"Google" articles

The personal assistant device market took off in 2016. Google Home joined Amazon Echo in time for the holiday sales season, and Amazon sold out of its Echo and Tap models in the run-up to Christmas. We expect this market to grow substantially in 2017, with increasing consumer adoption rates and new market entrants. With its announcement at CES  of Hub, a smart robotic personal assistant speaker, LG is the next to enter this space.   To compete with Amazon Echo and...

With news that Amazon is officially sold out (online) of Echo and Tap products until after the holidays, it looks like the smart speaker with personal assistant technology category has found its legs. Parks Associates forecasts 6 million U.S. sales for the category in 2016, which would double U.S. sales from 2015. Several trends are driving the smart speaker/personal assistant device market. First, consumer familiarity and use with personal assistant software are one the rise,...

2016 has been a significant year for virtual reality (VR) headsets. CE manufacturers have developed models for any household budget. Parks Associates finds that in Q3 2016, 3.5% of U.S. broadband households owned one or more virtual reality headsets. This might seem like a small number; however, compared to Q1 2016, this is a significant increase (2.4% in Q1 2016). As the gifting season is here, many tech news sources are putting together lists of the best VR sets from 2016. Prices...

Descriptions of Microsoft’s upcoming Home Hub are surfacing, joining the debate over which voice control hub to buy—Amazon Echo or Google Home. Microsoft’s version, however, won’t be delivered in the form of a coffee table or bookshelf cylinder. It will be delivered as a feature of Windows 10, running on a PC or Surface tablet. The fact that Microsoft is delivering its product in the form of software suggests that it be accelerating this evolution of device interfaces to...

Everything Google announced today (10/4) at the Pixel hardware event is the first tech giants’ movement of October. Google CEO Sundar Pichai implied that the company desires to build an ecosystem around users. As proof, here are some of the “Google goodies” that will enhance personalization and customized experience for you: Pixel and Pixel XL : smartphones that come in Quite Black, Really Blue or Very Silver, with exceptional camera that is complimented with free Google...

On July 5th, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued its opinion on whether password sharing violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). I read the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit opinion on password sharing , and I suggest you do as well. Judge McKeown and Judge Reinhardt make compelling and insightful comments. For those of you who don’t have the time or energy to read it yourselves, I’ve summarized the major points: The case which...

A recent but significant development is Apple’s and Google’s entry into the health and wellness market. Both giants offer a wearables OS platform, dominate the smartphone and tablet software market, control app distribution channels, and now have their own respective health data aggregation/device integration platform. Apple’s HealthKit and ResearchKit have received considerable news coverage highlighting its partnerships with healthcare industry players. Google also...

Codenamed “Hendrix” during development, the newly announced Chromecast Audio streaming media device from Google enables users to broadcast music over Wi-Fi to speakers, televisions, and car stereos that have the device plugged into their standard 3.5 mm audio port, RCA port or optical input. With its product launch today, Google seeks to further solidify its position in the streaming media space. Here are a few quick observations that suggest why Chromecast Audio may or...