Technologies

Samsung and Google Combine Forces in New Mixed Reality Partnership

Here’s what we think this new tech will bring.

This story is part of Samsung Event, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Samsung’s most popular products.

Samsung made a lot of impressive announcements during its Galaxy S23 launch event last week. But an out-of-the-blue partnership with Qualcomm and Google on an upcoming mixed-reality platform certainly caught fans off guard. The new «XR» technology is an umbrella term for the intersection of AR, VR and mixed reality, or MR.

In a year that’ll see a new PlayStation VR headset, a new HTC Vive VR headset, a new Meta VR headset and likely a first-ever Apple VR headset, how will this Samsung product (or products) end up changing the game, and when could it arrive?

Samsung’s on-stage announcement was incredibly vague, with Google’s Hiroshi Lockheimer, head of Android, and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon promising new hardware and software that’ll bring new experiences. But Samsung’s and Google’s histories in VR (and AR), along with Qualcomm’s major presence in the field, can point to some answers. So, too, can the last major Google and Samsung partnership two years ago, on smartwatches.

In 2021, Google’s partnership with Samsung began a rethinking of its smartwatch lineup, which also led to a Pixel Watch last fall. It’s likely that this new Samsung-Google-Qualcomm partnership could play out in a similar way in AR and VR. In this instance, though, both Google and Samsung will be making long-overdue returns to the VR/AR spaces they’ve both stepped away from for several years.

Here’s why Samsung and Google entering the field makes sense, and is even sorely needed.

VR and AR needs to work with phones again

VR goggles used to work with phones, half a decade ago. Back in the days of the Samsung Gear VR and Google’s Daydream View, you’d drop a phone into a cheap set of goggles that would use the device as a VR screen. It was a fun novelty back then, and greatly expanded access, but also had its limits. In 2023, oddly, VR headsets barely work with phones at all.

It’s annoying because most of us live our lives on our phones. VR, meanwhile, tends to stand alone. The Meta Quest 2 has slowly developed hooks into phones via its pairing app, but doesn’t have nearly enough cross-device intelligence.

Qualcomm has been trying to solve this idea already on its own. Via an early wave of AR glasses and certain Android phones, the company has been developing tools to bridge apps and experiences, and also have glasses directly connected to phones.

That’s a lot easier to do with official Android support. Google would enable that, and this Samsung-Qualcomm-Google partnership seems like a key to exploring how that would work with new VR headsets, or AR glasses, or both.

Right now, VR is the future. Then, AR

No one’s perfected AR glasses yet, although the hardware pieces are slowly coming together. In the meantime, standalone VR headsets using built-in cameras to show «passthrough» video of the real world, with virtual reality experiences overlaid, is the fastest solution to AR. It’s also called «mixed reality,» and it’s what the Meta Quest Pro does in some apps. Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset should work the same way. HTC’s Vive XR Elite coming this February? Same thing.

I’d expect Samsung and Google to start with developing a similar lightweight VR headset with mixed reality features first, using similar Qualcomm chips as other hardware (or a next-gen chipset). After that, AR glasses.

Qualcomm has already promised a new generation of low-power wireless AR glasses that will work with next-gen phones over the next three years, using a new AR2 Gen 1 chipset announced last fall. Samsung’s Google partnership might also involve exploring how to build phones and glasses that could work together in the years to come.

Google’s already dipping its toes into assistive AR glasses research, and has a decade of experience in AR and VR before that. Samsung has all of its experience with the Gear VR and working with Oculus. Between the two, along with Qualcomm, it seems like there’s plenty of team wisdom.

A new OS (think smartwatches)

Evolving Android into a new software experience for VR and AR is the biggest challenge and opportunity, and it would make a ton of sense for Samsung to lean on Google here. VR headsets of the last five years have tried to go it alone with dedicated app stores, much like the Meta Quest. But the whole spirit of the idea of «the metaverse» is cross-device compatibility. And, in theory, easy app support.

Samsung shifted strategy on its watches by adopting Google’s WearOS as part of a partnership announced two years ago, aiming to bring Samsung’s watches closer to Google’s Android OS. But Samsung also helped Google think about higher-end health and hardware features to advance its aging smartwatch lineup. Which brings us to…

A road to Pixel hardware?

At some point, you’d imagine, Google will try to make its own AR/VR hardware again. The team behind Google’s Daydream, led by Clay Bavor, has shifted focus into Google Labs, working on more experimental projects like Project Starline (and those research-based assistive AR glasses).

It seems highly likely that the road to Google’s future XR hardware will run through Samsung in much the same way as smartwatches ahead of the Pixel Watch. The Galaxy Watch 4 became the first experiment in Wear OS 3, and then Google entered the waters over a year later with a Fitbit-infused Pixel Watch.

AR and VR headsets are significantly more complicated. Maybe Google waits a bit longer on a Pixel device. Maybe, as both Google’s Lockheimer and Qualcomm’s Amon seemed to suggest, there will be a variety of forms and possibilities, including some that aren’t headsets at all. Remember: Google’s idea of «ambient computing» involves immersive tech from every angle, including stuff that isn’t worn.

What year will this emerge?

That’s the hard question here. It seems likely that Google will dive into this partnership more at its I/O developer conference that usually happens in May, which would be right before Apple would likely go over its VR headset at WWDC. We haven’t seen any hint of any actual hardware yet. It’s not impossible that a standalone VR headset in the spirit of the Meta Quest could materialize sometime sooner than later, but it would be a huge surprise if anything arrived in 2023.

When Samsung and Google announced the Wear OS 3 partnership in 2021, it came with a teaser photo of the watch itself and a promise of hardware by year’s end. No such statements were made or shown this time and 2024 would seem like the earliest likely launch date.

And at any rate, 2023 is looking like a turbulent year for the greater XR world. While plenty of VR hardware is coming, it’s unclear who can actually afford it. For Samsung and Google, the best bet might be to wait out this crowded year and figure out how to make improved, possibly more affordable hardware in 2024.

Technologies

Google Discover Gains Follow Button and Expands Content Sources

Google’s personalized news feed will feature a wider variety of content in the coming weeks.

Google Discover, Google’s personalized news feed, has largely remained the same since its introduction in 2018, but it’s now receiving some new and helpful features.

On Wednesday, Google announced that Discover will soon expand the type of content found within the feed and allow you to follow publications and creators. You can find Google Discover in the Google app, and it will be built into the home screens of some Android phones.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Instead of just seeing a list of web pages to visit on your feed, you’ll soon see a mix of web articles, YouTube videos and social media posts from X and Instagram, effectively widening the net of content shown in Discover.

Along with expanding content from more sources, Google Discover is allowing users to follow specific publishers and content creators using a «follow» button at the top right of each content card.

Google says that tapping the publication’s or creator’s name will open a new page previewing the content that’s typically shared before you choose to follow the outlet. From our testing across multiple phones so far, it appears the feature is still rolling out.

Your Google Discover feed should now allow you to follow content creators. A more diversified mix of content will roll out over the coming weeks.

Technologies

New Bill Aims to Block Both Online Adult Content and VPNs: How Your VPN Could Be Affected

A proposed bill in Michigan has a broad reach that covers everything from adult AI content to manga and even depictions of transgender people. It includes a VPN ban to avoid workarounds.

If you live in Michigan, you might not be able to legally use a VPN soon if a new bill is passed into law. On Sept. 11, Michigan Republican representatives proposed far-reaching legislation banning adult internet content.

The bill, called the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act and advanced by six Republican representatives, would ban a wide variety of adult content online, ranging from ASMR and adult manga to AI content and any depiction of transgender people. It also seeks to ban all use of VPNs, foreign or US-produced.

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VPNs, or virtual private networks, are software suites often used as workarounds to avoid similar content bans that have passed in states like Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the UK. VPNs can be purchased with subscriptions or downloaded and are also built into some browsers and Wi-Fi routers.

But Michigan’s bill would charge internet service providers with detecting and blocking VPN use, as well as banning the sale of VPNs in the state. Associated fines would be up to $500,000.

What the ban could mean for VPNs

Unlike some laws banning access to adult content, this Michigan bill is comprehensive. It applies to all residents of Michigan, adults or children, targets an extensive range of content and includes language that could ban not only VPNs but any method of bypassing internet filters or restrictions.

That could spell trouble for VPN owners and other internet users who leverage these tools to improve their privacy, protect their identities online, prevent ISPs from gathering data about them or increase their device safety when browsing on public Wi-Fi.

Read more: CNET Survey: 47% of Americans Use VPNs for Privacy. That Number Could Rise. Here’s Why

Bills like these could have unintended side effects. John Perrino, Senior Policy and Advocacy Expert for the nonprofit Internet Society, mentioned to CNET that adult content laws like this could interfere with what kind of music people can stream, the sexual health forums and articles they can access and even important news involving sexual topics that they may want to read.

«Additionally, state age verification laws are difficult for smaller services to comply with, hurting competition and an open internet,» Perrino said.

The Anticorruption of Public Morals Act has not passed the Michigan House of Representatives committee or been voted on by the Michigan Senate, and it’s not clear how much support the bill has beyond the six Republican representatives who have proposed it. As we’ve seen with state legislation in the past, sometimes bills like these can serve as templates for other representatives who may want to propose similar laws in their own states.

Could VPNs still get around bans like these?

Could VPNs still get around this type of ban? That’s a complex question that this bill doesn’t really address.

«From a technical standpoint, ISPs can attempt to distinguish VPN traffic using deep packet inspection, or they can block known VPN IP addresses,» said NordVPN privacy advocate Laura Tyrylyte. «However, deploying them effectively requires big investments and ongoing maintenance, making large-scale VPN blocking both costly and complex.»

Also, VPNs have ways around deep packet inspection and other methods.

«Some VPNs offer obfuscation — which tries to disguise VPN traffic as standard web traffic — using dedicated servers or custom VPN protocols, like NordVPN’s NordWhisper or Proton VPN’s Stealth,» said CNET senior editor Moe Long. «But note that obfuscation isn’t foolproof.»

There are also no-log features offered by many VPNs to guarantee they don’t keep a record of your activity, and no-log audits from third parties like Deloitte that — well, try to guarantee the guarantee. VPNs can even use server tricks, such as RAM-only servers that automatically reboot to erase data after every browsing session.

If you’re seriously concerned about your data privacy, you can look for features like these in a VPN and see if they are right for you. Changes like these, even on the state level, are one reason we pay close attention to how specific VPNs work during our testing, and recommend the right VPNs for the job, from speedy browsing to privacy while traveling.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 19 #565

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 19, No. 565.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Do you drink your coffee black? If so, today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be a puzzler. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Pour it on.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Wow, no cow.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

NONE, CONE, RICER, SHEW, FAIR, FAIRY, DRAY, YARD, MILK, CASH, DONE, DRAM, MADAM

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers: