The official beta for the next version of Android is out now, and if you have a spare Pixel phone, I really do recommend you check it out. If you don’t, my recommendation is not to install it — betas are never a great idea on something you truly depend on, and your main phone is likely near the top of that list. I’ve been using a build close to what Google released today for a week and I haven’t had any catastrophic crashes, but there have been some bugs.
I wrote up a lot of observations and made a video detailing the new features yesterday, but something I struggled to get across then and I think I’m going to struggle to get across now is how much better the texting experience really is. I say that even though essentially no apps fully support Google’s new pop-out “bubble” feature yet.
It’s a struggle to describe because fundamentally what Google has done seems so small. It has taken boxes that used to appear in one place and make them appear in another place. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call the experience transformative, I do think that it’s hard to understand how good it is without using it for some time.
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We’ll see how I feel after a few more months, but right now I find that Android 11 offers a a more enjoyable and more coherent overall messaging experience than iOS.
That is a sentence I never thought I would write. In fact, if you simply Google the phrase “messaging mess” on The Verge, you will find that it’s nearly synonymous with Google and the article with the phrase is often written by yours truly. Can Android 11 really fix all of that?
Well, no, of course not. But what it has done is make a fundamental problem on smartphones more manageable. Android 11 can’t fix Google’s messaging mess, but it has made the overall texting experience on smartphones better.
The difference between Google’s messaging mess and the overall mess on smartphones is simply that Google blew several opportunities to win at mobile messaging. Now, it’s going for something more “open” by trying to get all carriers worldwide (and maybe Apple) to upgrade from SMS to RCS in a consistent and universally compatible way — and also make it possible to layer strong encryption on top of it. It’s taking longer than hoped.
RCS aside, the problem is that there are too many texting apps and you can’t really convince all your friends and loved ones to just choose one. In some parts of the world, that statement doesn’t obtain because everybody uses WhatsApp, but at least here in the US, messaging is fragmented across iMessage, SMS/RCS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Signal, Telegram, and any number of other apps I could list here.
That’s a problem for both Android and iOS users, but it feels more acute on Android because the default option is a bad, broken experience: SMS. Or, if you’re lucky, it’s RCS — but even then your encryption options are substandard. There may be messaging fragmentation on the iPhone, but at least the default experience when you’re texting other iPhone users is pretty good.
You talk to different people on different apps and it’s a hassle to remember who is in which app. Additionally, your notifications from these different apps get intermixed with everything else in your notifications. Sure, all your messages from WhatsApp might be grouped, but then it’s a news alert and then it’s Signal and so on.
It’s a first-world problem, but a modern smartphone is supposed to help you with these hassles. It’s also an old problem, and smartphones have tried to tackle it in the past with decidedly mixed results.
I could wax ecstatic about the solution Palm tried with webOS: Synergy. Essentially webOS tried to just give you one messaging app and within it you had threads with all your contacts. Inside each thread you could switch between whatever texting method you preferred. It was beautiful and, like webOS itself, doomed.
Similarly, Windows Phone tried to abstract away apps entirely into its People Hub, which combined lots of different contact, communication, and social features into one place. Another doomed idea on another doomed smartphone platform.
Those efforts failed not just because those platforms failed, but because fundamentally no chat service is interested in having its users in another app. In the same way streaming services balk at being included in another company’s smart TV interface, there’s no reason for Facebook Messenger or Google Chat or Skype to let you use a more generic interface. The days of XMPP are (sadly) behind us.
Which is why Android 11’s solution is actually genius. It doesn’t try to replace those apps, it simply collates their alerts into a single place. You get benefits that are similar to the way apps like Trillian or Adium combined IM services back in the day, but it’s just in your notifications instead of in an app.
That’s also, in theory, the genius of the bubble system — I’ll have to use it more to see how it pans out. To the user, it’ll just feel like any other app icon (albeit floating over your other apps). You tap it to open your texts, with icons for each of your conversation threads. The fact that tapping on one of those icons happens to open a distinct app doesn’t really matter, because at least it’s all in one place.
Even without those bubbles, the Conversation system in Android 11 is great because of its distinct priority system. I am able to set my wife and boss as priorities in the apps I use to talk to them (and can optionally allow them to break through Do Not Disturb.).
But some of the group chats I’m in are very chatty (Hey Bohn clan: love you!), so I want to turn off all notifications for them. Until Android 11’s conversation section, silencing those alerts was a recipe for ignoring my family — not what I want, especially now. But now, those alerts are still promoted up above random news alerts — I see them, but I’m not interrupted by them.
Earlier I called the disparate chat apps a kind of fragmentation, but another word for that is competition. It’s not the worst thing in the world to have to deal with multiple chat apps, because at least that means there’s not one dominant, global chat service.
Solving these problems at the notification layer is probably the best possible solution right now. Switching back to an iPhone or even an earlier version of Android today after my piece was published, I immediately felt a sense of friction and annoyance.
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I’ll also direct you straight to one of my tweets. When I originally looked over the improvement to Android’s Voice Access accessibility feature, I thought it was just iterative — and since Voice Access was already great before, it didn’t seem worth including in my original feature. But trying it more, I became more impressed. The feature does a better job understanding what’s on the screen and why, so you can control it with your voice using much more natural language than before. I should have included it from the jump — not just because it’s good, but because even iterative improvements to accessibility merit attention.
One thing I left out of my Android 11 beta hands on was the improved Voice Access, which now understand screen context and content. That was a mistake – it’s actually incredible.
You don’t have to use a grid or button numbers, you can just say what’s on the screen. Watch: pic.twitter.com/wXidxZGVjt
The hybrid core setup works by combining a more powerful Core-class Sunny Cove core (the same 10nm architecture the 10th Gen Ice Lake chips are based on) with four low-power Atom-class Tremont cores (for a total of five cores and five threads) on a single die. That arrangement allows for a balance of power, efficiency, and battery life that a purely Core or purely Atom setup could achieve. … If that sort of chipset arrangement sounds familiar, that’s because it’s strikingly similar to ARM’s Big.Little architecture,
The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
