Sonos developed a system called “Concurrency” that could make multiple voice assistants interoperable on its smart speakers but had to put its plans on hold because of Google, a new Washington Post report explains. Concurrency does more or less what its name suggests by allowing Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa to be used side by side. “Sonos today sells speakers that let you choose between Alexa and Google, but only one can operate at a time — you have to disable one before… Source link

Rolls-Royce’s co-founder predicted the super luxury EV 120 years ago. That prophecy is now fulfilled. Believe it or not, founder Charles Rolls said back in April 1900 that the future of luxury cars would be EV powertrains. After riding in an early electric car from American automaker Columbia, Rolls said, “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration, and they should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.” Now, all these years… Source link

On Wednesday, Google said it’s adding a new wildfire layer to Google Maps, which users will be able to turn on to see the latest details about multiple fires at once. This can be essential during fire season when many fires may burn simultaneously. The new layer will show “most major fires that cause significant evacuations,” according to Google, as well as many smaller fires in the United States. Users will be able to tap a fire on the map for links to details such as emergency websites and… Source link

Google is making a change to its search results with the goal of improving the media literacy of online users. The company is expanding the capabilities of its “About this Result” feature, launched earlier this year, to also now include information about the source itself, including its description from Wikipedia and what the site says about itself, as well as news, reviews, and other context that can help people better evaluate unfamiliar or new sources. It will also point users to… Source link

At its Search On event today, Google introduced several new features that, taken together, are its strongest attempts yet to get people to do more than type a few words into a search box. By leveraging its new Multitask Unified Model (MUM) machine learning technology in small ways, the company hopes to kick off a virtuous cycle: it will provide more detail and context-rich answers, and in return it hopes users will ask more detailed and context-rich questions. The end result, the company… Source link

Google has updates for a handful of tools aimed at helping people use Maps for more, or get on them in the first place. The company is improving wildfire tracking, expanding a tool for calculating tree canopy cover in cities, and further automating virtual address creation with Plus Codes. The wildfires will be of the most immediate use to most users, since the once rare disaster has evolved into its own recurring season. Google put out a wildfire tracking tool last year for people… Source link

Google Maps has new features that should make it easier for users to see wildfires, tree canopy, and locations without formal addresses. It’s all aimed at helping communities be “safer, more sustainable, and discoverable,” according to the company. A new wildfire layer on Maps will begin rolling out globally this week, Google announced today. It’ll show most major fires, those prompting evacuations, across the world. Red splotches and pins on the layer will indicate where blazes… Source link

Google, an unlikely underdog, is struggling to keep pace with Amazon . com Inc. in the battle for billions in e-commerce ad dollars. In its latest strategy shift, the Alphabet Inc. unit said Wednesday that it is updating the look and format of product search pages to feature images of apparel, accessories and other items to better resemble a digital store rather than a long list of links and text. Source link

Warby Parker (WRBY) shares began trading at $54.05 each on Wednesday, giving the direct-to-consumer eyewear company a valuation of about $6 billion. The company went public via a direct listing with a reference price of $40 per share set by the New York Stock Exchange. The stock soared more than 30% from its reference price in the first minutes of trading.  Warby Parker is seen as a disruptor within the eyewear industry.  “What a lot of people don’t realize is how big the optical business… Source link

“Can you get medicine for someone at the pharmacy?” It’s a simple enough question for humans to understand, says Pandu Nayak, vice president of search at Google, but such a query represents the cutting-edge of machine comprehension. You and I can see that the questioner is asking if they can fill out a subscription for another person, Nayak tells The Verge. But until recently, if you typed this question into Google, it would direct you to websites explaining how to fill out your… Source link