The 2016 Big Android BBQ, in photos

The biggest — and tastiest — get together of Android enthusiasts and developers in one place.

This year’s Big Android BBQ was a smaller, more intimate affair than in previous years, with lots of fun, friends, and technology. Our own Russell Holly brought more VR than you can shake a controller at, from PlayStation VR to Samsung Gear VR to Microsoft HoloLens to HTC Vive. While things may not have been as crazy as previous years, it was good to be among friends and developers again. And considering this year was the last one, I’m very, very happy that I went.

Yes, at the closing keynote, Aaron Kasten announced that this would be the last Big Android BBQ hosted by IDEAA, citing increased difficulty in finding sponsors and fewer people willing to travel this far when there are local events with the same goal.

That there are more developer events out there, and especially more events with low cost and high interaction, is a win for developers across the country (and abroad, as more developer conferences are also springing up in Europe and Asia). But the Big Android BBQ catered to another kind of participant that most of the events it inspired does not: enthusiasts who aren’t developers. Like me.

I’m not a programmer. I’m not a developer. I’m just a girl who loves Android, loves writing about Android, and wants to talk about Android without spending half an hour explaining what it is first.

I couldn’t go to Google I/O, but at the Big Android BBQ, I could sit in on panels that sounded interesting and talk to developers, hardware manufacturers (Nextbit, Asus, Sony, and HTC were all here last year. Only Sony’s Open Device Program was here this year.) and other enthusiasts.

The social aspect of the BBQ was honestly better than any of the tech that I ever experienced in my three years there. Fighting over how big a screen is too big for a phone (confound it, Thomas, put down the ZenFone 3 Ultra), debating what in the Pixel is worth us paying almost a thousand dollars, and chatting about the present and future of the Android ecosystem, was all great fun.

Shy as I may be in ‘everyday life’, I can talk for hours two places: the Big Android BBQ and a Disney park.

We can have inside jokes at any conference. We can make traditions anywhere, like Aaron’s top hat and TJ’s ridiculous amount of pins and leaderboard points. And we’ll see each other at other events… hopefully. If not, we’ll always have Google+, and a few years of great BBQ and even greater camaraderie among enthusiasts, bloggers, and developers that we’ll forever try to emulate at events to come.

Raise a glass of Texan beer, and pour one down your gullet for the Big Android BBQ. And if any Android fans want to come down for some Texan hospitality and some Android debates, might I suggest a Big Android Schlitterbahn? Let’s debate the necessity of waterproofing as we tube down the Comal.

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See at Android Central Digital Offers

Google Assistant reviews and what they mean for Google Home

Assistant needs to grow fast for Google Home to be great.

Google has made it quite clear that Assistant is the future. It’s in every aspect of your phone, ready to jump into a conversation at a moment’s notice, and soon will occupy a physical space in your house thanks to Google Home. This is the evolution of so many different things Google has tried over the years, and the initial response to Assistant has been mostly positive. It’s clear there’s room to grow, especially when it comes to something you can have a conversation with, but the building blocks are solid.

The big question is what the current form of Assistant will be like for Google Home, and what kind of rapid change and growth is going to be needed for Assistant to be helpful as more than just a mobile chat companion.

Smarter than your smart home

The first step for Google Home is the most obvious. It needs to be able to talk to the things in your house, and it needs to do so well. We’ve seen examples of using Google Home to launch video apps and play files on a Chromecast, but right now those features don’t work well in Assistant. Saying “OK Google” right now about something on Netflix isn’t all that functional, even if you’re just looking for specific episodes of a show or cast members within an episode. This is all information Assistant should have access to, and should happen well before users are asking to play a video on the television.

It’s going to feel like magic to a lot of people.

Google apps being able to talk to Google products is table stakes, though. Google Home needs to be able to talk to connected home equipment in a way that feels natural. Right now we have IFTTT triggers that are just about as organic as what you get through Amazon Echo. As long as you line the words up just right, it’ll get the job done. Google Home needs to take a step further and really integrate with your connected house. You need to be able to ask what the inside temperature is, and when the answer gets you saying, “That’s a little cold,” have your Nest thermostat respond by turning the heat up a couple of degrees. The individual pieces exist for this already, but it’s up to Google to make sure the interaction feels natural.

It’s unclear any of this will be available when Google Home launches, which could be a problem. Google Home needs to take Assistant and make it immediately aware of what is connected to the network at home and know what can be controlled and what can be integrated with as you set it up for the first time. If that happens, it’s going to feel like magic to a lot of people.

A compelling morning companion

Anyone who uses Amazon Echo in more than one room knows the benefits of using Alexa as a morning companion. Setting a timer for your breakfast as it cooks, hearing a quick recap of news, and checking in on traffic patterns are all daily things that can be made much more useful by Google Home. Alexa isn’t aware of the route you take to work, the news sources you regularly check, or the shows you stream to your Chromecast. You have to program all of that yourself, and even when you do the results are a little mechanical. Google Home should excel in this area, creating personalized morning briefs based on your activity and making sure the route you take to work is clear for you should be something it does with ease.

What will be even more interesting is what happens when Google Home is able to take things one step further. To hear on the Home speaker or your phone as a reminder that Game of Thrones is going to come on in 20 minutes, or to remind you as you walk into the grocery store that you have things on your grocery list that need to be picked up. There’s a lot of cross chatter between phone and Home that could be automated well through Assistant, and while it may not be something Google can do out of the box it’s something Assistant will be able to personalize over time.

Whole family support

The biggest challenge Google has right now, the thing that is a bigger problem on Home than it is on Echo because of how integrated Assistant is supposed to become, is support for multiple accounts. I want my son to be able to ask for the next episode of Aphmau’s MyStreet and not have weird Minecraft videos show up in my YouTube recommended feed. I should be able to ask for a list of restaurants in the area and have Assistant highlight favorites based on where I’ve been before, and not have that list contaminated by my spouse ordering pizza when I’m not around. If my oldest daughter asks Google Home what is on the schedule for today, it shouldn’t respond with my list of meetings.

Google Home becomes a lot less useful when it lets anyone who walks into my house contaminate my Search, Maps, and Youtube results.

There’s no doubt this is incredibly complicated, and probably will be a problem at launch, but it’s something Google can and hopefully will solve before too long. This is a company that has struggled with the idea of multiple accounts on things like Android TV in the past, and adding a Family Plan with shared content isn’t a solution for it on Google Home. I need to know my daughter can ask for something to be streamed to Chromecast under the content restriction guidelines I set for her, and not the content restriction guidelines I set for myself. If this is really going to be something Google expect the whole family to use, it needs to include multiple user voice training and multiple account login management.

The alternative is what we have with Amazon Echo right now. I have a to-do list full of things like “scratch your butt” and “pick up 500 jars of pickles” because my kids can add things to my account with no authorization from me. I have a streaming radio preset that includes two versions of songs from Frozen and every Perry Gripp song ever because my kids like to listen to silly things while I’m cooking in the kitchen. Google Home becomes a lot less useful when it lets anyone who walks into my house contaminate my Search, Maps, and YouTube results. And you can bet I’ll respond by messing with every Google Home I see when visiting other people’s houses.

Surviving the early days

Google is a company built by making things and improving them as they get more data from users. That’s not a bad thing, and in fact has lead to some impressive revolutions in how we look at email and automation. That having been said, Google Home is supposed to be the first step in a future where we talk to our computers in the comfort of our own living rooms and don’t look insane doing so.

It’s not going to be perfect right away, but some assurances from Google that this is not just Assistant in a box would be nice. As great as Assistant is right now, it’s not a home assistant yet and it’s not quite ready to compete with Amazon Echo in several respects. There’s little stopping Google from making sure that’s no longer true by the time Home launches, and that’s going to be the experience that really matters.

Uber drivers in the UK entitled to minimum wage, tribunal rules

Uber drivers have won an employment tribunal case in the UK, making them entitled to holiday pay, paid rest breaks and the National Minimum Wage. The ride-hailing company has long argued that its chauffeurs are self-employed contractors, not employees; the tribunal disagreed, however, setting a major precedent for the company and its relationship with workers. GMB, the union for professional drivers in the UK, initiated the two “test cases” in July. It’s described the decision as a “monumental victory” that will impact “over 30,000 drivers” in England and Wales.

“Uber drivers and thousands of others caught in the bogus self-employment trap will now enjoy the same rights as employees,” Maria Ludkin, GMB’s legal director said. “This outcome will be good for passengers too. Properly rewarded drivers are the same side of the coin as drivers who are properly licensed and driving well maintained and insured vehicles.”

Uber disagrees with the decision. The company, which now operates in almost every major city, believes it’s a technology company that merely connects passengers with self-employed drivers. It’s the man in the middle, as far as it’s concerned, and shouldn’t be treated as a traditional taxi operator. Many disagree with this argument, however, seeing it as an excuse to keep its costs down and avoid offering basic employee rights.

In its written ruling, the tribunal said: “The notion that Uber in London is a mosaic of 30,000 small businesses linked by a common ‘platform’ is to our minds faintly ridiculous. In each case, the ‘business’ consists of a man with a car seeking to make a living by driving it. Ms Bertram (note: Uber’s UK general manager) spoke of Uber assisting the drivers to “grow” their businesses, but no driver is in a position to do anything of the kind, unless growing his business simply means spending more hours at the wheel.”

Annie Powell, a lawyer for Leigh Day who worked with GMB on the case, said: “This is a ground-breaking decision. It will impact not just on the thousands of Uber drivers working in this country, but on all workers in the so-called gig economy whose employers wrongly classify them as self-employed and deny them the rights to which they are entitled.”

Uber says it will appeal the tribunal’s “preliminary” decision. “Tens of thousands of people in London drive with Uber precisely because they want to be self-employed and their own boss. The overwhelming majority of drivers who use the Uber app want to keep the freedom and flexibility of being able to drive when and where they want. While the decision of this preliminary hearing only affects two people we will be appealing it.”

Source: Leigh Day, GMB

MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar Will Display Function Keys When Running Windows With Boot Camp

One of the biggest questions about the Touch Bar on Apple’s new MacBook Pro is how it will work with Windows through Boot Camp. That led MacRumors reader Abraham to send an email to Apple’s software engineering chief Craig Federighi, who shared good news for dual-booters.

“Craig, am I correct in assuming that the Touch Bar becomes a row of visual function keys when using Windows with Boot Camp?”
Federighi: “You are indeed!”

Presumably, this means the Touch Bar will likely display virtual function keys between F1-F12, along with an Escape key, when running Windows. It remains to be seen if there will be specific controls for system-level tasks such as volume, playback, and display brightness. Meanwhile, the virtual power button should work, but without Touch ID.

MacRumors cannot fully confirm the authenticity of the email, but it does appear to be sent by Federighi through Apple’s corporate servers based on full headers we saw. Apple executives occasionally respond to customer emails, or it is possible the response was handled by Apple’s executive relations or public relations teams.

Boot Camp is an Apple utility that enables users to partition their SSDs or hard drives and install Windows directly on a Mac, allowing for macOS and Windows to be run side by side. It differs from virtualization software like Parallels and VMware Fusion, which allows Windows to run as a desktop app within macOS itself.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: Windows, Craig Federighi, Boot Camp, Touch Bar
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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‘Icarus’ machine can commandeer a drone mid-flight

Security researcher Jonathan Andersson has shown it’s possible to hijack drones that rely on the DSMx signal protocol. Unlike conventional jammers, which simply strip control from the user, this technique gives the attacker full flight capabilities. In an email to Ars Technica, Andersson explained that his new “Icarus” system is effective because it observes the underlying protocol and then brute forces the “secret” shared between the drone and controller. In addition, the setup relies on a “timing attack vulnerability,” effectively pipping the original transmitter’s signal to the drone, so that it accepts the attacker’s inputs and rejects the owner.

Andersson presented his work at the PacSec security conference in Tokyo earlier this week. It’s a timely reminder that drones, like any form of remote electronics, can be hacked with enough time and persistence. DSMx, however, isn’t the only signal protocol. Many drone manufacturers, including DJI, use an alternative protocol which may or may not be vulnerable to a similar attack. Regardless, such methods should be of interest to the government and law enforcement — both to protect their own hardware, and stop the UAVs used by their adversaries. If you’re intrigued too, you can check out Anderson’s slides from PacSec here.

Drone hijack hardware demonstration at PacSec in Tokyo. pic.twitter.com/NQxA82qJTD

— dragosr (@dragosr) October 26, 2016

Source: Ars Technica, Jonathan Andersson (Prezi)

Soylent stops powder sales after making some people sick

Crafting a powder-based drink that can replace your entire diet, it turns out, is pretty darn difficult. Following a total recall of its food bars, Soylent has slammed the breaks on its liquid meals too. The company says “a handful” of customers, or less than 0.1 percent, have experienced “stomach-related symptoms” similar to the ones reported by its snack bar users. (Those, if you need a reminder, include vomiting, diarrhoea and severe stomach pain.) Soylent is still looking for the root of the problem. Its previous powder formula, 1.5, appeared to be fine, so the company is narrowing its search to the ingredients specific to 1.6 and the bars.

“We are going to continue to look into this further and share our findings with the FDA so that they can do their own evaluation,” the company said.

In the meantime, it’s stopping all sales of the powder. The team is focused on “reformulating” the mixture and its nutritional snack bars, and expects both to be back on the market in early 2017. For now, customers will need to start eating like regular human beings — or switch to one of Soylent’s competitors. If, however, you haven’t experienced any problems, you should be okay to work through what’s left of your supplies. “We see no reason to stop enjoying it,” the company said. “But if you have had any sensitivities, we suggest discarding whatever is left and letting us know.”

Even if Soylent fixes the problem, a larger challenge remains — repairing the inevitable damage to its brand. New and longtime customers will be hesitant to trust the company again, especially as its products have a direct impact on their personal health. Soylent is attractive because it’s convenient, but that will matter little if people think it’s dangerous.

Source: Soylent