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jeudi 15 octobre 2020

Google Assistant is coming to 2020 Samsung Smart TVs

Google Assistant is available on everything from smartphones to smart displays, and now it’s coming to 2020 Samsung TVs. Support is rolling out first in the U.S., followed by additional countries soon.

Samsung shared a list of compatible TVs:

  • 2020 8K and 4K OLED TVs
  • 2020 Crystal UHD TVs
  • 2020 Frame and Serif TVs
  • 2020 Sero and Terrace TVs

Voice control on Samsung’s smart televisions previously went through the company’s own Bixby platform, as Samsung’s TVs don’t run on Google’s Android TV (soon to be called Google TV) platform. With Google Assistant support, you can do everything from control playback to open apps. You can also ask the Google Assistant to find you action movies or search for films with a specific actor. Of course, you can also use Google Assistant to perform typical actions, like control your smart home or show the weather forecast. Samsung’s support page details more voice commands you can try out.

To setup Google Assistant on your 2020 Samsung TV, navigate to Settings > General > Voice and select Voice Assistant. When prompted, select Google Assistant. If you don’t see it as an available option, you’ll need to update your TV’s software to the latest version. To finish setup, you’ll need to open Google Assistant on your smartphone. If you do enable Google Assistant on your TV, Samsung said that you’ll give permission for Google and Samsung to share information with each other.

Google Assistant is available now for Samsung’s latest smart TVs, and will roll out to other markets later this year.

Google Assistant - Get things done, hands-free (Free, Google Play) →

In the same blog post, Google also revealed Assistant will be available on the new Fitbit Sense and Fitbit Versa 3 this winter. On these smartwatches, you’ll be able to start a Fitbit Exercise, control timers, manage tasks, add items to shopping lists, and more.

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Today’s Top Tech Deals: A Year of Bitdefender for $20, $300 Curved Monitor, and More!

Prime Day was wild, wasn’t it? After 48-hours of deals layered in more deals, you think there would be nothing to talk about today! But you’d be wrong. Very wrong. Deals don’t stop. There will never be a day on this Earth where you cannot save money on something, and it’s my job to let you know that there are even more ways to save. I will never escape the deals, which means you won’t, either.

So, with that said, today’s top tech deals include a year of Bitdefender Total Security for $20, a Monoprice curved monitor for $300, and more!

If you’re in India, check out the Flipkart and Amazon Sales Festival!

Big Savings on JBL products on Amazon

Select JBL products were on sale at Amazon for Prime Day, but now, you can save on a wider variety of JBL speakers and headsets… and you don’t even need a Prime membership! If you didn’t pick up one of the many headphone deals over the last two days, you and still save on JBL’s Live 650BTNC or Club One, both being great headphones in their own right. Or you can pick up the Clip 3, a portable waterproof Bluetooth speaker.

    Save up to 43% on JBL Products
    Pick up some quality speakers, headsets, and more with JBL's sale on Amazon. With the Clip 3 wireless speaker for only $40, there's no reason to not pick one up!

A Year of Bitdefender for $20

There are a lot of anti-virus software choices out there, so I wouldn’t blame you if you were left overwhelmed with the options. I’m here to tell you, though, is that Bitdefender is one of the standouts. I’ve used Bitdefender, and only Bitdefender, for years now, and it does an amazing job of keeping my PC safe and secure. At Amazon, clip the coupon on the store page in order to get a year of anti-virus security for up to five devices for only $20.

    Bitdefender Total Security 2021 (1 Year)
    Keep your devices secure for cheap. Clip the coupon on the store page in order to get one year of Bitdefender Total Security for just $20! This subscription will protect up to five devices, whether they be PC, Mac, or mobile.

$20 Off Corsair’s HS60 Gaming Headset

If you aren’t a fan of Razer, you might have found the headsets on sale during Prime Day a little… lacking. Best Buy has you covered, though, and you can save $20 on the Corsair HS60 gaming headset. With an understated yellow flair, this headset looks a lot better than the average gaming headset, where it seems bold and garish color schemes are popular choices. The Best Buy reviews are very positive for the headset too, stating clear sound and a sensitive mic.

    Corsair HS60 Headset
    For just $50, get a quality gaming headset that isn't an eyesore. Corsair's HS60 gaming headset looks good and sounds good, offering great audio and a quality microphone.

Monoprice Curved Gaming Monitor for $300

An ultrawide curved gaming monitor for just $300? This isn’t only Amazon or Newegg–you’ll have to go to eBay for this deal! Monoprice is selling its 35-inch Zero-G curved monitor there, and the price is really good for this style of monitor. a 100Hz refresh rate is nothing to scoff at either, especially as most 120Hz monitors come at a much, much higher price. If you’re upgrading your PC on a budget, this monitor is a great choice.

     Monoprice Zero-G 35-inch Curved Gaming Monitor
    Head on over to eBay to get yourself a nice curved monitor for cheap. Monoprice's 35-inch curved monitor is just $300, and with FreeSync technology built-in, this monitor will give you a great gaming experience.

Big Save Event: Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 for $170

Most of the other retailers have ended their big events for the week, but Walmart is still going strong with the Big Save Event, which ends today. With it, you can grab yourself a Galaxy Tab A7 for just $170, $60 off the MSRP. It doesn’t come with a keyboard cover, and it’s definitely not the latest model of the Tab A line, but it’s a capable tablet in its own right. If you’re looking for a tablet to do a few simple tasks, you don’t really need the bleeding edge anyway, and the Tab A7 will be a great budget grab.

    SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab A7
    It's the final day of the Big Save Event, so it's the last chance to save on the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7! The Tab A7 is a solid budget pick, and saving $60 on it makes picking one up even more enticing.

More Tech Deals

Looking for even more tech deals? We have them for you below! The Soundcore Life Q20 headphones are still at their base Prime Day price of $45, so pick them up if you haven’t already!

The post Today’s Top Tech Deals: A Year of Bitdefender for $20, $300 Curved Monitor, and More! appeared first on xda-developers.



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Huawei Freebuds Studio headphones leak ahead of Mate 40 launch

Embattled Chinese tech manufacturer Huawei is set to announce the Freebuds Studio, its first premium over-ear wireless headphones, alongside next week’s Mate 40 phone range. Despite the name, the Huawei Freebuds Studio are definitely not earbuds, but rather a high-end pair of Bluetooth headphones, seemingly meant to ape the success of Apple’s Beats.

Don’t expect a bargain — official pricing will likely be announced on the day of the event, but WinFuture reports the price will be set at just under €400, putting them squarely in the Bose/Sennheiser/Sony bracket. This sort of statement of intent is always a risk for a company breaking into a new market, and with Huawei’s current global reputation, it’ll be interesting to see how many people are willing to take such an expensive punt on an unknown product.

Huawei Freebuds Studio - Credit: Winfuture

Left: Huawei FreeBuds Studio in Graphite Black. Right: Blush Gold. Credits: WinFuture

Offering a 40mm dynamic driver backed by a Huawei Kirin A1 audio processor chip, the headphones should deliver decent sound quality, though we only have the company’s premium true wireless earbuds to compare to. Automatic Noise Cancelling (ANC) is standard, which will reduce ambient noise by up to 40dB. This feature can be turned on or off from a hardware button.

There are two 410mAh batteries within the 265g headphone, which will apparently offer up to 20 hours of music playback or 15 hours of calls — though we’d hasten to add that we don’t expect it’ll be anything like that much with the ANC switched on. Either way, the whole unit is said to be charged in around 70 minutes, but marketing material reviewed by WinFuture claims that 10 minutes of charging via the USB-C port will give you 5 hours playback (again, probably without ANC).

Connection to a Huawei EMUI 10.x device is made simple by quick pairing, and this will also allow you to see the battery level of the headphones from your phone. Offering the latest Bluetooth 5.2 (but fully backwards compatible), the Huawei Freebuds Studio will be available in ‘Blush Gold’ and ‘Graphite Black’, as shown in the leaked renders above.

Huawei doesn’t always range its accessories in every territory, so we won’t find out for certain where you’ll be able to buy them (or perhaps pick them up free with a phone) until the Mate 40 range is unveiled next week.

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Here are the countries using Google and Apple’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing API

SARS-CoV-2, also known colloquially as just the coronavirus, has wreaked havoc across the world. Many countries shut down large parts of the economy in order to contain the spread of the virus. As countries reopen their economies, many health experts fear a “second wave”, ie. resurgence, of COVID-19. To prevent a second wave, public health experts are advocating that nations adopt contact tracing, ie. tracing all the people who have recently come into contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 and then undertaking steps to isolate those individuals. Contact tracing is difficult to implement correctly without violating an individual’s privacy. The threat to personal privacy was severe enough for Google and Apple to collaborate on an API that developers of public health agencies can use to implement app-based contact tracing solutions. This contact tracing API, which Google and Apple call the Exposure Notification API, is designed to respect user privacy and security.

Once a user downloads an app that uses the Exposure Notification API and opts in to contact tracing, their device starts generating “proximity identifiers” that are changed every 15 minutes (on average). Via Bluetooth Low Energy, these “proximity identifiers” are periodically shared with nearby devices whose users have also opted into contact tracing. The proximity identifier is then processed on-device and does not reveal information about a user’s location or other personally identifiable information. Once a user confirms a positive diagnosis of COVID-19, they can share their diagnosis with the app they installed, which will then inform other users who have come into close contact with them in the last 14 days. For more information on how the Exposure Notification API works, we recommend reading our initial coverage.

Google first rolled out the Exposure Notification API for Android devices on May 20, 2020, as part of an update to Google Play Services, but its use is restricted to apps that have been developed by official public health agencies (for obvious reasons). However, neither Google nor Apple has made details public about the list of apps that have been whitelisted for using this API, so unless you’re constantly keeping up with the news, it’s hard to know which countries have adopted the API. We’ve previously covered some of the countries that have adopted the Exposure Notification API when we talked about the various open-source contact tracing projects that are out there. In this article, we have compiled a list of official contact tracing apps from designated health agencies from various countries that are using Google and Apple’s Exposure Notification API. Our list contains COVID-19 contact tracing apps that have been released or are currently in development.

We discovered Google’s hidden whitelist of application package names for the API. Subsequently, these package names were traced back to apps, their listing, and the countries they belong to. The information is compiled below in a table for easy reference. We have also added Google Play Store and Apple App Store links, if the app has been publicly released, as well as the source code and the official website link, wherever available. We will update the following tables as more countries/regions adopt the API.

Table Changelog

  • June 26, 2020
    • Added: Brazil, Ghana, Ecuador, Spain, Estonia, Egypt, Portugal, Croatia, MIT’s PathCheck SafePlaces
    • Package names updated: Canada, Alabama
  • June 29, 2020
    • Updated Ireland’s listing to include the source code
    • Added the name and package name of Spain’s app.
    • Google has updated the package name “eg.nc.moh.bruhealthtrace” to “egnc.moh.bruhealthtrace.” This matches the “BruHealth” contact tracing app from the government of “Brunei.” We have updated the table accordingly.
  • June 30, 2020
    • Added Spain’s Radar COVID app
  • July 1, 2020
    • Fixed Japan’s listing to reflect that COCOA – COVID-19 Contact App has already been released.
    • Added a separate table for open contact tracing implementations based on Google and Apple’s Exposure Notification API. PathCheck SafePlaces was moved to this table and COVID Shield and Common Circle were added.
  • July 6, 2020
    • Ireland’s COVID Tracker app has been released on Google Play and the Apple App Store, so the listing in the table has been updated with links to reflect that.
  • July 8, 2020
    • Added: North Ireland, the Netherlands (second app), Finland, and MITRE’s COVID Aware app
  • July 15, 2020
    • Added: Arizona, CV Key
    • Updated: New Canadian app, package names for UK apps, Mexican app, updated Ghana –> Gibraltar
  • July 22, 2020
    • Added: Nevada (?) pending verification
  • August 5, 2020
    • Added: Belgium (In-Development), New York (In-Development)
    • Updated: Virginia (Released), North Dakota (In-Development), Canada (Released), Croatia (Released), Ecuador (Released), Northern Ireland (Released)
  • August 10, 2020
    • Added: Slovenia, Arizona, South Africa (?) pending verification
    • Re-verified that released apps are using COVID-19 ENS.
  • August 13, 2020
    • Updated: United Kingdom (Released)
  • August 24, 2020
    • Added: Czech Republic (In-Development), Michigan (In-Development), North Carolina (In-Development), Pennsylvania (In-Development), Scotland (In-Development), Kazakhstan (In-Development)
    • Updated: Spain (now using ENS), Estonia (Released), Netherlands (Released), Slovenia (Released), Alabama (Released), Nevada (Released), North Dakota & Wyoming (Released)
  • August 28, 2020
    • Added: Guam (Released)
    • Updated: Portugal (Released), South Africa (Released)
  • August 31, 2020
    • Updated: Finland (Released)
  • September 1, 2020
    • Added: Puerto Rico (Released)
    • Updated: Czech Republic (now using ENS)
  • September 9, 2020
    • Updated: Scotland (Released), Spain (source code)
  • September 14, 2020
    • Added: Delaware (Released)
  • September 21, 2020
    • Added: California (Released)
    • Updated: North Carolina (Released), Belgium (Released), Kazakhstan (Released), Malta (Released), Pennsylvania (Released)
  • September 29, 2020
    • Added: New Jersey (Released)
  • September 30, 2020
    • Updated: New York (Released)
  • October 7, 2020
    • Added: Greece (Released)
  • October 14, 2020
    • Added: Jersey (Released)
  • October 15, 2020
    • Added: Michigan (Released)

Regions with COVID-19 contact tracing apps based on the Exposure Notifications System (ENS)

Region App Name Android Package Name Status Useful Links
Australia COVIDTrace au.gov.dta.covidtrace In-Development
Austria Stopp Corona at.roteskreuz.stopcorona Released
Belgium Coronalert be.sciensano.coronalert Released
Brazil Coronavirus – SUS br.gov.datasus.guardioes Released
Brunei BruHealth egnc.moh.bruhealthtrace In-Development
Canada COVID Alert ca.gc.hcsc.canada.stopcovid Released
Croatia Stop COVID-19 hr.miz.evidencijakontakata Released
Czech Republic eRouška cz.covid19cz.erouska Released
Denmark Smittestop com.netcompany.smittestop_exposure_notification Released
Ecuador ASI ec.gob.asi.android Released
Estonia Hoia ee.tehik.hoia Released
Finland Koronavilkku fi.thl.koronahaavi Released
Germany Corona-Warn-App de.rki.coronawarnapp Released
Gibraltar Beat Covid Gibraltar com.gha.covid.tracker Released
Greece Exo com.pathcheck.gr.bt Released
Ireland Covid Tracker com.covidtracker.hse Released
Italy Immuni it.ministerodellasalute.immuni Released
Japan COCOA – COVID-19 Contact App jp.go.mhlw.covid19radar Released
Kazakhstan Saqbol kz.nitec.bizbirgemiz Released
Kenya ke.go.health_togethertrace In-Development
Latvia Apturi Covid Latvia lv.spkc.gov.apturicovid Released
Malta COVID Alert Malta mt.gov.dp3t Released
Mexico COVID-19MX mx.gob.www Testing ENS
Netherlands CoronaMelder nl.rijksoverheid.en Released
Northern Ireland StopCOVID NI net.hscni.covidtracker Released
Philippines StaySafe PH ph.staysafe.mobileapp Testing ENS
Poland ProteGO Safe pl.gov.mc.protegosafe Released
Portugal STAYAWAY COVID fct.inesctec.stayaway Released
Saudi Arabia Tabaud sa.gov.nic.tabaud Released
Scotland Protect Scotland gov.scot.covidtracker Released
Slovenia OstaniZdrav si.gov.ostanizdrav Released
South Africa COVIDConnect za.gov.health.covidconnect Released
Spain Radar COVID es.gob.radarcovid Released
Switzerland SwissCovid ch.admin.bag.dp3t Released
United Kingdom NHS COVID-19 uk.nhs.covid19.production Released
United Kingdom – Jersey Jersey COVID Alert com.governmentofjersey.jerseycovidalert Released
Uruguay Coronavirus UY uy.gub.salud.plancovid19uy Released
USA – Alabama GuideSafe gov.adph.exposurenotifications Released
USA – California California COVID Notify gov.ca.covid19.exposurenotifications Released
USA – Arizona Covid Watch gov.azdhs.covidwatch.android Released
USA – Delaware Covid Alert DE gov.de.covidtracker Released
USA – Guam Guam Covid Alert org.pathcheck.guam.bt Released
USA – Michigan MI COVID Alert gov.michigan.MiCovidExposure Released
USA – Nevada Covid Trace Nevada gov.nv.dhhs.en Released
USA – New Jersey COVID Alert NJ com.nj.gov.covidalert Released
USA – New York COVID Alert NY gov.ny.health.proximity Released
USA – North Carolina SlowCOVIDNC gov.nc.dhhs.exposurenotification Released
USA – Pennsylvania COVID Alert PA gov.pa.covidtracker Released
USA – Puerto Rico Rastrea el Virus BT org.pathcheck.pr.bt Released
USA – North Dakota & Wyoming Care19 Alert com.proudcrowd.exposure Released
USA – South Carolina In-Development
USA – Virginia COVIDWise gov.vdh.exposurenotification Released

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

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Google Play Console adds a publishing overview page and revamps timed publishing

Google has announced two near features that will be joining the redesigned Google Play Console when it rolls out next month. Publishing Overview and Managed Publishing are both aimed at giving greater control over how your creations are rolled out to customers.

Publishing Overview

Publishing Overview is a new page offering a dashboard of your apps’ store listings, release changes, and current status (such as whether they’re still being reviewed by Google). Great for individual developers, but where it really shines is in larger groups, where it can help coordinate developer team efforts and synchronise releases. This is different from the standard developer logs, because it can be organised by change type or release track, and only shows the information that you want it to — usually changes that will affect what your users see.

Timed Publishing -> Managed Publishing

Managed Publishing is a replacement for Timed Publishing from the old Play Console. The big change is that, if you opt in, you can schedule publication at a set time after your app is approved — it won’t get published automatically when it has finished the review process unless that’s what you specify.

That means that you can set a hard release date, knowing it won’t get caught in the queue for approval, or worse still, find on the day that your app has been rejected. You’ll see two sections in the Managed Publishing window — one that shows published apps, and another that shows apps ready to publish.

Additionally, you can now publish changes, even if there are others outstanding, and you’ll no longer have to wait for pending reviews before opting in or out of the service.

Google is offering an online course on the new Google Play Console in the Play Academy. The new Google Play Console design arrives on November 2nd for all developers. There’s more about what to expect in our preview.

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Google details plan to replace Hangouts with free version of Chat in 2021

Google on Thursday provided an update for users who still rely on Hangouts to chat with friends and family. The search giant said in the first half of 2021, Hangouts users will be migrated to a free version of Google Chat — the Slack and Discord competitor currently available to enterprise users.

Google will automatically migrate Hangouts conversations during the transition, along with contacts and saved history. When the transition is complete, the free version of Google Chat will be available as an integrated experience in Gmail and as a standalone app.

Chat will include familiar Hangouts features, such as direct and group messaging, along with new additions, like faster search and emoji reactions. Free Google Chat users will also be able to share and collaborate on files and assign tasks. The free version of Google Chat will still include extra phishing protections as part of Google’s Safe Browsing initiative.

Google Hangouts transition to Google Chat

Because Hangouts will make way for Chat, that means Google will need to make changes to Hangouts for Google Fi users. That includes removing Fi support in Hangouts early next year. Google will instead make Messages its main platform for Fi, so it’s adding some new features in the next few weeks. Google said Fi users will be able to make voice calls and check voicemail from Messages for web, migrate their existing Hangouts conversations, and manage conversations from Messages across devices.

Google is also changing some things related to telecommunications and Hangouts with Google Voice. Later this month, Hangouts Voice users will be directed to the Voice app for text messaging and calling going forward. Voice support in Hangouts will then be removed early next year. Meanwhile, Google said in order to comply with new regulations being introduced in the EU and U.S. in 2021, it’s removing the call phones features in Hangouts. By November of this year, Google will update the group video calling experience in Hangouts with Meet.

Google said that the timing of some of these changes may shift, but with 2021 on the horizon, you may want to start preparing for the changes now.

Hangouts (Free, Google Play) →

Google Chat (Free, Google Play) →

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Xiaomi to bring its Google Assistant-powered Mi Smart Speaker to Europe

Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi is bringing its Mi Smart Speaker to Europe shortly after its launch in India last month, according to WinFuture. The Google Assistant-powered smart speaker follows the usual Xiaomi ethos of offering a premium experience at a more pocket-friendly price point.

Offering a dual-band WiFi connection, a 2.5-inch, 12-watt front-firing speaker backed up by a Texas Instruments audio processor, the Mi Smart Speaker boasts an AmLogic A113 SoC powered by a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processors and two long-range microphones for voice control from across the room. Two Mi Smart Speakers can even be paired to form a stereo array.

Measuring around 15cm high and weighing in at 850g, the white casing with a black speaker grill, in classic Xiaomi styling, also includes full media control touch buttons and an LED strip-light which, we’re told will eventually be capable of projecting in 16m colours, after a future firmware update which will also activate DTS audio tuning.

Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker

Currently only available in China and India, the device has had warm reviews since launch, suggesting that it offers more bang-for-your-buck than most third-party Google Assistant smart speakers and even gives the Google Nest Mini a run for its money too — not the best sound, but an impressive (some would say too powerful!) bass and fidelity at this price point.

As you’d expect with a Google Assistant smart speaker, the Mi Smart Speaker doubles as a Chromecast receiver and can control all your Google Home linked devices.

In India, the Mi Smart Speaker will set you back ₹3,499, so we’d expect it to be around 50-55 Euros or £55-60. WinFuture claims the price of the device at a Spanish retailer is set at €52.99, while its price at a Portuguese retailer is set at €59.95. Spend more and you’ll get more, but if you’re looking at an entry-level smart speaker, this may well surpass your expectations in a way that a Google Nest Mini or Amazon Echo Dot just won’t.

The Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker should be available from Mi.com, when it becomes available in your region.

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