Google Pixel 5a shows up in AOSP alongside Pixel 4a 5G/Pixel 5

It was only yesterday when Google started to tease an August 3 launch of what’s expected to be the Pixel 4a. Now, thanks to a comment by a Googler on the Android Open Source Project, we’re already getting references for what’s to come well beyond next week. The upcoming 2020 Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 make another appearance, but there’s also a mention of next year’s Pixel 5a as well.

A comment made in an AOSP code change first spotted by 9to5Google references the Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, Pixel 5, and Pixel 5a. The first one is of little surprise to us since it’s been leaked so extensively, while the next two are also unsurprising since this appearance marks the third time we’ve seen their names. However, this is the first time we’re hearing of the Pixel 5a, and it’s before the Pixel 4a has even launched.

 

Source

It ultimately shouldn’t come as a surprise that Google is already setting its sights on what’s to come next year. Companies typically have product roadmaps planned years in advance, and with the success of the mid-range Pixel line, a more affordable Pixel 5a was inevitable.

Based on the comment and the code in context, the Pixel 5a will likely launch with Android 11 rather than next fall’s Android 12. Furthermore, it seems that the Pixel 4a 5G won’t launch alongside the Pixel 4a next week, since the comment mentions it as having a first API level of 30, which means it’ll run the not-yet-stable Android 11 release out-of-the-box. More juicy information, such as what hardware the Pixel 5a will run on, isn’t available just yet.

One last thing that’s mentioned in the comment is that Google is preparing to drop support for the Pixel 2. The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL were announced back in 2017 with Android 8.0 Oreo. Both devices will receive official updates to Android 11, but Android 11 will be the final OS upgrade for both devices. Google promises 3 years of Android OS and security patch updates for each Pixel device, so this news isn’t surprising. Hopefully, future Pixel phones will have longer-lasting support periods as Google continues its work on modularizing Android.

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Featured image: The Google Pixel 4

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Here’s how Google is bringing Windows apps to Chromebooks

Earlier this year, Google revealed that high-end, enterprise Chromebooks will get support for running full Windows apps. In a new interview with The Verge, Google has finally provided more details for how everything will work.

According to Cyrus Mistry, group product manager for Chrome OS, Parallels will boot a full copy of Windows so you can run the operating system side-by-side with Chrome OS. Chrome OS can also redirect supported Windows file types to the Parallels Desktop instance to make things a bit more seamless. In the future, however, Mistry says users won’t have to run the whole Windows desktop, but rather just the apps you need.

Windows apps running on Chrome OS thanks to Parallels Desktop. Source: Google. Via: The Verge.

The feature is expected to take advantage of Parallels’ Coherence feature. On the Mac, the mode allows users to run Windows apps as if they’re native applications made for Apple’s ecosystem. “We worked with Parallels because they really have done this before,” Mistry explained. “They understand the concept of running an entirely separate OS within another OS. They’ve done it with Mac and they’ve done it with Linux.” Mistry said Google did investigate a Windows dual boot option for Chromebooks but ultimately decided against it because of security concerns related to the boot process. Parallels offers “the best of both worlds,” Mistry said, and it provides users with a seamless experience that they can quickly hop in and out of.

No pricing or launch date has been revealed, but Google said Parallels Desktop will be available to businesses later this year. A page has been set up for interested parties to get in touch with Google. According to The Verge, resellers can bundle Parallels Desktop with enterprise Chromebooks while IT admins can enable access to Parallels for Chromebooks enrolled in Chrome Enterprise Upgrade (PDF warning). Interested parties will also need relatively modern Chromebooks to run Parallels Desktop, although Mistry didn’t reveal exact spec requirements. Instead, he said users will need “power usage” Chromebooks. Expect that to mean needing a Chromebook with an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and at least 8GB of RAM.

Google is hoping that adding support for Windows apps will attract new customers while growing its enterprise ambitions. With commercial Chromebooks up 155% in unit sales year-over-year, the arrival of support for Windows apps comes at an opportune time.

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Featured image: Samsung Galaxy Chromebook

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Google and Apple announce new privacy and functional improvements to their COVID-19 contact tracing API

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our habits have changed drastically. Social distancing is now the norm because of the sheer amount of asymptomatic people carrying the virus. Knowing who has tested positive and who came into contact with those persons is essential to containing the spread of the virus, and that’s why Google and Apple teamed up to create a COVID-19 contact tracing API called Exposure Notification. This API is meant for use in contact tracing applications from public health agencies, and it supports both iOS and Android. Today, Google and Apple announced a few improvements to the API.

One of the improvements gives public health agencies more flexibility in determining the level of risk associated with an exposure event. Another improvement is support for interoperability between countries for the app to work on a more global scale. With better Bluetooth calibration on hundreds of devices (the Exposure Notification API uses Bluetooth LE in order to ping nearby devices), contact tracing will be less prone to false positives.

Google and Apple are also addressing privacy concerns that have been raised by users and developers. You can now easily turn off the notifications with a toggle and, if the feature is turned on, you will also get a periodic reminder that it’s on. On Android 11, users will no longer have to enable Location Services in order for the Exposure Notification API to work. The reason the API requires location access to be enabled is that Bluetooth scanning can be used to infer a device’s location. Google tied Bluetooth (and WiFi) scanning to location services to warn users of this fact, but this has scared some users into thinking that all contact tracing apps are actively tracking their location.

Here’s a summary of Google and Apple’s improvements to the Exposure Notification API, per Google’s blog post on the matter:

Improvements to the Exposure Notification API

• When an exposure is detected, public health authorities now have more flexibility in determining the level of risk associated with that exposure based on technical information from the API.
• Bluetooth calibration values for hundreds of devices have been updated to improve the detection of nearby devices.
• The API now supports interoperability between countries, following feedback from governments that have launched Exposure Notification apps.
• To help public health authorities build apps more efficiently, we’ve added reliability improvements for apps and developer debug tools.
• We’ve improved clarity, transparency and control for users. For example, the Exposure Notifications settings on Android now include a simple on/off toggle at the top of the page. In addition, users will also see a periodic reminder if ENS is turned on.

Public health authorities have used this API, jointly developed by Google and Apple, in 16 countries, including those in North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. More areas are planning apps using the API, with 20 U.S. states and territories (accounting for over 45% of the U.S. population) exploring its usage. We are tracking the apps that use the Exposure Notification API in a separate article, in case you’re interested. Using contact tracing to contain the spread of COVID-19 is essential in establishing a return to normalcy, but we’re still a long way off from that goal.

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Netflix is rolling out playback speed controls on Android

Ever wish you could speed up or slow down video playback on Netflix? On Android, now you can.

Netflix is rolling out the ability to watch videos at 0.5x, 0.75x, 1.25x, or 1.5x speeds on Android. Now you can binge-watch your favorite shows faster than ever. Playback speed controls are available on Android for both streamed and downloaded content and will be tested on iOS and browsers in the future. This feature will not be tested on built-in TV apps, though.

Playback speed controls were apparently something Netflix users have requested for years, according to Netflix’s Keela Robison, Vice President of product innovation. “Tests show that consumers value the flexibility [playback speed controls] provides whether it’s rewatching their favorite scene or slowing things down because they’re watching with subtitles or have hearing difficulties,” Robison said. The National Association of the Deaf and the National Federation of the Blind applauded Netflix for introducing this feature, with both organizations adding that playback speed controls can help those with auditory and/or visual difficulties.

While the new playback speed controls might be a boon for users, some in Hollywood are apparently unhappy with the new feature. As The Verge points out, when Netflix previously confirmed they were testing this feature last year, directors Brad Bird and Judd Apatow spoke out against it. Apatow in particular said that “distributors don’t get to change the way the content is presented.” These creators argue that playback speed controls disrupt how they intend viewers to consume their content. Many creators currently rail against motion smoothing features on home televisions for largely the same reason.

Netflix said it is aware of the concerns from Hollywood creators and has worked to quell their anger. For one, Netflix said it will correct the pitch in audio at faster and slower playback speeds, so content doesn’t sound warped. The company also purposely limited the available playback speeds and requires users to manually change the playback speed for every video they watch.

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YouTube to axe community contributions for closed captions and subtitles

Google on Friday announced YouTube’s Community Contributions feature, which allows viewers to add closed captioning and subtitles to videos, will be discontinued on September 28, 2020. The company cites two reasons behind the discontinuation of the feature: It’s not being widely used and is a regular source of spam and abuse.

According to Google, community contributions were featured in “less than 0.001% of channels” in the past month, covering than 0.2% of watch time. Creators are, for the most part, relying on alternative captioning tools for their videos.

As The Verge points out, deaf and hard-of-hearing creators will be most affected by the feature’s removal. Several “VTubers”, or Virtual YouTubers, will also be affected, as well as content creators with significant foreign language audiences. Some content creators have already voiced their concerns, pleading with Google to create a better community contributions system rather than axing it entirely.

It’s a fine line to walk for Google. Captions and subtitles are crucial for accessibility—not just to reach deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, but to reach viewers who speak different languages. While the community contributions feature is being canceled, captions and subtitles will still be available in YouTube videos. Creators can continue to manually add captions, while YouTube has technology that automatically adds captions to every video. The automatically generated captions are generally not as accurate as user-contributed captions, but they can be improved over time as Google continues to train its speech recognition and language translation technologies.

Even though Google said YouTube’s Community Contributions feature is rarely used, the company acknowledged the difficulty this decision might cause for some creators. As a consolation, Google said it would cover the cost of a 6-month subscription to Amara.org, a service that captions, subtitles, and translates videos.

If you currently have contributions saved as drafts, they’ll be available to publish until September 28. All contributions that have already been published will remain, and creators can manage them as they see fit.

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Google and Pure Digital almost partnered for Flip Video camera

Back before Google acquired (and then sold) Motorola, and back before Google had developed its first Pixel-branded smartphone, the search giant nearly released a Flip Video camera in partnership with Pure Digital at the dawn of the YouTube era.

According to internal emails obtained by the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust sub-committee (via The Verge), Google Video product manager Peter Chane attempted to convince colleagues to partner with Pure Digital, the owner of Flip Video, for a consumer video camera.

In a 2006 email, Chane highlights the popularity of Pure Digital and argues how important personal video cameras would be for a community-driven site such as Google Video. The emails laid out Chane’s argument and his urgency to get a deal done before Yahoo and YouTube did something similar. At the time, YouTube was still a competitor to Google Video.

We already know that Google never made a deal to release a Google-branded Flip Video camera, but there were conversations about the possibility. What ultimately happened was, at the suggestion of Google Video director Jennifer Feikin, Google opted to pursue an acquisition of YouTube instead, and the rest is history.

“I think perhaps a better route to take would be quickly figure out the strategy of how to work with both types of content in the ideal ways, and then to acquire YouTube,” Feikin said in an email.

Feikin said she admired YouTube’s UI and active community. By acquiring YouTube, Google could then use its considerable resources to scale the service and bring it to a wider audience. Some colleagues were apparently skeptical about acquiring YouTube, but Google ultimately made a deal all the way back in 2006.

Today, Google is one of the most popular websites on the internet, while Pure Digital and its Flip Video cameras are no more, thanks in part to the rise of smartphones. In hindsight, it was good business sense from Google, but it still would have been interesting to see a Google-branded Flip Video camera.

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Huawei to Revolutionize Commerce with New Live E-commerce Platform

As the world changes, people are changing the way they shop. New solutions are needed to present new and effective ways for consumers to interact with online stores. This is where Huawei’s Live E-commerce service comes in. The new e-commerce solution is designed to help merchants boost their traffic while lowering costs. Live streaming brings new opportunities driven by e-commerce transformation. Online retailers will be able to easily implement this solution, which is based on Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) to enhance live commerce capabilities.

Live E-commerce to be Officially Announce on Huawei Developer Day

To announce the launch of Live E-commerce, Huawei will be using their Huawei Developer Day #HDD event which is streamed online. This event will have the primary focus of showing online retailers, businesses, and developers how they can use HMS to profit off of the constantly-evolving online retail landscape. This event will demonstrate how Huawei is making live commerce easier, faster, and more immersive than ever. The key to this is the combination of the HMS compatibility kits. These allow developers to create a single e-commerce solution. The combination of Live E-commerce and HMS gives Huawei the technological advantage over other platforms in this field. Online retailers will now be able to produce a truly intelligent live commerce experience. HMS Core kits provide e-commerce platforms with easier control, more efficient operation, and more immersive scenario-based live stream experience.

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Huawei Developer Day

The Huawei Developer Webinar | Connect LIVEs with E-commerce
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE EVENT LIVE

August 6th, 2020

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The HDD event is totally free for developers to attend. It is hosted online in the form of livestreams that features speakers from partnering companies like LiveMe, Kumu and others. Developers that attend the event will have the opportunity to learn about the different ways that Huawei can help them increase their traffic. Using the powerful tools designed for online platforms, you’ll learn how to create a richer and more advanced live streaming experience. Huawei’s innovative technology enhances e-commerce capabilities, assisting vendors, and developers to realize business gains.

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“With more consumers and vendors converting to live commerce streaming to sell and buy products, e-commerce is continuing its rapid growth and represent an increasingly large section of the global retail industry. A key priority for Huawei is supporting the expanding number of developers around the world in this field, which is why our next HDD is dedicated entirely to e-commerce and online retailers. HDD is an invaluable opportunity for developers and retailers of all sizes and sectors to get a head start on competitors and learn how our new and enhanced HMS-based solution can greatly enhance their live commerce capabilities.”

Peter Gauden - Head of WEU EcoSystem Marketing at Huawei Consumer Business Group

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The HDD event will be very beneficial to anyone looking to learn about the increasingly interactive market of online retail. The livestreamed event will be one hour long and will feature interaction from the audience, in the form of live comments. This event is part of Huawei’s commitment to creating a better experience for developers, which includes an all-scenario smart ecosystem.

All of this is part of the support and resources that Huawei dedicates to developers that use HMS and host their apps on the AppGallery. Huawei’s fully open Chip-Device-Cloud capabilities enable the best app experience while promoting innovation. If you are a developer and want to learn how to succeed in this market, make sure you tune-in to the Huawei Developers Day event on August 6th, 2020.

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