Tag Archives: andy rubin
Google Buys Artificial Intelligence Company DeepMind for $400M
Since Google’s recent shopping list includes companies that specialized in robotics, home automation, and artificial intelligence, it has become pretty clear that the search giant is going for world domination in more than one way.
Google’s most recent acquisitions suggest that the company might soon manufacture robots and smart appliances for your smart home. However, there might be another layer to Google buying DeepMind Technologies. As this AI company’s website says, “We combine the best techniques from machine learning and systems neuroscience to build powerful general-purpose learning algorithms.” In this context, it might be more logical to assume that Google’s latest investment is in search, not in robots.
re/code, the first news outlet to break the news about this acquisition, pointed out that it won’t be Andy Rubin who will work closely with DeepMind, but Google search guru Jeff Dean. Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android Inc., has been appointed last month as head of the robotics division at Google, so if the company decided to take the “world domination” route, naming him instead of Jeff Dean would have made much more sense.
One of the Google X projects involving artificial intelligence was supervised by Jeff Dean, so choosing him is the proper thing to do. More precisely, the Google X project involved a 16,000 core neural network that analyzed thousands of cat videos and eventually created an image of what it thought a cat looked like.
As mentioned by The Information, DeepMind imposed a condition before giving away the keys to their company. Google has to establish an ethics board so that the artificial intelligence technology isn’t used for the wrong purposes. In other words, DeepMind didn’t really take Google’s motto, “Don’t be evil,” for granted.
Another interesting piece of information is that Facebook also had its eyes on DeepMind and personally, I’m glad to see that it’s Google who is emerging victorious. It’s pretty obvious that both companies could make use of technologies that enable computers to think more like humans, but Google has more possible applications for artificial intelligence than Facebook. In the context of the ethics board, DeepMind might be more concerned about how artificial intelligence could affect privacy, rather than its possible implementation in robots that take over the world. It would probably be wiser not to erase that last option, just yet.
If you liked this post, please check the patent cross-licensing agreement made by Google and Samsung
Google Buys Boston Dynamics, Prepares the End of Human Race
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Google Project: Building Real Robots?
Google’s Android Founder Andy Rubin is Working on Robots with Seven Acquisitions
The Daily Roundup for 02.26.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Andy Rubin confirms ‘no plans’ for Google retail stores
If those Google retail rumors fuelled visions of whiling away some mall-time, thumbing at the latest Nexus gadgets in a parlor of their own, then Andy Rubin says keep dreaming. While there are some legitimate Google outposts to be found in stores, the Android chief has confirmed to journalists today that -- as far as he's concerned -- there's no need to explore bricks and mortar stores of their own. Rubin was adamant that there are no plans at this time -- and he's in a good position to know. The reason, however, isn't to do with the ageing model of retail, or a well pinned map of consumer behaviour patterns, with Rubin merely stating that he didn't think the Nexus line is quite at the stage that would warrant a store of its own, the same is true of it home-grown Chromebook devices. That's ok though, if you just gotta have that Nexus right now, there are still some options to explore.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google
Source: AllThingsD
Google drafts checklist for making top-notch Android tablet apps
Google's Senior Mobile VP Andy Rubin has been cool towards tablet apps, arguing that mobile titles shouldn't be tuned to a specific form factor. Whether you agree with that assessment or not, his company has produced an (arguably overdue) tablet app checklist to help developers with big screen ambitions. The step-by-step walkthrough tells developers how to make the most of all that free space and optimize for the larger hardware, touch input targets and widgets. There's a difference between having guidelines and getting app writers to follow them, but the checklist is an important step towards keeping that Galaxy Note 10.1 or Nexus 7 well-fed.
[Thanks, Christopher]
Google drafts checklist for making top-notch Android tablet apps originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsGoogle Senior VP of Mobile: Aliyun OS ‘under no requirement to be compatible’, but it won’t get help from Android ecosystem alliance
Andy Rubin has added another response to Alibaba's Aliyun OS, after Google's insistence that Acer put the launch of its new smartphone on pause. He focuses (again) on the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which OEMs agree to when they work with the platform, promising to keep Android a happy (and relatively compatible) platform. Amazon dodges any similar issues with its Kindle Fire tablets, because it didn't sign up to the same alliance. Rubin says that because Aliyun uses Android's framework and tools -- as well as housing some suspect Android apps (and pirated Google programs) within its own App Store -- the mobile OS "takes advantage of all the hard work that's gone into that platform by the OHA." Google's looking to protect how Android behaves as a whole, and the senior VP suggests that if Alibaba's new OS wanted "to benefit from the Android ecosystem" then they could make the move across to full compatibility. We're still waiting to hear what Acer (and Alibaba) plan to do next.
[Thanks Jimmy]
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Google Senior VP of Mobile: Aliyun OS 'under no requirement to be compatible', but it won't get help from Android ecosystem alliance originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Sep 2012 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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