CES 2019: Google Assistant to power one billion devices

"Ok, Google, how many devices are you going to be on?"  The answer to that question is a stunning 1 billion devices by 2019. Google wasn't the first to come out with a smart assistant for consumers (that honour goes to Apple's Siri, which is sadly an also-ran in the current race).

Amazon's Echo has exploded thanks to their line of Alexa powered devices numbering 100 million, but it seems Google is set to dominate since Google Assistant is in Chromebooks, Android and iOS devices, Android Auto car infotainment, myriad smart-speakers, smart TVs, plugs, bulbs, doorknobs...you name it. 

The big difference for Google Assistant is its language support. It was the first smart assistant with full French Canadian support from the get go (no surprise there, parts of the OS and hardware were developed in Canada).  

To date, you can parlez with Google Assistant in 30 languages and in 80 countries, talk about world domination. Active Google Assistant users have grown four times over the past year and as announcements out of International CES 2019 show, Google Assistant is being bundled in all sorts of cool and weird products.

Source: Engadget

CES 2019: Acer's new Predator Triton 900 represents peak gaming notebook

Gaming notebooks are expected to be huge in 2019 and Acer has pretty much dropped the gauntlet at CES in Las Vegas with the audacious Predator Triton 900.

This is a 2-in-1 notebook built around a 4K 17-inch touch display as well as Intel’s recent hexacore 8th Gen Core i7 processors mated to Nvidia’s RTX 2080 graphics card/ Also on tap are lightning fast NVMe PCIe SSDs and up to 32GB DDR4 RAM which pushes pricing for this beast beyond its US $4,000 starting price.

Mastercard celebrates 50 years by dropping its name

Mastercard is dropping its name in select branding and becoming something more, a symbol. The company announced it is dropping its name from its iconic brand mark in select contexts. With this latest milestone in Mastercard’s rebrand, which started in 2016, the interlocking red and yellow circles will now stand on their own. 

“Reinvention in the digital age calls for modern simplicity,” said Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communication officer at Mastercard. “And with more than 80 percent of people spontaneously recognizing the Mastercard Symbol without the word‘mastercard,’ we felt ready to take this next step in our brand evolution. We are proud of our rich brand heritage and are excited to see the iconic circles standing on their own.”

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Samsung’s new TVs get Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa support

So, Samsung is trying to bring more value to its new TVs. On top of its support for iTunes and AirPlay 2, Samsung is also bringing support for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. But there’s a caveat to this. The new TVs will respond to voice commands from these two digital assistants through Alexa- and Google Assistant-powered smart speakers. The built-in voice assistant and one you can talk to through the remote will still be Samsung’s Bixby Assistant. The commands it can execute is rudimentary at the moment. Using Google Assistant or Alexa, you’ll be able to turn on the TV, change channels and volume, or switch between inputs. There’s no word yet if richer features are coming, but Samsung should update us if they are bringing more.

Source: Engadget