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's also everywhere, hence the rebranding
of Android from an operating system to an intelligence system.
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 moves, Hatcha. I respect it. Almost as much as I respect our sponsor.
We've got to kick things off with the Google book. Not to be confused with other books like Pixel books or Mac books, 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 codename, Aluminium OS.
We don't know too much about it yet.
Hint hint, Google I.O. 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 you feel like when I have to say not to be confused with this many times, your product
announcement might just be confusing? Anyone?
Bueller? 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 the 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. If 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. 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's 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 za,
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 LTTstore.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 weapons grade balonium 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 auto complete, say, oh, 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're fucking 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, asshole! 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 and 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 is 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
built-in, 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
could 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 carry a 75-inch 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. 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-marketing
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, end-to-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. Quickshare 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 improved 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 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 wee bit skeptical until I actually try it out for myself.
Oh, when is that coming, you ask? Later this year, sometime after this segue, to our sponsor.
Thanks for watching, guys. If you liked this video, maybe check out Apple's latest announcement.
I'm actually feeling like Apple and Google are competing pretty hard these days, because
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.