

Material
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Material is a weekly discussion about the Google and Android universe. Your intrepid hosts try to answer the question, “What holds up the digital world?” The answer, so far, is that it’s Google all the way down. Hosted by Andy Ihnatko and Florence Ion.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 11, 2023 • 1h 11min
424: Attention K-Mart Shoppers
Prepare to get more of Johnny Cash singing Europop hits, as Google is working with Universal on deep fake AI-based music. You can listen to it while making Android apps in your browser and sleeping in Google's hotel. The future!
Links and Show Notes:
Attention K-Mart Shoppers
"Ground Beef: Passport to Far-Away Eating"
Google and Universal Music negotiate deal over AI ‘deepfakes’ | Financial Times
Google's AI-powered code editor enables Android, iOS, and web dev online
Judge dismisses major arguments in Google antitrust case
$5 billion Google lawsuit over ‘Incognito mode’ tracking moves a step closer to trial - The Verge
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Aug 3, 2023 • 1h 10min
423: Fold vs. Fold
It's Taco Tuesday, even though we're recording on Wednesday and posting on Thursday: Flo has the Pixel Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 in hand, while Andy leads us in a game of "Is This Thing Google's Doing Evil, Or Not?"
Links and Show Notes:
Google’s nightmare “Web Integrity API” wants a DRM gatekeeper for the web
A 'deeply committed' Google working on 'supercharged Assistant' powered by LLMs
Scoop: Google Assistant to get an AI makeover
Google Tests A.I. Tool That Is Able to Write News Articles
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Jul 28, 2023 • 1h 5min
422: New Winds Ahead
Flo is back! Andy is elated! The two hosts catch up on life over the last nine weeks and discuss the results of Alphabet's latest quarterly earnings. Samsung also puts on a mediocre show for some foldables.
Links and Show Notes:
Alphabet reports better-than-expected quarterly results driven by growth in cloud
Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat leaving role to become president and chief investment officer
Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 5 and Fold 5 Unpacked event: biggest announcements
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Jul 20, 2023 • 1h 19min
421: The Me Show
Flo is back next week! So Andy is exploiting this final solo episode to make it all about Him. His frustrations about saving web archives from Chrome. His extended thoughts on Indiana Jones. To his credit, he did throw in some news about Google’s new AR Space Invaders game, just so that this Google podcast doesn’t lose its liquor license. But he still heroically pivots to his own opinions about technology’s responsibilities to move the needle.
This episode of Material is sponsored by:
Factor: Healthy, fully-prepared food delivered to your door.
Links and Show Notes: Support Material with a Relay FM Membership Google and Space Invaders launch an immersive AR game Indiana Jones Wiki | Fandom

Jul 14, 2023 • 1h 21min
420: The Snowball of Trust
Andy’s joined by a special guest this week: Jason Howell, host of All About AndroidA new rash of civil lawsuits that content creators have filed against Google and other makers of AI language models. And then we talk phones.
Guest Starring: Jason Howell
Links and Show Notes: Support Material with a Relay FM Membership Google hit with lawsuit alleging it stole data from millions of users to train its AI tools | CNN Business The environmentally conscious Fairphone 4 is finally coming to the US - The Verge LineageOS – LineageOS Android Distribution

Jul 6, 2023 • 1h 11min
419: Oh...Canada.
Canada is the latest country to decide that somebody should be on the hook for the news industry’s financial issues, and it might as well be Google. And, just like the offside rule in professional hockey, this is a Canadian thing that Andy doesn’t really understand. Meanwhile, Google urges its AI models to both learn more and forget more. Isn’t this the sort of contradiction that made HAL-9000 go psychotic?
Links and Show Notes: Support Material with a Relay FM Membership Google says it will start blocking Canadian news stories in response to new law : NPR Our approach to news regulation ‘We must think beyond the memes’: Google’s Richard Gingras on the future of news in our societies - WAN-IFRA Google Says It'll Scrape Everything You Post Online for AI Announcing the first Machine Unlearning Challenge – Google Research Blog Opinion | The Alt-Right Manipulated My Comic. Then A.I. Claimed It. - The New York Times Sarah's Scribbles

Jun 29, 2023 • 1h 15min
418: Google Is A Soft Cheese Company
Andy mourns the loss of Google’s Iris smart glasses, because he knows so way much more than Google or Apple about VR and XR. Reviews of the Pixel Fold are in! It’s a jim-dandy phone except for what happens when you unfold it. And reading coverage of last week’s Vidcon helps Andy be less judgmental about The Avengers.
Links and Show Notes: Support Material with a Relay FM Membership Google killed Iris smart glasses, opts for Android OEM model for XR Google execs hope new search feature will help amid Reddit blackouts RIP to my Pixel Fold: Dead after four days | Ars Technica A Tale of Two VidCons — The Information

Jun 22, 2023 • 1h 9min
417: It Prefers To Stay Inside The House
Reviews of the new Pixel Tablet are in, and it looks like maybe the world is about to fall slap-happy in love! (From a certain perspective, and placed in the correct context). Chromebooks are about to receive the X-gene, and Gannett Newspapers celebrates the first day of Summer with a beach clambake-slash-massive antitrust suit against Google.
Links and Show Notes: Support Material with a Relay FM Membership - Sleep as Android Google Pixel Tablet review: the dock makes all the difference - The Verge Gannett Sues Google, Accusing It of Dominating the Ad Market - The New York Times

Jun 15, 2023 • 1h 9min
416: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner In Bed
Why on Earth did Google release so many new features and updates on Flag Day? Well, Google bothered to create ‘em so Material is going to talk about ‘em...with the help of The Feature Roundup Dice. Oh, and also the EU is honking down Google’s snorkel about why it thinks it’s evil, and they want Google to knock that kind of stuff off.
Links and Show Notes: Support Material with a Relay FM Membership GitHub - dtinth/comic-mono-font: A legible monospace font... the very typeface you’ve been trained to recognize since childhood Hands-free photos, SpO2 and more for the Pixel family Google introduces new AI virtual try-on feature Google Lens can identify rashes and other skin conditions Commission sends Statement of Objections to Google

Jun 8, 2023 • 46min
415: Super-Soakers Filled With Dysentery
All of this week’s stories come from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference! But Andy swears it’s all relevant to Google. Apple’s Vision Pro headset offers discussion about VR versus AI. Apple announced that they’re addressing iPhone users’ complaints about green bubbles in group messages and they’re doing it in the most Apple way possible. And Apple’s figured out a new way to hurt Android users: by going after their friends and family!!! Zounds!
Links and Show Notes: Support Material with a Relay FM Membership Apple Vision Pro - Apple iOS 17 will stop your Android friends from ruining your group texts with their green bubbles Check-in is the best new iOS 17 feature for me, my family and my friends | iMore