Facebook has activated its Safety Check feature following an explosion in Manchester Arena that killed 22 people and left more than 50 injured. Police and fans close to the Manchester Arena.Dave Thompson/Getty Images
The explosion occurred around 10:30 p.m. BST (5:30 p.m. ET) as thousands of people were leaving an Ariana Grande concert.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said officials are "working to
establish the full details" of the what police believe is an "appalling"
terrorist attack.
Safety Check asks people in the area of the incident if they are
safe, and publicly marks them as such if they say they are. Users can
see which of their friends have marked themselves safe, and asks those
in the area if they are. Facebook has activated Safety Check more than 300 times in the last year, according to CNET. It was also turned on during the Westminster terror attack and after Hurricane Matthew ripped through the Caribbean, killing hundreds of people on the island of Haiti. It was first deployed in 2014.
Google
on Wednesday revealed several new updates for its most popular hardware
and services as part of its annual I/O conference. While the
developer-centric event has historically focused on Google products like
Android and Chrome, this year's announcements revolved mainly around
the search giant's advancements in artificial intelligence, or AI.
That's been a common theme among Silicon Valley's top companies lately,
setting up AI as the next big tech battleground.
Here's a quick look at Google's biggest announcements from its its 2017 I/O keynote.
The smart speaker battle is heating up: Just days after Amazon revealed a new Echo device with a screen, Google announced a slew of new capabilities for its own connected speaker, the Home.
The
most significant upgrade is that Home users will be able to make
hands-free phone calls through the device. Calls to the U.S. and Canada
will be free, while Home owners can choose to link their phone number to
the gadget. (Amazon recently announced a similar feature, but calling
is limited to Echo-to-Echo communication for now).
Because
Google Home can tell the difference between various users' voices, it
will know to call the right person depending on who's placing the call.
During a live demo, Google's Rishi Chandra asked to call his mom, then
said that if his wife had uttered the same phrase, the Home would have
known to call Chandra's mother-in-law instead.
Google
is also launching a new Home feature called "proactive assistance,"
which is basically a different term for notifications (another feature
that arrived on the Echo this month.) When the Home's microphone lights
up, users will be able to ask the Home if it has any important updates
to share, such as a change to an upcoming calendar appointment or a
flight delay.
The
Google Assistant digital aide is getting a big visual upgrade. In the
coming months, users will be able to point their phone at a sign in a
different language and watch as it's translated before their very eyes.
Or, if they aim their phone at a theater, it could show upcoming
showtimes and an option to buy tickets. That's all thanks to Google's
Lens app, which is similar to the Bixby Vision feature Samsung offers on
its Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones.
Furthermore, the Google Assistant is coming to Apple
iPhones as a standalone app. It won't be baked in at the operating
system level like Siri is, so it will be limited in how useful it is for
iPhone owners. But it can still do things like the Lens features above.
Android O updates
Google offered new information about what to expect from its next major Android update, which for now is referred to as "Android O."
One
highlight: When downloading an app for the first time, Android may ask
if you'd like it to fill in your username if you've already used that
service in Google Chrome.
Google
is also making it easier to copy-and-paste text in Android. If you tap
an address, for example, it will automatically select the entire address
instead of just a portion of it, and from there it will suggest pasting
it into Google Maps.
Other
core Android O updates will improve security and battery life and add a
picture-in-picture mode, which will let users minimize a video so that
it only occupies a portion of the screen.
New Android software for low-end phones
Google
is working on a version of Android called Android Go that's optimized
to work on low-end phones with under 1GB of memory (most high-end phones
have around 4GB.) Go is also built to help users budget their
bandwidth: When using the Android Go version of YouTube, for instance,
users will be able to preview videos and see exactly how much data they
will eat up before deciding to stream a full clip.
Android Go is similar in spirit to Google's Android One program, which offers low-cost Android devices to users in developing markets.
Virtual reality without a phone
Google
is one of several tech companies pursuing the "holy grail" of virtual
reality: Headsets that don't need to be connected to a computer or
smartphone to work. To that end, the search giant announced that
standalone VR headsets will be available starting later this year.
HTC
— maker of the Steam-compatible Vive headset — and PC maker Lenovo are
among the first partners working on these headsets. The search giant
collaborated with chipmaker Qualcomm to come up with a reference design.
Move
over, Shutterfly. Google announced a new service that creates photo
books based on the images in your phone's gallery. If you're using the Google Photos app,
you'll be able to search for images of a specific person. From there,
Google Photos can choose the best photos and arrange them in an album
that you can order.
Google
also announced other sharing-centric features for Google Photos. You
can, for instance, choose to share your entire photo library with your
spouse or a family member. If you don't want them seeing your entire
collection, you can limit the sharing to only include photos of specific
people, like your kids.
