Apr 13
17
Google Glasses are Coming!
This may be the year when eye glasses change forever. Rather than being a fashionable accessory for improved vision, the simple spectacles are to be revolutionized with the release of ‘Google Glass’ later this year.
What is Google Glass?
Google Glass is a wearable and effective computer made in the form of a pair of smart glasses. The glasses will consist of a frame with built-in battery and transparent display screen.
According to a concept video placed on Google’s Youtube channel, users will be able to view texts, maps, reminders, take and share photos, video chat and make videos via hands-free voice commands.
At a TED presentation last month, Google co-founder Sergey Brin introduced Google Glass and promoting the idea where the glasses will make computing and the internet accessible to anyone, anywhere and anytime.
Brin compared the glasses to smart phones, stating phones causes people to be anti-social. He said with regard to smart phones, “Is this the way you’re meant to interact with other people…It’s kind of emasculating. Is this what you’re meant to do with your body?”
Google has even been running a competition called Project Glass, which called for applications from the public. They were asking for people who wanted to be the first to test the glasses. The prize? The opportunity to be one of the first to buy Google Glass for US $1,500.
Concerns Over Google Glass
The public release of Google Glass was originally set for 2014 but recent reports have anticipated a rescheduled release date at the end of 2013, in time for Christmas.
The development of the glasses has not received unanimous praise. Questions have been raised over privacy and possible health concerns.
The tests have already shown that the video function on the glasses raises serious privacy issues. Users will be able to constantly record individuals, places and events and upload the footage almost instantaneously without the permission of the individuals involved. When the Google Glass becomes integrated with an individual’s prescription lenses, it will be virtually impossible for individuals to know whether they are being filmed. The only way to compromise is to request the user to remove their frames.
An experiment has been done with this issue. Joshua Topolsky, a technology journalist from The Verge, entered a Starbucks wearing the glasses with a TV crew. The crew were requested to stop filming but Topolsky continued to film the Starbucks staff through his glasses, without their consent.
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Online stores make everything easy for you. Right from shopping, you find everything completely comfortable. You could shop from your home, make comparisons of various products and rates offered by various online stores, pay cash on delivery and of course, return the product if not satisfied. Everything from your home – this is what online stores claim. However, there lies a question in the minds of regular buyers as to how many online stores do make everything comfortable once the sale is over. People have come to trust online stores and they have started making heavy purchases online. Understanding the growing interest of people in buying products online, all these stores have added various categories to their collections and improved in numbers as well. Where customer service is concerned, most of the online stores are disappointing. As the pros outweigh the cons of purchasing from online stores, customers do try every new online store that shows up. Let us see how two seniors play in such a scenario.
Myntra’s Making
Myntra stepped into online market in the year 2007. It offers its customers a stunning range of collection that includes over 30000 styles and 500 brands. The products include footwear, apparels and accessories.
It started as an innocent fun page. But little did the facebook page owners knew, that their idea of having a confession page would be replicated everywhere and become the newest big thing under the social media circles.
I am talking of the Facebook page called “IIM Confessions” . Meant for IIM students, it is a tool where you can confess anonymously. The page was a huge success and got about 500 likes in the first few hours. Soon the idea was copied and now you have Confession Pages for almost everything from your alma mater to the company you work for.
So, today, as I was coming from Delhi To Ahmedabad, I stumbled upon to see the #LoveAudi Contest on twitter. That set my mind thinking and memories of the childhood decision of buying an Audi came back to my mind. Most of the other decisions that I took as a kid sound unrealistic today. For example, the resolve to become a football superstar was short lived. As we grow up our decisions and priorities change.
A few days back, Samsung launched the Galaxy S4 in New York amidst intense media hype. With several models claiming to be the “best smartphone in the universe “, expectations were unusually high from this launch.
Before I give my verdict on the smartphone, I post here the list of few features that Samsung put in this phone.
1. It has a 5 inch Super Amoled Screen with 441 pixels per inch, 1080p display.
2. 1.6 GHz Cortex quad-core A15.
3. Front camera having 2 MP HD recording feature. Rear camera is 13 MP with HD video recording.
4. Operates on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
Also. what came along with these features were those that really captured the imagination of the market.
Using eye tracking, the phone automatically detects the area of focus of the user. If the user looks away, video gets paused automatically. Page scrolls down if the user eye shifts towards the bottom of the page. You can record a video with both the front and rear cameras at the same time. You can also scroll through documents, photos, webpages by swiping your fingers and not actually touching the screen. These are the features which are really innovative and which no other smartphone can boast of. Until now, Samsung used to play a catching up game by trying to including as many as features of the iPhone. But with S4, it has raced much ahead in terms of usability and value for money.
Dec 12
31
2012 : The year in Review.
As 2012 comes to an end, we look back at the year and take a note of the most memorable tech events that caught people’s attention and those in the news for reasons ranging from the good, bad and the ugly.
The year saw increasing fights being fought over patented technologies between Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. The two warring companies filed patent infringement suits in as many as 8 countries across the globe. Apple sued Samsung for violating its patent rights by using the “Bounce Back effect”, the rounded corners, amongst many other features which it thought belonged exclusively to itself. While most of the courts gave a split decision, a US court, on 24 August gave a verdict favoring Apple and awarded it $1 billion as compensation for the patent infringement.
Apple announced the release of Mac OS X Mountain Lion yesterday. It is the ninth major version of the Mac OS X and is currently availabe for download for developers at the app store. Mac users will be able to upgrade to Lion in the summer of 2012, according to the press release of Apple.
If your machine is accessed and used frequently by multiple users and you are concerned about theft of data then you might want to disable access to USB devices on your machine. This can be done by a simple registry hack.
