Pixel gets memory updates, Waymo's self-driving service is go

[MUSIC] Welcome to Alphabet City. This is the show that covers everything related to Alphabet Inc., the company related to lots of other companies like Waymo, Sidewalk, Google, and more. I'm your guide Iyaz Akhtar and you are the dynamic audience. Today we're talking about Waymo moves the city of the future, and your comments. But first up, pixel fixes Let's go to Pixel Park. [MUSIC] A while ago, reports surfaced that the newest Pixels were having issues with multi-tasking. In particular, apps would be reloaded or crash regularly. The founder of AndroidPlease.com put up a video, comparing the Pixel 3XL Versus a 1 Plus 6. Where you see how the Pixel reloads apps that are already running. It's quite sad, really. A new update to the Pixels include improvements in memory performance, which it hopefully fixes the weird multitasking issues. Also included in the updates are camera improvements and some adjustments related to the pixel stand. Also call screening with transcripts are rolling out now to Pixel users. To access it Head over to Recent Calls, Call details, and then See Transcript. If you don't see that option yet, you'll be chosen one day. On to Waymo Way. [MUSIC] Waymo announced Waymo One, its Self driving service. It will first be available to some who participated in the early rider program, with covers to expand later. Weimo said Weimo one will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week around the metro Phoenix area. Area, the Waymo One app could be used to give you a car and would give you price estimates. At first you cane expect safety drivers behind the wheel, but the plan is to transition to fully driverless rides one day. Prior to the launch of Waymo One, the company picked up a couple of new executives. Unintentional pun notwithstanding, Waymo has hired Deborah Hersman to the newly created position of Chief Safety Officer. Hersman was chairperson of the National Transportation Safety Board and CEO of the National Safety Council. Waymo says she will oversee the design and enhancement of Waymo's product safety program. Waymo also hired Amee Chande as its first commercial officer. Chande will be in charge of, you guessed it, Waymo's commercial service. Onto Sidewalk Station. That's a new one. [MUSIC] Alphabet Sidewalk shared plans for development it's working on in Toronto called [UNKNOWN]. Now, what is Sidewalk? It's an Alphabet company that wants to create a new type of place. To accelerate urban innovation. What is that even means? Essentially, Sidewalk is working on redesigning the city for the modern world. It wants cities to be people centered, have housing be affordable and reduce carbon emissions. Piece of cake, right? For Quayside, Sidewalk says housing will be 40% below market prices. Nearly 4,000 jobs will be located in Quayside. After the development would be finished, sidewalk also says that Quayside would have a 75 to 85 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to clean energy sources like photovoltaic panels and geothermal wells. In a blog post, the company said "Sidewalk's approach is fundamentally rooted in creating inclusive neighbourhoods..." And improved quality of life for all. None of this is tech for tech sake. The plan is subject to a number of round table discussions, including one on December 8th, and another in early 2019. Let's go to Uptown Updates. [MUSIC] Okay there's so much news I'm gonna try to pack in as much as I can right here. Let's go. Google CEO [UNKNOWN] Pichai will testify before congress on December 11th about censorship on conservative speech. Originally he was to testify on the fifth but that was delayed to do the passing of President George. H W. Bush. Alphabets DeepMind entered a protein folding competition for the first time and won. Long story short, deep mind used AI techniques to predict the structures of proteins. Understanding how proteins are folded can allow for medical advances as some diseases are believed to be caused by misfolded proteins. The intercept published even more information on dragonfly, Google's center search engine for China. This time, its sources say the project was essentially hidden from privacy and security teams as it was being developed within Google. Our report from 9to5Google said, Hangouts was going to be shut down in 2020. The head of Hangouts said something like, no, that's not entirely right. The takeaway is that Hangouts will likely be replaced by a future messaging service, but the time table is not official yet. And finally YouTube Music for Android got an update, an equalizer, just fire up YouTube Music, hit settings, and take a look at the new equalizer function. That was a lot. On to Comment Cove. [MUSIC] This is the part of the show where we shine a spotlight at the most amazing audience in the world, you. James says if the Pixel 3 Lite is legit and the price is reasonable, I would get it without a doubt. I'd also be interested in a budget Pixel. There is nothing like getting an Android update on day one. Christian asks, when will Google come out with their own smartwatch? You know I've thought about this one for a while. I think that Google is currently focusing its main hardware efforts on Google Home products. Plus Google is the home of Nest again. So what am I saying? I think a Google smartwatch could actually end up being something more like a home slash assistant product. So I'd say we see a watch next October. DesignerGrant asks, do you think Samsung should ditch the curved screen? As someone who sells phones for a living, they break the most on the curve. That's a tough question, but I'll say Samsung should keep the Curve. It's a visual indicator to the consumer that they've got a Samsung phone. Practically speaking though, I don't think the Curve Edges give any real advantages. Thanks to everyone for writing in. If you've enjoyed your stay in Alphabet City please like and subscribe. I'm Iyaz Akhtar and I'll see you Online. [MUSIC]