Gadgetory

welcome to the 339th I'm dr. Chang I'm out for dang googles duplex is getting unleashed I'm sort of the surprisingly human like AI will go through limited public testing if you remember Google showed off duplex at i/o having a call a restaurant and make a reservation and it felt scary human with a complete with thumbs and likes and awkward pauses are you what do you think you freaked out I can't wait for the all AI podcast that will eventually happen 350 die brought to you by Google and duplex most I don't know what you think how do you feel about this um um I don't know yeah this could go on yeah that's basically the new AI podcast but I don't think I don't think I'm creeped out by it I don't think I'm gonna get calls from like I hope that the way that it rolls out eventually like once it's everywhere is that basically an opt-in kind of scenario like basically don't call me with AI unless I give you approval to was how it's rolling out right now there's like five different restaurants around playing in our area I know they said they were gonna notify people yes this was do play if this wasn't a the call starts with like hi this is a Google assistant I'm calling to see if I can make a reservation that's still kind of creepy it's like hi it makes it even worse it's like I know this is an assistant now and it sounds eerily human just I don't have a problem with that I think things easier for me I don't have to call anybody I do this kind of stuff I know I know Millennials hate to call people is this don't talk just one of those things like why would you have the assistant do that why can't I just have like an online portal to do that like make a reservation like click open table yeah something like that but like all right next up we want to talk about the BlackBerry key to Jessica dual court has a review out and unsurprisingly it's this is a phone for physical keyboard diehards you know I had a chance to play with it the keyboard definitely was better but it wasn't enough to get me to switch from an all screen I used to be I used to be a keyboard diehard like years ago to the point where like I think I had a phone with a keyboard up until like 2014 oh wow it was like a pretty recent it was just one of those things that was just like I really enjoyed being able to type without looking yep and I could just like walk down the street and like respond the next do you find that you can now type on your screw that yes yes i-i've kind of f wrote out that blew my mind and then also I was just like like that people were doing it but then now I've been able but I still have to check to see what I wrote is actually what I wanted to write wanna keyboard or you know check yeah I know I know I said so for again for the the few fans of black bear out there this is a worthy upgrade if you're into blackberries with physical keyboards otherwise let's go ahead and skip yep so want to talk about smart watches the the market may be kind of a bust unless you're the Apple watch everything everything else is kind of man but Qualcomm sees a lot of potential in kids wearing them and actually introduced a new processor a new platform for children's smartwatches where the processors for kids yeah what about it the processor will power to power smartwatches designed specifically for kids so I mean I are they really targeting kids are they targeting parents who want their kids wearing the excellent question I think they're yeah they're really targeting parents who want some sort of wearable that they can track their kids with these are watches with a built-in LTE connection definitely more power efficient than the watches that we're getting so they're not super sophisticated they do the job in terms of keeping track yeah I think their biggest challenge will be like keeping it cheap and keeping it durable I'm sure like kids break everything and like true I really wouldn't trust like putting a smart like $150 like SmartWatch I'm like would you trust thirty or forty dollars probably yeah but I would also have to know like how often does it break true ya know these these things will definitely have to be durable it's funny they actually make up half the market already and they're mostly out of China so that says a lot for the SmartWatch SmartWatch market mm-hmm for morning story she could sound seen it I'm Roger Chang I'm Alfred ringing thanks for sitting musics getting more and more dramatic all the time not bad not bad just like our life oh yeah my my life today has been relatively drama-free thanks his slack being down I drop my drama today I didn't even involve slag goes on the train if he saw my tweet this morning I did not um there was a man squeezed in with me on the subway oh and I see no I'm not honestly I was standing up and he gets in on the train and he I don't know why but he picks the spot right next to me makes like a 90-degree angle with his shoulder in my shoulder hey he's just there he's like his squeezed up space elsewhere yeah there was space elsewhere I mean there wasn't there wasn't at the time but then once space opened up he stayed there and I realized both of us were too stubborn to move because it's like this is our spot so I spent 45 minutes there like like a like tuna and a can with this guy even though just like elsewhere just because you didn't want back with my space I was there first he should well I hope you enjoyed that oh yeah it's really nice yeah it's about the principle to whoever was on that train with Alfred I thank you for that story all right so as per usual we're gonna jump into the chants they're taking your questions and comments the first one that really caught my eye is from a Katherine Emma who says I have children and I think this will take off this is obviously in reference to the Smart Watch initiative put forward by Qualcomm a Katherine we'd like to hear you elaborate on this a little bit and what you think is gonna be beneficial to you as a parent and what you think other parents could actually take away from this Oh Roger you're a parent yeah not to Alfred well no I another follow-up question like if you don't mind how old are your kids and you know what age do you feel that you know slapping a SmartWatch on them is appropriate cuz I have a two-year-old right now and he's obviously he's too young for this but there's gonna be some point where I'm gonna have to have a debate with my wife but whether or not these smartwatches are actually gonna be useful yeah I I was just thinking about this like one kids tech event that I went to like two years like a year ago where they had all these tablets and stuff for kids but then they had this whole other section just for like smartwatches for like kids and stuff and all these parents are at the event table this is really helpful because like I know where my kid is after school if there was an emergency I can contact them directly that way without all like the issues that come with like having a smartphone cuz that's essentially why parents get smartphones for their kids right but they were also like oh I don't want them on Facebook or like Instagram all the time with like a SmartWatch you really get all the advantages of that without having like them being distracted on social media and all the stuff all the time and I also noticed that during Apple's event when they announced all those updates the Apple watch that was very family-oriented there oh yeah yeah I got from the walkie-talkie feature had like these two siblings using with each other oh I can't picture even the as a when my kids a teenager like buying him a lower 300 400 dollar Apple watch yes I don't know I can picture that because by the time I have a teenage I'll probably be very rich let's continue to elaborate on this Isaac tan says SOS is great especially when the kids are starting to go to school on their own oh yeah life improvement sites that GPS tracking for your child could potentially be beneficial and Rafael is asking if you guys in your opinion think that this will really kind of pan out and work as far as I'm taking it from the marketing perspective because as we said smartwatches they're not new but directing them well they're getting MIT kids is that going to is that going to give a shot in the arm to this industry well I think they're already working in China as I said it's it's making up almost half the market already I mean I think it's it's a relatively easy pitch to parents I think universally right like the idea that this thing will give you location information and there are apps that do this if you know if you've got your if you can has a smartphone already that I mean there are things that do that but you know for that kind of middle aged between when they're a little too young for a SmartWatch like a big colorful rivairy tough resistant SmartWatch might be a good alternative and like they're plenty of apps to sort of take advantage of that location right the idea that you know if your kid leaves the school zone you get an alert in funeral if the kids in a place that he or she isn't supposed to be you get alert like that stuff is pretty useful it's pretty as you said all this stuff like makes sense in theory though but like in practice I'm having a hard time seeing this play out with like no kid wants to be tracked all the time by their parents like III whoa look that's the thing like the idea is like you have to win if you want that level of freedom like yeah you have to wear that watch I think that's ultimately what it is like you're probably thinking from a sixteen seventeen yes I'm thinking from like a nine or ten-year-old perspective like where they're a little too young to really say eff this I'm gonna take the watch off yeah well maybe I'm I mean yeah I don't know I thought I was pretty clever when I was like 12 in the sense like what you really wore - I know but that's one of the things where I was just like oh just like if I were like a 12 year old kid I would just say like the battery on it died or something right like I'm sure that's why I'm sure I'm sure they're workarounds for it yeah but I fully robbed me yes it's another thing to think about like what if like school bullies are like stealing these and like using them to sell for like well that's that's a whole other problem then well yeah address with the school that's it's not like oh well I'm okay the bully took your watch I guess we're done with that no I'm just saying that there are factors like in like kids lives that like might not really be considered here when maybe yeah it depends again on the age right like if you're six or seven nine or ten I don't know like I don't I think those are less of an issue as versus if you were in later in junior high or high school yeah I guess they don't have to be marketed on like some sort of like TV show or cartoon that was like we made this whole cartoon just to sell toys to kids but now it's smartwatches there you go that's that's transformers and GI Joe yeah but now with smartwatches so is that gonna be the next kid craze TV show like Pokemon but they're watches yeah there was like yeah I collect them all oh my god oh my god that's how they do it though they make it cool and collectible and that's true customizable band that's where true yeah that's like the kids on the hook cuz then they become a fashion accessory because remember when like lanyards were cool no I'm like pogs were cool pogs though and jeans were cool pogs are back in POG for him hey a long time listener apec points out that they have a kid starting kindergarten this year congratulations cast a major chapter in your life and that they actually like the SmartWatch idea the problem is will they wear it and keep it on yeah that's not yeah let's keep this conversation going see what other incentivize programs we can put into it from making them customizable making them palatable the kids make it up make it a toy right if you're creating it for lunch money and also maybe it's the way you presented to your kid right you don't present it as a tracker you present it as like here's this cool new gadget or new toy now as a kid that never listened to my parents I'm just like I probably would have never won this thing but like even if my parents gave it to me a day there have to be something that like I bought on my own at what point though you never listen you even when you were six or seven like there's an age threshold we're like this'll work maybe you're right like after they get into junior high or they into their teens like this is no longer effective anymore yeah that's what I'm saying like it would have to be done with like oh this is like cool like Drake is wearing this so you should use all right just get right to where yeah basically walk ahead do it Qualcomm you get tricked wear these watches and have his dad have like for fun yo kids that's cool if I had this I wouldn't keep it on cuz I was the kid who was like constantly taking his pants off me yeah exactly so like Brian knows what I'm talking about it's a good thing no one can see below the tape right life improvements as GPS tracking for your child sounds a little like a kid house arrest Isaac tan says for those worried about kids losing the watch there should be a sensor to send an alert when it is taken off oh that's easy repoint hard to balance idea is a good idea and on one point but also a little spooky a little stalkery totally totally I think well as a parent I think I'm I'm airing definitely on the stalkery side I mean they're your kids yeah you'd do anything to protect them that's exactly it you know what if they don't use them I feel like parents will still buy them even if they don't necessarily work you can just buy them say there's a watch like here yeah there's a clue watch well look so this is just for further context this processor does support Android wear which okay maybe it's not that cool it supports a 5 megapixel camera supports LTE as I said Android oh this is out now no no this well the processors just got released so you can imagine products coming for the using this platform I don't know did they did they give the 30 to $40 price range or was that was that I think that's that's an estimate okay yeah yeah like it would have to be and imagine the ones that are successful in China are relatively cheap yeah I'd I'd buy that I tracked myself a question from Channing che for alfred would you actually trust a $40 SmartWatch to be a very SmartWatch know also that you know terrible security they're like oh yeah we got a hacked like immediate that's a fantastic point that I guess that's the other point too like there's a lot if like all that data out there on your children like if it's that cheap they better have like a very good security team rich most of the times if it's cheap I mean probably you know what that's it would be a good place for Google yeah make their own kid watch things like it probably won't have its own like LTE signal or anything like I could probably have to connect here no no no that's the hope oh really this chip no but you're not gonna get that for your kid like oh you online like well I think it depends on the business model like if I were smart if I were Google I'm not smart or Google I mean I create the cheap SmartWatch because they can create cheap products really really effectively have the LTE built in and like have the track basically you cover it just like yeah Amazon covered for the handle yeah I was gonna say I wonder if they could just do what Kendall does where it's like just like a 2g connection so it exactly it just does a location thing and Google pays for you have to worry about and I think that would sell again you wouldn't have to like pay for it exactly there wouldn't be a monthly subscription yeah just pay for the watch and that's it yeah I mean Security's still an issue but I don't but if it was a couple like Google behind it yeah at least yeah but you're right a lot of these watches probably the for you look at what happened he definitely the toys what was that runner like that it wasn't Fitbit but it was like something similar to Strava oh yeah all that data that was available yeah yeah I think just from my perspective here and not having kids but growing up in a very small tight community town that was a nice place to grow up felt safe and the world changes the world has gotten scarier I like this idea as an option better than the alternative which is parents putting chips in their kids or like they put chips in their pets now sometimes too for tracking in the way what do you mean in their pets like embedded understand yeah yeah yeah it's like the size like a rice grain pretty sure I wouldn't embed a chip in my kid I mean it's an option like people can do I'm saying I like this better that's all definitely well there's that or the actual physical leashes oh god kid on a leash that's so sad and terrible but like watching my kid my two-year-old run around like crazy now I'm like that leash idea does it sound rollerblades or something so he won't be able to he's saying trap is free we actually got a scooter he's just he just flies away basically been one of those electric scooters yes it's electric of course alright let's move on to duplex for a second Michael Brown says do you think Google duplex will work within the Google assistant on iOS oh that's a great question it is in probably well it's yeah down the line I mean they're still testing this is like really really early days for duplex but I imagine once it's sort of a core part of Google Assistant it'll get moved over to Iowa that's not even that available on like most Android phones yeah it's it's a very limited public trial right now and as far as the credentials go to participate in that public trial how are people selected for that are they like first time big-time users are there like celebrity clientele that are being recruited because Nikolas wants to know when will we be able to start using Google duplex um the the the program is more so about it's not like selecting people to use duplex its selecting restaurants at and like locations that will accept it but open to receiving the call Hall's as far as like using two Plex I am Not sure in terms of the limitations right now it's it's over the coming week to the timeframe the software will be used to confirm business and holiday hours open/close times the fourth of July it was like yeah this is basically very limited stuff I think the idea is to keep it fairly limited keep it simple for interactions let me duplex need a learn exactly it needs to learn so it gets better mimics us way better so they can replace us yeah eventually chase Anika 81 can I get Google duplex to talk to my mother on the holidays I don't know how low that conversation would last I think unless your mother was a like a really also artificial intelligence no but she kept talking I think duplex could handle that cuz it would just be like um uh-huh yeah okay how most of my conversations go to yourself yeah well with me frankly I would love to see that as our initial test whenever we get it in the office here is just see how long it can have a natural conversation that's not necessarily like a client base like a booking thing trying to get a hair appointment or whatever they they demoed when they unveiled it right just see how long we can trick like John Falcone into thinking that I'm on the phone it's Crank Yankers but with AI next uh-huh yeah okay taking your polls in the chat who should we crank call with Google duplex whoo I like that one alright so to close things out let's talk about blackberry bill says no one takes blackberry seriously yeah send you again to be clear this is not the BlackBerry company in Canada this is TCL makes TVs they make Alka telephones and now they're making BlackBerry's but yeah it's it's it's hard to take them seriously now they were once you know the number two smartphone maker in the world but it's a long long way from from those days so how long do you think until they abandoned the whole physical keyboard thing they're not they're not that amazing heavily into it they tried abandoning and it for right like no we make we make smartphones now I know yeah I don't think they ever truly abandon the idea of physical keyboard they made fun they all touchscreen phones but they've they've always been sort of like a side project as opposed to like the core like honestly I appreciate they know who they are they are they're gonna stick with it you know like it's not me that needs to change it's everyone else idea that this is sort of like forget the mainstream forget most people we're just gonna build the best keyboard phone for folks who like keyboard no matter how small an audience that is that's what we're going after it's like those the folks that built the best horse carriages after for horse carriages in New York City so it's a loser now so what you're saying is the BlackBerry is gonna become a tourist novelty oh god yeah it could be a novelty come to our museum and check out the phone with a keyboard when will BlackBerry be the new Zack Morris phone or is it already and I don't think I never will be I feel like the site cake was the Zack Morris phone because that's like the quintessential keyboard phone I don't know but I feel like the sidekick yeah hit a certain generation but it wasn't like but it'll stream lis pop but it also had like a unique look I mean like the directional it wasn't also extremely popular yeah I guess I feel like it didn't hit the public consciousness maybe because I'm not I wasn't the right age for those psychic phones I was for me yeah hey Roger before we wrap it up do you know what BlackBerry's market share is by chance oh I believe it is like point zero two percent oh I believe I'm not really a share it's not really sure I think they sold like a hundred thousand nine hundred thousand it's pretty low like last year keep in mind like most handset maker cell phones in the millions per quarter and I would hazard a guess that they probably sold about a hundred thousand last year I don't a lot of keyboards hey man bless their hearts for trying like you said they were a powerhouse back in the day but they've kind of gone the in Yahoo and AOL right I mean that was the Obama phone for a while that was the he was a big chair that is true yeah that's true it wasn't a jay-z line true he caught a blueberry though there's the line it's on encore from the blackout but he says out the country but the blueberry still connect Roger talking I don't know that music either thought it was called he thought the for the blue well for a while the Kardashians they they couldn't BlackBerry's either so there are still some folks who was so clean to it what life improvement says blackberry and Windows should combine forces I'd be inviting oh my god that would be it's like the combination of like to also rands doesn't make a better company it just makes another slightly larger also-ran yeah I don't think Microsoft needs to take that hit yeah I mean we spent years covering the rise and fall of Windows Mobile or Windows Phone so it's yeah that Windows Phone and Blackberry getting together second helping what if the NYPD starts using blackberry good news guys they're all black bear not Windows phones anymore they're blackberries now no these iPhones now though which yeah yeah they all have ice and look these phones are to be fairly these phones are Android phones are not like on their own kind of island operating system they do use Android they're just their keyboards at a time when people don't want keyboards they they want the full screen right so one more question before we wrap it up from our neighbor to the north Ryan Williams so where does blackberry in Canada come into play with this are they still around yeah so that's great question blackberry blackberry limited is still around still thriving it sells business software security software it does actually secure this phone the Android operators actually I think runs through the BlackBerry servers and is secured and hardened there before it goes to these TCL billed phones so black bear is still around they the their software powers smart cars and they still do a lot of security stuff they're just they're not in the consumer mindset then they're all about business now so that's why we don't really talk about them that often that's a powerful review what's BlackBerry up to these days they're around around alright kickin we are out of time we'll be back tomorrow with more 359 goodness and on that note Roger you want to take us on out of here yeah if you like think that you saw her here check us out on CNET our podcast is available on iTunes to tune in stitcher SoundCloud feedburner google play music google podcast and the amlong Alexa take care everybody will tomorrow