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Tag Archives: Google Glasses

Samsung takes on Apple over value of phone feature

Apple and Samsung are going toe-to-toe in a patents dispute mirroring a struggle for industry supremacy between two rivals that control more than half of worldwide smartphone sales.

The U.S. company accuses Samsung of copying the design and some features of its iPad and iPhone, and is asking for a sales ban in addition to monetary damages. The Korean company, which is trying to expand in the United States, says Apple infringed some of its key wireless technology patents.

As the second week of trial drew to a close in a San Jose, California federal court, most of the testimony focused on technical patent features.

However, toward the end of the day Hauser said tablet consumers would be willing to pay $90 for the same patented features as what they would pay $100 for on smartphones. That information could be relevant when calculating potential damages for Apple, which is seeking over $2.5 billion from Samsung.

Google to include personal email in web search results

Google is trying out a new feature which would enable its web search engine results to integrate information from users’ personal email accounts such as Gmail.

“Sometimes the best answer to your question isn’t available on the public web – it may be contained somewhere else, such as in your email,” Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice president in charge of search, wrote in a post on the company’s blog.

“Starting today, we’re opening up a limited trial where you can sign up to get information from your Gmail right from the search box,” Xinhua quoted him as saying.

Singhal noted that the new feature is an attempt to make Google’s search results to be “truly universal.”

As an example cited by Google, when signed up users search for “my flights” on Google’s public web search engine, they will see their flight confirmation emails for any upcoming trips right on top of the search results.

Google said the field trial of the new feature is now only accessible on its search website google.com in English.

Singhal also announced that an enhancement to its search service, called Knowledge Graph, will now be extended to users in every English-speaking country after its launch in the US in May 2012.

With the Knowledge Graph, users will see a panel on the right-hand side of the Google search results page, which provides a summary of key facts about users’ search with the most useful and interesting information related to the particular topic.

According to Google, the Knowledge Graph feature is based on its database which now includes more than 500 million real-world people, places and things with 3.5 billion facts about and connections among them.

In another update to its search engine, Google Wednesday said that it will soon offer voice search in its search applications for users of Apple’s iPhone and iPad following the availability of the function on devices running Google’s Android operating system.

Google’s Nexus 7 tablet ships in this week

Google's Nexus 7 tablet, which has been in high demand according to retailers, is shipping this week.

There have been scattered reports online of people who say they’ve already received a Nexus 7 or found one in stores. But, in an unusual move, Google has not announced an official date they’ll go on sale in retail stores.
While all signs point to big sales, Google also remains mum on how many tablets have been ordered or shipped to retailers. In the past, some electronics companies have been suspected of intentionally limiting the supply of new products to create the appearance of strong demand.
Last month, Google announced it would be releasing its own, 7-inch tablet. It’s a move that comes in the wake of the relative success Amazon has had with its smaller, less expensive iPad competitor, the Kindle Fire.
Analysts say the Kindle Fire sold roughly 16 million of the devices last year. That’s as good as any tablet has done other than the Apple’s iPad. Apple is expected to sell 55 million by the end of this year. The arrival of the Nexus 7 and a possible smaller iPad, however, have many wondering whether it will keep its momentum.
Like the Fire, which also has a 7-inch screen, the 8 GB Nexus 7 will sell for $199. A 16 GB version sells for $249.
Early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.
Wired magazine called it “the best Android tablet yet.”
“The Nexus 7, the first tablet to wear Google’s Nexus brand, sets a new standard for smaller slates, proving that just because it isn’t as big as Apple’s iPad doesn’t mean it can’t be just as useful, as fast, or as fun,” Nathan Olivarez-Giles wrote for Wired, a CNN content partner.
The Kindle Fire has been the most successful tablet so far running Google’s Android operating system (actually a modified version). A new version, possibly adding a camera and higher-definition display, is anticipated later this year.
Review: Nexus 7 is best Android tablet yet

Google glasses to hit the market within two years

google-glass_photos.jpg

 

Google glasses that overlay the Internet on daily lives should hit the market within two years — technology the tech giant hopes will someday make fumbling with smartphones obsolete.Google co-founder Sergey Brin offered the estimated timeline after a project update that included sky divers dropping in with a new version of “Glass” wearable computers.

“I’m so glad that worked,” Brin quipped after sky divers wearing the glasses streamed live video during their jump from an airplane to the roof of the San Francisco convention center. “I wasn’t really expecting it to.”

The sky divers handed off a package to cyclists, who performed stunts as they rode to the edge of the Moscone Center where they handed it off to a man who rappelled down the outside of the building to the third floor.

Another cyclist whisked the cargo the final length of its trip to a stage where Brin and other Google executives were kicking off the California-based company’s annual developers conference.

Brin opened the package to show an “Explorer” edition of the glasses that developers could buy for $1,500 to become the first people outside the company to shape the revolutionary eyewear before it gets to market.

Explorer edition glasses should ship early next year, and a version should be ready for the consumer market within a year after that, Brin said.

“Google Glass Explorer edition will be rough around the edges; you have to be into being on the bleeding edge,” Brin said of the effort to build a community of developers passionate about taking part in the project.

“This is really new technology and we really want all of you to help shape it.”

The eyewear features built-in camera, microphone and speaker technology and can synch to the Internet using wireless connections.

As with the sky divers, cyclists, and wall-walkers who took part in the keynote stunt, video through the eyes of wearers can be streamed live on Google’s social network.

Mini-screens in the glasses can display text messages, email or other digitized information from the Internet or mobile gadgets.

“It was kind of a nutty idea that somehow became real,” Brin said while discussing Glass after the keynote presentation.

“The notion that you could jump out of an air ship with it and still communicate your experience makes holding a smartphone or laptop seem pretty damn awkward,” he continued. “It’s about you being less of a slave to your device; it has been really liberating.”

Brin said that he wears a prototype pair of Google glasses much of the time as he and other members of the team he heads at the company’s X Lab refine the technology.

Google has been speaking with eyeglass frame companies about ideas for a consumer version of the glasses, which he expected would cost “significantly” less than the Explorer prototypes.

“I expect that in three or four years watching people hold a mobile phone in their hands and look down at it will start to be unusual and that this will be normal,” Google product manager Steve Lee said, pointing to his Glass eyewear.

The Glass team focused on frequent mobile Internet tasks such as messaging and sharing pictures and not on capabilities such as adding facial or object recognition, according to Brin.

“We definitely experimented with things like facial recognition; it is what a lot of people think about when you talk about a wearable computer,” Brin said.

“But it is not the most compelling,” he continued. “We have not been quite as excited about it as science fiction movies might be.”

The Glass team also figured that the devices wouldn’t be primary tools for surfing the Internet or reading digital books.

“But, if you want to see a text message or catch a quick picture, these things are really easy and hands-free,” Brin said.

Glass team head Babak Parviz said that along with communicating, the eyewear was crafted to find information so fast that you thought you already knew it.

“It allows you to walk downtown Paris and have other people experience this with you live,” Parviz said.

“But even though we have this social camera showing the world through your eyes, the quick access to information is also a critical thing.

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