Tech briefs Dec. 9, 2018 | Business – Roanoke Times

Apple puts music service on Amazon Echo

Apple’s music-streaming service is coming to Amazon’s Echo devices this month.

The move gets Apple Music onto the most popular voice-controlled speakers, giving it distribution beyond Apple’s own devices. Subscribers will be able to control Apple Music with Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant, the first time Apple has opened up its music service to full voice control outside its own Siri technology.

The decision pushes Apple’s music service into more living rooms at a time when its own internet-connected speaker, the HomePod, hasn’t sold as well as the competition. Given the breadth of Alexa-enabled speakers on the market, the move could also boost Apple’s own subscription numbers.

Apple will sell 3.5 million HomePods this year, compared with 28.5 million Echos and 16.2 million Google Home speakers, making Amazon the best partner to help increase Apple Music subscriptions, according to Loup Ventures. Apple Music currently has more than 50 million subscribers.

Army wants Microsoft headsets for battlefield

Virtual- and augmented-reality headsets haven’t had much traction in the consumer market, but they’re finding a place on the battlefield.

The U.S. Army has awarded Microsoft a $480 million contract to supply its HoloLens headsets to soldiers.

The head-mounted displays use augmented reality, which means viewers can see virtual imagery superimposed over the real-world scenery in front of them. Microsoft says the technology will provide troops with better information to make decisions.

The company says the new work extends its longstanding relationship with the Department of Defense.

Military bidding documents say the technology will be used for both training and fighting, bringing more situational awareness to troops to help them become more lethal and mobile.

Walmart rolls out robot janitors

Robots are coming to a Walmart store near you, and not just as a gimmick.

The world’s largest retailer is rolling out 360 autonomous floor-scrubbing robots in some of its stores in the U.S. by the end of the January, it said in a joint statement with Brain Corp., which makes the machines. The autonomous janitors can clean floors on their own even when customers are around, according to the San Diego-based startup.

Walmart already has been experimenting with automating the scanning of shelves for out-of-stock items and hauling products from storage for online orders. Advances in computer vision are also making it possible to use retail floor data to better understand consumer behavior, improve inventory tracking and even do away with checkout counters, as Amazon.com Inc. is trying to do with its cashierless stores. Brain’s robots are equipped with an array of sensors that let them gather and upload data.

The robots, which look like a cross between a miniature Zamboni and a motorized wheelchair, already scrub floors at airports in Seattle, San Diego, Boston and Miami.