Google Chrome’s New UI is Ugly, And People Are Very Angry

• Every major user interface (UI) redesign project is a hit and miss game, and Google’s new Chrome UI appears to be a colossal miss. D
• esigned with mobile devices in mind, the new Chrome user interface style was officially rolled out in September this year, with the release of Chrome version 69.
• Not all users liked the new UI, and this was clear from the beginning, with some users voicing their discontent online even back then.
• However, those users who didn’t appreciate the new lighter-toned Chrome interface had the option to visit the chrome://flags page and modify a Chrome setting and continue using Chrome’s older UI.
• But with Chrome version 71, released earlier this month, Google has removed the Chrome flag that allowed users to use the old UI. As you might imagine, this change did not go well, at all.
• Chrome’s new UI might have been developed with a mobile-first approach in mind, but the UI is problematic on laptops and desktops, where its lighter tone and rounded tabs make it extremely hard to distinguish tabs from one another, especially when users open multiple tabs.
• Since being able to distinguish and switch between tabs at a fast pace is an important detail in most of today’s internet-based jobs, many users have been having trouble adapting to the new UI both at work and at home, especially if they’re the kind of people who deal with tens of tabs at the same time.

Google Will Launch the Pixel 3 and 3 XL ‘Lite’ on Verizon in Spring 2019, Report Says

• Speaking to a source familiar with the company’s plans, we’ve learned that Google intends to launch two new Pixel smartphones on Verizon in early spring 2019 — the Pixel 3 and 3 XL “Lite.”
• An exact announcement date and pricing are not yet known. A Pixel 3 Lite prototype was leaked on a Russian tech blog last month, fueling rampant speculation about where the phone would be sold and how it would be positioned in Google’s larger smartphone lineup
• Later, renders of the 3 Lite and a larger XL variant were released by OnLeaks. These “Lite” Pixels will be the first phones in the mid-range Google has released since the Nexus 5X, which launched at $379 in the US in 2015.

Cheers erupt as NASA’s New Horizons flies by the most distant object ever: 1.6 billion km past Pluto

• “New Horizons” Spacecraft flew past and investigated Ultima Thule (icy celestial object). Also known as a dwarf planet.
  • Thule in medieval literature was the most distant northernmost place beyond the known world.
  • Ultima Thule is a single object about 32 km long.  It is potato shaped and dark colored with a touch of red (possibly from being zapped by cosmic rays for 4.5 billion years).
• Ultima Thule is 6.5 billion KM from earth (1 billion miles past pluto).
  • New horions left earth in 2008.  Amazing it has flown so far in 11 years.
• It flew past at 12:33 am ET Tuesday but it took 10 hours for the information to get back to us.
  • Happy new year!
  • It also marks the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s footsteps on the moon in July 1969.
• Nasa says New Horizons has survived humanity’s most distant exploration of another world.
• Celebrities were on hand to celebrate.
  • Brian May (queen Guitarist and astrophysicist) joined the team at Johns Hopkins for a midnight premiere of the song he wrote for the big event.

CES 2019 starts Next Week

• CEC 2019 will be the 52nd show (started June 24 1967).
• What people are expecting.
  • Faster, better bigger (and smaller) versions of last year’s products.
  • AI and “Machine Learning” integrated into more services.
  • Robots, Robots, Robots
  • Everything will be cloud connected.
  • Everything will be “smart”.
• Q) How will 5G change the Tech Landscape?
  • We will see big promises for 5G.
• Q) Will Intel be there to defend against Qualcomm, AMD and ARM?
• Q) Is the health tech revolution at hand?
• Q) What’s new with Google?
• Q) What about Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and other Tech giants?
• Q) Streaming TV is all the rage.  Will they be there to take on Netflix?
• Q) Security and privacy: Are there plans or are they giving up?
• Q) Will we see any VR challenges to Oculus?
• Q) TV’s, what’s next (OLED, MicroLED, 4K).
  • Does anyone care about 8k TV.
• Q) Voice assistants.  Google and Alexa? What about siri and bixbi?
• Q) Trade wars and Tech?
• Q) Will there be any surprise hits that will revolutionize our world?
  • How many small hits to equal one gigantic one?

Google Android TV is the most used streaming box in the world.

• There are “10’s of millions of users” mostly in asia.
• Google Assistant.
• Amazon Recast: DVR for cable cutters. Around 200 bucks lets you record 2 channels at once.

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