Contractors say they were told to lie while collecting Pixel 4 face scans

This summer, we learned that Google had embarked on a wide scale project to collect facial recognition data, which the company said was necessary to build "fairness" into face unlocking for its Pixel 4, which will be officially unveiled on October 15...

Leaked Google videos show the Pixel 4’s ‘Motion Sense’ gestures in action

After all the countless Pixel 4 leaks, you may have tuned out at this point, but for those that are still paying attention, 9to5Google has shared what it says are official marketing videos Google will release to promote the phone. The two sets of vid...

Google confirms Pixel 4 will support face unlock, touch-free gestures

Google is once again validating rumors about the Pixel 4, this time for its touch-free control. The company has confirmed that its next flagship phones will include motion-sensing Soli radar that lets you skip tracks, silence phone calls and otherwis...

Playable Version of the World’s Tiniest Violin

Are you tired of other people complaining about their first world problems? Get out your fingers, and play them the world’s tiniest violin. This version actually works, thanks to the folks at Design I/O. It produces actual sad music.

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It is based on Google’s Project Soli, a tiny radar-based chip that can detect tiny movements of your fingers. Now when you play them the world’s tiniest violin, it can reproduce the sounds of the actual instrument. This is a very handy device given how so many people moan about the temperature of their lattes, the battery life of their smartphones, and other insignificant stuff.

Even though this one is a bit large and to bring with you everywhere, the Project Soli chipset will eventually show up in smartphones and watches. So one day you will be able to play the violin anytime someone complains, and give them their own personal sad concert.

[via Gizmodo]

Google’s Project Soli: Gesture All of the Things

Don’t touch. That should be the motto of Google’s new technology that allows people to control many of their favorite devices without ever laying a hand on them.

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Dubbed Project Soli, it’s a radar-based system that allows people to do things like rub their fingers together or tap their fingers in order to interact with the machines they love. Ivan Poupyrev, the Soli project manager, describes it this way in a video demonstrating the amazing new advance: “Capturing the possibility of the human hand was one of my passions.” He goes on to explain that he wants to take the incredible flexibility and dexterity of the hand and use it for myriad virtual purposes.

To do so, he and his team developed a tiny radar system to link your hands’ movements to your devices. In Google’s Soli video, you can see some pretty amazing implementations of the technology – resetting a watch by rubbing your fingers together above the timepiece, and using similar hand movements to adjust volume and change songs on your music player. At times it looks as if a symphony conductor is using his hand motions to control and empower a small orchestra. Soli uses a very small chip, and because radar can detect extremely precise movements, the potential applications of Soli seem wide and deep.

Now only if they could implant a chip in my three-year-old that would allow me to snap my fingers and dial down his wailing when he isn’t getting what he wants.

[via ZME Science]