Robot Baby On Board

Robot Baby On Board
Number	2870
Broadcast Date	OCTOBER 3, 2016
Episode Length	29:39
Hosts	Tom Merritt
Guests	Veronica Belmont

Use your body to transmit passwords, city-subsidized Uber and Robot babies. Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt discuss that and more.

Guest

• Veronica Belmont
  • Growbot
  • Sword and Laser's Patreon

Top Stories

• Facebook launches Marketplace to let you buy and sell items with nearby users

Facebook is launching Marketplace in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the US this week. The new section collects listings of products users are selling. The page will display listings algorithmically based on your previous behaviors on Facebook. All transactions regarding the items take place outside Facebook, similar to Craigslist. The section launches first on mobile where it replaces the Messenger icon. A desktop version is in the works.

• Facebook launches pared back Android chat app to keep growing its messaging empire

Facebook also began rolling out Messenger Lite, a simplified messaging app designed for older Android hardware. The 10MB app will allow messaging, sending and receiving links and photos, and receiving stickers but will not support things like video calling and payments. Messenger Lite is rolling out in Kenya, Tunisia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Venezuela, with availability in other countries to follow.

• Google Pixel smartphones leaked by Carphone Warehouse

The UK's Carphone Warehouse accidentally posted a listing for Google's Pixel phones which are expected to be announced at an event Tuesday. The 5-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL have large bezels and fingerprint sensors on the back as well as support for live cases which pair with screen wallpaper like in the Nexus phones. Both phones were listed as available in black and white.

• Google’s Pixel phone event: what to expect

What else might we hear about? Google Home ($129?), Chromecast Ultra (4K and HDR for $69?), Google Wi-Fi? (multi-point routers), Andromeda OS combining ChromeOS and Android?

• Baidu’s new TalkType keyboard app emphasizes voice input over typing

Baidu Research in Silicon Valley released TalkType, an Android keyboard Monday, that puts voice recognition first with keys for letters and numbers as a secondary option. TalkType is supposed to be three times faster than typing in English with a 20.4% lower error rate. The numbers come from a study by Stanford. Baidu Research is led by Chief Scientist Andrew NG. Dr. Ng co-developed Google Brain and joined Baidu in 2014 to work on Deep Speech, a learning-based speech recognition system. TalkType was previously available in preview the Google Play store and is now available free in a release version. The company is thinking about launching an iOS version as well.

• How Uber Plans To Conquer The Suburbs

The town of Summit, New Jersey is testing subsidizing Uber rides to customers traveling to the local trains station, rather than spend the money to build and maintain a new parking lot. The rides cost $2 each way, the same as an all day parking permit. Those who already paid for parking permits can take Uber for free. The city pays Uber the difference. The test is being conducted with 100 residents who opt in to the program. The deal is expected to cost Summit about $167,000 annually vs. the estimated $10 million for a new parking lot. Summit is 45 minutes from Penn Station. Other programs are in Altamonte, Springs, north of Orlando, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority County near Tampa, and Parkmerced apartment and town homes in San Francisco.

• Secure passwords can be sent through your body, instead of air

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a way to send passwords through your body instead of over the air. Data is delivered from a touchpad held in one hand to a device held in the other. The transmission rides the low-frequency electromagnetic transmissions generated by a device's fingerprint sensor or touchpad. It could be used to transmit passwords to things you touch like doorlocks without risking Bluetooth or WiFi interception. Researchers achieved data transfers of 25-50 bits per second, enough for passwords but could do higher bitrates if manufacturers provided more access to software. The paper was presented in September at UbiComp 2016 in Germany.

Discussion

• Why Toyota Just Unveiled a Robot Baby in Aging Japan
• Toyota is releasing a chatty robot that sits in your car’s cupholder
• Toyota to Launch Sales of 'Kirobo Mini'

Messages

Michael linked to a Boing Boing post about a Variety article that noted "Google is said to have told home audio vendors that they won’t be allowed to add any other digital assistants than Google’s own to their hardware if they want to continue to use Google Cast."

Sent by Michael

That Google move seems quite foolish. Amazon already has a fairly dominant position that market, so why the harsh stance? I hate when artificial divisions are caused by knuckleheads who thought they had a good idea. Does the Google offering support countries where Amazon is not present? That is the only reason I could see to maybe go down that path.

Sent by Scott

I'm guessing that Google is attempting to protect access to some of their products. (Chromecast for instance). but is seems to be contrary to those products. The Chromecast is not restricted from Amazon Firestick developers.... or is it? I'm not a developer.

Sent by Chris

Links

• This episode on dailytechnewsshow.com
• Support DTNS on Patreon
• DTNS subreddit

Preceded by: "The Domains We Name Stay Mainly In Our Reign"

Robot Baby On Board

Followed by: "All the Pixels"