Google’s annual I/O conference kicked off yesterday. This conference is used as a platform for the engineers of the company to announce new products, show off the engineering behind these new products and give the industry a window into what is coming up in the company’s future. The first day kicked off with a few updates to some of the preexisting technologies from the company but also brought a host of new consumer products that the world can be looking forward to. Some of what will be shown at the conference will display exactly how the Internet of Things will soon be integrated into our daily lives and shows just what engineering can achieve. Here are some of the highlights:
Credit: Google
Google Home: A voice-activated home assistant device that will bring Google Assistant into your homes. Essentially, you would be able to surf the internet and get information by just talking to the device. A competitor to Amazon’s Alexa, the device will also assist in playing music and automating some home tasks. They are being referred to as ‘smart-speakers’ for the home.
Allo & Duo: A Whatsapp competitor for mobile that has a host of new, innovative ways of text chatting, including a chat service with Google Assistant that seems to border on Siri-like behaviour. Duo is a Facetime/Skype competitor that will allow face to face video conversation over a network, that allegedly will even work when a network is slow.
Android N: The update to the operating system came with a host of new announcements that included the announcement of something called the JIT Compiler which would lead to app installations at a speed that is 75% faster than it currently is on Android.
To see further development in virtual reality and wearables, check out the full I/O keynote:
