Google shuts down voice dialogs
As of June 13, 2023, Google will shut down all so-called "conversational actions" for their Google Assistant. Every action that involves a speech dialog, like food ordering, games, educational apps, story telling, every application that requires questions and answers, will be canceled. Effectively, the Google Assistant is crippled down to a simple command-and-control interface.
How to run Linux GUI applications on Windows 11
It's been a while since my last post about running Linux GUI applications on Windows 10. Meanwhile, Microsoft proposed its roadmap to bring GUI applications to the Windows Subsystem for Linux and now a preview is available. This project aims to enable support for running Linux GUI applications on Windows in a fully integrated desktop experience.
Implementing Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication using the time-based one-time password algorithm can be easily implemented with PHP on any web server. This standardized method is widely used as an additional security measure for logins and uses smartphone apps, e.g. the Google or Microsoft Authenticator, as a second factor.
Augmented Reality with Chrome: Let Flowers Grow!
With Chrome 81 Beta for Android, it’s now possible to use immersive Augmented Reality in the browser. I have again created two variations of the original demo source code to show what is easily possible. You can now walk around the earth, having a closer look, and (hopefully) spread joy by placing flowers wherever you like.
A minimal Web Push example
Web push notifications allow users to opt-in to asynchronous messages from a server to a web application. The message can be sent at any time, even when the web application or the web browser is inactive. This W3C standard, based on the HTTP/2 protocol, is now supported by Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari – but not by iOS.
An Alexa skill for New York City transport service changes
Playing around with the idea of Alexa Skills based on live data feeds, I created an Alexa Skill which announces unplanned service changes of the New York City subway and bus lines, based on information provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). This skill, available in English and German, was now certified and has gone live.
Why not to abbreviate the year 2020
The year 2020 poses a special problem that can make it easy for scammers to forge handwritten documents. This happens once in a century, the last time in the year 1919. It’s common practice to shorten the year when writing down a date. This year, however, could cause some legal issues and can leave you at risk of fraud.
A VSCode extension to paste different clipboard formats
Today a short blog post about a Visual Studio Code extension I created a week ago. VSCode, as you might know, is a very popular code editor created and maintained by Microsoft and available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. This extension implements a Paste Special function to paste clipboard content in different available formats.
Chrome 79 Beta: Virtual Reality Comes to the Web
Chrome 79 Beta is out and with it the public support of the WebXR Device API. This API is about accessing virtual and augmented reality devices. One usable device is in your pocket or lying next to you on the desk or you are even reading this blog post with it: your mobile phone. So let’s play around a bit and see what can be done.
What web can do: a mobile speech-to-speech translator
In the 70s and 80s, some people thought that you could soon travel the world with a portable computer, only the size of a backpack, that would translate any spoken utterance to any other language. Nowadays, with the Google Translate App, you can easily do this with any mobile device. But is this also possible using only HTML, CSS, and Javascript?
