Items tagged with Google-Glass
Google Glass XE11 Update Brings More Personal Map Directions And Calendar Search, Removes Long Press
Every month, Google Glass gets another update as the closely-watched beta test continues to roll on and expand. The latest update, XE11, brings with it a few handy new features and removes one that Google believes was not very useful in the end. Google Glass users can now tell Google Maps where they live and work, so when you want to travel to one of the other, you get more personalized map directions because Google will better understand what you want. Glass users’ calendar is more personal now, too, as they can now check their schedule right from Glass and search for calendar details. Users can can now also screencast to their smartphones directly from their notifications; there’s...
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As it is now, the mysterious Google-owned barge sitting in San Francisco Bay is decidedly barge-like, which is to say that it’s blocky and ugly, and the presumption is that when the company eventually finishes converting it to a tech showroom to display wares such as Google Glass to high-end clientele, it would be gussied up a bit. That presumption, it appears, falls far short of what Google is actually planning. According to SFGate, documents filed with the Port of San Francisco indicate that Google is going to create an "unprecedented artistic structure" out of the thing, replete with “sails” that sort of look like fins. Judging from an artist rendering that was submitted...
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What was that I was saying about wishing that Google Glass had prescription lens inserts? It appears I wasn’t the only one who thought that would be a good idea, because it’s happening. Google is partnering with Rochester Optical to produce the first custom lenses for Google Glass. Buried at the bottom of a press release announcing that Venture Glass founder Tim Moore was joining its ranks as both an R&D guy and a marketer, Rochester Optical said that would be making “custom prescription, fashion, and sport lenses for Google Glass”. Current (non-prescription) Google Glass lens inserts The new lenses will be available in early 2014, and most likely they’ll take...
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So there’s this mysterious barge parked in San Francisco Bay, stacked with shipping containers. It was a known fact that the barge belonged to Google, but nobody knew what it was doing there, what was on it, or what it might be used for, but local TV station KPIX says it’s cracked it: The barge will be a floating Google Glass showroom, and the whole thing was a project by Google[x], the search giant’s secretive idea incubator and lab. More specifically, it will be a series of showrooms, and although Google Glass will be among the prominent tech displayed, it won’t be the only one. You probably won’t ever see the inside of it, though; the showrooms are invitation-only....
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Up to now, there have been precious few Google Glasses in the wild, with the number limited to the few thousand Google Glass Explorers who ponied up $1,500 for the first round of Explorer Edition beta spectacles, but according to a post on the Google Glass Google+ page, in the next few weeks current Explorers will be able to invite three friends to join the Google Glass party. The Glass team also announced that Google Glass is getting some new and improved hardware, which will allow new Glass devices to accommodate different shades and even prescription frames as well as a mono earbud. Current Explorers can opt for a one-time-only swap of their current specs for a new pair with the improved hardware....
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Wearable computing is all the rage, and for good reason; pretty much everyone can agree that although our smartphones are immensely powerful, they’re actually rather inconvenient. Using one requires at least one hand, often two, and it’s cumbersome to dig into your pocket, purse, or bag to retrieve them whenever you get a notification. We’re slaves to those dings and boops. Google Glass is one of the more promising bits of wearable technology out there. Smart watches are proliferating like rabbits, sure, and other glasses-type tech is in the offing, but Google Glass has the full backing of one of the largest companies in the world and is also the pet project of one of its founders......
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I recently had the good fortune to sit down with David Drum, Research Manager at MOREnet and Google Glass Explorer, to get some hands-on time with the high-tech face computer that Google is testing in the wild. Over a cup of joe at a local coffeeshop, David gave me a chance to play with Google Glass for myself. The first thing I realized upon inspecting Google Glass was that I really should have put in my contacts that morning instead of my usual specs. Google Glass and eyeglasses don’t mix very well. Here’s a vote for Google Glass with pop-in prescription lenses. Wearable computing is all the rage, and for good reason; pretty much everyone can agree that although our smartphones...
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Not that it’s much of a surprise, but Samsung is developing a device of its own to compete with Google Glass. According to images pulled from a patent filing in Korea, the so-called “sports glasses”, or smart glasses, look quite a bit like Google Glass, right down to the HMD, side buttons (which could be touchpads), and transparent lenses. The specs will reportedly have integrated earphones, and users will be able to listen to music, field phone calls, and more. There’s also an odd plug system with wires extending from both sides of the earpieces and connecting in the middle. Credit: The Verge The device appears to be designed to pair with a smartphone not unlike Samsung’s...
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Did you ever think snapping a photo and sharing it could be easier than it is already? Google has been awarded a patent for technology that would allow a wearer of an HMD (head-mounted display) to use hand gestures as a means of input. In other words, if you’re wearing Google Glass, you can use your hands and fingers to frame something and snap a photo of it. The patent also says that the image could be shared over a network, meaning that you can upload it and share it via email or your preferred social networking platform. The patent mentions that a video camera could be used, which means (we hope) that a Google Glass wearer could use their hands to frame a shot and actually take video...
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Wearable computing is a burgeoning market, as smartwatches proliferate like rabbits and a consumer release of Google Glass looms on the horizon, and Intel is officially getting in on the action. Intel Capital, the chipmaker’s investment wing, has made a “significant investment” in Recon Instruments, a company that makes HUDs (heads up displays). The amount of the investment was not disclosed, but Intel did say that it’s involvement would go towards product development as well as marketing and sales. Intel’s technology will find its way into Recon products, and the latter will benefit enormously from the former’s manufacturing and operations expertise, as well....
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Pretty much everything that connects to the Internet is hackable--the exciting but vulnerable “Internet of Things”--but if we’re lucky, security researchers discover most of the vulnerabilities and exploits and help manufacturers patch them before cybercriminals make hay with them. Such is the case with Google Glass and Lookout Mobile Security. The Lookout Mobile Security folks identified a vulnerability in Google Glass wherein they could use a malicious QR code to hack the spectacles. Basically, as Google Glass “looked around” and took photographs, it scanned a QR code; however, that QR code was malicious and forced Google Glass to connect to a nearby WiFi hotspot...
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Google Glass’ destiny is surely augmented reality--wherein the user looking through Google Glass sees extra data when viewing objects such as buildings or signs--and the OpenGlass project is already pushing towards that end. The brainchild of graduate students Brandyn White and Andrew Miller, OpenGlass is a library for Google Glass (available on GitHub), and the duo demonstrated how the spectacles can be used for augmented reality. In a video, they showed how a user could look at the Washington Monument and see how tall it is; or look at a sign and view the Spanish translation; or look at a restaurant and see if it’s closed or open, as well as how many stars it has. The technique...
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Google posted a changelist of new features brought forth by the latest Google Glass APK (XE7), and they include expanded capabilities for the “OK, Glass” functionality, increased web browsing controls, the ability to call or send a message to anyone in your Google contacts, more refined voice search tools, and more. However, GitHub user zhuowei posted some additional “hidden” changes in XE7 that he found by digging through the code. The most interesting bit is called “Boutique”, which appears to be the beginnings of an application market. Google Glass "OK Glass" functions He notes that there’s currently no central repository for Google Glass apps and...
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For all the rabble rousing people are doing over Google Glass and its privacy-invading video-shooting feature, you’d think Google would do everything possible to assuage people’s fears in any way possible, particularly by normalizing the spec’s use. The company had an opportunity to do so at its shareholder’s meeting on Thursday, but according to CNBC, Google Glass was forbidden in the meeting itself. To be fair, so were a lot of devices, including "cameras, recording devices, and other electronic devices, such as smart phones”; even photography was prohibited, according to the meeting’s instructions. Some will call Google hypocrites for keeping Google Glass...
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Google is officially a technology empire, as it expands its domain into an ever-increasing number of markets. The latest area that Google is toying with is renewable energy, as the company has acquired Makani Power, a company that Google has apparently been investing in since 2007. To be more specific, the wing of Google that bought Makani Power is the somewhat mysterious Google X lab (birthplace of Google Glass), which is Google’s moonshot think tank and makes the acquisition all the more intriguing. Makani Power makes autonomous unmanned wind turbine aircraft that are tethered to a terrestrial source--in other words, kite power. The company has just recently been making successful flights...
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Although the exclusive pre-mass production versions of Google Glass, dubbed the “Explorer Edition”, have been in the hands of 2,000 lucky early adopters--well, 1,999 of them now--for about a month, the average joe consumer can’t buy a pair. In fact, Google wasn’t going to be producing a consumer version of the specs until at least sometime in 2014, even though there have been earlier rumors indicating that the end of 2013 was the target date. Citing an inside, unnamed Google source, eWeek says that in fact there will most likely be a retail version of Google Glass sometime this year. "Our goal is to launch Glass later this year," says the source. It’s not clear why...
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Google has its hands in every other aspect of the tech industry, so why not gaming, too? It appears as though the company is eyeing a run at the gaming market by hiring Noah Falstein as its “Chief Game Designer”. Falstein’s LinkedIn profile has been updated to reflect his new title, which is the latest in a long career. He started out in 1980 and put in time at (the recently-defunct) Lucasfilm Games as well as 3DO and Dreamworks Interactive. This, in addition to a chairmanship with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), a column in Game Developer Magazine, consulting work with The Inspiracy , and international speaking engagements. It’s anyone’s guess...
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For whatever reason, the smartwatch “craze” has been more of a low-level buzz than one might expect, but plenty of companies are getting in the game nevertheless. Google is no exception, and after a hearty helping of rumors to that end, Google has filed a patent application that indicates that the company might have one of its own in development. (The patent title is pretty clear: "Smart-watch with user interface features.”) This Google smartwatch makes no clear mention of Bluetooth-type connectivity, which has been something of a hallmark for these devices, although it does detail all manner of wireless connectivity such as WAN, LAN, satellite (indicating perhaps GPS capabilities),...
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Time was, a lecherous fellow could make strangers on the street feel uncomfortable by making eye contact and offering a little wink and a smile. Now, they can crank the creep-o-meter up several notches, because soon Google Glass wearers will be able to snap photos with that same saucy wink. Google Glass developer Mike Giovanni announced that he’s developed Winky, an application for the specs that--all joking aside--makes it much easier for people to take photos. “You might not think it's hard to say ‘Ok, Glass Take a Picture’ or even just tap a button”, said Giovanni in a G+ post. “But it's a context switch that takes you out of the moment, even if just for...
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Speaking of Google Glass and hacking, the new $1,500 spectacles, which are as yet only available to a select group of “Explorers”, have already been hacked. Tweets from Liam McLoughlin (also known as Hexxeh), who works for Google on the Chrome side of things indicate that he found a way to do it, and although he doesn’t say for sure that he rooted the specs yet for fear of breaking them. He did, however, tweet that he found a debug mode that seems to give him ADB access, and a reboot-loader offers a way to root the device through fastboot OEM unlock. Jay Freeman (@saurik) doesn’t think that the fastboot OEM unlock necessarily offers root access, but he’s definitely...
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There are louder and louder rumblings about Google Glass and how it’s essentially a device that invades individuals’ privacy more egregiously and surreptitiously than anything on the market. Indeed, it’s unnerving to think that any Tom, Dick, or Jane walking down the street can snap photos or take video of you simply by looking at you, without your knowledge or consent. However, despite public concern, tech blogger Robert Scoble said at a tech conference in Amsterdam that he wore the high-tech specs (he has the early Google Glass Explorer Edition) for an entire week and walked into about 20 public men’s restrooms with them on without incident and without anyone really...
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As Conan O'Brien so frequently does, he's selected yet another new technology to poke fun of on his late-night comedy show. The latest victim? None other than Google's Glass. While the product has been inching its way from developer to mainstream, most recently in a spiffy new commercial that shows off some of its features, it seems that Google has yet another product that may be far closer to becoming a hit. Or, a sit. According to Conan's latest parody, "Google Ass" is a product that you "stick on your butt" in order to record anything and everything that happens directly underneath or behind you. Yeah, it's just a gag, but it's a pretty good one. Nothing wrong with poking a little fun at the...
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