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MobileViews Podcast 267: Lenovo Smart Display with Google Assistant & more

Written by

todd

in

In this podcast Jon Westfall and I discuss:

  1. No speculation discussion! Leave that for other podcasts
    Sept. 12 Apple event – iPhone and other stuff
    Oct. 2 Microsoft event – Surface
    Oct. 9 Google event – Pixel
  2. Introducing Skype call recording
    Stores to MP4 format
  3. Microsoft ‘Confirms’ Windows 7 New Monthly Charge starting January 14, 2020.
  4. Jon’s Tech Find of the week: QNAP Nas Units can easily schedule services!
  5. AnchorFree, Maker of a Top Online Privacy App, Raises $295 Million

    AnchorFree, the maker of Hotspot Shield, one of the oldest VPN apps, said Wednesday that it had raised $295 million. The round brings AnchorFree’s total funding to $358 million, far outpacing any of its competitors.

    The investment in AnchorFree suggests that the VPN category is becoming more mainstream. Investors previously avoided it in part because relatively few users have adopted the technology.

    MobileViews Podcast 23: Hotspot Shield – Free Ad-supported VPN – A Conversation with AnchorFree’s CEO David Gorodyansky – April 18, 2009

    “I was very skeptical of the service before speaking with David. But, I developed a level of comfort after speaking with him and am running their software and using their service on my Asus Eee PC 1000HA netbook running Windows 7 Beta.”

  6. Lenovo Smart Display Bought the 10-inch model for $230 at Sams Club. It came bundled with a Google Home Mini.

    Has a physical front facing camera shutter for privacy. Also a microphone mute.
    Snapdragonâ„¢ 624, Octa-Core A53 1.8 GHz
    Beautiful 1920×1200 display.
    2″ 10W Full Range Speaker​, 2 x Passive Tweeters​
    2 x 2 Dual Microphone Arrays

    Kevin Tofel’s Lenovo Smart Display review

    Has portrait mode but it only works with Google Duo calls.
    Rule 1: The main thing to remember is this: Even though it has a touch display, try to ignore it as a UI option. Use your voice as much as possible.
    Rule 2: If you are invested in the Google environment, this is for you. Google Play Movies & TV, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV? Yes. Amazon Prime and Netflix? No. Lenovo is cagey about Netflix though. It can stream radio stations through iHeartRadio though.
    Rule 3: If there is more than one person in your home, be sure they all register with their Google account and train the smart display with their voice – Voice Match.

    Observations:
    Casting to the smart display
    Weather for my area is still near useless. Temperature is off (lower) 5 to 8 degrees consistently
    Synthetic voice is not quite as “natural” as the Amazon Echo’s

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

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