Week 109 – NR – Fitbit Ionic, Uber CEO, Google ARCore & EU, Cortana - Alexa

This week Aaron was traveling and so you get a solo episode from Jan again, with five news items from this week. First up is Fitbit's announcement of its Ionic smartwatch, which will be available in October. Second is Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and what he means for the company. Third is Google's surprise announcement of ARCore, its response to Apple's ARKit developer tools for augmented reality apps on the smartphone. Fourth is another Google story, this time its intent to comply with the European Commission's order for changes to its Google Shopping service in Europe. And lastly, the announcement by Amazon and Microsoft that their two voice assistants will work together starting later this year. The show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives and original sources as appropriate. News stories we covered: • Fitbit Ionic: Jan's take on Tech Narratives: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/28/★-fitbit-pre-announces-fitbit-ionic-its-second-smartwatch-due-in-october/ Fitbit announcement: https://investor.fitbit.com/press/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Fitbit-Launches-Ionic-the-Ultimate-Health-and-Fitness-Smartwatch/default.aspx • Uber CEO: Jan's Tech Narratives piece from early in the week ($): https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/28/★-uber-expected-to-name-expedia-ceo-dara-khosrowshahi-as-new-ceo/ Jan's second Tech Narratives piece following the official announcement ($): https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/30/uber-finally-makes-ceo-announcement-official/ Uber Press Release: https://newsroom.uber.com/ubers-new-ceo/ • Google ARCore: Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/29/★-google-previews-arcore-its-response-to-apples-arkit-for-android-phones/ Google announcement: https://www.blog.google/products/google-vr/arcore-augmented-reality-android-scale/ • Google-EU: Jan's take ($): https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/29/★-google-intends-to-comply-with-eu-action-on-shopping-search-not-appeal/ Bloomberg report: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-29/google-faces-tuesday-deadline-as-clock-ticks-toward-new-eu-fines • Amazon-Microsoft Voice Partnership: Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/08/30/★-amazon-and-microsoft-announce-cortana-alexa-integration/ New York Times Report: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/technology/amazon-alexa-microsoft-cortana.html?_r=0 You can also find the Beyond Devices Podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcast), or in your podcast app of choice. As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email ([email protected]).