There are a few smart speakers in the market and Google Home has made its mark in that area. As compared to Alexa and Amazon Echo, Google Home has gone ahead of them with some of its smart features.

Though Google Home has the to-do list feature, there has been a bit of a shortcoming with regard to the to-do list feature. However, you can get around the shortcoming by managing the to-do list feature with Google Home.

Getting around the to-do list with Google Home

As of now, Google Home does not offer support to the to-do list, but there is a way of getting around that. One of the ways is by using the shopping list.

As opposed to the shopping list, the ‘If this then that’ or IFTTT is an efficient way of working around the to-do list with Google Home.

The first step in that direction is to create an IFTTT account and create a new App.

Under Google Assistant, check out the list of services provided.

To get started, under the text ingredient, say a sentence.

You then need to enter a sentence under the ‘What do you want to say’ command.

Also You can create various starting phrases and add a dollar sign to the command.

You then need to click ‘create trigger’

To carry on to the next service, you can select any task manager service which you are already using, like iOS reminders, Evernote, etc.

Based on the service you have selected, just follow the cue and then click ‘Create action’ at the bottom.

You will then have to provide a name for the App and click finish.

When you say ‘Hey Google’, then you also need to add ‘Go to the store to my tasks’ and the task will then be added to the to-do list of your choice.

Reminders with Google Home

Initially when Google Home was out in the market it did not offer any support for the reminders. The Google Now and the Google Assistant on the smartphones handled the reminders, but this was not seen in the smart speakers. Google Home has eventually added reminders and they are quite powerful and simple to use. To create a reminder with Google Home, just say, for example ‘OK Google remind me to go to the gym at 7am’

For the reminders you need to go to the Google Assistant app to manage your tasks. Another way is to go to Google Home, then click ‘More Settings’ and then “Reminders’

Another feature that has been added to the reminders is the location-based notifications. When you create a reminder with location data, GoogleHome will remind you when you get to the location. When using the location-based reminders, there are different locations like specific addresses, your home and work address, certain business locations and stores like the coffee shop, etc.

Third party integration with Google Home

The Assistant Apps by GoogleHome have helped in third party integration for managing tasks. Some of them are ‘My Checklist App’, ‘Todoist’, ‘Task Now’, ‘SmartTask’. In case you want to go to these services, one needs to say, ‘OK Google, talk to Task Now’. For all these applications you need to link your account in the Google Home and the Assistant App will help you create and manage your tasks.

The major shift in focus for Google towards becoming more’ smarter’ was seen more pronounced with SundarPichai at the helm. From being a search-oriented in the first half of this decade Google has taken a deep dive into the world of AI and machine learning and has established itself as a core AI enterprise without much fanfare. In the just concluded Google I/O we got to see how Google using AI to power from self-driving cars, smartphones to almost anything. The highlight of this conference was the emergence of voice assistant which appears to be indistinguishable from the humans. Here are some of the major things revealed at the Google I/O.

Google I/O:  Let AI handle the boring conversations

Google I/O brought the most exciting features to the Android which allows it make use of Google Assistant powered by Google Duplex to make natural conversation like humans. This is suited for the purpose of booking a table at a restaurant or appointments. The machine vice used here isn’t the usual creepy machine like one but happens to be a hyper-realistic human voice added with smaller words like “mmhm’ and ‘uh’.

Be polite with the virtual assistant with Google I/O

Google Assistant is smart but still happens to be a machine at the core and it is designed to respond to almost anything said to it using the “OK Google” command. Google I/O brought a noble solution to this with new features aptly title “Pretty Please” wherein users are required to make use of the words “please” and “thank you” in their commands. This feature is designed to make both adults and kids in order to encourage them to talk politely with the virtual assistant in their home or office.

Google I/O makes News become smarter than before

Google I/O made the Google New better by injecting it with the AI boost. Now users will get more personalized news with a dedicated “For You” tab where new is populated by AI through learning the user’s reading habits, then there is “Newscasts” section which brings the most notable events of the days and it also offers an in-depth news with ‘Full Coverage option which allows users to see the same news covered by different media houses.

Google I/O Helping your phone last longer

Google I/O saw the debut of new exciting features on the Android called ‘Adaptive battery” and as the name suggests this features will work by carefully analyzing which apps be used by the users at what time interval and the phone will save battery herein through reducing the app wakeups in between. This update will essentially help the users in conserving their battery and making their phone last longer with the help of the AI boost. With Android P users will also get a refined dashboard which will show how much time has been spent on any given app and users get to use a new gesture called “shush” which will allow users to put their smartphone in the “Do Not Disturb’ mode effortlessly.

In today’s world we need to be connected 24/7. We are always on our phones and for good measure too. We do all our work and other activities through our phones, whether it be looking at messages, emails or chatting or browsing, it is not a stretch to say that we are always and by that I mean really always on our phones. What about when we travel in our cars, can we get work done while we are driving to the work place? The answer is yes. With tech such as Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto we can still remain connected.All it needs is for us to connect our phones to our car’s headset and you’re done. Right now Google has even introduced wireless connectivity for Android Auto (At least if you have a pixel or Nexus phone). So now there is even no need for those bothersome wires.

Wireless support for Android Auto:

Google has begun the initial wireless rollout for Android wireless Auto. It is a limited rollout but a start never the less. Coming with Pixel and Nexus phones running on Android 8.0 and later, wireless Android Auto can be connected via WiFi to a car’s headset.

Google has tied up with Kenwood and JVC to get their headsets to support Android wireless Auto. But that is not all. Google is also working on getting other phones to support Android wireless Auto. We can hope to see this tech shortly. Samsung Fans hold on there!

Compatibility with wireless Android Auto:

Beginning with Google’s very own smart phone line, the Pixels and Nexus’ are all supported. To be more specific Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P at present, are the only devices that are supported.

Coming to the headsets, Google has got the newer versions of Kenwood and JVC headsets to support Android wireless Auto.

As shared by Google, all is not lost, Google is working with third party phone manufacturers to get the wireless android auto software up and running in no time. More updates will be coming shortly.

As for car head units and displays, Google is working out on getting more manufacturers to support wireless Android Auto tech.

Before the coming of Wireless Android Auto, you had to connect your smart phone to your car’s headset via a cable and you still do if you don’t have a Pixel or Nexus device, but as I said before not for long.

It is no doubt, with or without a cable, Android Auto and CarPlay have been a major boon to consumers. You can now get more work done in your car than ever before and you still remain connected. As compared to auto manufacturer designed systems, Android Auto and CarPlay offer unparalleled ease of use.

Apple’s CarPlay has offered wireless connectivity for months now but with Google we’re getting there with Android wireless Auto. Shortly, all you Android Auto users out there can kiss that cable good bye!

Researchers have recently come up with a new transparent polymer  that can conduct electricity, making it usable in technologies like smartphones, laptops and other device screens. The process, by which this polymer is made is relatively inexpensive and can be done on a large scale. On top of that, this polymer glass can replace the existing material known as indium tin oxide, which is an expensive inorganic material which is most commonly seen on device screens.

This type of polymer is not the first of its kind, there are other polymers too that can be good conductors of electricity but in a transparent form none of them have shown a remarkable capacity to conduct electricity. So the next screen you may see on your device could be made of this inexpensive polymer glass.

What is polymer glass?

The polymer like glass originates from earth found materials and therefore can be more cheaply made, on the other hand, other polymers use an expensive process known as chemical doping to conduct electricity making it a very expensive alternative. In spite of the process of chemical doping, these other polymers are not as good in conducting electricity as the glass like polymer that researchers have recently discovered.

Another disadvantage with the current method of making polymers conduct electricity is that they absorb light due to their delocalized or conjugated nature. Coming back to polymer glass, in order to create it researchers started afresh with a new non- conjugated polymer. To do this, researchers added in radical transparent materials, which do not conduct electricity so the next challenge was how to get the polymer glass to conduct electricity?

Using these radical transparent materials in the polymer glass makes this material cheap to produce and also possible to make the material on a large scale factory setting.

To solve the problem of the non- conducting radical materials, researchers used a process known as electrical percolation to make the polymer glass a good conductor. This method of making polymer glass makes it not only conduct electricity but also a good conductor, as compared to other polymers that are made to conduct electricity.

Advantages of using this polymer glass:

One of the major uses of this polymer glass is that they can be used as a replacement of the current material indium tin oxide, which is currently used as screens in televisions, mobile phones, laptops, computers and tablets.

Indium tin oxide is expensive as it uses inorganic materials in its composition making it costly to incorporate in such devices. On the other hand glass like polymer  is not only a good conductor but is also made from organic materials and can be made cheaply on a large scale. This ability of polymer glass to be made on a large scale makes it good for mass scale production like in a factory setting.

Achieving this feat of making glass like polymer , researchers are now looking at polymers that can be used for bio medical applications.

Pick any Color with this New Semiconductors that apparently defies the laws of physics

Researchers have recently discovered a new form of semiconductors that can absorb and give off any color the heart desires. This semiconductor can then be made to work in lasers, LEDs, windows and then some. This emergent form of semiconductors apparently defies the laws of physics and can give off any color that you want.

What’s even more interesting with this semiconductor is that it can be applied in a commercial setting with minimum fuss. But can this new form of semiconductors really work? Can we really have ourselves a light source that not only absorbs light but also gives off light of any color of our choosing?

What is this new form of Semiconductors?

This new and emergent class of semiconductor is known as HOIP or Hybrid Organic- Inorganic Perovskites. These HOIP semiconductor material is very easy to produce in large quantities and is energy efficient which makes it a very interesting material to play with .

But this is not even half the story. HOIP semiconductors apparently don’t like to follow the normal laws of physics. To elaborate, normal semiconductor materials are formed on rigidly established foundations but with the HOIP semiconductor it is a funhouse in structure. The HOIP semiconductor has stable quantum properties but in a very intense molecular motion. What researchers really want to find out is how these two Waring properties match together and how exactly can this phenomenon be explained?

So how can this Phenomenon really be explained?

In normal semiconductor materials, the materials are in the form of crystalline lattices in a two dimensional structure. This gives the rigidity to the foundations of semiconductor materials.

But in the case of HOIP semiconductor materials, there is intense molecular motions with stable quantum properties. The HOIP material is in the form of a perovskite crystalline like lattice that self assembles and how it does this is in the form of two dimensional sheets layered to form a three dimensional framework.

These two dimensional sheets are layered with the help of another molecular structure which you can think of as rubber bands, this rubber band like structure lends the wobbling feature to the HOIP semiconductor material while the two dimensional sheets lend a stable and rigid feature to the HOIP semiconductor.

Why is HOIPs such great Semiconductors?

In an atom, as we all know electrons orbit around the nucleus or can be shared by some atoms in a chemical bond. In HOIP semiconductors, the electrons are shared by the atoms more broadly.

In such a system like the HOIP semiconductors, the electrons run about participating in things like flow of electricity and heat. This leaves the orbit of an atom empty. This situation is called an Electron hole. But the atoms want their electron back. The hole becomes a positive charge while the electron is the negative charge and opposites attract. So thus begins the dance for the atom to attract the electron back into its orbit. This so called dance to get the electron back into the orbit of an atom is called exciton.

Coming back to HOIP semiconductors, in a normal semiconductor the excitons are correlated which can give some desirable properties when an energy source is applied. In HOIP semiconductors like some other semiconductors, the excitons can even pair up to form biexcitons that boost the energy properties of the semiconductor.

In HOIPs the Biexciton energies are so high that by putting this material into a laser you get maximum input absorption and then these biexcitons contract and pump out the light which makes using the HOIP semiconductor material great for use in LEDs, lasers and such.What’s more is that you can control the chemical properties of HOIPs, that is the width between the biexcitons, to control the wavelength of light, this gives you the color of your choosing emitted by the HOIP semiconductor material.

At Bespoke in Westfield San Francisco Centre, Google plans to give a talk on Google Cloud Security. There will be around 15 sessions spread over a 2 day period wherein they will cover up security across Google Cloud, the acceptance and regulations, shared responsibility and all the very best  practices adopted by Google with regard to Google’s very own internal security. At these talks, they plan to conduct interactive sessions and demos based on Google Cloud Security and all the security challenges faced including malicious cyber attacks and extraction of data by malicious third parties.

Due to the innumerable security threats that take place, the greatest challenge faced by businesses is to function in a very safe and watertight environment. The Google Cloud Security promises to provide a secure Cloud infrastructure managed by professionals to counteract security lapses.

At the Moscone Centre where the RSA Conference 2018 is scheduled, Googlers will be either giving talks or actively participating on the panel for discussions regarding data protection and secure environments.

Based on security, there will be 20 security updates and enhancements including Access Transparency to enable businesses protect their data and stay secure.

The Google Cloud Security will provide protection against DDoS attacks and will also include increased transparency, API protections and many more.

Features of Google Cloud Security

Security against DDoS attacks and other threats will be provided by the new Cloud Armor tool .

The new VPC Service Controls will protect data in API based storage and big data services.

Google Cloud Security: Cloud Armor

Cloud Armor that is available on the Google Cloud Platform will utilize load balancing to protect GCP users against DDoS attacks. Cloud Armor uses the HTTP(S) load balancing which is found in YouTube and Search. The user has to configure load balancing to get the service activated. Cloud Armor together with HTTP(S) Load Balancing provides IPv4 and IPv6 whitelisting/blacklisting, counteracts application based attacks and provides access control. Cloud Armor will show all the traffic that has been blocked and those that are allowed.

Google Cloud Security: VPC Service

Another Google Cloud Security feature in the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the VPC Service. All the data that is stored in the API services in GCP will be secured. In cases where identities are stolen, IAM policies are misconfigured, and then the services such as Google Cloud Storage and BigQuery will provide protection. This will help business establishments to feel less threatened and hence move their data to the cloud.

The Cloud Data Loss Prevention (DLP) API enables the users to label, manage and even edit parts of sensitive information.

Google also has the Google Cloud Security Command Center (Cloud SCC) which will check the storage systems for sensitive info, identify the usual web hacks and take an inventory of access rights to your resources. This will bring about transparency in services like App Engine, Compute Engine, Cloud Storage and Cloud Datastore.

With regards to administrative access, Access Transparency provides audit logs of Google Support and Engineering access and the reason they needed for the access. With Cloud Identity, there will be further improvement in transparency. The Cloud Identity can increase the level of detail to which managers can grant access to users and groups.

In today’s smartphone era everyone conducts most of their searches or online activity from a smartphone or mobile device. In an attempt to make search results more mobile friendly or adaptable to a mobile phone, google is introducing Mobile First Indexing.  Recently Google has acknowledged that they have started the initial rollout for mobile first indexing. This is not to say that the process has begun recently but just that Google has acknowledged the fact now.

Some sites have already been migrated to mobile first indexing and Google says it will migrate those websites that follow best practice in terms of mobile first indexing that means that sites which use dynamic serving or responsive web design will be in a better position when it comes to migrating them to mobile first indexing. If sites have an AMP and non- AMP version then Google will choose the non-AMP version when it comes to mobile first indexing.

So what basically is Mobile First Indexing?

Since most searches are conducted from a mobile device or smartphone rather than a desktop, Google wants to make its search engine more mobile friendly. A part of this process includes mobile-first indexing whereby the Googlebot will crawl and index only the mobile version of a particular website.

That is not to say that sites that do not have a mobile version will not be crawled and indexed, in such situations Googlebot will crawl and index that website as- is. There will not be a separate main index and mobile first index. All content will appear in one index but it’s just that Google will use the mobile version of the website wherever available.

Then what about Ranking in Mobile First Indexing? Will they be affected?

When it comes to site rankings Google assures website owners that the ranking of their website will not be affected with Mobile First Indexing. It  is just a change in the way in which Google gathers information for its own Google index. By getting your website migrated to mobile-first indexing, you will not have an advantage over a website that has not yet been migrated.

A feature that was in place since 2015 has been that when a search is conducted on a mobile device all content that is mobile friendly will be placed first in the search results and that will be the same now too.

Almost every other mobile manufacturers packs in their distinct version of the file manager with the Smartphone. Some are great but rest of them is just too miserable to use therefore Smartphone users tend to download third party file manager app from the app stores. Google brings it very own Files Go app which will soon become the must have and standard Android file manager in future.

It will become a simple and smart way for the Android users to find files instantly, share with others and free up space at the same time. Google is making the file search, share and management simpler and more aggressive on the Android platform with the Files Go. Some of the notable features of this app include:

1. Files Go do the Files search

Being a file manager it has to establish itself as the best in the file search functionality over the others. With Files Go users will get the ability to search the files just like they do on the internet. The inability to use microSD card at the time or living with the contacts of the internal storage has become quite common for the Android users.

Therefore they need to a good file search functionality which can help in finding and modifying files whenever needed.  Users are simply required to open the Files tab then give a tab on the search icon in order to find the files present on the smartphone within a matter of seconds.

2. Files Go Find the exact location of the duplicate files

Apart from the usual file search users also have a tough time finding the duplicates of the same file. Files Go will make it easy to free up space by getting rid of the duplicate files.

Files Go comes with a unique features which allows user to detect the duplicate files instantly by simply giving a long press on the “i” icon and get to see the location of the file. It has been found that most of the Smartphone users suffer from the low storage arising from the presence of the duplicate files.

3. Files Go remove the backed-up files

Now almost every Smartphone user is making use of the cloud services either by their own knowledge or without even knowing it. Most of the Smartphone manufacturer has started bundling their own cloud app which helps in backing up files like photos and videos online.

The best thing about Files Go is that it works like a charm with the Google Photos. With having the Files Go users will be able to detect and get prompt to remove the files which have been already backed up on the cloud in order to free up more space.

Files search and management has become an important and critical things for the smartphone users as app need more space while they are stuck limited storage on their devices. Some users even have to sacrifice second sim in order to get more space by adding the memory card. But Google Files Go will be a must have app for millions of Android users by offering great file search functionality and ability to free up space in split of a second.

Google Android platform had grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade where it happens most widely used OS with no challenger for its numero-uno position. In the recent Android OS updates Google has focused on the interface and functionality of the Android to keep it consistent with the ever-growing demand of the users. Google will turn its focus back to the Android games to boost the performance of the Google Play store.

Google Play is simply the most widely used mobile application store to download and install variety of apps ranging from the communication, utility, entertainment to games.

It is worth noting that in last year the number of users who installed games on their Android devices had doubled by itself. This boost was powered by the new smartphone users in the emerging market namely India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia.

Debut of Google Play Instant for Android Games

Google is looking forward to make it easier for the users to discover new games easily and also get rid of the install process in the beginning which result in many users opting to skip the game altogether. It has been found that opening and installing gamesis quite time consuming which often results in people never ever experiencing the game. Therefore Google is bringing instant apps feature for the Android games.

With this feature users are simply required to give a tap on the game of their choice in the Play Store and they can try the game instantly without the need of downloading it at first.

Some of the popular Android games which supports this new features includes Worlds with Friends 2, Clash Royale, Bubble Witch 3 Saga as well as a number of games from popular developers namely Hothead Games, Jam City and others.

This new experience of playing Android games without downloading them has been termed as Google Play Instant.

Google Play Console tools for Android Games to unveil soon

Google wants to bring the best of the aggressive and demanding gaming on the Android as they are capable enough to deal with it due to presence of high end processor, better display and adequate RAM.

Therefore it will be launching the Play Console tools for building great and demanding Android games for the future generations. One such tool will be a new internal testing track which will allow Android games developer to run tests quickly and come with new games and features with quick turnaround time.

This track will remain present for the Android games developers apart from alpha and beta tracks already available at their disposal. This tool will also allow games developers to make their game available to as many as 100 tester within seconds.

Another tool worth mentioning is the demo loops which will help in generating the prelaunch report for the Android games developers. This feature will allow developers to predefine a wide se of series of actions within a game and make this loop run effortlessly on a number of devices present in the Test Labs.

How different is Geneva Motor Show from Mobile World Congress?

In less than two decades we can saw a great transition for the mobile which turned itself into a powerhouse device from just a buttoned candy bar. But same can’t be told about the car in general as they are just the same but a bit different and having some serious tryst with new technologies. Geneva Motor Show showcases the might of the car industry and brings the new beats into the play before moving into the mass production and similar can be said about the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona wherein the best of the mobile industry products sees the light of the day.

Both the shows gives due importance to the Europe but one saw the supremacy of the continent while other simply showed that the continent has lost its sheen.

Geneva Motor Show – Europe retains the powerhouse badge

The recent rise and the limited success seen by the Tesla branded vehicles is giving a stiff competition to the traditional car makers but age old automobile leaders are just due to make their next decisive move.

This year’s Geneva Motor Show brought the best of Aston Martin to the world in the Lagonda concept but other automobile makers weren’t much behind.

Rimac came up with the Concept Two and Buggati simply brought it extremely fast and ludicrous Chiron Sport supercar. Being a premium brand Jaguar is looking towards grabbing the pie of the lower end market segment by bringing an affordably priced I Pace SUV while showcased yet another masterpiece powerhouse vehicle in the form of V10 station wagon.

Shift in mobile segment but supremacy remains in car segment

MWC is a major event for the mobile industry which has seen a significant shift in supremacy of the eastern mobile giants. In the recent years we saw massive decline of the Eastern mobile manufacturers like Nokia, Ericson and Siemens and the top 3 mobile manufactures reside in the east and most importantly China while just one major manufacturer reigns the mobile world from US i.e. Apple.

At MWC it can be easily felt that both the Chinese and American manufacturers were aggressively looking towards catching the fancy of the European buyers. Looking at the Geneva Motor Show it can be seen the car industry is just at the same stage as was the mobile industry in 2007.

We are just on the verge of seeing a new engineering feat in the automobile industry which will be just like iPhone moment thereby revolutionizing the automobile industry as a whole.

BMW, Audi, Mercedes are pushing the engineering forward to bring vehicles which will define the future mobility. While Volvo is extensively researching in building next generation of trailers, trucks and other vehicle which can navigate through the varied terrain and road conditions with ease and simplicity.

Geneva Motor Show also brings back the focus to the Europe which had always been influential and relevant even in today’s diminishing car market. It is worth noting that European car buyers had always been decisive on eventually what is made and what isn’t.