I don't know if it was scary good or
just plain scary scary, but the Android
show just wrapped up today and the theme
is Android everywhere with a side of uh
oh, by the way, that means Gemini is
also everywhere. Hence the rebranding of
Android from an operating system to an
intelligence system.
>> It's uh it's pretty telling that they
turned off comments on the video, isn't
it? I mean, to be clear, Google's not
the only one who does this, but it
really does say a lot about the current
state of tech that major brands are so
afraid of what their terminally online
customers might say about their new
products and features. Features that
admittedly look very cool. It's just
that they're often privacy and data
collection nightmares. So, here's an
idea. If you've got something to say to
big tech, maybe watch our video instead
and leave your comments there. Unless
you want to trash talk Microsoft, who
bravely leaves comments enabled. Bold
move, Satcha. I respect it almost as
much as I respect our sponsor, UG,
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below. We've got to kick things off with
the Google book. Not to be confused with
other books like Pixelbooks or MacBooks.
See, those are made by one brand, but
Google books are going to be like
Chromebooks, which come in a variety of
hardware configurations from partner
brands like Lenovo and Asus. Which
raises the question, okay, what's the
difference then between a Google book
and a Chromebook? Well, let me tell you.
For one thing, Google books will have
this, the glow bar that tells everyone
around you, "This ain't no Chromebook."
No, ma'am. This is a Google book. Cool.
Also, unlike Chromebooks, Google Books
are going to be using a new operating
system that unifies Android and Chrome
OS. It doesn't have a name yet, which is
kind of awkward for a company the size
of Google. So, the media has taken to
referring to its development code name,
Aluminium OS. We don't know too much
about it yet. Um, hint hint, Google IO
is next week. But what we do know is
that it's going to come with a new magic
pointer feature, not to be confused with
magic mouse. Do do you feel like when I
have to say not to be confused with this
many times, um, your product
announcement might just be confusing?
Anyone? Buler. Anyway, magic pointer
allows anyone to easily use Gemini by
simply wiggling the cursor and then
pointing it at an on-screen element and
asking it to do AI things like say draft
a reply to the text in this email. I can
actually see this being very useful,
much like the circle to search feature
on Android today. However, if you're
anything like me, it'll probably be
between one and three accidental
activations of the gesture before you
rebind it to something anything else.
Something I'm legitimately stoked on,
though, is custom widgets. Now, Google's
not the first to talk about how they
need more AI in their operating system,
and pretty much every example of that
we've seen so far has been kind of
cringe. This one, not so. Custom widgets
have got to be the best example of AI in
an operating system that I've seen so
far. You want just rain and wind speed
in your weather app? Boom. You give it a
plain text prompt and it creates a
widget for you. Finding exactly the
right widget is something that I have
personally struggled with in the past.
Uh like I can't wait for example to
create a time zone and alarm management
widget that really works for me. And
this is coming to both the new unnamed
OS as well as Android mobile with
Android 17. I'm stoked. Also, Google
Books are getting quick access, which is
the ability to browse and access files
on your phone directly from your laptop
and then just like drop that file as an
attachment on an email, even if you
don't necessarily use Google Photos and
Cloud Sync. And sure, Windows has had
the your phone feature since like 2018,
but it is great to see app mirroring and
phone access that are now available to
everyone, regardless of which developer
garden you prefer to sip tea in. tea
that's getting much sweeter on the
Google side of things because the rest
of their Gemini sizzle reel looked, if
I'm being honest, legitimately amazing.
Running late for a very important date,
but you see an upcoming concert poster
as you exit the train station? Just snap
a pic of it, tell your AI assistant to
book you a couple of floor tickets,
enjoy the concert, then ask Gemini to
find some good late night zah. Then,
assuming things went well, ask it to
book a spot in your calendar to do it
all over again next week. Wow. It's like
everyone having their very own Vance.
>> Hey Vance, can you look up how many
times Google has promised this level of
integration between like my personal
life and my calendar and my Google
Assistant?
>> I don't know, a lot.
>> Yeah, we've kind of reached a bit of a
boy who cried wolf point now, haven't
we? Remember that clip-on camera that
claimed to use AI to take pictures at
opportune moments? Remember that feature
where assistant would totally seamlessly
phone and book hair appointments on your
behalf? And remember the image
searchability that just time and time
again on ShortCircuit has failed to
find or in many cases even recognize the
LTT Northern Lights deskpad in spite of
there being countless images of it
online and it being available at
ltstore.com.
I mean to be fair, some of this stuff,
especially that last one, does work way
better these days. And if all this new
stuff works, it sounds great. But I can
already tell that that concert demo is
pure weaponsgrade bologonium because it
doesn't ask any follow-up questions like
what time when you're booking a date.
That's kind of important. And I wish
Google would just be honest and
realistic about how it's going to work
outside of their perfect dev environment
bubble. Like here's another example.
that auto form filling feature where
they talked about how Gemini could scan
your photo library for that time you
took a picture of your passport last
year and then automatically input your
passport number or your expiration date
into a form for you. That sounds
awesome. But will it work in the real
world where maybe you've got multiple
passport photos for yourself and some
for your kids and one for your wife? Is
it going to get the right one? I don't
think it's crazy to be skeptical about
this. I mean, okay, look. How often does
your autocomplete say, "Oo, 3663 Crowley
Drive."
>> ALL THE TIME.
>> YEAH. And when's the last time you lived
there?
>> Years ago.
>> That's what I'm talking about. I mean,
for me, even just setting alarms screws
up a solid like 5 to 10% of the time.
So, I'm not sure when, if ever, I'm
going to get past the trust but verify
phase for my AI personal assistant. and
all of that ignores the privacy and
targeted ad side of this whole data
collection conversation.
But hey, you know, some of this stuff,
again, if it works, looks so good that
people probably will turn it on
regardless of the privacy implications.
Rambler is a new feature for phones, but
also Android Auto, which we're going to
get into in a second. And I'm really
excited about both Rambler and the
Android Auto overhaul. Okay, guys. Have
you ever tried responding to a message
through voice to text while you're
driving and someone cuts you off? Or
maybe your kids won't shut up in the
back seat? Well, with Rambler, you don't
have TO WORRY ABOUT, "HEY, WATCH WHERE
you'reing driving."
Any of the expletives that you might be
shouting in the middle of your reply
that could accidentally make it to your
wife or your boss, who for me is the
same person, which doubles the risk.
supposedly rambler is going to take the
entire context of YOUR DICTATION AND
HEY, WATCH IT as
pick out only the relevant parts of your
voice note and then condense it into a
proper message. Super cool. On the
subject of distracted driving, Google is
also rolling out a massive update to
maps, making it look more 3D, so you can
tell, is that an overpass, an underpass,
a touchdown pass?
And that's almost as cool as the way
that Android Auto is not only going to
fit better on all the various display
sizes in cars these days, but it's also
getting the ability to play video
through that screen and with Dolby
Atmos. Now, that's only going to be on
vehicles or apps that support it and
only while the vehicle is parked. But
guys, if you've got an EV that isn't a
Tesla and you've ever been stuck at a
charging station, you are going to
freaking love this. Google's also
rolling out more customization for your
in-car display, like different fonts,
widgets, or backgrounds to help enhance
the Android Auto experience. And if
you're driving one of the roughly 100
vehicles that are rolling out with
Google Builtin, formerly known as
Android Automotive, thank goodness they
changed that, any of the apps that you
might use should feel more seamless and
more responsive thanks to direct
hardware integration and being on board
instead of running on your phone. Okay,
so what does that look like? This one's
pretty cool. If a symbol pops up on your
digital dash that you've never seen
before, supposedly you can just ask
Gemini what it means. Or another great
example they gave was asking about trunk
dimensions and whether or not a TV would
fit in your car. Okay, that's stuff that
you could look up yourself and you're
still going to probably want to verify
that before you just like carry a 75 in
TV into the parking lot and just go for
it. I've done that, by the way. It
sucks. I had to actually take the
packaging off and take it back into the
store in order to get. Anyway, um the
point is that these are the kinds of
hassles that a lot of folks would
genuinely be very happy to live without,
especially if you're not a car person
and you don't care what exact make,
model, and trim level you drive. With
that in mind, they really need to step
up their game when it comes to
co-arketing these features with vehicle
manufacturers. Some of the links on the
Google built-in site go to specific
models that support it. Honda is a
shining example here, but others when
you click through, they just dump you on
the partner manufacturer's homepage,
which leaves you with questions like
which Mazda or BYD vehicle supports this
feature.
Moving away from AI, endto-end RCS
encryption with iOS is rolling out
effective now. Even Apple has an
announcement for that. And Google says
on that subject, they're making it
easier than ever to swap from Apple to
Android. Quick Share is coming to more
devices later this year and juiced up
voice isolation and sound separation
looks awesome for clearer calls. Even
cooler though is their new screen
reactions feature. I am loving this.
This allows you to record your screen
and also at the same time record
yourself over top of whatever is showing
so that you can pop up over your photos
as you talk about them or for me you can
explain what's going on as you are
marking up a document or giving feedback
on something that might be broken. The
one thing that I'd love to see improve
here is I'd like to see some
transparency options so that my viewer
can see whatever part of the screen I
happen to be covering in case that's
important for troubleshooting. In all,
Google showed off some really cool and
exciting stuff today, or well, maybe
yesterday, depending on when this gets
edited and posted. And the idea of
automating some of life's tediousness
sounds great, but I'm going to be a bit
skeptical until I actually try it out
for myself. Oh, when is that coming, you
ask? Later this year, sometime after
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watching guys. If you like this video,
maybe check out Apple's latest
announcement. I'm actually feeling like
Apple and Google are competing pretty
hard these days cuz it's hard to
differentiate on the hardware side. So
it's going to have to be making your
life easier and better through software.