Google I/O 2019: Android Q Beta, Privacy Focus & More

As with last year, the much awaited Google I/O developers conference saw the search giant focus on themes of artificial intelligence for the larger good, privacy, and software enhancements to Android. Some of it were long overdue, but here's a list of everything it announced at the packed event:

• Auto-delete controls to manage Location History, and Web and App activity settings.
• One-tap access to settings coming to Chrome, search, Assistant, Maps, Google News, and YouTube.
• Improved set of ad transparency controls in Google Chrome that will allow users to see all of the cookies currently stored by the browser and give them the option of blocking any trackers they don't like, in addition to more aggressively restrict fingerprinting across the web.
• To make available a new open-source browser extension that will inform users of the various intermediaries that were involved in serving and targeting a given Google ad, along with surfacing the factors used to tailor an ad to a user.
• New incognito mode for Google Maps that prevents specific searches in Maps from being linked to users' accounts or stored locally. (Google Search, Chrome and YouTube already have this feature.)
• Unveils Android Q third developer preview with support for system-wide dark mode, new gesture-based navigation, and focussed on three themes: "Innovation, security and privacy, and Digital Wellbeing".
• Android now powers 2.5 billion active devices across the globe.
• Employs Federated Learning, Google's terminology for on-device machine learning, for word suggestions on Gboard, smart replies for message notifications, and new Live Caption feature that adds real-time subtitles to any audio or video playing on the phone, and Live Relay that takes advantage of on-device speech recognition and text-to-speech conversion to transcribe phone calls in real time, and allows users to respond via text.
• Improved iOS-like permissions manager that lets users share location with apps only when they are in use.
• New Project Mainline to deliver critical OS-level security and privacy updates straight to phones by leveraging Google Play Services. (Google already has Project Treble to address larger issues surrounding Android fragmentation.)
• Focus Mode to disable distracting apps and improved Family Link settings that allows parents to monitor their children's devices, set daily limits, and check app usage.
• Improvements to Google Search with capabilities to surface podcasts in search results and play them right away.
• View 3D models in search results page when searching for specific terms like "solar system," "muscle flexion," and so on.
• Faster next-gen Google Assistant experience (coming to "new" Pixel phones later this year) that can process and understand voice requests "in real time" and deliver results "up to 10 times faster" than its current iteration.
• A Picks For You feature on smart display devices later this summer that will suggest personalised recipes, podcasts, and "events".
• With an aim towards better transparency, Google will make it clear to the user why the AI is recommending certain things.
• New Driving Mode built-in to the Assistant activated by saying "Hey Google, let's drive" that offers touch-friendly shortcuts to what users might need while behind the wheel, like calling, messaging, directions to frequent locations, music control, and podcasts.
• Waze to gain Google Assistant integration in the coming weeks.
• More than 30,000 connected devices now work with Google Assistant across 3,500 brands. (In comparison, Amazon Alexa is compatible with 60,000 smart home devices from 7,400 brands.)
• Updates to Google Lens that highlights popular items in a restaurant menu, and calculate tips and totals in receipts.
• Expands Duplex AI chat agent to work beyond booking appointments over the phone, and handle things like rental car booking and movie ticketing.
• Brings all smart home devices under Google Nest brand, and announces new Nest Hub Max with a larger 10-inch display and a camera for US$ 229.
• Drops the price of original Nest Hub (previously Google Home Hub) to US$ 129, and makes it available in 12 new markets (including India) and 9 new languages.
• New Face Match feature on the Nest Hub Max that leverages on-device machine learning algorithms to recognises faces to customise its responses.
• Phases out Nest Accounts and urges users to migrate to a Google Account, signalling the end of data separation that existed between Nest and Google, and winds down Works With Nest platform that allowed third-party smart home device makers to plug their products to a Nest Thermostat in favour of Works With Google Assistant.
• Unveils two "budget" Pixel smartphones: Pixel 3a will start at US$ 399, and come with a 5.6" display, 12.2MP rear camera and run Android P out of the box, while the Pixel 3a XL will start at US$ 479, and bumps the screen up to 6.0".
• A redesign of Google Play Store for Android TV with a cleaner look and "one-click" process to make purchases and add subscriptions.
• Introduces a new way for users in emerging markets to pay for app purchases via Google Play store by using cash at a nearby convenience store.
• Artificial Intelligence for the greater good
• Working towards eliminating biases when designing AI and machine learning models by informing developers what variables it's paying attention to, who can tell the model to ignore that variable (e.g., using gender to identify job applicants) if necessary.
• New research project called Project Euphonia to help people with ALS and other speech disorders speak.
• To publish a paper in Nature Medicine about a neural network that can identify lung cancers from CT scans, with the model capable of detecting malignancy with a rate that meets or exceeds trained radiologists.
• Working on flood forecasting with AI.