Tag Archives: google

When Google unveiled Duplex last year, it was touted as a booking system that uses eerily human-sounding artificial intelligence to make reservations. Turns out that about 25% of the time, it actually is a human — and not a robot — placing the call to book an appointment, Google said Wednesday. And about 15% of …

Huawei’s Mate 20 X 5G was set to become the company’s first 5G phone in the UK. But on Wednesday UK carriers Vodafone and EE said they’re pulling it from their device lineups for their 5G network launches. This follows a report Sunday that Huawei’s upcoming phones will no longer get access to Google apps and services like Gmail and …

Google’s troubles in China now include Huawei. For years, the tech giant has been dogged by its relationship with the world’s biggest country. In 2010, Google pulled out of the search market in China after co-founder Sergey Brin cited the government’s “totalitarian” policies, including censorship of the web. Since then, Google has tried to tiptoe back into the huge and appealing …

Apple has built new browser technology designed to let advertisers figure out when their ads successfully convinced you to buy something — but without tracking you across the internet and harvesting personal details to do so. The plan, called Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution and detailed Wednesday, is now built into Apple’s test browser for developers, Safari Technology Preview 82. …

A day after Google cut off Huawei from using Android on its phones, the US Commerce Department scaled back its restrictions on Huawei’s access to American components and software that go into its devices. The department on Monday created a temporary general license that will allow the China-based phone maker to keep existing networks and issue updates to existing phones, …

Huawei apparently sought out partners last year to fill up its app store. The embattled Chinese phone maker tempted app makers with the prospect of getting a foothold in its home market, the most populous country in the world, if they would create software for its App Gallery, Bloomberg reported Monday. Huawei reportedly told the app makers that they’d reach …

Last year Vizio’s customary place as best TV for the money was usurped by the TCL 6 series, which beat out Vizio’s M-Series for CNET’s Editors’ Choice award. Meanwhile, at the higher-end, an LG OLED got the award, but the superb Vizio P-Series Quantum earned a nod as the ideal OLED alternative for video-quality snobs without money to burn. Now four series …

Bose fans, the days of your company’s smart speakers supporting only one voice assistant are officially over. Following the footsteps of Sonos, select Bose speakers now offer a choice between Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Bose has announced that its Home Speaker 500, Soundbar 500 and 700 and the forthcoming Home Speaker 300 will offer Google Assistant. All are also compatible with Amazon’s Alexa system.  …

Google has brought the popular dark mode to two more apps, Calendar and Keep. Dark mode inverts the colors of apps by putting white text on a black background, which Google says reduces smartphone battery usage and means less strain on eyes. Now playing: Watch this: Best dark-mode Android apps to try now 2:18 Users can enable dark mode in …

Huawei sub-brand Honor announced its latest phone, the Honor 20 Pro, in the face of escalated hostility from the US against the brand. Despite the ban, and Samsung’s ability to gain from Huawei’s loss, the company and its Honor sub-brand have amassed a global following for their phones, posting 50% growth this month. The Honor 20 Pro and standard Honor 20 will still release …