Researchers at several institutions have created a new technology that will empower future smart contact lenses. The team developed a “transparent, highly conductive, and stretchy mix of graphene and silver nanowires” that it then attached to an off-the-shelf soft contact lens to give it Google Glass-like features, Technology Review reported. The lenses were tested on rabbits because of similarities with the human eye and were found to be fully functional. The researchers noted that the rabbits didn’t attempt to rub their eyes nor did they grow bloodshot after five hours of testing.
If you thought that the recent revelations about the NSA’s invasive surveillance practices would give app developers pause about spreading the adoption of facial recognition technology, you would be wrong. Technology Review reports that app developers are griping over Google’s decision to bar facial recognition technology from Google Glass because they think such tech should be a core capability of any wearable computing device. Developer Lance Nanek, for instance, had just demonstrated a prototype for a facial recognition app that could be used by doctors to instantly bring up patients’ medical history and information right before Google formally announced it wouldn’t support such apps on the platform. More →
Google shareholders and other individuals were in for a surprise when they arrived at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. Google, ironically, banned attendees from wearing the company’s own wearable computing device at the meeting. The company forbade people from using electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and recording devices. The restriction infuriated the nonprofit watchdog organization Consumer Watchdog, which called out Google executives as hypocrites. More →
Do you believe that Google Glass is an awkward, silly looking gadget that will be relegated to a niche market of techie dorks? If so then Georgia Tech professor Thad Starner thinks you’re missing out on the next technological revolution that will change the world in much the same way the automobile did. In an interview with Technology Review, Starner hit back at the notion that Glass is too dorky for mainstream audiences and said eyeglasses, automobiles and cell phones were all seen as ridiculous when they were first introduced. When the interviewer questioned whether Google Glass really had the same revolutionary potential as the car, Starner doubled down. More →
Sad news for anyone hoping to waste their days secretly watching porn during office hours using Google Glass: Google has already barred sexually explicit applications from the Glass platform. As Business Insider’s Jay Yarow notes, Google has said that it doesn’t allow “Glassware content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material” and has a “zero-tolerance policy against child pornography.” Google earlier this week announced that it wouldn’t allow facial recognition technology onto the Glass platform so it seems that the company is exerting a lot more influence over what developers can create for the headset than it typically does with smartphone and tablet app developers.
One of the more intriguing stories to follow in recent months has been the relationship between Samsung and several of the big-name tech companies that have relied upon it for components. Apple has made definitive moves away from Samsung and Google has shown some wariness about the company’s overwhelming clout in the Android ecosystem. But any anxieties Google might have about Samsung haven’t been enough to keep the South Korea-based manufacturer out of the loop on Google’s most experimental projects. More →
The common knock on Google Glass has been that it’s far too dorky-looking for normal people to want to wear. David Pogue, writing at Scientific American, says that he got a chance to play around with Google Glass recently and came away with a somewhat different take: Google Glass is too creepy. In particular, Pogue says that people who are wearing Google Glass instantly make everyone else around them uncomfortable if they’re not also wearing the headset. Pogue came to this realization after he “ran into a Google employee wearing it in public” and had a “screamingly uncomfortable” conversation with her. More →
Google appears to be working on a sequel to its ill-fated Nexus Q streaming device. The Nexus Q debuted at last year’s I/O Developers Conference with limited capabilities and a premium price tag that eventually led to Google postponing the project. But a recent filing with the Federal Communications Commission has revealed a mysterious Google-built device that “functions as a media player” and could be a revamped Q. Little is known about the device, although it is equipped with support for 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and was connected to a Dell 24-inch monitor for testing, giving further evidence that it is a potential Nexus Q sucessor. The device is known as the “H840 device” and features the model number H2G2-42, a reference to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
With Apple’s “iWatch” likely to release this year, it’s not surprising that we’re starting to hear rumors about components being cobbled together just before the company starts ramping up production of the device. Japanese blog Macotakara points us to a new report from Taiwanese publication Economic Times claiming that Apple is testing out 1.5-inch OLED displays produced by RITEK subsidiary RiTdisplay for its upcoming smartwatch. Macotakara notes that earlier rumors claimed the iWatch would have a 1.8-inch display, so it seems that Apple may be thinking of reducing the device’s size if it’s really giving 1.5-inch panels a long look.
On the second day of Google’s I/O Developers conference, the company announced the availability of more “glassware” applications for its heavily hyped wearable computing device. Google Glass applications including CNN, Elle, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Evernote are available now to early Glass adopters, The New York Times reported. The applications join Path and The New York Times’ own app, which were previously the only other third-party apps available for the device. Each application will bring something unique to Google Glass. The CNN application, for example, allows users to be notified with news alerts for a specific topic, while the Evernote app will let users send notes, such as a grocery list, to Glass for reference later on.
Given the potential safety and privacy concerns surrounding Google Glass, Google has put some very tight restrictions on what kinds of applications developers can build for the headset. Or has it? Technology Review reports that Google will hold a session at its Google I/O conference this week dedicated specifically to giving developers root access to Glass and teaching them how to create experimental applications. Developers who hack into Glass will render their warranties null and void, of course, but Google still wants them to take that risk and test the limits of what Glass can do. Technology Review says that such hacks into Glass may be crucial to shaping the platform since Google still hasn’t finalized what features the headset will have when it’s released to consumers next year.
The arrival of Google Glass, along with smartwatches from Apple, Samsung and LG, could help the wearable-computer market swell to become a $6 billion industry by 2016, Bloomberg reported. Companies and independent developers have been quick to adopt these new platforms and are looking to get a head start on the next big app market. More →
