Google CEO Sundar Pichai usually kicks off I/O with a keynote tackle.
James Martin/CNET
Google will host hundreds of builders in its hometown of Mountain View, California, for I/O, its largest occasion of the yr. The annual convention, which kicks off later right this moment, is Google’s alternative to tout its latest creations for its Android working system, Assistant software program and different widespread providers. But this yr there’s much more at stake. It’s an opportunity for CEO Sundar Pichai to handle the world, on his dwelling turf, amid what’s been essentially the most tumultuous time within the search big’s 20-year historical past. Since final yr’s gathering, Google’s largest points have spilled into public view. The firm’s staff have protested towards Google’s army contracts, its work in China and its therapy of short-term and contract staff. Pichai has additionally been dragged in entrance of Congress to defend Google towards accusations of political bias.
Now taking part in:
Watch this:
Our wishlist for Google I/O 2019
3:13
The occasion comes simply days after hundreds of workers staged a sit-in at a number of Google workplaces to precise discontent over alleged firm retaliation for a previous protest. Two longtime workers mentioned administration had been unfairly concentrating on them due to their roles in organizing final yr’s historic Google walkout, which noticed greater than 20,000 of the corporate’s workers march out of their workplaces. That protest was aimed toward Google’s dealing with of sexual harassment allegations directed at executives. Google has additionally confronted criticism over YouTube’s lack of ability to police the content material on its sprawling platform. The video service, a Google subsidiary, has been accused of prioritizing progress over the security of its customers. The blowback crescendoed after a shooter livestreamed himself gunning down worshippers at two New Zealand mosques final month. YouTube wasn’t capable of include the video’s unfold on its platform, and it was uploaded tens of hundreds of instances.On Tuesday, Pichai will take the highlight for his most high-profile tackle of the yr. It’s akin to Google’s State of the Union, and TV cameras and press will probably be readily available to listen to what he has to say.Though he might nod towards a few of Google’s present controversies, he is prone to attempt to hold the give attention to lighter fare: new options and merchandise. In years previous, Google has unveiled Glass, its in the end doomed good eyewear; Google Cardboard, a do-it-yourself headset that grew to become the launching level for the corporate’s digital actuality efforts; and the Google Assistant, its digital-helper software program akin to Amazon’s Alexa. Last yr, Google concurrently wowed and creeped out the world with the primary demo of Duplex, synthetic intelligence software program that sounds jaw-droppingly human.CNET will probably be readily available to cowl Pichai’s keynote tackle and convey you reside updates from the convention. Here’s what we may even see at I/O.When and the place is it?Google’s annual developer competition kicks off May 7 and runs via May 9. It’s being held within the search big’s yard on the Shoreline Amphitheater. The big live performance venue is so near Google’s international headquarters in Mountain View, California, you possibly can see it from CEO Sundar Pichai’s workplace.How do I watch it?The occasion’s primary keynote, which Pichai usually headlines, will begin at 10 a.m. on May 7. It’s normally livestreamed on YouTube and you’ll catch it on CNET as properly. We’ll even have our personal dwell protection and a crew on the bottom to deliver you real-time updates.Google holds its I/O convention on the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.
James Martin/CNET
Android QOver the previous couple of years, Google has launched its latest taste of Android to software program builders in March. But the corporate usually reserves a portion of stage time for its cell working system. This yr’s Android Q will help foldable screens, sooner app launches and privateness updates, equivalent to extra restrictions on location sharing.The query with Android updates, after all, is how Google will get them to extra of its smartphones (many nonetheless run on older variations). Hopefully, Google has a greater reply. Google AssistantGoogle usually makes use of I/O to introduce new options for the Assistant. Last yr, that included new Assistant voices (together with John Legend’s), a characteristic that requires youngsters to say “please” when bossing the Assistant round and the flexibility to ask two questions at one time. But what actually stole the present was Duplex, synthetic intelligence know-how that speaks like a human. It attracts out some phrases and pauses after different phrases, like regular individuals do. It says “uh” and “um” and has different verbal tics. The concept is to let the software program make calls in your behalf to arrange appointments, like restaurant reservations. From the second it was introduced, the product drew controversy over its capability to deceive individuals who won’t know they could possibly be speaking to a robotic. Google later mentioned they’d construct these disclosures into the product. This yr, it is affordable to count on extra updates to the Assistant as Google tries to push the service to extra individuals and gadgets. The firm is in a race with Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri to be the dominant digital helper in your life. Augmented and digital realityThree years in the past, Google launched its Daydream digital actuality platform at I/O. It lets individuals flip their telephones into VR machines by placing them into particular headsets. Recently, Google has been quiet about its Daydream and VR efforts. But the corporate has made noise round augmented actuality — overlaying digital photographs on high of what you’d usually see in the actual world. For instance, Google launched a know-how referred to as Lens at I/O two years in the past. It’s a software that allows you to seek for data on stuff via your telephone’s digital camera. For instance, you can see digital directional arrows in your telephone’s display screen once you’re in Google Maps’ navigation mode. Or you can see evaluate details about a restaurant once you level your digital camera at a retailer entrance. Any information would come on the heels of final week’s Facebook F8 convention, which noticed the launch of the low price Oculus Quest, which editor Scott Stein referred to as the perfect factor he is tried on this yr. It would not be a shock if Google supplied extra perception into its imaginative and prescient for AR or VR. Google Lens permits you to seek for stuff along with your telephone’s digital camera.
Josh Miller/CNET
Last month, Google appeared to by accident leak its personal product: The firm’s retailer web site made point out of the Nest Home Hub, with a “10-inch HD screen and stereo speakers.” The machine may also reportedly have a built-in Nest Cam.In the previous few years, Google has usually reserved lots of its declares for its annual “Made by Google” occasion. (That would additionally embody Nest, which Google absorbed final yr.) But a giant reveal at I/O would not be out of the strange. The firm unveiled the unique Google Home good speaker on the convention three years in the past.Rumors have swirled a couple of midrange model of Google’s flagship telephone, reportedly referred to as the Pixel 3A. In one other obvious Google on-line retailer slipup, the corporate touted a “Pixel 3A — NEW” within the telephones part of the web site, earlier than scrubbing away the point out. To feed the hypothesis much more: Earlier this week, the Google retailer web site teased “something big coming to the Pixel universe” on May 7, the identical day because the Google I/O keynote.Google StadiaLast month, Google took the wraps off of Stadia, a brand new cloud-based gaming platform. The concept is to stream video video games instantly from Google’s information facilities, as a substitute of a console. The platform additionally has tie-ins to YouTube and can let individuals share playable snippets of video games by sending hyperlinks. There are nonetheless a number of unknowns. We do not know but if Stadia may have a subscription mannequin or how a lot it may cost. We additionally do not know a lot about what sort of gaming catalog it’ll have. When the search big introduced Stadia on the Game Developers Conference in March, the corporate mentioned it might give extra particulars “in the summer,” presumably on the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles. But it is attainable Google might tease us with extra about Stadia at I/O, too.Originally printed on April 22.Updated on May 7 at 5:16 a.m. PT: To embody extra background.