Hasta La Gadget!

Compared to what we were driving just a decade ago, today’s connected cars and trucks are practically computers on wheels. From content streaming infotainment systems to the background processes that interpret sensor data and power the advanced driver assist features, software has become a fundamental component in modern vehicles. To better manage those countless lines of code, GM announced on Wednesday that it has developed an end-to-end software platform, dubbed Ulfiti (rhymes with “multiply”).

GM’s latest vehicles already enjoy features like OTA software updates and on-board internet connectivity thanks to the company’s Vehicle Intelligence Platform (VIP). the Linux-based Ulfiti is designed to sit on top of that existing architecture and serve as a central hub for select software systems, separating them from the vehicle’s core operations. 

“In all of the embedded controllers, we refactored them and extracted the software from the hardware out of them, making them available to our SOA layer,” Scott Miller, Vice President of Software Defined Vehicle. at General Motors, said during a recent teleconference. “Basically we’re abstracting them and making them available for a powerful hub for all the vehicle’s systems.”

“Then we’re adding this service oriented layer on our high performance computing that we have in the vehicle for infotainment and safety,” he continued. “And we’re going to organize those abstractions as services.”

This will enable GM to more quickly develop and deploy updates, new features and apps to customers. In essence, Ultifi will serve a similar function as Android does on smartphones — an API layer sitting between the underlying hardware and the end user. GM did note that Ultifi will run in conjunction with existing automotive OSes, such as Android Automotive, which GM announced in 2019 it would begin supporting. 

“Android Automotive is a certain subset of functionality in the car,” Darryl Harrison, GM’s Director of Global Product Development, explained. “Ultifi is more of an umbrella overall strategy. Some vehicles will have Android Automotive and some will have other infotainment apps and services.”

In essence, GM wants to treat your vehicle like a rolling smartphone, offering users continuous OTA updates, cloud-based personalization options that drivers can transfer between GM vehicles, and smart home connectivity. The company is also considering pushing out various safety and comfort upgrades through via OTA, such as using the vehicle’s onboard cameras to automatically engage the child locks when they detect children in the back seat or remotely closing the vehicle’s sunroof if you parked outdoors and the weather forecast calls for rain.  

GM is also considering using Ultifi to offer subscription services to users, such as on-demand Supercruise that drivers can enable on long road trips but cancel once they reach their destination. Ulfiti could also allow for improved V2V (vehicle to vehicle) and V2X (vehicle to everything) applications including near-real time traffic and road hazard updates. Expect to see Ulfiti in select GM vehicles — both internal combustion and EV — starting in 2023.            

Paul has continued to prevent Dilawar Syed from receiving a vote for a top job at the Small Business Administration.

At the start of the year, Google added a feature to its search engine called About This Result. By tapping on the three dots icon located next to most results, the tool allows you to find out more about a website before you navigate to it. With the initial rollout of About This Result, Google displayed information from Wikipedia, and, if that wasn’t available, it pulled what it could from one of its services. The panels also included details about the website like when it was first indexed by the company, and if you could expect a secure connection.

Today, Google is making those panels more robust by adding to the diversity of information they display. To start, in addition to a description from Wikipedia, you’ll see what each website has to say about itself in its own words. You will also see what others have had to say about them — be that through reviews or a simple news article. In the “about the topic” section, Google will include other coverage or results from different sources.

As before, the idea behind the About This Result feature is to save you an extra search when you want to find out more about a website you’re about to visit. Google also sees it as a way to help people make more informed decisions about how they use the internet and provide peace of mind if you’re looking for important information related to important topics. 

Aside from these “Information Literacy features,” the company also announced new features coming to its results pages during its Search On event today. They’re called Things to Know, Refine This Search, Broaden This Search and Related Topics to its results to make it easier to learn more about different topics. Things To Know, for example, will pull up the basics you’ll need to understand a new subject, while refining and broadening your search can help you explore related issues.

Google Search users in the US will see today’s expansion roll out over the coming weeks and months.

Cherlynn Low contributed to this post.

You no longer have to point your phone at your computer screen if you want to use Google Lens on your computer. As part of a string of updates, Google has revealed that Lens will be available for Chrome on the desktop in the “coming months.” You just have to right-click on a website, choose to search with Lens and select the part of the page you want to examine. After that, you’ll get results relating to the content you highlighted. Needless to say, that could be helpful if you’re trying to identify an animal or a hot new jacket.

There are some upgrades coming to Lens on your phone. An update in early 2022 will let you ask a question after snapping a photo. If you need to know how to repair a part on your bike, for instance, you’ll get results even if you don’t know what that part is. The Google app for iPhones, meanwhile, will let you search for products within images.

This is a not-so-subtle effort to boost Google Shopping. You might be more likely to buy apparel or bike parts if you can identify them, after all. Even so, the expansion could make Lens more useful as a general search tool, not just for special circumstances.

Encanto, Disney’s upcoming animated feature from co-directors Byron Howard and Jared Bush, tells the story of the one member of the Madrigal family who, for some unknown reason, isn’t born with a magical gift. Marisol—voiced by Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz—knows there’s something inside her that makes her…

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