This past week saw two big developer conferences unload several boxes of announcements, as Google I/O and Microsoft Build fought for media attention like Godzilla vs. Gamera. El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the ramped-up interest in artificial intelligence coming out of both conferences, along with other headlines from around the technosphere. J.D. also offers suggestions for dealing with an excess of emoji, and previews new characters under consideration by the Unicode Consortium. Come sit a spell and join us for Episode 272!

Links to Stories Discussed on This Week’s Episode

• Everything Google announced at its 2018 I/O developers conference (Quartz)
• Make Google Do It… And Then What? (BuzzFeed)
• Build 2018 key takeaways: 10 most important announcements from Microsoft’s big developer conference (GeekWire)
• Critical Windows bug fixed today is actively being exploited to hack users (Ars Technica)
• Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17666 (Windows Experience Blog)
• Customers can experience first-hand the convenience of the Alexa smart home experience and more in a real home environment (Amazon Press Room)
• U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao Announces Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program Selectees (US Department of Transportation)
• Squirrel Is a New App That’s Just Like Slack but Made by Yahoo, and We’ll Leave It at That (Gizmodo)
• Yahoo just released a group chat app called Squirrel (Android Police)
• Introducing Tour Creator (Google blog)
• Apple cracking down on applications that send location data to third-parties (9to5Mac.com)
• Apple Plans to Sell Video Subscriptions Through TV App (Bloomberg)
• FCC says ‘net neutrality’ rules will end on June 11 (Reuters)
• Russia’s 2016 Facebook Strategy Exposed in Trove of 3,500 Ads (Bloomberg)
• Exposing Russia’s Effort to Sow Discord Online: The Internet Research Agency and Advertisements (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence)
• Full Solo Soundtrack List Hints at What the Movie Is Really About (MovieWeb)

Emoji World

• The Unicode Consortium
• Overcome With Emoji (The New York Times)
• 157 New Emojis in the 2018 Emoji List (Emojipedia)
• Draft Emoji Candidates (Unicode Consortium)