Lenovo recently confirmed that it is working on a device similar to Google Glass. The device is said to a five-megapixel camera, voice recognition and gesture control, and around 12GB of internal storage.
The Google-Glass look alike will have a battery attached down at the neck of the user. The Chinese computing giant said that more information will be revealed in October. However the company said that they are looking for partners to foray into the wearable market. It has reportedly created the “NBD” platform, which is Chinese for “new bench”.
Vuzix M100
“Right now there are too many devices you can develop for the Internet of Things. It is too rich. Not a single company can do it all,” Chen Xudong, senior vice-president of Lenovo was quoted saying. The NBD platform is geared towards the Chinese market, but it may soon turn its attention to the rest of the world. “We hope to use Lenovo’s advantages to combine with innovators,” Chen added. “This platform can help them quickly start selling products, and create a supply chain for the market.”
In a bid to achieve its goal, the company has launched the NBD platform. With NBD, Lenovo wants to “offer funding, manufacturing, hardware research and other logistical support to partners”, the report added.
Prototype of Lenovo C1
The device, called C1, will support NBD platform that aims to make connected devices like web-enabled air purifiers more inter-compatible, by providing a framework, R&D, manufacturing support and will even provide funding to third-party firms.
Lenovo has also partnered with German company called Luftmed which manufactures an affordable air purifier that can be controlled with a smartphone. Lenovo also announced that the company has partnered with Vuzix to launch M100 smart glasses in China.
Lenovo now has two smart glasses in production, the M100 and the Google Glass-like C1. According to the report, the M100 uses Android 4.0.4 and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. It will first go on sale to developers for 8,000 yuan ($1298) in August or September 2014, but its ultimate target is the business market.
A few days back Google opened up the Glass program for everyone in the US with a valid credit card. While there were also reports of the Google Glass actually costing US $ 150 to build (which were later scrapped), it appears that the next version of Glass is already doing rounds of the RnD department.
Crystal Optech supplies Liquid Crystal on Silicon displays for the current version of Google Glass, Kong Wenjun of the company said that they were shipping newer displays for the next version of Glass.
Google has also involved a middle company in the purchase process which would help the Mountain View based search giant keep all of this under wraps. The latest version and the one we have is referred to as Google Glass Explorer Edition 2, which came out in October of 2013 and ships with a Mono Earbud.
While there are no specs or details or even a name available for the next version of Google Glass, it is also expected that Google will announce it at the upcoming I/O conference and this version may also be a public edition costing in the US $ 500 price bracket.
Google Glassware Gallery ( application store) also added new apps for Foursquare, TripIt and OpenTable making it a boon for the everyday traveller and connoisseur.
Not very long ago, Doctors used Google Glass for a surgery at Ohio State University, which helped medical students to see from the Doctors prospective. Now, in India a surgeon operated upon two persons wearing Google glass, allowing people across the globe to see the procedure live.
Chennai based Dr JS Rajkumar, laparoscopy surgeon and chairman of Lifeline Hospital, became the second surgeon in the world to operate using the Glass on Tuesday.
Dr JS Rajkumar
“We at Lifeline have always been ahead technologically and this was just another such attempt,” said Dr Rajkumar.
“As a surgeon I could access whatever information was available on the surgery right inside the operation theater, and it is also a boon for medical students who can watch the surgery live on their computer screens anywhere in the world. Expert surgeons can guide surgeons during difficult surgeries from any part of the world,” he said.
Dr Rajkumar admitted to being a bit nervous at the start of the surgery.
I was a wee bit nervous initially, which was obvious, considering I was aware the whole world was watching. But it was a trial run and there will be more surgeries happening in the coming weeks, this is going to be a game changer as it will give you tremendous transparency, and I am proud to be the first person to introduce it in India,” said Dr Rajkumar.
The developers at Google are constantly trying to experiment with the possibilities of Glass. Google Glass has been used to fly drones, broadcast live surgeries from a doctors POV and a lot more.
The device is still not available for everyone, but there are some serious questions on the usability of Glass. Google Glass’ ability to understand our gestures and voice is what has led to this next control based development. In a real world scenario, in some situations we might not be able to use some simple gestures like nodding, swiping or talking to the Glass.
But, Now you can perform all the controls remotely, all because of an update to the MyGlass companion Android app. It uses Glass’ screencast experience, which is a way of letting other users see what you’re seeing on Glass from their Android device’s screen.
Now a Glass user can touch, swipe or tap to control the Glass UI through the screencast experience. Some users have noted that the remote control part is not working yet and probably requires a matching Glass update. Google mentioned:
“If you don’t have Glass, then downloading this(app) will be a waste of time. Sorry about that. But if you swipe the screenshots to the right you’ll see there’s a picture of a puppy in pajamas. So not a total waste of time after all.”
The UI of the Glass seems to be improving with all necessary updates, and it is possible that soon we might have the Google Glass with many capabilities that can be used for everything!
A group of surgeons at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center added to the usage of Google Glass during surgical procedures.
As reported by ABC news, Christopher Kaeding who is an orthopedic surgeon at OSU, used Glass for a standard surgical procedure.
When he first put them on, he said that it mildly disrupted his routine. “In surgery, you have a certain feel,” he told ABC News. “But I was surprised how quickly I felt comfortable with it.”
In this particular case, Glass’s purpose was to allow Christopher to join a Google Hangout,during the surgery. Also in the hangout were Robert Magnussen, an assistant professor of orthopaedics at OSU, as well as few of the medical school’s second year students.
Ryan Blackwell, one of those students, said that Glass can give students an insider’s perspective.
“Most students have shadowed a surgeon in the operating room, but you’re often stuck on the outside trying to get a glimpse of whatever you can,” he said. “But with Glass, you get that experience that weren’t able to get before.”
Magnussen adds that Glass’s filming ability can reach more than just a couple of students at a time. For medical educators, he sees it as a way of making the curriculum more involved. “Say we’re talking about the anatomy of the knee. Watching an actual knee surgery would liven up that lecture,” he said.
Both Blackwell and Magnussen have a few minor worries about Glass’s video quality and buffering. The location of Glass’s camera also isn’t ideal for surgery, making some of Kaeding’s incisions difficult to see. ” said Blackwell.
In addition, the short battery life may mean that Glass isn’t suited for certain surgical procedures that take a long time. While other doctors at OSU have said that Glass could also be used to display a patient’s X-rays, as well as both pathology reports and reference materials pertaining to the surgery. Though Glass has potential, it’s important to keep the focus on the patient.
Kaeding knows that Glass is still a prototype at this point and that there’s room for improvement. But there is one thing that even he can tell is a huge benefit this early on. “Once it’s on, it’s hands free,” he said. “You don’t have to break sterility so you won’t have to regown and reglove.”
This adds up to the usage of Google Glass, what do you think ?
Developer Blaine Bublitz has hacked into Google Glass to give us a controller option which can be used to fly a drone. Ever since the Glass was released for developers, we’ve been seeing all sorts of apps being created for it. Google itself implied that tasks like clicking a picture, sending a message, translations and so on would probably need verbal input to function.
But Bublitz’s creation is the latest and probably the best. This was made possible mainly using Google Glass and JavaScript, the developer has made it possible to control and fly a Parrot AR Drone. The flying robot was controllable with help of some simple head movements. The controls were not smooth, but that can be considered keeping in mind that the project is still developing.
If you look at the video below, you will see that that drone is been controlled by the Glass. If you need more information on how this was made possible and what coding was used for the JavaScript, you can click here to go the developers blog.
Google has bought patents for wearable technology used in gaming and training simulations from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., a primary assembler for Apple Inc.
Hon Hai, a major supplier for Apple and other top IT brands, sold a portfolio of Head Mounted Display (HMD) patents, the company said in a news release on Friday.
The technology, dubbed Head Mounted Display, is commonly used in aviation and ground displays, engineering and scientific design applications, gaming devices and training and simulation tools.
Hon Hai assembles iPhones and iPads, and the company is hiring as many as 90,000 workers in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Zhengzhou to meet client demand in the fourth quarter. It said it had applied for over 55,000 patent rights globally, of which over 5,000 have been approved.
Hon Hai has said it will focus on developing new technology, intellectual property rights and e-commerce as it looks to reduce its reliance on Apple.
Google has been working on the release of Google Glass, a wearable device with a head-mounted display that currently is only available to developers and hand-picked testers.
Last month, Google invested in a Taiwanese chip maker that manufactures components used in the wearable device. It said it would buy shares to hold a 6.3 percent interest in Himax Display, a subsidiary of Himax Technologies.
Technology is ever-growing, one would say each day something new is developed. In this ever growing age of technology, it is not easy to keep yourself updated with all the new developments in the world of technology. We live in a world where present technology seems to fulfill, in some cases present technology is also ahead of what SOME people may think. It is always good to know what does the future technology got for us.
Google Glass:
Google glass is a great step in technology. What is the Google Glass ?
Google Glass is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display (OHMD) that has been developed by Google in the Project Glass research and development project, with a mission; Production of a mass-market ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format, that can interact with the Internet via natural language voice commands
As per Google, Glass is fairly simple to use, for taking an image one just has to say take a picture and its all done, you can record everything hands free, even share what you see – Live! get directions right in front of you, just speak to send a message, ask anything that’s on your mind, translate your voice, get few answers without even asking. The structure for the Google Glass is strong and light with an Evolutionary design. The colors it will be available in Charcoal, Tangerine, Shale, Cotton, Sky.
All this features would be of better understanding after you watch this:
We will have to see if Glass would live up to our expectation as Rumored Google is getting these available from next year just for $299. But, will Glass be able to maintain its position in the market because if we look at the technology it is growing, so the day is not far when we might have the same technology on our goggles or in the lenses we wear.
Oculus Rift
The Oculus Rift is an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display developed by Oculus VR, who have raised $16 million, of which $2.4 million was raised with crowfunding via Kickstarter. The company, founded by Palmer Luckey and the co-founders of Scale form and id Software, John Carmack was later hired as its Chief Technology Officer.
The Oculus Rift is a next-generation virtual reality headset designed for immersive gaming. The test kits are in the process of being shipped out, are you getting your own Oculus Rift development kit?
For more information and to see how this works watch the video below.
If we talk about the technology in the future cars, the BMW i8 concept car is the best example we can quote as if now.
The BMW i8, first introduced as the BMW Concept Vision Efficient Dynamics, is a plug-in hybrid under development by BMW. The initial turbodiesel concept car unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, and the BMW i8 gasoline-powered concept car destined for production unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. The i8 concept has a 7.2 kWh lithium-ion battery pack which delivers an all-electric range of 35 km.
The Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car is a plug-in hybrid with a three cylinder turbo diesel engine. Additionally, there are two electric motors with 139 horsepower. It allows acceleration to 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h.
According to BMW, the average fuel consumption in the EU test cycle (KV01) is 3.76 liters/100 kilometers and has a carbon dioxide emission rating of 99 grams per kilometer (1,3 l/100 km and 33g CO2/km ; EU-PHEV ECE-R101). The estimated all-electric range is 50 km, and the 24-liter diesel tank extends the total vehicle range to up to 700 km. The lightweight chassis made mainly from aluminium, windshield, top, doors and fenders are made from polycarbonate glass and the body has a drag coefficient of 0.22.
These are just some that technologies that are upcoming, but as mentioned above the world of technology is ever-growing with ideas and resources. We can hope for a better and luxurious future.
Google has added some new features to the Google Glass in the latest software update for its experiment. There’s a new video player with simple tap to start/pause, swipe to fast forward and rewind commands, and new voice commands for posting an update.
Path and Evernote users can update those apps by saying “okay glass, post an update” for Path or “okay glass, take a note” for Evernote. Speaking of which, voice controls are improved across the board, so you can now chat with Glass more naturally. Which can be a great if it recognizes the voice in neutral accent.
Google also added a new Volume control card in settings, and made it possible to check your timeline and use other features of Google Glass Glass while on an active video call.
The new update also has new cards which includes appointments drawn from your Gmail, nearby movie showtimes with posters, public alerts and the ability to send birthday messages for birthday reminder cards. The new update is named as XE8. Google is constantly trying to improvise the Glass, we will have to wait and see what the final device would look like.
Are you among the few out there with Google Glass? Now you’ve got better pictures — and the ability to add a caption – on the way.
Google has begun rolling out a software update for the Google Glass heads-up-display computers with major changes to the way the device takes and handles photographs. Notably, the device will now take photos in rapid succession so you can choose the best photo possible.
The update brings “rapid sequence of shots”. This feature takes a burst of photos with every photograph that is taken. Those multiple images are then merged together, producing a single image that is more detailed and better exposed than the previous images Glass would take.
You can now shoot HDR images on Glass, which will help in high contrast situations. This involves taking a brighter, darker and mid-range image and combining them together to reproduce a fuller range of tones. It’s very common now on smartphones and other cameras, so it’s nice to see it come to Glass.
There’s also a new option to add a photo caption via voice as you share your photo out. Just tap and talk and a caption will appear with your social sharing to Google+.
The camera aside, there are some other small changes and improvements that are included in update XE6, such as a change to the shut down notification sound and Off-Head detection sound. Hangouts produces a ring when connecting, Google Now Sports and Birthdays cards are new and improved, off-head detection is better, and several small fixes have been applied.
The first pornography app for Google Glass has launched, though not for long.
Porn company Mikandi, which calls itself the world’s top app store for porn, released “Tits and Glass” this morning. A very classy title of course, as befits the porn industry. The app was designed to make “authentic” porn, allowing users to create, upload, and share photos taken with Glass.
It would also allow users to comment and vote on their favorite content, according to a statement from MiKandi.
“Google Glass is still in its infancy. The technology is really awesome, but it’s still brand new,” said Jesse Adams, CEO of MiKandi. “It’s important for us to stay on the cutting edge, though. It’s going to be connected to everything, so it’s important for us to push limit and see whats possible.”
Google officially banned sexually explicit material on the futuristic eyewear.
The company changed its Google Glass Platform Developer Policies today:
Sexually Explicit Material: We don’t allow Glassware content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material. Google has a zero-tolerance policy against child pornography. If we become aware of content with child pornography, we will report it to the appropriate authorities and delete the Google Accounts of those involved with the distribution.
More than 10,000 people have visited the landing page for the app, and a dozen Google Glass owners had signed up with the app, MiKandi CEO Jesse Adams said in a blog post.
He said the company made sure it was following the Google Glass developer terms when it started creating the app two weeks ago, but those rules were quickly changed by Google. MiKandi will comply with the new rules, and plans on rolling out a new app that somehow doesn’t include any of the forbidden content.
MiKandi, also wants to explore direct Glass-to-Glass interactions.
Google has attempted to assuage some of the privacy concerns surrounding Google Glass with a new Google+ post on facial recognition.
As Google has said for several years, we won’t add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place. With that in mind, we won’t be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time.”
The company also said developers would not be allowed to disable the Google Glass display while using the device’s camera. This comes in response to concerns that Glass wearers could surreptitiously take photos and videos of their surroundings, without those nearby able to see that they were doing so by noticing the lit display in front of their faces.
Glass, despite its holding pattern in beta, has already been scrutinized from an ethical perspective by many technology watchers, some of whom have said they’re troubled by the challenges to privacy posed by a wearable computer which could potentially be used to photograph people in public spaces without fair warning.
Google Glass is currently only available to Explorer Program members, with #ifihadglass contest winners joining them soon. Google says that it’s using this early period in Glass’s lifecycle to listen to users and the public and to shape its policies accordingly.
Google has in recent years been a target of privacy hawks concerned with the company’s access to growing amounts of personal information through its search services and mobile device software.
Google Glass is nearing it’s completion and will very soon be available to to the 2,000 developers who had pre-ordered the device last year. Also, the people who’d taken part in Google’s #ifihadglass contest, and won a pair of these technological marvels, are beginning to receive their units.
Google’s #ifihadglass contest advertised for “bold, creative individuals” to start carrying pre-production builds of Glass later this year. The contest apparently also looked for prosperous individuals willing to pay $1,500 for the prize, plus travel expense to pick it up.
If you weren’t one of the lucky winners, the chosen ones, then you don’t need to feel disappointed. You can own your very own pair of Google Glass now! If you have Rs. 4,87,4400/- that is.
As Engadget reports, a seller on eBay has put up his unit for sale and has priced it at $90,000. The seller is an eBay member since 2004, and has a 100% positive feedback.
It’s not quite clear how Google will respond to this listing, as it had clearly laid out the terms to the developers receiving the devices that they were not to be gifted or sold.
Guess we will find out!
In terms of specs, Google Glass will feature a 640 x 360 display, which according to Google is “equivalent of a 25 inch high definition screen from eight feet away,” The device will come with a 5 megapixel camera, that’s capable of shooting videos in 720p.
The device gets 16GB of onboard storage, out of which only 12GB is accessible by the user and it will sync with Google’s cloud storage service.
