296: Google I/O

Design Details

This week we dig into the latest and greatest announcements from this year's Google I/O. We talk through our top highlights like new privacy controls, Android Q improvements, and a solid new budget Pixel phone. And as always, we share our cool finds of the week, like a behind-the-scenes feature film on the creation of God of War, and a news application to help you read and understand what's happening in the world.

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Music:

This week Gabriel Valdivia teamed up with Brian Schulman and Kasey Valdivia to produce their own take on our theme song. Stick around to the episode to hear the full Design Details Rap 😂Soundcloud.

Gabe also recently released his own album, Blankets, which you can listen to on Spotify.

If you have your own interpretation of our theme song, send it to us on Twitter by direct message, we'd love to hear it!

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Follow-up:

• We recently recorded an episode about if AR is a gimmick. You can listen to that here.
  • Marshall did some deep digging into the internet to learn more about the history of AR and its complicated relationship with hockey. Read more about the glowing hockey puck's horrible failure.
• We continue to explore new album art designs - thank you for the feedback!
  • This week Josh Shao sent in a custom font he's been working on for us to try
  • Michael Knepprath doesn't have the emotional bandwidth to watch us change the art - we'll figure out something that feels right!
• Mind Apivessa and Marisa Chentakul have launched a podcast called Design Picnic, a show about user experience and product design focusing on Thai designers across industries. If you're a Thai listener, or interested in a Thai perspective on product design, be sure to check out Design Picnic!

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Event recap:

• Google I/O happened this week with lots of interesting products and themes for us to dig into.
  • Check out all the event details or just catch the highlights.
  • Maps and YouTube are getting incognito mode
  • It's becoming more common to have physical switches on microphones and cameras to protect against hacking.
  • Google Takeout helps you download and remove the data that Google stores about you.
  • Android Q is getting dark mode, among other neat features like live captions. Live captions still have a ways to go, but are impressive nonetheless.
  • The Material Design spec has been updated with full details about how to properly implement a dark theme.
  • The Google Nest Hub Max has some cool new features, like holding your hand up to the screen to pause any playing audio.
  • The Pixel 3a is a budget Pixel device, but with actually decent specs and a solid camera. Check out MKBHD's review for more details.

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One Cool Thing:

• Marshall shared a full length feature about the creation of the God of War video game series, Raising Kratos.
  • Additionally, you can now watch the entire storyline of God of War as told through in-game cinematics. Grab yourself six hours and jump on in.
• Brian shared Sift, an app that makes it easier to consume the news, dig into source materials, and interact with memorable graphs and charts about relevant social issues.

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Design Details on the Web:

• We are @designdetailsfm
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  • Marshall is @marshallbock
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BYEEEEE!