A soggy good morning, Austin. Everybody finally safely at work after slogging your way through the downpour?
While you're drying off, here's a look at some of the stories making waves and creating buzz around the tech world this morning.
At the annual Google I/O conference, Google has debuted a lot of new products. But one clear theme for the tech giant, the folks at The Verge write, is that Google is making some big bets on artificial intelligence technology. The Verge's Walt Mossberg writes: "Google is doubling down on artificial intelligence as the next great phase of computing. And they believe Google can do it better than anyone else." It'll be interesting to see how that pays off for Google in the coming years.
Also: The folks at CNet did a quick comparison on how the new Google Home stacks up against the Amazon Echo. What they say might surprise you.
As the city of Austin and ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft remain in a standoff, there comes news that Uber is testing self-driving cars in Pittsburgh. Tech Crunch writes that Uber even took a local Pittsburgh reporter along for a ride in one of the driverless cars. Hard to know if this could become a reality for Uber, but maybe it could work. And there would be no need to do fingerprinting or background checks on a Ford Fusion, we guess.
A report on CNet tells us that a U.S. and Australian military research team ia testing hypersonic technology, which can reportedly could lead to air transport multiple times faster than the speed of sound. This technology could, in theory, allow passengers to travel from Sydney to London, currently a 20-plus hour trip, in two hours. "It is a game-changing technology," said Australia's chief scientist Alex Zelinsky in a written statement.
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