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Technology

A Duo of Google Meet Apps Is Officially Here, and It’s Confusing

A Duo of Google Meet Apps Is Officially Here, and It's Confusing

Google is officially kicking off the merger of its two video chat apps, Google Meet and Google Duo. Google announced the merger in June, with the plan to keep the Google Meet brand name while merging the best of both code bases into the Google Duo app. According to Google’s PR email (no links, sorry), people will begin seeing Duo’s app and website branding swap over to Google Meet this week. Google’s various rebrandings are all on a rollout, so they’ll arrive at different times for different people, but Google says the complete rebrand should finish for everyone by September.

So Google Duo is being rebranded to Google Meet, and the existing Google Meet app is sticking around for a bit. That means there are now two apps called “Google Meet.” Google has a help article detailing this extremely confusing situation, calling the two Meet apps “Google Meet (original): The updated Meet app” and “Google Meet: The updated Duo app.” The “Google Meet (original)” app will someday be put out to pasture; it’s just sticking around while Google rebuilds the meeting functionality on top of Google Duo. Did everyone follow that?

The Meet and Duo video services were both built as reactions to Google’s far more stable communication competition. Google Meet was technically created in 2017 as a group business video chat application called “Google Hangouts Meet,” but it really became a major project after Zoom’s growth exploded in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Google Meet was still locked behind a paywall during the initial months of the work-from-home era, and while it eventually became as easy to use as Zoom, it was after Zoom became a household name.

Google Duo came out in 2016 alongside the “companion app” Google Allo as a reaction to the growth of WhatsApp. Google and Facebook got into a $22 billion bidding war for WhatsApp two years earlier. Google lost and spent the next two years making a WhatsApp clone called Google Allo. Rather than integrate video chat into the app, Google split video functionality into a separate app called Google Duo. WhatsApp didn’t have video chat at the time, so you could use Google Duo video chat with Facebook’s WhatsApp or Google’s Allo, if you wanted.

Allo and Duo were originally focused on India, which led Duo to build a one-to-one video chat system that used little bandwidth and worked well on unstable connections. That efficient video chat system will be the basis for the new combined app, with Google building Meet’s meeting link functionality into Duo and rebranding it. The install base is probably also a factor here. As a default Android app, Google Duo has more than 5 billion downloads on the Play Store while Meet only has 100 million. Google’s path makes for a smoother transition for those 5 billion installs, while the 100 million will have to switch manually. Google says that it will hide the old, original Google Meet app from app store searches in September. Eventually, it will need to implement a pop-up message for existing users of the old Google Meet app that tells them to upgrade.

This move is happening because Google “unified” its messaging teams in 2020, with a single person, Google Workspace VP and GM Javier Soltero, taking the reins of “all of Google’s collective communication products.” That should mean Google Hangouts, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Messages, Google Duo, and Google Voice, and Google even threw in the Android phone app for good measure. It was announced last month that Soltero is leaving Google, though, so that’s only two years on the messaging unification job. Nobody knows who, if anyone, is taking over as the new “head of messaging.” Single’s plan is still happening, though—besides this Meet and Duo merger, Hangouts will finally shut down in a few months. This new, more cohesive lineup will leave one Google video app and three Google chat apps.

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.

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Categories
Technology

Samsung’s New Phone Repair Kits Are Better Than Nothing

Samsung's New Phone Repair Kits Are Better Than Nothing

Samsung officially introduced its repair kit program in the US this week. Now, anyone who owns one of the handful of Galaxy phones covered by the program can order the parts, tools, and instructions needed to fix their devices themselves.

The company first announced its repair program in April. Thanks to some laws in Europe that require devices to indicate how repairable they are, similar legislation that secures consumers’ rights to repair their own phones, laptops, and gadgets feels all but inevitable in the US. Companies like Samsung and Apple are eager to get ahead of it and set the tone for what device repairability will mean. Problem is, now that these companies have unveiled their repair kit programs, it appears they offer more of a morsel of reparability than a full buffet.

Each Samsung Galaxy repair kit includes the tools, spare parts, and step-by-step instructions needed to fix broken screens, charging ports, and glass-backed chassis.

Photography: Samsung

Samsung has only made repair kits available for some of its products, namely the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S21 phones, and the Galaxy Tab 7+. That’s seven devices total, out the hundreds of Samsung gadgets still in service. What’s more, only certain parts of each device can be repaired: The screen, charging port, and back panel glass. (Galaxy Tab owners can also replace the battery.) While Samsung’s repair kit rollout is limited, it’s been a smoother process so far than when Apple introduced its repair program in April. Apple’s kits were expensive, unwieldy, and often more bother than they were worth.

Samsung, along with Google (which makes available parts and tools for its Pixel phones) has partnered with the right-to-repair advocacy group iFixit. It’s a good partnership and a step toward a more repairable future. But for now that future is only manifesting in fits and starts. If Samsung, Apple, and other companies want to build out a robust self-repair program before the regulatory hammer comes down, they’ll have to step up their efforts.

Here’s some more news from the Gear desk.

Hey Alexa, Sweep My Floor

Say what you will about Amazon, but there’s no denying that it’s just a big ol’ hungry bear that wants to gobble up everything around it. The latest entity to slide screaming into Amazon’s gaping maw is iRobot, the company that makes Roomba vacuums. Amazon will be absorbing the company for a chill $1.7 billion in cash, which seems like chump change against its $3.9 billion feast of OneMedical last month. (That’s right, Amazon is a health care provider now too.)

Sure, there are all sorts of privacy implications from this acquisition, especially when you consider that Amazon may soon own the map of your home’s floor plan collected by the sensors on iRobot’s vacuums. But hey, just think of the other possibilities: Ring cameras in your robot lawn mower! Flying Dustbuster drones that listen to your conversations! Truly anything will be possible.

Clubhouse Subdivides Itself

Remember Clubhouse? The audio-based social network took off in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, when it provided relief from the isolation and Zoom fatigue many of us were feeling. (Ha ha, glad that’s over, right?) Since admission to the app was invite-only, it lent the Clubhouse experience a sense of exclusivity that made it feel exciting. Soon, Clubhouse became the go-to virtual meet space for Silicon Valley bigwigs to delight each other with their collective presence. Then the app opened up to the general public, and its appeal fizzled faster than a warm La Croix.

Now, Clubhouse is trying to recapture some of its old cool by making parts of itself exclusive again. A new feature lets users split rooms off into multiple Clubhouses (Clubs house?) that will enable them to keep their conversations private. Clubhouse is taking applications to create “Houses” now but will be rolling them out on a case-by-case basis.

Clearly Clubhouse is hoping that these smaller, more curated experiences lure users back from the many other, much more popular audio chat services. when announcing the feature on Twitter, Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison wrote, “The best social experiences are not open to everyone. They are small and curated. This is what creates intimacy, trust, and friendship.”

Instagram NFT’s

After a controversial move to prioritize its TikTok clone Reels in user’s feeds, Instagram is digging in on another buzzy online trend: NFTs. In May, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced that the social platform would dip its toes into the then-piping-hot NFT waters. Of course, the NFT market has cooled off considerably since May. Still, this week Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company is expanding its plan to enable NFTs across Instagram in more than 100 countries. The feature will let users create posts as NFTs, and buy or sell them using digital wallets.

Speaking of non-fungible assets …

Take an NFT, It’ll Last Longer

The hallmark of NFTs has always been that they’re digital. Artists minting their works as NFTs create a marker on a blockchain that indicates that a work is an original. Otherwise, the piece itself is as infinitely re-creatable as any online GIF. (OK, it’s actually way more complicated than that, so here’s a guide explaining exactly how NFTs work.)

Now, thanks to companies like Infinite Objects and Tokenframe, you can take that digital art and stick it on your wall. This week on the Gadget Lab podcast, WIRED’s Lauren Goode and Michael Calore talk about the weird world of NFTs and how physical frames for digital art might make the whole thing more approachable for the uninitiated.

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This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

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Categories
Technology

Samsung’s New Phone Repair Kits Are Better Than Nothing

Samsung's New Phone Repair Kits Are Better Than Nothing

Samsung officially introduced its repair kit program in the US this week. Now, anyone who owns one of the handful of Galaxy phones covered by the program can order the parts, tools, and instructions needed to fix their devices themselves.

The company first announced its repair program in April. Thanks to some laws in Europe that require devices to indicate how repairable they are, similar legislation that secures consumers’ rights to repair their own phones, laptops, and gadgets feels all but inevitable in the US. Companies like Samsung and Apple are eager to get ahead of it and set the tone for what device repairability will mean. Problem is, now that these companies have unveiled their repair kit programs, it appears they offer more of a morsel of reparability than a full buffet.

Each Samsung Galaxy repair kit includes the tools, spare parts, and step-by-step instructions needed to fix broken screens, charging ports, and glass-backed chassis.

Photography: Samsung

Samsung has only made repair kits available for some of its products, namely the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S21 phones, and the Galaxy Tab 7+. That’s seven devices total, out the hundreds of Samsung gadgets still in service. What’s more, only certain parts of each device can be repaired: The screen, charging port, and back panel glass. (Galaxy Tab owners can also replace the battery.) While Samsung’s repair kit rollout is limited, it’s been a smoother process so far than when Apple introduced its repair program in April. Apple’s kits were expensive, unwieldy, and often more bother than they were worth.

Samsung, along with Google (which makes available parts and tools for its Pixel phones) has partnered with the right-to-repair advocacy group iFixit. It’s a good partnership and a step toward a more repairable future. But for now that future is only manifesting in fits and starts. If Samsung, Apple, and other companies want to build out a robust self-repair program before the regulatory hammer comes down, they’ll have to step up their efforts.

Here’s some more news from the Gear desk.

Hey Alexa, Sweep My Floor

Say what you will about Amazon, but there’s no denying that it’s just a big ol’ hungry bear that wants to gobble up everything around it. The latest entity to slide screaming into Amazon’s gaping maw is iRobot, the company that makes Roomba vacuums. Amazon will be absorbing the company for a chill $1.7 billion in cash, which seems like chump change against its $3.9 billion feast of OneMedical last month. (That’s right, Amazon is a health care provider now too.)

Sure, there are all sorts of privacy implications from this acquisition, especially when you consider that Amazon may soon own the map of your home’s floor plan collected by the sensors on iRobot’s vacuums. But hey, just think of the other possibilities: Ring cameras in your robot lawn mower! Flying Dustbuster drones that listen to your conversations! Truly anything will be possible.

Clubhouse Subdivides Itself

Remember Clubhouse? The audio-based social network took off in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, when it provided relief from the isolation and Zoom fatigue many of us were feeling. (Ha ha, glad that’s over, right?) Since admission to the app was invite-only, it lent the Clubhouse experience a sense of exclusivity that made it feel exciting. Soon, Clubhouse became the go-to virtual meet space for Silicon Valley bigwigs to delight each other with their collective presence. Then the app opened up to the general public, and its appeal fizzled faster than a warm La Croix.

Now, Clubhouse is trying to recapture some of its old cool by making parts of itself exclusive again. A new feature lets users split rooms off into multiple Clubhouses (Clubs house?) that will enable them to keep their conversations private. Clubhouse is taking applications to create “Houses” now but will be rolling them out on a case-by-case basis.

Clearly Clubhouse is hoping that these smaller, more curated experiences lure users back from the many other, much more popular audio chat services. when announcing the feature on Twitter, Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison wrote, “The best social experiences are not open to everyone. They are small and curated. This is what creates intimacy, trust, and friendship.”

Instagram NFT’s

After a controversial move to prioritize its TikTok clone Reels in user’s feeds, Instagram is digging in on another buzzy online trend: NFTs. In May, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced that the social platform would dip its toes into the then-piping-hot NFT waters. Of course, the NFT market has cooled off considerably since May. Still, this week Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company is expanding its plan to enable NFTs across Instagram in more than 100 countries. The feature will let users create posts as NFTs, and buy or sell them using digital wallets.

Speaking of non-fungible assets …

Take an NFT, It’ll Last Longer

The hallmark of NFTs has always been that they’re digital. Artists minting their works as NFTs create a marker on a blockchain that indicates that a work is an original. Otherwise, the piece itself is as infinitely re-creatable as any online GIF. (OK, it’s actually way more complicated than that, so here’s a guide explaining exactly how NFTs work.)

Now, thanks to companies like Infinite Objects and Tokenframe, you can take that digital art and stick it on your wall. This week on the Gadget Lab podcast, WIRED’s Lauren Goode and Michael Calore talk about the weird world of NFTs and how physical frames for digital art might make the whole thing more approachable for the uninitiated.

content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

.

Categories
US

What Pro-Lifers Should Learn From Kansas

What Pro-Lifers Should Learn From Kansas

Peggy Noonan is an opinion columnist at the Wall Street Journal where her column, “Declarations,” has run since 2000.

She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2017. A political analyst for NBC News, she is the author of nine books on American politics, history and culture, from her most recent, “The Time of Our Lives,” to her first, “What I Saw at the Revolution.” She is one of ten historians and writers who contributed essays on the American presidency for the book, “Character Above All.” Noonan was a special assistant and speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan. In 2010 she was given the Award for Media Excellence by the living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor; the following year she was chosen as Columnist of the Year by The Week. She has been a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, and has taught in the history department at Yale University.

Before entering the Reagan White House, Noonan was a producer and writer at CBS News in New York, and an adjunct professor of Journalism at New York University. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up there, in Massapequa Park, Long Island, and in Rutherford, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford. She lives in New York City. In November, 2016 she was named one of the city’s Literary Lions by the New York Public Library.

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