7 NEWSFEED Updates & upgrades
BREAKING NEWS FROM THE STREAMING SECTOR
GOOGLE TRIES NOT TO BE EVIL
In May, Google held its annual Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California. The company’s announcements underlined how AI and machine learning are becoming integral to the Android operating system (in fact, it could be argued Google is first and foremost an AI company) and how caring for the human beings using these technologies is becoming a hot button issue. Among the most discussed topics at the conference were the details of Google’s new Digital Wellness initiative, which looks at ameliorating a host of digital sore spots, including news feeds, addictive interfaces and the effect of screen technology on children (see FEED’s May issue for more). Google’s revamped news service will offer personalised top stories prominently displayed, including local news and events. Video news will be highlighted with a feature called Newscasts, which provides short video summaries of stories. A feature called Full Coverage allows users to dive deeper into the stories and see them arranged along a timeline. A ‘Subscribe with Google’ option will make it easier for users to subscribe to news sources and see them in their news feed. New features have been rolled out in Google Assistant which can now make calls for you autonomously, even adding um’s and ah’s in the conversation to convince the other party that they’re talking to an imperfect human. Assistant is also much more handy now at retrieving media content on demand. As part of the company’s Digital Wellbeing Initiative, the Android OS will let users track how they are using their devices, including time spent on each app and the numbers of notifications received. YouTube will now come with a ‘Take a Break’ reminder that viewers can set every 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes. The reminder can pause the video being
watched until the user dismisses it. Users can access past viewing data as well. Google has also added features for greater parental control. The household authorities can now instantly and remotely control the Wi-Fi access on any Android device or can set timers for greater control over family members’ screen time. It will become easier to put boundaries around kids’ YouTube usage too with new YouTube timer controls. When the end
of a pre-determined viewing session is reached, viewers will see a ‘Time’s up!’ notification and the app is locked. It’s hoped that these tools will help restore some sanity to the use of digital tools – especially for children. Google is certainly hoping it takes some of the heat off. And if nothing else, it will now be much easier to use Google Assistant to call emergency services while you’re fending off your crazed, YouTube-starved children.
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