Amazon’s smartphone flop was the best thing that happened to Alexa | The Verge

"Artificial intelligence is the future, specifically, voice-controlled AI that allows you to interact with a multitude of apps and services without using a screen; that’s the point that Amazon underscored yesterday when it unveiled its newest hardware. But the event wasn’t really about hardware. It was all about extending Alexa, making "her" available in even more places.



Of course, Amazon is not alone in this thinking. Other tech companies are making big advancements in consumer-facing artificial intelligence. The most familiar is Apple’s Siri. Microsoft has Cortana. There’s also Google Now, the super-smart intelligence layer on Android phones. However, all of these started out anchored to the smartphone. They require adoption of certain mobile operating systems, and in most cases still require people to be near something with a display.



Amazon’s Alexa does not. While we’ve all been busy looking down at our smartphones, Amazon has slowly been filling in the pieces of the smart home puzzle, the smart life puzzle. The original Echo is now a kind of spine for Alexa in the home; the Fire TV and Echo Dot are part of the peripheral nervous system; and the new portable Tap speaker is the first attempt at giving Alexa legs to roam. It’s simultaneously amazing, and terrifying (if you consider the security implications)."



Amazon’s smartphone flop was the best thing that happened to Alexa | The Verge

The Verge - Alexa Untapped (New Amazon Echo)

The Verge

The Amazon Echo Dot is Alexa in a tiny disc

Apple gets backing in FBI iPhone case from privacy groups, tech titans - CNET

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the first in what's expected to be a series of amicus briefs in federal court supporting Apple's decision to challenge a February 16 court order that demands the company write a new version of its iOS software to bypass the phone's security. Microsoft, Google, Twitter and Facebook, and privacy groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have said they're also going to submit amicus briefs on Apple's behalf by the March 3 deadline.





Apple gets backing in FBI iPhone case from privacy groups, tech titans - CNET

Amazon Echo Dot Release Date, Price and Specs - CNET

Amazon Echo Dot Release Date, Price and Specs - CNET

Apple’s top lawyer turns to ring binder when iPad fails during US Congress hearing

Apple’s top lawyer turns to ring binder when iPad fails during US Congress hearing

"Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell reads from a paper copy of his testimony in front of the US Congress, after his iPad appears to fail. Sewell is giving evidence at the House judiciary committee hearing into the standoff between Apple and the FBI when suddenly he stops reading from his iPad and turns to a hard copy of his testimony. The iPad Pro was unused for the remainder of the lawyer’s remarks"

Google leaks the first peek at Android N

Apple, FBI face off before Congress over iPhone encryption

The five questions that will decide Apple’s fight with the FBI | The Verge

"There’s also the real possibility that the New York Telephone case doesn’t matter at all. The All Writs Act only applies where there’s no preexisting statute that addresses the situation — but we’ve added a lot of new statutes in the 39 years since New York Telephone was argued. Some legal experts have offered 1994’s Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act in particular as a relevant statute. If the court agrees, it would strike at the heart of the government’s case, punting the entire argument directly back to Congress.

The government’s filings address this up front, claiming CALEA is inapplicable because Apple isn’t a carrier and the order concerns stored data rather than real-time phone records. But Apple’s filing points out a separate section of CALEA that says the government "cannot dictate to providers of electronic communications services or manufacturers of telecommunications equipment any specific equipment design or software configuration." It’s not an exact match — since GovtOS won’t be sold as a product, maybe it’s more like a coding request than a dictated software configuration — but for many, it sounds an awful lot like what the FBI is asking from Apple in the broader encryption fight."

The five questions that will decide Apple’s fight with the FBI | The Verge

Brooklyn judge denies government's request to unlock iPhone in drug case

Brooklyn judge denies government's request to unlock iPhone in drug case

"(Reuters) - A federal judge in Brooklyn, New York denied the U.S. government's motion to compel Apple Inc. to provide access into an iPhone used in a drug case, according to court documents released on Monday.

The government sought access to the phone in October, months before a judge in California ordered Apple to give the government access to the phone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California attacks."

I’ll use the Pixel C full-time for 30 days so you don’t have to - Chrome Story

I’ll use the Pixel C full-time for 30 days so you don’t have to - Chrome Story

"So here are the ground rules: I’m beginning my experiment today, Leap Day, February 29th, the only day crazy enough for an endeavor such as this. For the next calendar month, I will not use or even turn on my regular full-time computer (an original Chromebook Pixel) or any other laptop/desktop device. While away from my desk, I will continue to use my Android phone, a Nexus 5X. If a work-related task can’t be done on the Pixel C, I won’t do it. I’ll either find an acceptable workaround or ask/pay someone else to accomplish the task for me. I’ll catalog my experience here on Chrome Story with regular posts throughout the month. I’ll enthusiastically highlight the good and the bad of life with one of Google’s most confounding — and most intriguing — products."