Speaker 1: Big announcements from Google. At Google Io. I'm rich Dmiro.
Speaker 1: This is rich on Tech Daily. Well, in case you
Speaker 1: can't tell, I'm in Mountain View, California for Google Io.
Speaker 1: This is the company's Big Developers conference. Thousands of people
Speaker 1: come from around the world for a three day event
Speaker 1: that I kind of call a nerd carnival. I say
Speaker 1: that in the nicest possible way, because you literally get
Speaker 1: to meet all the important folks at Google that kind
Speaker 1: of create the technologies that power the products we use,
Speaker 1: like Google, Google Assistant, Google Home, Android, and Google Maps,
Speaker 1: just to name a few. It's also here that Google
Speaker 1: announces some of the new things it is working on.
Speaker 2: So let's go through some of those. Gmail for starters.
Speaker 1: If you've used smart replies in Gmail, you're really gonna
Speaker 1: love a new.
Speaker 2: Feature called smart Compose.
Speaker 1: Yes, Gmail can literally finish your sentences for you as
Speaker 1: you type.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The new feature uses artificial intelligence to learn what you
Speaker 1: type about and understand the questions people are asking you
Speaker 1: in your emails. Now.
Speaker 2: The example they showed had to do with.
Speaker 1: Someone talking about getting together for tacos gmails. Artificial intelligence
Speaker 1: was smart enough to suggest things like chips, Salsa, and guacamole.
Speaker 1: And if you start typing something like here's my address,
Speaker 1: smart Composed will just finish your sentence with your home
Speaker 1: address that it learned from your other emails.
Speaker 2: Pretty cool. Google Photos continues to get better.
Speaker 1: The main feature they're adding here is what Google calls
Speaker 1: artificial intelligence actions.
Speaker 2: So basically, if you're looking at a photo that's.
Speaker 1: Too dark, a little button will pop up that offers
Speaker 1: to fix it in one tap. Similarly, you can make
Speaker 1: the colors pop on a photo.
Speaker 2: Of a kid.
Speaker 1: And if you take a photo of a document, Google
Speaker 1: Photos will offer to convert it into a PDF, which
Speaker 1: is going to be super useful. And finally, you can
Speaker 1: add color to your old black and white photos in
Speaker 1: just a tap. I ask Google how they figure out
Speaker 1: what color things are and they said, well, they know
Speaker 1: for things like the sky and the grass and the rest.
Speaker 2: Their AI just figures out Google Assistant this is a
Speaker 2: huge part of Google.
Speaker 1: It's getting six new languages, including one that's inspired by
Speaker 1: the musician John Legend. He went inside and recorded his
Speaker 1: voice for Google Assistant. They also explain how they can
Speaker 1: make AI voices in the past compared to now. In
Speaker 1: the past, they would literally have someone sit in a
Speaker 1: voice booth and say a bunch of words and the
Speaker 1: computer would stitch them all together.
Speaker 2: But now Google says they can make voices faster.
Speaker 1: Than ever because the person only has to say fewer
Speaker 1: words and the computer can do the rest synthesizing their
Speaker 1: voice for all the things that we ask Google Assistant.
Speaker 2: Then there's a feature parents will like. It's called pretty Please.
Speaker 1: This encourages kids to use the word please when they're
Speaker 1: commanding Google Assistant on their speakers and other connected devices.
Speaker 1: And if you might recall, Amazon introduced a similar feature
Speaker 1: for its Echo devices that launches on May ninth. It's
Speaker 1: called Amazon Free Time on Alexa and you'll be able
Speaker 1: to activate it on.
Speaker 2: Your Echo for free.
Speaker 1: One of the craziest things Google showed off is a
Speaker 1: feature called Duplex.
Speaker 2: This helps Google Assistant.
Speaker 1: Schedule you and appointment even if a business doesn't allow
Speaker 1: online booking.
Speaker 2: So how does it do this?
Speaker 1: A Google bot will call the business for you and
Speaker 1: make a reservation or schedule a time. They can even
Speaker 1: talk back and forth with the person like they're a
Speaker 1: real human.
Speaker 2: Google showed off a.
Speaker 1: Sample call and the AI voice get this even adds
Speaker 1: mmms and hms to the conversation, so it sounds realistic.
Speaker 1: Google calls the feature an experiment, and I asked them
Speaker 1: how they're letting the business notes a robot caller, and
Speaker 1: they said they're trying out all kinds.
Speaker 2: Of like little subtle cues.
Speaker 1: This is kind of strange, but also pretty neat if
Speaker 1: it can help small shops and restaurants get more business.
Speaker 1: Google says a business can opt out at any time.
Speaker 1: And finally, Google made a big deal about combating screen addiction.
Speaker 2: You know the problem.
Speaker 1: We are constantly distracted by our smartphones. So for starters,
Speaker 1: YouTube is going to prompt you to take a break
Speaker 1: when you've been watching for too long. So how long
Speaker 1: is too long? Well, you can set a timeframe in
Speaker 1: the app's options.
Speaker 2: Then Android is.
Speaker 1: Getting a bunch of tools for quote digital well being
Speaker 1: as they call it. There will be a dashboard that
Speaker 1: lets you see how much time you're spending in certain
Speaker 1: apps and on your phone in general. Then there's a
Speaker 1: new shush mode that automatically activates when you put your
Speaker 1: phone face down on a table. This will silence all
Speaker 1: your calls and notifications, although you are still free to
Speaker 1: set a group of contacts that can always get through. Additionally,
Speaker 1: there's a wind down mode. This will be handy at night.
Speaker 1: It activates when you're going to sleep. It turns your
Speaker 1: screen black and white when it's time to.
Speaker 2: Go to bed.
Speaker 1: Google says that this is a que to your brain
Speaker 1: that your phone just isn't very exciting, so you'll want
Speaker 1: to put it down and go to sleep.
Speaker 2: That one I gotta try out now.
Speaker 1: Google made other announcements like the ability to take pictures
Speaker 1: of an item and shop for similar looking items online.
Speaker 1: We've heard about that before, still waiting for that to happen,
Speaker 1: as well as this virtual map mode that lets you
Speaker 1: navigate complex city streets with ease. But all these features
Speaker 1: are coming later than sooner. Thanks so much for listening
Speaker 1: from Google Io twenty eighteen. If you like this podcast,
Speaker 1: be sure to leave a rating and view in Apple
Speaker 1: Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Speaker 2: Omrich Tomiro.
Speaker 1: You can see links and pictures and videos to everything
Speaker 1: I mentioned here in.
Speaker 2: The podcast on my website. Just go to richon tech
Speaker 2: dot TV.
Speaker 1: Sorry about all the background noise, but I am on
Speaker 1: location here at Google Io, so thanks for bearing with me.
Speaker 2: Omrich Demiro. I'll talk to you real soon