It’s like cars that support onstar or services like that. The car has to have support for it, but I don’t expect having support to be a luxury service. The reason to do this over mounting your phone is that the UI is designed for the car. Things that you actually use in the car are up front. Interaction is also intended to be hands free as much as you’re willing to use voice commands. I don’t really see this as a big selling point for the cars, but if the car I as buying had it, I’d be happy with it.

#Cardboard Probably the weirdest part of I/O was the first gift to attendees. As Pichai was finishing up and announcing the gifts, he started out really vaguely with: “You’re all going to get a Cardboard, let us know what you think” [image: Cardboard.png] Turns out, this is actually pretty cool. The cardboard unfolds with a pair of lenses to form a head set like thing. Place your android phone in the holding portion and you’ve got a REALLY cheap VR headset. Google has demos for it as well as a VR toolkit so developers can make their own VR apps. If you didn’t attend I/O and still want to try out Cardboard, there are instructions on how to build your own. You need to buy some lenses (which run on amazon for about $18) to get the focal distance right, but otherwise all you need are some hosehold items! Check it out! [image: CardboardHeadset.png] home

In the keynote I think it kept going. That might change by the time of release.

@Scuzz I think it’ll be a base for both oems and developers to branch from. Much like holo was.

Google I/O launched this morning with a really exciting Keynote. Among a few other things, Google announced a new design paradigm, the L version of android, 3 new niche android experiences, and a few small updates to current google products. The message of I/O 2014 was dominantly unification beyond phones. Google is pushing for consistent UI, contextual awareness, and voice/gesture controls across every aspect of technology in your life. As you’ll see, each of the new products google is rolling out has a familiar design while still adapting to specific devices and use-case. Google’s ecosystem is rapidly expanding, and, unlike Microsoft, they seem to be doing it correctly. This thread is mostly to coordinate by providing a table of contents and anything else that applies to all of my I/O threads. See each of the topics below for more info! Material Android L Android Wear Android Auto Android TV Misc Updates Cardboard