Tag Archives: Google Glass

After Math: Everything is Awesome

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It's been a wonderful week for the tech industry. Twitter is finally getting its act together regarding hateful content and Russian election interferences, major industry players released their Q3 earnings (Hint: They all made boatloads of money), an...

After Math: Everything is Awesome

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It's been a wonderful week for the tech industry. Twitter is finally getting its act together regarding hateful content and Russian election interferences, major industry players released their Q3 earnings (Hint: They all made boatloads of money), an...

Google Glass 2.0 Will Not Be Cheap

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Google Glass

The following article is brought to you by The Tech Info Group. -Ed

Google glass is an optical head-mounted display or basically a headset resembling ordinary eyeglasses with the lens switched with a head-up display. The device displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free layout with wearers communicating with the internet through usual language voice commands.

Features

The original version of Google Glass 2.0, termed as Google Explorer used a liquid crystal on silicon, field sequential color system and a LED illuminated display. This LED system is P-polarized and then shines via the in-coupling polarizing beam splitter to the liquid crystal on silicon panel. It is integrated with a camera having an ability to take photos and record 720p high definition video. A touch pad is also integrated on the side of the device, allowing users to control it by swiping via a timeline-like interface displayed on the screen.

Google-Glasses-How-Do-They-Work-2

Software

Google Glass 2.0 is an IT support device with an operating system termed as Glass OS developed by Google Inc. In the year 2013, Google Inc. launched the mirror API that allowed developers to start making free application for the device. This allowed the Google Glass 2.0 device to use many existing Google applications among them including Google Maps, Google+, Gmail, Google Now and Google Navigation among others. Presently, third party developers have managed to develop applications that support the functioning of the device including photo manipulation, facial recognition, translation, and sharing to social networks like Twitter and Instagram.

 

Price

Google Glass 2.0 is expected to be released during May 2016, with interested prospective users requested to reply a trending twitter message, #IfIHadGlass, to qualify as earlier users. Google Glass 2.0 was available through the Explorer Program at some point in the past at an initial market price of $1500 in the United States. There are a few Google Glass Explorer Edition 2.0 on sale at Amazon.

New Google Glass

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google glass cropped
Google just secretly released a new version of Google Glass. The new edition will be targeted primarily towards businesses in the healthcare, manufacturing, and energy industries.

The main new feature of this product is that it is a clip on rather than a whole set of glasses, this allows it to be attached to any set of goggles or glasses. It also is reported to have a battery life that lasts 2 hours longer then the previous edition. The new version is expected to be water resistant as well as more durable in general. It is estimated to be released in mid 2016.

via:

Nepal Earthquake Death Toll Climbs Over 2500, World Orgs Respond To Help Signal

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USA Today reports that over 2,500 people are confirmed dead after the 7.8 earthquake that rocked Nepal early Saturday, April 25. The news organization pointed out that rescue efforts are still viable...

Sony’s Google Glass Rival to Launch in March

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Sony SmartEyeGlass

While Google Glass is still a work in progress and Microsoft’s HoloLens is still some time away, Sony prepares to launch it’s own headset called SmartEyeGlass.

Sony has not had the best of years. For the financial year ending in March the company will face a $1 billion loss as their smartphone and TV sectors fail to beat out competitors such as Samsung, Apple and LG. Just this Wednesday, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai announced plans to focus on camera sensors, entertainment and the company’s PlayStation gaming brand.

With all that in mind, it may seem unusual then that the company is preparing to enter a brand new market with untested waters and lots of competition. Going up against the big dogs at Google who are trying to make augmented reality (AR) popular with their Google Glass headset, Sony is going to launch an AR headset of their own.

The device is still in development but it’s called the SmartEyeGlass (kudos for originality on that one) and it looks to be a partnership or Google Glass as well as a ‘lite’ version of the holographic tech demoed in Microsoft’s HoloLens headset. As the above video shows, the Sony SmartEyeGlass will use “holographic waveguide technology” in 3mm AR lenses to put info right in front of your eyeballs. Although that demo video only shows messaging, along with directions it will also have its own suite of apps. Sony has said that Facebook and Twitter have their own apps and they’ve also rolled out an SDK (software development kit) so that developers who want to have a tinker around and make software for the SmartEyeGlass can do just that.

So far, so Google Glass clone. The only glaring difference wit the SmartEyeGlass (I really do hope they change that name) is the odd attachment that it comes with. Rather than just being able to listen to your voice commands automatically, or being controlled via hand gestures, SmartEyeGlass wearers will have to use the little black gadget to swipe along its interface or press its ‘Talk’ button in order to for voice commands to be heard. That seems a little counterintuitive if I’m honest because the point of these sorts of devices is that they give you access to things easily when you’re on the go, not with fiddly controls and button presses. However, it may stop wearers from looking insane as they talk to themselves and swipe madly in front of them, so maybe Sony is onto a trick there.

Other important specs include: 3MP camera, 80 minutes of battery life (when in use), 150 minutes of battery life (when on standby) and it supports Android 4.4 (it can be connected to your Android phone too). The SmartEyeGlass goes on sale in March in the US, UK, Germany and Japan for $840, 640 Euros and 100,000 yen.

Source: Sony

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Intel-Powered Google Glass Coming Out Next Year

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Google Glass Intel Chip

Even though Google has yet to launch a commercial version of its smart glasses, the tech giant is already planning to make some changes regarding the chipsets powering Glass.

At the moment, only the developer version can be bought, and at $1,500, that’s definitely not a gadget anyone could buy. On top of the scarce availability are the rumors that Glass has no future, and these sparked just around the time some people noticed that Sergey Brin no longer wears his pair. Get serious, guys! That’s not good enough of a reason to suggest that Google Glass is on its way to the garbage bin. To make those rumors even less credible, a new WSJ report suggests that the Mountain View company is looking to launch a new version of Glass, this time powered by Intel.

The chipset maker has definitely been on a winning streak lately, as it showcased its own luxury smartband, launched a new line of energy efficient, yet very powerful CPUs (which are available only in notebooks, for the time being), and now it’s about to strike a deal with Google for powering the most famous smart glasses in the world. Until now, that was Texas Instruments’ duty, as it was them who provided the brains of the current Google Glass.

The WSJ also reports that the Intel-powered Google Glass will also target businesses, besides the regular folk who could benefit from an augmented reality overlay. That actually makes a lot of sense, as the wearable could make the life of hospital workers (among many other categories) a lot easier.

An Intel chip could increase the processing power of Google Glass, while also decreasing its power use. Battery life is one of the main things people have complained about (besides the four-digit price, obviously), and it seems that this is among the aspects that will change, once the new Glass is out. Don’t hold your breath, though, as this is just a rumor at the moment, so there’s no exact launch date.

Expect to see Intel making the headlines quite often in the near future, as this company is far from finishing surprising us. Its partnership with Fossil should put something on the shelves as well, just maybe not before this year’s winter holidays.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the way Intel is going to bring 3D scanners to smartphones and tablets, or the Intel MICA luxury smart wristband.

Google Glass & Android App Turn Speech to Text: Life Subtitled

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Earlier this year we saw a project where Google Glass was used to project an interpreter for deaf students. A team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with a more immediate solution for people that are hard of hearing. Using an Android app, the researchers’ software sends a text translation of speech in real time.

captioning on glass by georgia institute of technology 620x347magnify

Called Captioning on Glass, the Glass app receives text via Bluetooth from a companion Android app, which uses the Android translation API to convert speech. Even though Glass already has a microphone, the researchers chose to include an Android device in the process because it makes it easier for the person speaking to figure out where to talk. The noise reduction on most smartphones helps with the conversion as well.

Google Glass owners can download Captioning on Glass here. The researchers are also planning on making a similar app but for translating from one language to another. Perhaps they can get in touch with Will Powell, who already did just that with his DIY augmented reality glasses two years ago.

[via Georgia Tech via Digital Trends]

Face-Tracking Glassware Can Tell If Your Collocutor Is Angry, Happy or Sad

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Fraunhofer IIS SHORE Facial Recognition Google Glass App

Google Glass apps have come a long way since Mountain View’s wearable was first shown to the world. The one developed by Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits can tell the mood of the person you’re talking to, and can provide an estimation of his or her age.

The SHORE app created by Fraunhover IIS is not exactly the first of its kind, despite the claim that it’s “world’s first emotion detection app on Google Glass,” as Emotient’s Glassware that was unveiled a few months ago served a very similar purpose. However, it would be wrong to claim that Fraunhofer IIS stole the idea, as most probably the apps were developed in parallel by their respective creators. On top of that, SHORE has a bit of extra functionality, as it does more than just recognizing if your interlocutor is angry, sad, happy, or surprised.

SHORE is able to discern men from women, and can provide an estimation for their age. The results are not exactly precise, neither when it comes to the mood of the person you’re speaking to (ever heard of fake smiles?), nor when guessing the age, as this value is provided more as a range than an exact number.

The team of researchers that developed this app pointed out that “This opens up an entire spectrum of new smart eyewear applications, including communication aids for people with disorders such as autism, many of whom have difficulty interpreting emotions through facial expressions. By taking advantage of the additional capability to determine someone’s gender or estimate their age, the software could be used in other applications such as interactive games or market research analyses.”

“The foundation of the versatile solution lies in our extensive experience with detection and analysis technologies and a large database for machine learning,” claim the researchers. “The technology is ‘trained’ by accessing a database of more than 10,000 annotated faces. In combination with the structure-based features and learning algorithms, we can train so-called models that boast extremely high recognition rates.”

Needless to say, normal people wouldn’t probably need such an app, as their social skills would help them identify quite easily the mood of their interlocutor. Still, sufferers of Aspergers syndrome or Autism, who have a hard time reading social situations, would benefit a lot from using the SHORE app.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the integration of Google Glass in the 2015 Hyundai Genesis, and the Google Gesture concept that gives the speech-impaired a voice.