This Thursday, we’ll be hosting our third annual Robotics + AI TechCrunch Sessions event at UC Berkeley’sZellerbach Hall. The day is packed start-to-finish with intimate discussions on the state of robotics and deep learning with key founders, investors, researchers and technologists.
The event will dig into recent developments in robotics and AI, which startups and companies are driving the market’s growth, and how the evolution of these technologies may ultimately play out. In preparation for our event, TechCrunch’s Brian Heater spent time over the last several months visiting some of the top robotics companies in the country. Brian will be on the ground at the event, alongside Lucas Matney who will also be on the scene. Friday at 11:00 am PT, Brian and Lucas will be sharing what they saw and what excited them most with Extra Crunch members on a conference call.
Tune in to find out about what you might have missed and to ask Brian and Lucas anything else robotics, AI or hardware. And want to attend the event in Berkeley this week? It’s not too late to get tickets.
The loss of Israel’s Beresheet lander during its descent to the lunar surface was unfortunate, but the mission was still largely a success — and has certainly created an interesting cultural artifact on the moon where it impacted. Perhaps more interesting than we could have known: It turns out David Copperfield stashed the secrets to his illusions onboard, and they may have survived the crash.
The data was kept on one of the Arch Mission Foundation’s tiny, high-capacity, high-endurance archival devices, meant to act as libraries or time capsules in a variety of sci-fi-sounding scenarios like extraterrestrial visits or the near-extinction of humans. They’re “nearly indestructible,” and one was on Beresheet.
In a plot twist no one could have seen coming, among the data encoded on the DVD-sized (but much more sophisticated) storage medium are the famous magician’s “secret technological innovations.” Yes, David Copperfield shot his tricks to the moon, and no, it doesn’t sound like it’s just some old ones or previously published information (I asked).
Why?
“When I was introduced to the Arch Mission Foundation, I was immediately enamored with the mission to preserve our civilization, and the possibilities of what we might do together,” Copperfield said in a press release. “One of my heroes is George Méliès, one of the fathers of modern cinema and also a great magician. His most famous movie was ‘A Trip to the Moon,’ which in 1902 visualized people landing on the Moon. It inspired a generation of scientists to actually achieve it, and 70 years later we actually landed on the Moon. Now 50 years later, we’re landing magic on the Moon. We’re bringing it full circle and I find that kind of poetic.”
There you have it. Quite absurd, but why not?
As for the device, AMF has put together a small team (including Stephen Wolfram) to look into what may have happened to it on impact.
“We have either installed the first library on the moon, or we have installed the first archaeological ruins of early human attempts to build a library on the moon,” read a preliminary document by the team containing various figures relating the crash and potential survival of the device.
Although AMF co-founder Nova Spivack said in the press release that “every indication thus far suggests that the Lunar Library is intact on the Moon,” the truth is there aren’t that many positive indications just yet.
Mission control lost contact with Beresheet when it was only 150 meters from the surface; it would have impacted about a second later with about 956 m/s of horizontal velocity, which translates to over 2,000 miles per hour. So this thing was going faster than a bullet and was considerably less durable. The wreckage is likely strewn over kilometers of the lunar surface.
“We think it is highly unlikely that the Lunar Library was atomized in the impact,” writes the team. “Without knowing the impact energy directed at the library, it’s hard to know how the stack fared. But taking the construction of the Lunar Library into account, we believe it has a high chance of being intact.”
It isn’t just an archival-quality disc or something. It’s a special 25-layer sandwich of nickel and epoxy, the bottom 21 layers of which are filled with digital data. This is the information most at risk, since, like snapping a DVD in half, you can’t just put the pieces back together and hope the 0’s and 1’s align again.
But the top 4 layers are essentially a form of high-durability microfiche, etched with tiny letters that could be read with a basic microscope. These you really could just piece back together. The 60,000 pages of analog data include ” the Arch Mission Primer, selections from Wikipedia, The Wearable Rosetta, The Israeli Time Capsule, a selection of books — and potentially all or some of the not-yet-announced secret Vaults of content.”
Among those “not-yet-announced secret Vaults” in the analog layers is in fact the collection of Copperfield’s illusions. Lucky, that!
Unfortunately, even if the device does theoretically survive, it may never be found: at those speeds the debris from the landing would have spread over a large area and perhaps buried itself in dust and regolith. So even if it were completely intact, it might be invisible even to the high-resolution cameras on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which AMF has requested to take a few images of the crash site (it was probably already going to given the interest in the Beresheet mission).
“We think it is highly unlikely that the Lunar Library was atomized in the impact, given what we currently know. Therefore either the Lunar library remains entirely intact or it remains in a partially intact state — somewhere within a few kilometers of the landing zone,” writes the team. However, “This may not be verifiable without investigating the scene firsthand, on the ground at the crash site.”
So a trip to the moon, Méliès-style, might be necessary after all.
The idea of a treasure hunt for a famous magician’s secrets in a moon landing gone wrong really sounds more like science fiction than everyday news, but the two things have been growing closer and closer to one another for a while now, so I guess none of us should be surprised.
For a long time, one of the most significant problems for cord cutters has been the availability of live sports. Along with news, sports is a genre synonymous with a cable subscription.
Thankfully, the situation is starting to improve. Today, there are lots of sports streaming sites available online, including many streaming live sports. Some are free, while others require a monthly subscription.
If you want to discover the best sports streaming sites (all of which are entirely legal), keep reading!
FuboTV is a subscription-based IPTV service that’s only available in the United States. The basic plan provides access to 85 channels for $45/month. The Extra plan is $55/month and offers 105 channels. Additional add-on packages are also available.
If you like to watch a diverse range of sports, FuboTV is one of the best sports streaming sites out there. You can watch the NBA, NHL, MLB, NCAA, multiple soccer competitions (including the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, MLS, the UEFA Champions League, and Copa Libertadores), WTA tour events, the IndyCar Series, boxing, cycling, and more.
If you still have your cable TV subscription and FOX Sports is part of your package, you can sign into FOX Sports Go and watch live sports for no extra charge.
You can enjoy live channels such as FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes, and can also catch up on the action you missed with the on-demand video service.
FOX has rights to the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, MLS, the FIFA World Cup, and German Bundesliga, among others.
Fox Sports Go is available on the web and via a mobile app. Unfortunately, due to legal issues, NFL games are not available in the mobile app.
Another top sports streaming site is NBC Sports. Like FOX, anyone who has a cable, satellite, telco, or live streaming TV subscription that includes NBCSN can sign into the app and watch live TV.
Five live sports channels are accessible through the site/app. They are NBC Sports, NBC Sports Gold, NBC Golf, the Olympic Channel, and Telemundo Deportes.
You can use NBC to watch Sunday night NFL, college football, NASCAR, all of the major golf championships, the NHL, the English Premier League, the Tour de France, and an endless amount of horse racing.
If you live in the U.K., you will be hard-pressed to find a better site for live sports than Sky Go.
To watch live sports with Sky Go, you need to be a Sky customer and subscribe to the at least one channel from the Sky Sports package.
To subscribe to Sky Sports Premier League, it costs £20/month for the entertainment package plus another £20/month for the channel. The full Sky Sports range of channels, which cover F1, rugby union, rugby League, world cricket, golf, darts, boxing, and the WWE costs $28/month in addition to the entertainment package.
Unfortunately, it’s not easy to watch live sports streaming online for free. Due to the amount of money in top-level professional sports, almost all of the big leagues in any discipline sell their content to paid broadcasters.
There are some exceptions, however. One of which is Red Bull TV. It generally focuses on extreme sports, so you will find coverage of events like the Cliff Diving World Series, the Mountain Bike World Cup, Red Bull Airborne (surfing), Phoenix Am (skateboarding), and the Freeride World Tour (skiing).
Some of the more mainstream free sport streams on Red Bull TV include the FIA World Rally Championship and the MotoGP Rookies Cup.
Do you want to watch Monday night NFL games? Then ESPN is the network you need. It’s one of the largest dedicated sports networks in the world. As you’d expect, its video portal is one of the best sports streaming sites on the internet.
In addition to the NFL, ESPN also holds rights to college football, MLB, and the NBA. ESPN is also a premium destination for soccer fans, with rights to the US national side, the Mexico national side, and all of the major European leagues.
Once again, you will need to have an existing subscription with a cable, satellite, or IPTV provider in order to log in and use the service.
Live ESPN channels available include ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, and ESPN Deportes.
Headquartered in Doha, beIN Sports grew out of the Al Jazeera Sports network. Today, it is a global sports company with operations across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
In the United States, beIN Sports is almost exclusively dedicated to soccer. It holds the broadcasting rights for La Liga, Ligue 1, the Copa del Rey, the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers, the Copa Libertadores, and the Football League Championship. It also airs Real Madrid TV.
Other sports on beIN include bike racing (MotoGP, the Superbike World Championship, and MotoAmerica), college football, and Major League Wrestling.
All that coverage means the company’s online portal—beIN Sports Connect—is one of the top sports streaming sites for soccer fans.
You need an existing subscription with a TV provider to log in, but there are no further costs beyond that.
What About Single-Sport Apps?
Most of the major U.S. sports offer their own streaming services. Depending on your preference, you could sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB.tv, NHL TV, or NBA League Pass. MLS fans can sign up for MLS LIVE.
Some of the subscriptions aren’t cheap. The NFL Sunday Ticket requires a DirecTV plan, MLB.tv is $25/month, while an NBA League Pass can cost as much as $40/month.
The exception is NHL.tv; it offers lots of out-of-market games for free, though the biggest games still require payment.
All the services operate blackouts for local market games.
Tell Us Your Favorite Sports Streaming Sites
The sports streaming sites featured in this article should have you covered no matter which sports you enjoy the most. However, if we haven’t included your favorite site, make sure to let us know in the comments below.
The move to streaming video services was quick. It started as a niche area for hardened geeks, but now this is the way almost all people watch videos.
Uploading videos to the internet are now easier than ever. Free video hosting is just as common (with a few limits in place). But what service shall you choose? Here are the best free online hosting services for your videos.
It’s hard to think of free online video without thinking of YouTube. Much like it’s owner Google, the word YouTube has become synonymous with video searching, if you are looking for a song, clip, or meme, you are likely to “YouTube” it.
It’s not without reason as YouTube is a huge platform and the world’s biggest free hosting video site for everyone. Verified accounts can upload videos up to 128 GB in size.
Anyone can search your uploaded videos. You can keep it private, or you can unlist it so that only people with the link can view it. YouTube also supports streaming to a live audience, later saving the videos to the user’s channel.
Any content creator can use adverts to generate revenue on the video hosting site. YouTube Premium removes these adverts for a monthly fee. Premium members also get access to the YouTube Original programs and a premium Music Service, along with downloading and background play.
Vimeo has a reputation for being the video platform for people serious about video. It earned this reputation as for some time it was the only platform that provided truly high-quality video hosting services for free.
This made Vimeo a firm favorite with film-makers and animators alike. While Vimeo may no longer have the edge over YouTube in terms of its quality, it is still the second name in video hosting on the web.
With a Vimeo free account, you can only upload 500MB per week, with a cap at 5 GB. There are four paid account levels: Plus, Pro, Business, and Premium. Each level ups the limit for uploading, along with adding extra features like customizable players for embedding into websites and social media.
When you think of Twitch, you probably thought of live broadcasting first. You are right as it is one of the favorite live streaming platforms for gamers and esports. The service has taken off in recent years, with many people opting to watch their favorite content creators live rather than pre-recorded.
Twitch TV is an Amazon subsidiary. Capitalizing on their success, Twitch started offering free hosting services to their users, and you can find as much pre-recorded content as live broadcasts on the site.
Free video uploading is available to Twitch affiliates for free. Videos range from previous broadcasts to videos filmed entirely off-line and uploaded after editing. You are limited to 5 simultaneous uploads per user, with a maximum of 100 uploads in 24 hours.
For quite some time, Dailymotion was a direct competitor to YouTube. Dailymotion provided a counterpoint to YouTube in the early days of internet copyright law, providing access to content YouTube was starting to crack down on.
Dailymotion’s reputation as the cowboy YouTube is a thing of the past now, with many businesses and new services using the service for embedded content. Dailymotion also allows users to monetize their content based on view count.
While Google Drive is ostensibly a way of backing up personal files, it is also well suited to hosting videos. With Google Drive, you miss out on the community aspect of traditional video sites and social media, but there is an advantage.
Place a compatible video file in your Google Drive and it will automatically be processed into a YouTube video. You can then share the videos with a link, or embed it into websites and social media posts.
There is no hard limit to Google Drive video sizes, as long as it fits in your drive you are good to go!
Facebook has done so much with the platform since inception (with some security breaches along the way) that it might be easier to list a service they are not trying to provide. Facebook provide simple video uploading and live streaming services for free to all of their users.
Uploading a video to Facebook is as easy as sharing any other post on your timeline. Videos can be embedded, and HD uploading is available on desktop and through the Facebook apps for Android and iOS.
Instagram has exploded in popularity in recent years. It is a surprise to no-one that the Facebook-owned platform would move into video. As well as the familiar Instagram Stories feature, Instagram added IGTV, a longer form video service in 2018.
Videos on IGTV can be between 15 seconds and 10 minutes long, and in a departure from the norm, must be portrait rather than landscape. Popular Instagram users have taken to the service, but all users can post videos by creating an IGTV account in the app or on the Instagram website.
Twitter may not be known as much of a video service, but in reality, a considerable portion of the video watched daily is through the platform. The limit of two minutes and twenty seconds doesn’t seem to stop thousands of videos being shared through the site every day.
You can record and upload video through the Twitter app or the browser. Twitter owns Periscope and uses the same tech to enable live streaming natively on Twitter. Live streaming is available through the Twitter app.
In its early days, Metacafe occupied a similar space online to YouTube and DailyMotion. Since its acquisition in 2012, the site has seen fewer users. Despite this, videos still get views in the tens of millions so it may be too early to count Metacafe out.
Accounts are free, but videos are limited to under ten minutes. For those hoping to find an NSFW equivalent to YouTube will be disappointed. Much like the other sites on this list, it does not allow sexually explicit videos. Videos portraying illegal acts of violence and death are also banned.
Wistia started as a site for artists to store their video portfolios, but it quickly pivoted to businesses. Now, Wistia aims at commercial users, who want a place to upload videos and receive statistics useful for business growth.
Wistia has a free tier anyone can use to host videos for embedding on their site or blog. The paid tiers allow for customized and personally branded video players and high-level analytics for marketers and advertisers.
There are so many online platforms to choose from with your videos it is easy to get overwhelmed. Don’t forget, you need to learn how to produce quality content first!
iPhone vs. Android. It’s been an ongoing debate since the HTC Dream became the first commercially-available Android device in September 2008.
These days, I’m firmly on the Android side of the fence. I’ve owned iPhones, my wife is still an iPhone user, and I’m more than capable of appreciating just how revolutionary the iPhone was when it first released. Android is just better.
But beware! If you’re a fellow member of the Android master race, you’ve got an important responsibility not to upset our iOS-using brethren. With that in mind, here’s a handy guide of phrases you should never say to an iPhone user.
1. “What Do You Use Your Old Headphones For?”
iPhone’s lack of headphone jack inconveniences me on like a daily basis
In 2016, Apple famously ditched the headphone jack on the iPhone 7. Three years later, it’s still absent and showing no signs of a return.
Android users, of course, have felt the ripple effects. Many Android devices also now ship without the 3.5mm jack. But crucially, we have a choice. Notably, the latest flagship Samsung Galaxy S10 still a has a headphone jack.
So what did your friend do with her super-expensive wired headphones? It’s best not to ask. They might not have seen the Android light, but you still want to be friends with them (right?!).
To be extra safe, don’t mention anything about audio quality or lost earbuds either!
2. “Why Did You Buy a Case?”
Look, we get it, iPhones are seriously expensive. People want to protect their investment.
But there’s a juxtaposition at play. One of the biggest selling points of the iPhone—and one of the arguments that iOS advocates cite most frequently—is the design.
iPhones are gorgeous, not to mention that Apple has been on a never-ending quest to make its devices thinner, shaving off fractions of millimeters with each new release.
So why, therefore, do people insist on sticking their phone in a bulky case? Is that not undoing Apple’s hard work?
Ah right, it’s to stop the bending…
3. “Why Are You Late? I Sent You Directions!”
The party is in full swing. The introductory pleasantries are over, and the drink is flowing. But wait; where’s your friend? She was supposed to be here two hours ago.
Finally, she arrives. She’s wearing a furious expression. And the reason for her annoyance? Apple Maps. It’s the default map app on iOS, and you cannot change it.
And that’s bad news. As recently as November 2018, Apple Maps had more detail than Google Maps in just 3.1 percent of the US. Professional cartographer Justin O’Beirne explained all this in infinitely more detail than we ever could in a blog post.
Instead of castigating your friend for relying on such a poor app, perhaps you should gently remind them that a traditional paper map is more reliable and just a fraction of the cost of a $1,000+ Apple phone.
4. “You Should Have Bought the 512GB Model”
The entry-level iPhone XS sells for $999, but it only has 64GB of storage. That’s a con—it’s nowhere near enough space for all your apps and media in 2019.
Consequently, most people opt for the 256GB model. It will set you back $1,149. If you want the maximum capacity 512GB version, you will need to shell out an eye-watering $1,349, and that’s before any other extras.
The price of the extra storage means iPhone users can be a bit touchy when they run out of space. They either need to wipe some of their data, or subscribe to an expensive iCloud plan.
To prevent them from getting even angrier, we don’t think it’s wise to mention that several Android phones have expandable memory thanks to an SD card slot. Definitely don’t mention that you can pick up a 200GB card on Amazon for $20-$30, depending on the brand.
5. “Can I Borrow Your Charger?”
I have one charger. It powers my phone, my Bluetooth speaker, my headphones, my MP3 player, my tablet, and my GoPro. And as the world transitions to USB-C, I’ll even be able to charge my laptop.
iPhone owners aren’t so lucky.
Remember my wife that I mentioned earlier? She has three different chargers for her 2015 MacBook Air, 2012 MacBook Pro, and iPhone 7. Her old iPod—which admittedly she rarely uses anymore—also has a different connection. It’s almost at the point where she needs to book an extra luggage allowance whenever we fly anywhere.
Again, any discussion of the cost of official/certified Apple chargers is also out of bounds. And don’t even think about raising the issue of dongles.
6. “Just Sideload It…”
There are lots of reasons why an app you want might not be available in the Google Play Store. It could be geo-blocked, perhaps it deals with adult content, or maybe it’s only available through one of the many third-party Android app stores.
When it happens, it’s frustrating. You have to use a reliable APK site to download the installation file, then sideload it onto your device.
But it’s a whole lot more frustrating for iOS users. It is technically possible to sideload apps, but it either requires some trickery with Apple developer certificates or, more commonly, jailbreaking the OS. Neither process is recommended.
7. “Siri, Why Is Google Assistant Better Than You?!”
Our final piece of advice isn’t so much something you shouldn’t say to an iPhone user; rather, it’s something you shouldn’t say in front of them.
To be fair, Siri has closed the gap on Google Assistant in the last couple of years, but the general consensus is that Google’s tool is still the better product.
Honestly, the question of which assistant is the best is somewhat moot. The differences are close enough that iOS users can make a genuine case for Siri.
So if you want to avoid a raging argument over the dinner table, quietly ask Siri to play some music and keep your opinions to yourself.
What Else Do You Keep Quiet About?
If you’re an Android user who has been nodding along to this article, we want to hear from you.
What else would you add to this list? Which sensitive topics do you avoid when you’re with your iOS-using buddies? Let us know in the comments.
The Galaxy Fold is real. I’ve held it in my hands — a few of them, actually. Samsung’s briefing this morning was lousy with the things, in different colors and different states of unfolded. A month or so ago, this was anything but a given.
After eight years of teasing a folding device, Samsung finally pulled the trigger at its developer’s conference late last year. But the device was shrouded in darkness. Then in February, it took the stage as the Galaxy Fold, but there was no phone waiting for us. Ditto for Mobile World Congress a week later, when the device was trapped like a carbonite Han Solo behind a glass display.
With preorders for the phone opening today, ahead of an expected April 26 sale, things were getting down to the wire for Samsung. But this morning, at an event in New York, the Galaxy Fold was on full display, ready to be put through its paces. We happily did just that in the hour or so we had with the product.
Once you get over the surprise that it’s real and about to ship, you find yourself pretty impressed with what Samsung’s done here. It’s easy to get frustrated about a product the company’s essentially been teasing since showing off its first foldable display at 2011, but a radically new form factor is an easy contender for first-generation woes. The fold, on the other hand, is a device that’s been run through the wringer.
Samsung’s already shown us what fold testing looks like in a promotion video that debuted a few weeks back. The handset was subject to 200,000 of those machine folds, which amounts to a lot more than the life of the product. And yes, before you ask, they were subjected to drop testing, the same sort of violent gadget abuse Samsung puts the rest of its gadgets through — both open and closed.
Ditto for the eight-point battery test it’s been subjecting all of its devices to since the Note 7. That’s doubly important given the fact that the Galaxy Fold sports twice the battery. All told, it has 4380mAh, split in two, on either side of the fold. That amounts to “all day battery life” according to Samsung. That’s the same claim you’ll get on most of these devices ahead of launch. Though the Fold apparently presents an extra layer of ambiguity, given that the company isn’t entirely sure how people are actually going to use the thing, once they get it in their hands.
The folding mechanism works well, snapping shut with a satisfying sound, thanks in part to some on-board magnets hidden near the edge. In fact, when the Fold is lying screen down, it has the tendency to attract pieces of metal around it. I found myself absent-mindedly opening and closing the thing. When not in use, it’s like an extremely expensive fidget spinner.
Samsung’s done a remarkable job maintaining the design language from the rest of the Galaxy line. But for the odd form factor, the Fold looks right at home alongside the S10 and the like. The rounded metallic corners, the camera array and, yes, the Bixby button are all on board here.
The edges are split in two, with each screen getting its own half. When the Fold is open, they sit next to each other, with a small gap between the two. When the phone is folded, they pull apart, coming together at a 90 degree angle from the hinge. It’s an elegant solution, with a series of interlocking gears that allow the system to fold and unfold for the life of the product.
Unsurprisingly, Samsung tested a variety of different form factors, but said this was the most “intuitive” for a first-gen product like this. Of course, numerous competing devices have already taken different approaches, so it’s going to be fascinating watching what the industry ultimately lands on when more of these products are out in the world.
Unfolded, the device is surprisingly thin — a hair under the iPhone XS. Folded, it’s a bit beefier than two iPhones, owing to a gap between the displays. While the edges of the device come into contact when closed, they form a long, isosceles triangle, with a gap that increases as you move toward the middle.
Unfolded, the seam in the middle of the display is, indeed, noticeable. It’s subtle, though. You’ll really only notice it as your finger drags across it or when the light hits it the right way. That’s just part of life in the age of the folding phone, so get used to it.
The inner display measures 7.3 inches. Compare that to, say, the iPad Mini’s 7.9. So, small for a tablet, but way too big to stick in your pocket without folding it up. The size of the interior display renders the notch conversation a bit moot. There’s actually a pretty sizable cutout in the upper-right corner for the front-facing camera.
Samsung’s been working with Google and a handful of developers, including WhatsApp and Spotify, to create a decent experience for users at launch. There are two key places this counts: app continuity and multi-app windows. The first lets you open an app on the small screen and pick up where you left off on the big one, once unfolded. The second makes it possible to have three apps open at once — something that’s become standard on tablets in the last couple of years.
Both work pretty seamlessly, though the functionality is limited to those companies that have enabled it. Samsung says it’s an easy addition, but the speed with which developers adopt it will depend largely on the success of these devices. Given that Samsung’s worked hand in hand with Google/Android on this, however, gives the company a big leg up on the competition.
All told, I’m pretty impressed with what amounts to a first-gen product. This thing was a long time in the making, and Samsung clearly wanted to get things right. The company admittedly had some of the wind taken out of its sails when Huawei announced its own folding device a few days later.
That product highlighted some of the Fold’s shortcomings, including the small front-facing screen and somewhat bulky design language. The Fold’s not perfect, but it’s a pretty solid first take at a new smartphone paradigm. And with a starting price of $1,980, it’s got a price to match. You’re essentially paying double for twice the screen.
Samsung, Huawei and the rest of the companies exploring the space know that they’re only going to sell so many of these things in the first go-round at this price point. Everyone’s still exploring aspects like folding mechanisms, essentially making early adopters guinea pigs this time out.
But while the fold doesn’t feel like a phone that’s achieved its final form, it’s a surprisingly well-realized first-generation phone.
Smart speakers’ global installed base is on track to top 200 million by the end of this year, according to a report out today from analysts at Canalys. Specifically, the firm forecasts the installed base will grow by 82.4 percent from 114 million units in 2018 to 207.9 million in 2019. The U.S. will continue to lead in terms of smart speaker adoption, but a good portion of this year’s growth will also come from East Asian markets – particularly China, the report says.
The firm estimates 166 percent year-over-year growth in the installed base for smart speakers in mainland China this year – going from 22.5 million units in 2018 to 59.9 million in 2019 – to reach 13 percent smart speaker penetration in the region. That’s compared with 46 percent growth in the U.S.
The market for China will also look much different from the U.S., where Amazon and Google today dominate. These companies don’t have a smart speaker presence in China. That means others – like Alibaba’s Tmall Genie, Xiaomi’sXiao Ai, Baidu’s DuerOS and more – will gain traction instead. Canalys predicts Tmall will lead, with 39 percent of the 2019 smart speaker market share in mainland China, followed by 25 percent for Xiao Ai, 24 percent for DuerOS and 12 percent for all others. (Note that Canalys didn’t break out estimates for Apple HomePod in China, where it launched in January. But given its higher price point, it seems the firm isn’t predicting huge adoption at this time.)
“Local vendors are bullish about China’s smart speaker market, and their aim for this year is to keep growing their respective installed bases in the country by shipping more devices into households,” said Canalys senior analyst Jason Low. “Hardware differentiation is becoming increasingly difficult, and consumers have higher expectations of smart speakers and smart assistants. Vendors will need to focus on marketing the next-generation ‘wow factor’ for their respective smart assistants and voice services to change consumers’ perception and drive greater adoption,” he added.
It’s worth noting, too, that the market for the voice assistants powering these smart speakers is even broader. For instance, Baidu announced in January 2019 that its DuerOS assistant has topped 200 million devices. This device base includes other things like home appliances and set-top boxes, in addition to smart speakers, however. And the worldwide market for voice assistants is on track to reach 8 billion by 2023, up from 2.5 billion in 2018, a report from Juniper Research said.
Canalys’ forecast follows news that smart speakers have hit critical mass in the U.S., where now 41 percent of U.S. consumers now own a voice-activated speaker, up from 21.5 percent in 2017.
While most analysts firms are reporting rapid global growth for smart speakers, their individual forecasts may vary some.
For example, Deloitte estimated the installed base for smart speakers will be even bigger – reaching more than 250 million units by the end of 2019, following 63 percent year-over-year growth. That would make smart speakers the “fastest-growing connected device category worldwide in 2019,” the firm had said, and would see the total market worth $7 billion.
Canalys’ forecast agrees with this prediction, if not the exact numbers. Today, it also adds that smart speakers will top the install base of wearable bands (like smartwatches and fitness trackers) in 2019, and will overtake tablets by 2021.
According to a report from 9to5mac’s Guilherme Rambo, the next major version of iOS for the iPhone and iPad will feature many new features, such as universal dark mode, new gestures, visual changes for the volume popup and more.
Dark mode should work more or less like dark mode on macOS Mojave. You’ll be able to turn on a system-wide option in Settings. Apps that support it will automatically switch to dark mode the next time you launch them. Let’s hope that third-party developers will support that feature. Otherwise, it would be a bit useless if Facebook, Instagram, Gmail or Amazon still feature blindingly white backgrounds.
The other big change is that you’ll be able to open multiple windows of the same app on the iPad. You can already open two Safari tabs side by side, but it sounds like Apple plans to expand that feature beyond Safari with a card metaphor. Each window will be represented as a card that you can move, stack or dismiss.
Other iOS 13 features sound like minor improvements that should make iOS less frustrating. And it starts with new gestures. Instead of shaking your device to undo an action, users will be able to swipe with three fingers on the virtual keyboard to undo and redo a text insertion.
Similarly, Apple could be working on a new way to select multiple items in a table view or grid view. You could just drag a rectangle around multiple items to select them. Once again, Apple is reusing a classic macOS feature on iOS.
Some apps will receive updates, such as Mail and Reminders. The default email client will sort your emails in multiple categories (marketing, travel, etc.) just like in Gmail.
Finally, that annoying volume popup could be on the way out. Apple could replace that popup with a more subtle volume indicator.
Overall, the most exciting change is probably the ability to launch multiple windows of the same app. It’ll be interesting to see how Apple plans to implement that feature and what you’ll be able to do with that. Moving away from the traditional “one app = one document” metaphor could open up a lot of different workflows.
According to a report from 9to5mac’s Guilherme Rambo, the next major version of iOS for the iPhone and iPad will feature many new features, such as universal dark mode, new gestures, visual changes for the volume popup and more.
Dark mode should work more or less like dark mode on macOS Mojave. You’ll be able to turn on a system-wide option in Settings. Apps that support it will automatically switch to dark mode the next time you launch them. Let’s hope that third-party developers will support that feature. Otherwise, it would be a bit useless if Facebook, Instagram, Gmail or Amazon still feature blindingly white backgrounds.
The other big change is that you’ll be able to open multiple windows of the same app on the iPad. You can already open two Safari tabs side by side, but it sounds like Apple plans to expand that feature beyond Safari with a card metaphor. Each window will be represented as a card that you can move, stack or dismiss.
Other iOS 13 features sound like minor improvements that should make iOS less frustrating. And it starts with new gestures. Instead of shaking your device to undo an action, users will be able to swipe with three fingers on the virtual keyboard to undo and redo a text insertion.
Similarly, Apple could be working on a new way to select multiple items in a table view or grid view. You could just drag a rectangle around multiple items to select them. Once again, Apple is reusing a classic macOS feature on iOS.
Some apps will receive updates, such as Mail and Reminders. The default email client will sort your emails in multiple categories (marketing, travel, etc.) just like in Gmail.
Finally, that annoying volume popup could be on the way out. Apple could replace that popup with a more subtle volume indicator.
Overall, the most exciting change is probably the ability to launch multiple windows of the same app. It’ll be interesting to see how Apple plans to implement that feature and what you’ll be able to do with that. Moving away from the traditional “one app = one document” metaphor could open up a lot of different workflows.
Microsoft is about to launch an even cheaper Xbox One S. In order to cut costs, the company is removing the BluRay disc drive altogether. According to leaked marketing images spotted by WinFuture (via Thurrott), the console could launch on May 7th for €229 in Germany.
Given that the launch is just a few weeks away and that those marketing images line up perfectly with previous rumors, chances are this is the real deal.
As you can see on WinFuture’s images, it looks exactly like an Xbox One S without the disc slot. The console is called Xbox One S All Digital and comes with a 1TB hard drive — most standard Xbox One S consoles currently also feature a 1TB hard drive.
Microsoft states clearly that this console is only for digital games. If you already have physical Xbox One games, you won’t be able to insert them in the console.
Customers get three games for free with the console through download codes — Minecraft, Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 3. You can then buy more games in the online store or subscribe to the Xbox Game Pass to access a library of games.
This model should cost €229 in Germany, but you might be able to buy it for less. For instance, an Xbox One S officially costs €299 on Microsoft’s website, but you can easily buy it for €200 on Amazon and through other retailers.
Microsoft usually uses the same price points in USD. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the Xbox One S All Digital officially costs $229 in the U.S.
It’s clear that Microsoft is testing the market with this console. The company has been pivoting to a subscription model. The Xbox brand is evolving from a gaming console brand to a service brand. This should be Microsoft’s key differentiating factor with the next generation of consoles.
Feed and Stories unite! Facebook is so eager to preempt the shift to Stories that it might even let us use the same interface of horizontally swipeable cards to sift through News Feed posts. If users won’t scroll down any more, Facebook’s ad business could take a huge hit. But by allowing traditional feed posts and ads to appear amidst Stories in the same carousel you’re more prone to swipe through, it could squeeze more views and dollars out of that content. This would help Facebook gracefully transition to the post-News Feed era while it teaches advertisers how to use the full-screen Stories ad format.
In this image, you can see a user in mid-swipe through the hybrid carousel between a News Feed story about a friend updating their profile photo to an animated GIF-style video on the left and a Stories video on the right.
This swipeable hybrid carousel was first spotted by reverse engineering specialist and frequent TechCrunch tipster Jane Manchun Wong. She discovered this unreleased feature inside of the Android version of Facebook and screenrecorded the new navigation method. In this prototype, when a News Feed post’s header or surrounding space is tapped, users see a full-screen version of the post. From there they can swipe left to reveal the next content in the hybrid carousel, which can include both traditional News Feed posts, News Feed ads, and purposefully vertical Stories and Stories ads.
If Facebook moved forward with offering this as an optional way to browse its social network, it would hedge the business against the biggest behavior change it’s seen since the move from desktop to mobile. Vertically-scrolling News Feeds are useful for browsing text-heavy content, but the navigation requires more work. Users have to stop and start scrolling precisely to get a whole post in view, and it takes longer to move between pieces of content.
In contrast, swipeable Stories carousels offer a more convenient lean-back navigation style where posts always appear fully visible. All it takes to advance to the next full-screen piece of content is a single tap, which is easier on your joints. This allows rapid-fire fast-forwarding through friends’ lives, which works well with more visual, instantly digestible content. While cramming text-filled News Feed posts may not be ideal, at least they might get more attention. If Facebook combined all this with unskippable Stories ads like Snapchat is increasingly using, the medium shift could lure more TV dollars to the web.
The hybrid posts and Stories carousel can contain both traditional image plus caption News Feed posts and News feed ads as well as Stories
Facebook has repeatedly warned that it’s out of space for more ads in the News Feed, and that users are moving their viewing time to Stories where advertisers are still getting acclimated. When Facebook made it clear on its Q2 2018 earnings call that this could significantly reduce revenue growth, its share price dropped 20 percent vaporizing $120 billion in value. Wall Street is rightfully concerned that the Stories medium shift could upend Facebook’s massive business.
Stories is a bustling up-and-coming neighborhood. News Feed is a steadily declining industrial city that’s where Facebook’s money is earned but that’s on its way to becoming a ghost town. A hybrid Stories/posts carousel would build a super highway between them, connecting where Facebook users want to spend time with where the municipality generates the taxes necessary to keep the lights on.
Feed and Stories unite! Facebook is so eager to preempt the shift to Stories that it might even let us use the same interface of horizontally swipeable cards to sift through News Feed posts. If users won’t scroll down any more, Facebook’s ad business could take a huge hit. But by allowing traditional feed posts and ads to appear amidst Stories in the same carousel you’re more prone to swipe through, it could squeeze more views and dollars out of that content. This would help Facebook gracefully transition to the post-News Feed era while it teaches advertisers how to use the full-screen Stories ad format.
In this image, you can see a user in mid-swipe through the hybrid carousel between a News Feed story about a friend updating their profile photo to an animated GIF-style video on the left and a Stories video on the right.
This swipeable hybrid carousel was first spotted by reverse engineering specialist and frequent TechCrunch tipster Jane Manchun Wong. She discovered this unreleased feature inside of the Android version of Facebook and screenrecorded the new navigation method. In this prototype, when a News Feed post’s header or surrounding space is tapped, users see a full-screen version of the post. From there they can swipe left to reveal the next content in the hybrid carousel, which can include both traditional News Feed posts, News Feed ads, and purposefully vertical Stories and Stories ads.
If Facebook moved forward with offering this as an optional way to browse its social network, it would hedge the business against the biggest behavior change it’s seen since the move from desktop to mobile. Vertically-scrolling News Feeds are useful for browsing text-heavy content, but the navigation requires more work. Users have to stop and start scrolling precisely to get a whole post in view, and it takes longer to move between pieces of content.
In contrast, swipeable Stories carousels offer a more convenient lean-back navigation style where posts always appear fully visible. All it takes to advance to the next full-screen piece of content is a single tap, which is easier on your joints. This allows rapid-fire fast-forwarding through friends’ lives, which works well with more visual, instantly digestible content. While cramming text-filled News Feed posts may not be ideal, at least they might get more attention. If Facebook combined all this with unskippable Stories ads like Snapchat is increasingly using, the medium shift could lure more TV dollars to the web.
The hybrid posts and Stories carousel can contain both traditional image plus caption News Feed posts and News feed ads as well as Stories
Facebook has repeatedly warned that it’s out of space for more ads in the News Feed, and that users are moving their viewing time to Stories where advertisers are still getting acclimated. When Facebook made it clear on its Q2 2018 earnings call that this could significantly reduce revenue growth, its share price dropped 20 percent vaporizing $120 billion in value. Wall Street is rightfully concerned that the Stories medium shift could upend Facebook’s massive business.
Stories is a bustling up-and-coming neighborhood. News Feed is a steadily declining industrial city that’s where Facebook’s money is earned but that’s on its way to becoming a ghost town. A hybrid Stories/posts carousel would build a super highway between them, connecting where Facebook users want to spend time with where the municipality generates the taxes necessary to keep the lights on.
In its early days, Metacafe occupied a similar space online to YouTube and DailyMotion. Since its acquisition in 2012, the site has seen fewer users. Despite this, videos still get views in the tens of millions so it may be too early to count Metacafe out.
