Speaker 1: Google's new wireless earbuds are the next step toward the
Speaker 1: universal translator in Star Trek. I'm Jonathan Strickland, and this
Speaker 1: is tech Stuff Daily. On October four, Google unveiled some
Speaker 1: new products at a special event, including the second generation
Speaker 1: of the Pixel Android phones and the Google Pixel Buds,
Speaker 1: a pair of wireless earbuds with some nifty extra features. First,
Speaker 1: some Android fans focused on something the new Pixel phones
Speaker 1: expressly lack, which is a headphone jack. Neither the Pixel
Speaker 1: Too nor its larger cousin, the Pixel to XL have
Speaker 1: a three and a half millimeter headphone jack. Instead, you'll
Speaker 1: need to either use a special dongle connected through the
Speaker 1: phone's USB C port, or you'll need to pair a
Speaker 1: wireless headset to the phone if you want to use
Speaker 1: headphones or earbuds. It's a move that's similar to one
Speaker 1: Apple made back in two sixteen. The iPhone seven also
Speaker 1: launched without a headphone AC and while some Android users
Speaker 1: such as myself might have been a bit smug about
Speaker 1: the whole thing, it appears Apple is forging a new
Speaker 1: path into the future, one in which all your headphone
Speaker 1: accessories will either require an adapter or you'll need to
Speaker 1: upgrade to new equipment. Google's explanation for the move is
Speaker 1: all about the display on the phones. According to Mario Quitas,
Speaker 1: a product chief at Google, the reason for the shift
Speaker 1: was that Google wanted to move toward handsets that will
Speaker 1: have the display go all the way right up to
Speaker 1: the edges of the phone, getting rid of the bezel
Speaker 1: as much as possible. This has not stopped some disgruntled
Speaker 1: Android users from pointing out that the basic Pixel too
Speaker 1: still has a bezel on all sides, while the Pixel
Speaker 1: two x l's top and bottom edges also have a
Speaker 1: border on them. Perhaps the more cynical Android fans feel
Speaker 1: that this is a move designed to sell more accessories.
Speaker 1: You can use a special dongle connected to the phone
Speaker 1: to plug in that three and a half millimeter headphone
Speaker 1: set into it, but it also means you can't charge
Speaker 1: the device at the same time, since the charging cable
Speaker 1: normally plug into the USBC port on the phone. If
Speaker 1: you want to listen while charging, you'll need a wireless
Speaker 1: headset that connects via Bluetooth. It seems like a natural
Speaker 1: conclusion that this move was made in order to sell
Speaker 1: those types of headsets, and indeed Google has a pair
Speaker 1: of its own that retails for a cool one hundred
Speaker 1: fifty nine dollars per set. However, Google's earbuds aren't just
Speaker 1: passive listening devices. They serve as an interface for your
Speaker 1: phone and have some cool functions as well. According to
Speaker 1: the website The Verge, you can use swipe gestures and
Speaker 1: the right earbud to control the volume directly, and you
Speaker 1: can press the earbud to activate Google Assistant, the personal
Speaker 1: voice assistant Google developed for the Android platform and Google
Speaker 1: Home devices. You can interact with the assistant by speaking
Speaker 1: directly to it. The assistant has natural language recognition built
Speaker 1: into the system that means you can ask for the
Speaker 1: same information in many different ways and the assistant will,
Speaker 1: in theory, understand what you mean. For example, you could
Speaker 1: say what will the weather be like tomorrow? Or will
Speaker 1: it rain on Wednesday? Or what's tomorrow's forecast, and the
Speaker 1: assistant will retrieve the information for you and speak to
Speaker 1: you over the earbuds. One of the more intriguing features
Speaker 1: Google showed off was the translate feature. Google Translate has
Speaker 1: existed for a while and can automatically detect a language
Speaker 1: based on text and translate it into other languages. Google
Speaker 1: Assistant goes a step further. You can ask the assistant
Speaker 1: to help you speak another language, and it will act
Speaker 1: as a translator between you and someone speaking that language.
Speaker 1: For example, if I wanted to chat with someone who
Speaker 1: only spoke Spanish, I could use my phone to facilitate
Speaker 1: this conversation. I'd activate Google Assistant and tell it to
Speaker 1: help me speak Spanish. When my Spanish friend says something,
Speaker 1: the phone will pick up the audio translated into English
Speaker 1: and send that translation over the earbuds. I could then
Speaker 1: press on the right earbud to activate the assistant and
Speaker 1: speak back in English. The phone would then translate this
Speaker 1: into Spanish, speaking it out to the person I'm chatting with.
Speaker 1: It's not quite the Universal Translator from Star Trek, but
Speaker 1: it's pretty darn close. These translators have been part of
Speaker 1: science fiction for a while, whether in space operas like
Speaker 1: Star Trek or comedies like Hitcheker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Speaker 1: It makes sense because you need some way to address
Speaker 1: the problem of communicating with alien species that would have
Speaker 1: no contact with Earth languages. The Google Pixel buds won't
Speaker 1: help you if you encounter Venusians on holiday, but since
Speaker 1: we still have a heck of a time understanding each
Speaker 1: other down here on Earth. They could come in awfully handy,
Speaker 1: But is it worth the one fifty nine dollars? I
Speaker 1: suppose that depends upon the individual user and how they
Speaker 1: might rely upon the technology. The translate feature is just
Speaker 1: one aspect of the earbuds. Google Assistant has many different
Speaker 1: potential uses, but not all of them are necessarily interesting
Speaker 1: to the average person, and one fifty nine dollars is
Speaker 1: a pretty steep price for wireless headsets. If you're like
Speaker 1: me and have a habit of misplacing your earbuds, you
Speaker 1: may think twice before plopping down the cold, hard cash.
Speaker 1: That's it for to day. To learn more about natural
Speaker 1: language processing, voice recognition, personal assistance, and more, subscribe to
Speaker 1: tech Stuff we published twice a week and do deep
Speaker 1: dives into all sorts of technologies. Join us, Join us.
Speaker 1: That's all for today. I'll see you again soon.