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Waymo seems to have the strongest story, and I think they're still 15-20 years away from a coast to coast drive without intervention.

Well a trip coast-to-coast is 2500-3000 miles and for last year Waymo reported one disengagement per 11017 miles driven. Granted, that might not be the same roads but considering that coast-to-coast highway trips have been done 95-99% autonomous by much simpler systems and done entirely by moderately advanced systems statistically my money would be on the Waymo getting there by itself way more often than not. Basically there's three situations:

1) It's driving okay
2) It's confused and knows it's confused
3) It's oblivious and/or utterly wrong

Nobody really cares about 2), sure once every thousands of miles you might have to give it a nudge through a construction area or whatnot. It's 3) that's keeping engineers awake at night, what are all the exceptional things that could happen either outside the car or to the car's systems and how serious/deadly would the consequences be? There's a reason most industrial robots are in safety cages. A self-driving car is not. Heck sometimes I think it's crazy we let people drive a ton of metal at 50+ mph a feet or two away from others...

Granny wont be the one doing the fixing. That's "what she has you for, dear."

Since it is you that needs to know, why bother telling her?

Just turn on developer mode, plug in the damn cable, do the one liner from the console, and stop being a bitch about it. :P

In case you were wondering, it's

abd install [somefile.apk]

AND-- if you want to back up all of granny's stuff, modern android versions support a backup operation, so you can back up all of granny's apps and their associated private data too, and restore it just as easily. (so when she deletes everything and corks up her phone, you can just restore everything and say fuckit.)

See this handy little article for details.

https://9to5google.com/2017/11...

It currently does, but as far as I'm aware it's not integrated with their other messaging systems.

Anyway, yes, Hangouts is deprecated. As in they've made an official statement they intend to shut it down, and people within Google are saying it'll happen within two years (see the update part.) They'll be branding some replacement products as "Hangouts" ("Hangouts Chat" and "Hangouts Meet"), but these aren't the same service or similar in how they work.

I really think they couldn't have fucked up Hangouts, from its initial status as a Google+ project that was forced on users of their original XMPP system, to the inexplicable decision to deprecate and get rid of it, while simultaneously introducing other chat systems only to shut them down too. Who the hell would use a Google chat system right now? Once Hangouts is gone, I doubt many people will switch to a Google alternative.

Woops. Sorry, the new RCS app will be called "Google Chat", not "Android Messages".

https://9to5google.com/2018/07...

Not sure when it will be available, though.

2017 called, they want their new Maps feature back
https://9to5google.com/2017/03...

Location sharing has been in Maps for over a year now, It's no longer in Google+. Way to keep your finger on the pulse. It's even in wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

First off, it's not enabled just yet. You have to jump through some hoops to enable it. You have to go through all this, at the moment:

In chrome://flags enable the following flags:
#enable-experimental-web-platform-features
#enable-surfaces-for-videos
#enable-picture-in-picture

Download and extract the extension zip file.

In chrome://extensions toggle Developer mode (upper-right corner) if it is not already on.

To load the extension, click Load Unpacked.

In the dialog box that appears locate and select the src/ folder from the directory where you unpacked the zip file.

Navigate to any YouTube video and click the extension browser icon to toggle Picture-in-Picture for the current video.

And if you want to see what all that gets you, it looks like this.

All that being said, I'm sure that this feature will be abused at some point in the future, and there will be a setting to turn it off, and your clueless parents/aunt/grandparents/whatever will call you and bug you about a little TV on your screen they can't make go away.

It's the IT circle of life. Advertiser wants feature to pester people with, people are pestered for a while, IT people turn off feature, advertiser wants new feature to pester people with...

None of the positive things have something to do with a walled garden. At best the malware thing has to do with an app store.
Walled garden only helps if somehow having e.g. root access makes you unable to resist installing random crap from the internet, but then I would say a better impulse control would on your side would be a worthy thing to strive for instead.
Security and updates you can mostly get from select vendors on Android as well, though admittedly it is a big issue because most smartphone companies are a sad joke when it comes to software competence, and the little they have they decide to spend on useless crap.

"Random crap from the internet"?!? Boy, THAT's rich!!!

HOW many reports of Malware have their been regarding APPROVED Apps from the Google Play Store?!?

https://9to5google.com/2018/01...

https://www.cnet.com/news/goog...

http://www.zdnet.com/article/p...

http://fortune.com/2017/09/14/...

https://www.digitaltrends.com/...

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/...

https://www.wired.com/story/go...

Genuinely sorry if there are (likely are) dups in the above list. But you get the picture.

And if you say "Well, but Google REMOVED these Apps, proving the system works!" It begs the question, how many people downloaded and had their information stolen, etc. BEFORE an App was removed?!?

I can't see any mention of a mitigation via the Play Store https://9to5google.com/2018/01... and manufacturers seem to be rolling out patches for some but not all devices.

Not even kidding. There's been a fire at a Samsung Store stocking the S8's. No one is confirming it was the S8's that started it - but no one is confirming it wasn't. Either way, it's publicity Samsung could have done without.

https://9to5google.com/2017/03...

Presumably the OP was talking about money made from licensing fees?

Google: We do not charge licensing fees for Android’s Google Mobile Services

This comment says it like it is - the Tesla autopilot lulls the driver enough that when he must intervene, he is unprepared (And intervene he must -- the Tesla autopilot does not use LIDARs, as Google's cars do. Musk pooh-poohed that approach as unnecessary and went with a cheaper camera and computer vision based approach.).

  I hope he reverses course. Tesla needs inward-facing tech - cameras and FLIR sensors, gaze detection algorithms, steering-wheel grip sensors - to ensure the driver is 'driving'.

The Sony Z4 Tablet, which is waterproof (IP 65/68), has a waterproof jack and micro-USB connector, and is 6,1mm thin. Is that still too much for you?

So which is it; IP65 or IP68? They are VERY different standards when it comes to "water resistance".

6.1 mm, let's see: That's .240 inches (roughly a quarter-inch). The iPhone 6s Plus is 7.3mm TOTAL; so yes, it is a full 1.2mm thinner than the current iPhone.

HOWEVER, I challenge that "IP65/68" rating. I was looking-up the dimensions, and just randomly picked a site in my search. But as I went down through the specs, looking for the "IP" rating, I came across a comment by "Phillip" that read:

Don't try to submerse into water even for 5 minutes. It is not water proof or even resistance. if you look at the warranty card. There is a disclaimer. The water proof is not even better than Z3 tablet. I tried it.

So, I seriously doubt that IP68 rating, and maybe it doesn't even make the IP65 cut.

Plus, it looks like Sony has (no surprise) been piling on the Asterisks around their "Waterproof" claims (and some would say, outright lying) for its mobile devices in general, and apparently has been forced to pull ads and backpedal regarding those claims.

BTW, someone who is a diver once told me that a "3-meter" rating on a watch does NOT mean you can take something diving to 12 feet. Because everytime you wave your arm around, you temporarily increase the pressure to several times what you would experience in a "static" depth test (hence the "carefully lowered into a container of water condition in Sony's test). So, a "3-Meter" rating basically means you can have it splashed with water.

But notice that Sony also stipulated "non-operating". I would bet that means "with no battery". Of course, that changes a LOT. Plus I would bet that Sony uses DISTILLED water (which is non-ionic) for their testing.

Bottom line: NOT IMPRESSED.

That's what I was wondering. The shitstorm brewing over at Nest also makes me wonder if there's anyone in charge at Alphabet or what the hell's going on there.

That Tony Fadell guy seems like a total jerk-jackass.

That's what I was wondering. The shitstorm brewing over at Nest also makes me wonder if there's anyone in charge at Alphabet or what the hell's going on there.

The iPhone and Android phones came out essentially simultaneously, and both had been in development for years before they were announced.
 

That's not true at all. Android was going to be just another old-fashioned smart phone. Look at it. Seriously, look. Tiny, non-touch screen. Physical keyboard. Painful UI. Then the iPhone was announced and caught them by surprise. They scrapped their prototype, and made an iPhone clone instead.

If you're gonna try to rewrite history, at least wait few decades for people to forget.

which allows google to extort more license fees

What?

I'm going to call bullshit on either this story, or your Nexus 7 not being broken for some other reason.

Don't take it from me:

http://9to5google.com/2014/11/...

My Nexus 7 works basically identical to how it did before the upgrade.

Which version of the Nexus 7 do you have? The problems have been mainly for people who own the 2012 Nexus 7.

" costs money to license, and you have to agree to forcing Google's shit by default (like the Play store)."
1. No it does not http://9to5google.com/2014/01/...
And the things that Google "forces" android handset makers is frankly what customers want.
Google started making handset makers to do make GMS and all or nothing service when a handset maker put on all sorts of Google apps but made the search BING and locked it down!
Some companies choose not to use GMS but still use Android like Amazon.
AOSP plus GMS == the Android must consumers want.

Compared to IOS, BlackberryOS, and WP Android is as free as can be. If you want source to everything but the GMS apps just run Cyanogen. You can even add in the GMS apps if you want them or just run Outlook, YahooMail, or a FOSS mailclient for mail, and the mapping software of your choice.

Yes and yes.

From what I've seen the answer is actually no. They issued a patch to the OEMs which then are responsible for patching handsets. Also AFAIK the update issued via Google Play was to patch Google Play itself to scan for this issue, it didn't patch Android:

"Google Play scans for this issue – and Verify Apps provides protection for Android users who download apps to their devices outside of Play"
http://9to5google.com/2013/07/09/google-patches-android-to-block-application-signature-vulnerability/

Facebook admits hiring PR firm to smear Google
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/12/facebook-admits-hiring-pr-firm-to-smear-google/

Apple's war against Google
http://www.informationweek.com/development/mobility/apples-war-against-google-time-for-new-t/240002054

Microsoft Wage War on Google
http://www.idfmarketing.com/blog/microsoft-wage-war-on-google/

Microsoft spending 7 figures to revive Gmail smear campaign
http://9to5google.com/2013/02/07/microsoft-spending-7-figures-to-revive-gmail-smear-campaign/

Exactly. One good term for this is "attention to detail," and it's not merely a brand strategy, it's at the core of Apple's philosophy and success. It can go to seemingly absurd lengths, like Steve Jobs making Sunday phone calls because the second "o" in the Google icon on the iPhone had an incorrect yellow gradient, but the net result is a hugely successful company.

The average consumer electronics company (including Google in this instance) still does not understand this. Their institutional tendency is to create lots of "good enough" products, cutting every corner they can, then throw it all against the wall and see what sticks. Sure, that's the traditional way, and it can be profitable, but it rarely creates iconic, world-changing products on the level of iPhones and iPads.

You can use Android without Google. Two examples from a Google search: http://9to5google.com/2011/09/21/eric-schmidt-its-possible-to-use-android-without-google-search/ http://arcriley.blogspot.com/2010/06/using-android-without-google-part-1.html

The better question is why the submission focuses on Intel when the port currently only works on AMD?

"The release isn’t fully stable — missing sound, camera, ethernet, and hardware acceleration for Intel chipsets. What will work however is Wi-Fi, sound, and hardware acceleration for AMD chipsets."

would be interesting to see what they bring forth instead

possibly Spot