Material

Russell and Flo meet at an undisclosed location with undisclosed parties. Wait who are we kidding they disclose ALL under the dual screen lights of the Axon M. Andy explores the curious world of penguins in the workplace. Also Android 8.1 ships, Amazon and Google start a playground war and Google does it again with their crazy, wonderful Doodles.

With Russell out on another vision quest, Andy and Flo get down to business. They explore how much personal data is too much to hand over to Google. They also touch upon Andy Rubin's leave from Essential, experimental AI that can detect snoops, and whether we'll ever recover after the Great Cheeseburger Emoji debacle of 2017.

Flo finally gets Jelly. Andy is all about dem, dem sales, no retail. Russell is seriously confused about which holiday Americans celebrate more. Also Google has been watching you like a hawk, which people took as well as you'd expect. All this and more in a week where Americans are apparently saying thanks for stuff and eating large, rather tasteless birds...now ain't that a thing,

Andy is away on a secret assignment. Flo visits a playground. Russell updates the Essentials. We also talk more about Chromebooks, Google cracking down on assistive features and everyone's favourite headphones the Pixel Buds. I feel like there's an Air Bud joke in here somewhere but I just haven't been able to find it. Apologies dear listenerd, apologies.

With all the grim news permeating the airwaves these days, your three intrepid hosts start out this week's episode looking for glee in Google Photos (Search for "happy" to see what we mean).

We're also talking about Google and Facebook's near-monopoly in online advertising, as well as some fun Google Experiments you can try in your off time.

Google Pixelbook

Asus Chromebook Flip C302

Android Authority: The Pixel 2 is the Android experience everyone deserves

Android Police: Essential Phone drops by another $50 to $449.99

The Guardian: Senator Franken really lets Google have it

Google Voice Experiments

Russell finally gets ALL THE PIXELS. Andy is building his own 3D World. Flo has flashbacks to old school phones. We also talk about Google's involvement in government, fun 3D models and whether or not there's a bit of Slav in all of us.

Russell has an announcement about the Great Pixel Race. Flo has all the Pixels. Andy has none. Despite taking a brief detour into International Date Formats the crew discuss colour management, screen issues and all things Pixel 2 this week.

Andy and Flo are solo this week, with Russell out on a vision quest. The two start this week chatting about Star Wars, then delve into how refreshing the foldable ZTE Axon M is, even with so many letters in its name. There's also plenty of musing over Google's burrito delivery service undergoing testing Down Under, as well as plenty of grumbling about how noisy drones are when you're just trying to get some sleep!

Russell wishes Google were more present Down Under. Andy finds out the Pixel Buds contain a wire. Flo is still jelly of Andy's Jelly Phone. And no, Google did not buy Apple. Wondering what the heck we're talking about? It's all in this week's episode of Material!

Android Police: Google is permanently nerfing all Home Minis because mine spied on everything I said 24/7

The Verge: FCC will allow Alphabet’s Project Loon to deliver air balloon LTE to Puerto Rico

Ars Technica: Dow Jones posts fake story claiming Google was buying Apple

So apparently Google announced some stuff...who knew?! The team assembles in Material HQ to discuss. During a heated debate a mysterious visitor drops in to throw down a challenge. Could the Great Pixel Race of 2017 be on again?!

Yasmine Evjen