it and a great title to show off your Daydream headset to friends and family.

Download: Rez Infinite VR ($9.99)

Google Daydream

• Daydream View review
• The ultimate guide to Daydream
• These phones support Daydream VR
• Every Daydream app you can download
• Catch up with Daydream in the forums!

Google

Businesses can now send RCS texts to Android Messages users

Launching first in the U.S. and Mexico.

We’re expecting Google to go all-in with Android Messages later this year to turn it into a true iMessage competitor, but until that day, folks in the U.S. and Mexico are getting a small treat of what’s to come. Thanks to Google’s never-ending push of Rich Communication Services (or RCS), businesses can now tap into this to offer more engaging experiences.

Instead of sending bland SMS texts, companies can use RCS to send rich and interactive messages to their customers that use Android Messages. Businesses like 1-800-Contacts, Booking.com, Subway, and OpenMarket will be leading this charge in the U.S., and Mexico will soon follow suit with 5 Piso, DHL, Secretaria de Salud, and more.

Per Google’s official announcement:

This means, for example, that a retailer can send beautiful images of their products, rather than a text message, and even let the customer select and buy something, all without leaving the messaging app. Best of all, customers who have already opted in to SMS messages from a business get this upgraded experience automatically in Android Messages.

Google says that it’s partnering with Sprint for this initial business rollout of RCS in the U.S., but there are 43 different carriers around the globe working on adopting Google’s Jibe RCS Hub.

Android Messages is Google’s best chance to compete with iMessage

Sports streaming service DAZN launches Roku TV app in Canada

More streaming options for sports fans looking to cut out cable TV 🇨🇦

DAZN subscribers in Canada can now access the sports streaming platform on Roku streaming players and Roku-enabled smart TVs.

Adding Roku rounds out DAZN’s list of supported devices which already included the prerequisite support for web browsers and smartphones along with apps and support for Android TV, Chromecast, VIZIO SmartCast, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Apple TV.

For a $20 monthly subscription, DAZN offers Canadian sports fans exclusive streaming access to NFL Game Pass, NFL RedZone and the NFL Network. Beyond the NFL, DAZN also has partnerships with BeIn Sports for FIBA basketball and European soccer coverage, and more recently announced partnerships with rugby union’s Six Nations Championship, Red Bull Air Races, and a slew of PGA tournaments.

DAZN launched in Canada last August but dealt with technical issues out of the gate including dropped streams, bad video quality, and audio sync issues. While the quality improved as the NFL season progressed, the NFL offseason will be a true test of DAZN’s ability to retain subscribers based on the other sports event streams offered.

Acquiring alternative streaming rights will be crucial for DAZN’s survival in Canada as they go up against the big Canadian cable providers such as Rogers and Bell who have rock solid broadcast and streaming deals in place with the NBA, NHL, CFL, and MLB, and the CBC locking down the broadcast and streaming rights for the Olympics until 2024.

Learn More about DAZN

MWC 2018: What to expect from the world’s biggest phone show

Team Engadget is en route to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, and while the show officially starts on Monday, you’ll start to see some of this year’s key news and announcements as soon as this weekend. We don’t want you going into things blind, though, so here’s a primer on what to expect from the world’s biggest and best phone-makers once MWC 2018 gets off the ground.

Samsung

Unlike last year when it trotted out a pair of new tablets, Samsung is actually bringing smartphones to Barcelona this year. We’ll get our first official look at the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus at a press conference before the show even starts, but countless leaks have told us almost everything we need to know. Barring a few minor differences, we know they basically look just like last year’s models, and they’re sure to pack Snapdragon 845 chipset when they debut in the United States.

We also know that the big draw this year is the camera, even if the S9 and S9 Plus handle them a little differently. The former has one main camera around back while the latter — like the Galaxy Note 8 — uses a dual camera setup instead. No matter which route you take, you’ll still get to use the camera’s variable, mechanical aperture. Unlike other phones with fixed apertures, the S9’s shutter dilates and contracts (like in a traditional camera) to control the amount of light that hits the sensor. Let’s say you’re shooting with a wide aperture, like the f/1.6 suggested by leaks: that allows for a shallow depth of field for sweet bokeh-filled shots and improved low light performance. Then you could switch to the f/2.4 aperture to make sure your landscapes come out looking just right.

The improvements don’t end there. We’ve also heard that the S9 will feature a super-slow-motion video mode and some kind of 3D emoji to rival Apple’s own Animoji. Throw in some stereo speakers — a first for Samsung — and we’re ultimately left with an impressive (if iterative) update. Now just we need to know how much these things will cost and when we can get them.

Chris Velazco/Engadget

LG

After some missteps and false starts, last year’s G6 was proof that LG’s smartphones are far from irrelevant. Too bad we’re not getting at G7 at MWC this year. LG seems to enjoy spoiling its own surprises, so it confirmed we’d see an updated version of last year’s V30 that’ll probably be called the V30S. From what we’ve heard, it’s mostly the same V30 we reviewed last year, just fleshed out with new AI features to make the cameras a little more capable. (Personally, I hope LG also used better screens for this updated model.)

LG’s Vision AI is supposed to help the V30 and future devices scan QR codes, perform image searches and provide shopping links for things the camera sees. If this sounds familiar, well, it should — this sound conceptually familiar to the Bixby Vision feature Samsung baked into its S8s and Note 8s. Given the V30’s impressive photographic chops, it’s no surprise the Vision AI should help when taking photos. Vision AI was also trained on over 100 million images to help it better understand what it sees, and as a result, the camera can switch to a shooting mode appropriate for what’s in front of it.

This updated V30 will also get a slew of new voice commands for Google Assistant, marking the first time a smartphone maker has cooked up custom Assistant commands. Not only will the new V30 know to fire up food mode when you’re snapping photos of your lunch — you’ll be able to ask it to snap the photo, too. Here’s hoping we get some clarity on LG’s upcoming flagship phone (code-named Julie) as well, but that probably won’t happen for at least a few more months.

Sony

Sony has managed to avoid major MWC leaks so far, but it recently teased fans with a short video that suggests at least one curvy new Sony phone is coming to Spain. That seems like a clear sign that Sony is moving away from its long-running OmniBalance design language, and frankly, good riddance. Sony phones have mostly looked like the same ol’ slabs for years, and enough is enough.

Unfortunately, we don’t have much detail on what this curvaceous new phone has going for it. Rumors of a so-called XZ Pro have been making the rounds for a while, though. If true, it’ll be a new flagship-class device with a 5.7-inch, 4K OLED display and one of Qualcomm’s fresh-off-the-line Snapdragon 845s. It might also be the first Sony phone on the market with a dual camera, and if that’s the case, we’re looking forward to seeing how Sony’s implementation differs from all the others. We might also get to see an updated version of the company’s Xperia Ear, if only because Sony has a solid track record of turning its wacky concepts into real products.

BlackBerry Mobile

It’s been a long strange ride for BlackBerry fans, but 2018 should be a good year for the brand’s diehard fans. Back at CES, execs told us to expect at least two smartphones with physical QWERTY keyboards this year, and with any luck, we’ll get our first look at the show. If rumors hold true, one of those devices might be a spiritual, sliding successor to 2015’s BlackBerry Priv with a curved screen, and we’d expect the other to be some sort of BlackBerry KeyONE follow-up. Other details are scarce at the moment, but we have seen some new codenames being thrown around lately — BlackBerry Uni sounds pretty… awful, but we wouldn’t mind spending some time with a BlackBerry Athena or Luna.

Alcatel

Don’t forget about TCL’s other smartphone brand, either. The company showed us a few of its redesigned phones at CES, but they were far from finished at the time — we expect these new 1, 3 and 5 series phones to be ready to launch very soon. They’re meant to be inexpensive machines, so there hasn’t been too much hype surrounding them, but they’re proof that you’ll be able to get phones with 18:9 screens without making your wallet groan.

Lenovo & Motorola

We go to MWC expecting to spend all our time with smartphones, but Lenovo always seems to have some Windows machines to show off; you’d do well to expect a notebook announcement before the week is over. The big question is whether Lenovo will show off new, always-connected PCs — you know, the ones powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets — or just the usual Intel-powered fare. We’re tentatively leaning towards “no” since the Miix 630 is still so new, but hey — we can hope right?

Meanwhile, Lenovo’s Motorola brand has been awfully quiet in the run-up to the show. That just might be because it had to deal with the mother of all leaks earlier this year. You can expect big updates for its G, X, and Z-series devices this year — we’re just not sure about when, or if they’ll all be announced at MWC. Last year, Moto showed off new Moto Gs, so news of some follow-ups seems like a safe bet. But what’s actually new?

Well, the Moto G series is expected to get dual cameras across the board and a glossy redesign to make it look more like the existing Moto X4. The updated X series, meanwhile, should pack a 5.9-inch, 18:9 screen with an iPhone X-style notch that hides a pair of front-facing cameras. And the Z series? Well, it should still play nice with existing Moto Mods, but leaked images suggest the new Z phones will have 6-inch, curved displays. Here’s hoping we hear about some new Moto Mods, especially that long-rumored 5G radio Mod. With 5G network trials slated for later this year, we’ll need news sooner than later.

Nokia

Evan Blass/Twitter

Let’s face it: Nokia won MWC last year with its 3310 revival. Too bad we haven’t heard of any new dumbphone sequels lined up for this year’s show. We are, however, expecting to see a handful of (what else?) new Nokia Android phones. Leaked photos point to the existence of a Nokia 1 running Android Go, which all but guarantees it’s a low-cost model that should see lots of play in developing markets. (For those not keeping track, Android Go is a special configuration of Android Oreo designed to run on devices with less than 1GB of RAM.)

Also seemingly on deck is the Nokia 7+, an update to last year’s Nokia 7 with barely-there bezels running around a 6-inch screen. Expect mid-range performance out of this thing, though we’re cautiously optimistic about the ZEISS-tuned dual camera system around the back. Know what really has us excited, though? The Nokia 7+ has appeared in both gray and white, but both versions have some punchy orange highlights.

Huawei

Sorry, Huawei fans: You shouldn’t expect much in the way of phones. We know the company is going to show off its new P-series smartphone in March, and as with the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, the camera might be the biggest reason to invest in those devices. Huawei’s invite strongly hinted at a three-lens setup, but we’ll have to wait a little longer for the juicy details. At MWC, we’ll probably just see one of Huawei’s new MediaPad tablets given the timing. Since Huawei has used MWC to show off its Windows machines in the past, you shouldn’t discount the possibility of another Huawei PC breaking cover either. Really though, we’re hoping the company shares more about its struggles with the US government.

ASUS

They might not be tremendously popular in the US, but ASUS’s ZenFones have steadily gotten better over the years. Based on a handful of leaks, we’d expect to hear about at least two new devices at the show. The standard ZenFone 5 should sport a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and another extra-tall screen with an iPhone X-like notch. More importantly, it packs flagship levels of power thanks to its Snapdragon 845 chipset and 6GB of RAM. There’s no firm word on price at the moment, but if it winds up being steep, there should also be a ZenFone 5 Lite lurking on the show floor somewhere. Very little about the device is known right now, but we ARE pretty sure it packs four cameras — two on the back and two above the display.

Oh, and everyone else

Covering MWC is a huge undertaking, and there are a lot of other companies on our radar that are worth paying attention to. It feels a little weird sticking HTC down here, but the truth is the company hasn’t put much effort into MWC in recent years. We’d be surprised to see anything more than just some new Vive demos on the show floor. On the other hand, ZTE will likely show off its Blade V9, with its 5.7-inch, 18:9 display and a Snapdragon 450 processor. And Vivo, a Chinese phone maker you probably haven’t heard of, will spend some more time showing off devices a fingerprint sensor built into their displays.

There’s obviously going to be a lot of news coming out of Barcelona next week, and even with all this information, there’s bound to be a few surprises. Be sure to stick around to get the full scoop on everything once MWC is officially underway.

Businesses tap Google’s RCS for more useful text messages

Google has supported Rich Communication Services (RCS) for a while now, hoping to bring features like group chat, high-res photo sharing and read receipts to all Android users. The company made a big push to expand RCS support on Android last year, and carriers have been slowly adopting the standard and preloading Android Messages to the standard app load out. Now, Google says that it’s convinced 43 carriers and device makers to add native support for the messaging protocol.

The widespread adoption of RCS will likely help Google compete with Apple’s iMessage, which has had similar features for a long time. As TechCrunch notes, Google is now pushing the business uses of RCS, which enables companies to send messages with things like boarding passes, financial fraud alerts and package notifications. The RCS standard can also allow suggested response buttons, like “Open in Maps” to find a nearby Walgreens or “View station map” from Virgin Trains.

Google is partnering with Sprint, 1-800 Contacts, 1-800 Flowers.com, Booking.com, SnapTravel and Subway to bring RCS messaging to their customers, as well as with messaging companies like Smooch and Twilio. Google has also connected with Telcel in Mexico to do the same with various companies and services there, including DHL Mexico, Secretaria de Salud and Airmovil.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google

UPS is adding to its fleet of electric delivery trucks

UPS announced today that it will soon deploy 50 electric delivery trucks designed by Workhorse Group Inc. that will cost about the same as traditional, conventionally fueled trucks. They’ll have a between-charge range of around 100 miles, will be zero-emission and the first vehicles will be tested in a handful of cities this year. “Electric vehicle technology is rapidly improving with battery, charging and smart grid advances that allow us to specify our delivery vehicles to eliminate emissions, noise and dependence on diesel and gasoline,” Carlton Rose, UPS’ president of global fleet maintenance and engineering, said in a statement. “With our scale and real-world duty cycles, these new electric trucks will be a quantum leap forward for the purpose-built UPS delivery fleet. The all electric trucks will deliver by day and re-charge overnight.”

The first batch of trucks will be tested in Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles and based on their performance, the vehicle design will be tweaked ahead of a larger deployment sometime in 2019. “This innovation is the result of Workhorse working closely with UPS over the last four years, refining our electric vehicles with hard fought lessons from millions of road miles and thousands of packages delivered,” Workhorse CEO Steve Burns said in a statement. UPS has previously worked with Workhorse on a delivery truck equipped with drones that can take over the last delivery step.

UPS has a number of environmental goals it’s aiming to hit in the near future, including a 12 percent reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions within the next seven years. While the company has around 108,000 package cars, vans, tractors and motorcycles on the road, it has over 9,000 alternative fuel vehicles currently in use. Last year, UPS reserved 125 of Tesla’s electric semis and began converting 1,500 of its New York-based diesel trucks to all-electric systems.

UPS says it has around 35,000 trucks in its fleet that are comparable to the Workhorse-designed vehicles, meaning a good chunk of its fleet could in theory be replaced by the all-electric trucks. By 2020, it aims for a quarter of its newly purchased vehicles to be advanced technology or run on alternative fuel.

Source: UPS