Bbc

Google Home ariving in the UK by June

28 February 2017 8:37 PM
Google Home (Made By Google)

The cover over the base is modular, and is available in various colors with the purpose of blending it around home decor. The current colors available are mango, marine, and violet (fabric-covered), carbon, snow, and copper (metal).

Google has confirmed it will launch its smart speaker in the UK before the end of June

Google Home “is a voice-activated speaker powered by the Google Assistant. Ask it questions. Tell it to do things. It’s your own Google, always ready to help” Home (Made By Google) was released in the US on November 4, 2016 for $129 USD, but has yet to go on sale elsewhere.

The search giant disclosed its roll-out plan to the BBC at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

It will compete with Amazon’s Echo range, which became available in the UK in September. Microsoft has also previewed a speaker powered by its virtual assistant Cortana.

Google Home is 5.62 inches (143 millimetres) high, and 3.79 inches (96 millimetres) in diameter. It weighs 16.8 ounces (480 grams). The design represents a modular cylindrical shape, and has 4 LEDs on the top that are in the same colors as Google’s logo that indicate power. The top surface is a capacitive touch panel, which can be used to pause music, adjust volume, trigger the Google Assistant and includes dual microphones, and for privacy concerns, has a mute button for the microphone to silence all communications to it.

Google’s device is powered by a version of its Assistant artificial intelligence software.

Unlike Amazon’s rival Alexa, it can support conversations in which the user asks follow-up questions to their initial request, and also taps into the firm’s market-leading Google Search service.

Google Home is a smart speaker developed by Google as part of its “Made By Google” product line: https://madeby.google.com/home.

Twitter Introduces Two-Step Authentication

22 May 2013 9:13 PM

Twitter has finally introduced two-factor authentication to more securely protect accounts, the company announced Wednesday.

The move comes after a number of hacks of high-profile Twitter accounts, including The Onion, the Associated Press and E! Online. Jim O’Leary from Twitter’s product security team announced the new feature via a blog post, saying it is in response to accounts “occasionally” being compromised by phishing schemes or password breaches on other sites.

Twitter is calling the new feature “login verification.” It works similarly to other two-factor authentication systems, especially Google’s: After the account holder logs into an account, Twitter will send a special code to the user via SMS text message that the person must enter to gain access to the account.

Users can enable login verification via their Twitter settings page. You’ll need both a confirmed email address and a verified phone number on your account to use the feature, and the system will send a test message to finish the activation.

Importantly, apps that you’ve linked to Twitter will continue to work “without disruption,” O’Leary wrote. For apps other than a browser that require you to log into Twitter, you’ll need a one-time password, available on Twitter’s application page (this is also similar to how Google two-factor authentication works).

Twitter built login verification out of its Twitter for SMS feature, which has been around almost since the service debuted. O’Leary says the work the company put into the new feature will enable more security enhancements in the future.

Calls for Twitter to introduce some kind of two-step verification service grew louder after account hacks became a frequent occurrence. Besides the companies mentioned earlier, the BBC, the Financial Times, Burger King and Donald Trump have all experienced Twitter hacks in recent months.

Currently it’s not available in UK/France

Update 25-May-13 10:54PM: This feature is now available in the United Kingdom, you will need to add a phone to your Twitter account to enable this feature.