Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. You can find his current work at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google 9to5Toys, Electrek, and more. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.
In this week’s top stories: Google pushed out a minor update to the Pixel Launcher which tweaks the appearance of the Google Search pill, Andy Rubin’s startup Essential announced its first smartphone by the same name, and Android Pay finally launches in Canada but leaves out some of the biggest banks…
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Essential launched its first smartphone yesterday, but the company’s ambitions go far beyond just Android-powered handsets. For one example, Essential also launched the Essential Home, a smart hardware assistant made to go head-to-head with Google Home and Amazon Echo. Now, a patent discovered by Patently Apple suggests the company is also looking into building augmented reality glasses as well…
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Oculus has today announced that it’s adding Chromecast support to its app for Gear VR. With the latest version of the app, you can simultaneously stream everything you’re experiencing in your headset to a TV…
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/V Receiver w/ 8 HDMI inputs + AirPlay: $320 (Orig. $600)
Nest has today announced Nest Cam IQ, the latest in its lineup of home security cameras and the new indoor offering to beat from the Alphabet-owned maker of smarthome products. The camera packs new higher-quality video, much more powerful speakers, a crisp and clean new design, and built-in security features. Overall, as the name suggests, it’s just smarter and better…
The father of Android, Andy Rubin, launched his company’s first products today: the Essential Phone and the Essential Home. It just so happens that today’s launch also marks the day that Andy will be sitting in for a talk at Recode’s Code Conference this evening, and you can watch it live here.
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The launch of Android Pay in Canada has been in the works for quite some time, and a report last week said that the service is finally launching there on May 31st. Now, the day before the service is set to go live, one publication seems to have accidentally published the details of the launch…
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LG’s flagships have typically come out on a twice-a-year schedule for the last few years; the G Series hits in the spring, and the V series hits in the fall. While the G series has typically been LG’s “mainstream” flagship offering, the V series has instead gone above and beyond in terms of sheer features and adds things — like its second screen — for those who might want more.
If the latest early concept renders of the forthcoming LG V30 are anything to go off of, the V30 might be the biggest departure from the norm we’ve seen yet with that lineup…
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The Huawei Watch 2 was announced back in February, and the sportier version of the watch hit stores around this time last month. Now, the slightly-more-expensive “Classic” version of the Huawei Watch 2 is available at Best Buy, Amazon, and other retailers…
Android Wear 2.0 has seen a terribly slow rollout, and that rollout (apparently) continues today with the 2nd generation Moto 360. Android Wear 2.0, the first major revamp of Google’s smartwatch OS, and first went official all the way back in February.
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Ke Jie, widely regarded as the world’s best player of the Chinese game of Go, has lost the second of three games in a match against Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo AI. That’s despite the AI’s estimation that Ke Jie played his first 50 moves against AlphaGo as practically perfect, and the first 100 as the best that AlphaGo has ever faced. But still, it wasn’t enough…
For those that actually use Google+, its flaws aren’t exactly a secret. The site is plagued with spam, and many still haven’t adjusted to the relative sluggishness of its new web interface. And, with the recent refocus on Communities, Collections (and most recently, Topics), the site in general is getting somewhat confusing to anyone but seasoned G+ veterans (of which there aren’t many).
Now, one Google+ Engineering Manager Leo Deegan has come out on Google+ (appropriately) to let us know that Google is aware of the network’s flaws and is working on a variety of improvements.
A report today says that Android Pay is finally coming to Canada at the end of the month, just about 6 months since we first found evidence of the imminent rollout in a teardown of the Android Pay app.
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Samsung announced the new Gear 360 back in March at its Unpacked event in New York City, and now the 360-degree camera is finally getting a release date and a price tag. The accessory will be available in stores from May 25th starting at $229…
Update: Google has reached out to clarify that while Opinion Rewards is available now in India and Turkey, it’s not coming to Singapore until May 31st.
Occasionally, one of Google’s apps will get an update just to expand international availability. Today’s update to Google Opinion Rewards, the company’s app that pays you in Google Play credit to answer short surveys about topics (sometimes) relevant to you, is one of those cases.
Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo AI has a pretty good track record at the ancient Chinese game of Go. Now, the AI has defeated Ke Jie, who’s widely-regarded as the world’s best (human) Go player.
According to a research note from Morgan Stanley analysts Brian Nowak and Adam Jonas (via Business Insider), Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car unit could be worth as much as $70 billion. The analysts furthermore told investors that Waymo would be a good spin out candidate and that its value is not being taken into account in Alphabet’s current stock price…