News Google Glass Update : New Google Glass For Businesses Will Reportedly Attach To Other Eyewear

The next edition of Google Glass will target enterprises and feature an attachable design, a news report suggests, shedding new light on rumors that have been circulating over the past several months.

The device will feature a curved, rectangular form factor much the way the first, consumer-focused Glass edition did, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. It will differ from that version, however, in that it will reportedly feature a button-and-hinge system rather than a fixed frame, making it attachable to different kinds of eyewear.

Google aims to have the device in use by this fall at companies in healthcare, manufacturing and energy, and is already distributing it to software developers creating applications for that purpose, the WSJ reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation.

A new consumer version is also in the works, but it reportedly won’t appear for at least a year.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment for this story.

The original $1,500 Google Glass version is widely considered to have been released before it was ready for consumer use, and it encountered a strong backlash over privacy concerns.

Expected in the new, enterprise version are a faster Intel processor and improved wireless connectivity. An external battery pack connects magnetically to the device, the latest news suggests, promising better battery life than what was offered by its predecessor.

Finally, a longer and thinner prism display is adjustable both vertically and horizontally, the WSJ said, offering improved flexibility.

“The new Google Glass story sounds much better the second time around,” said wireless and telecom analyst Jeff Kagan.

Consumers will probably become more comfortable with such technology eventually, but “it will take a while before the average person gets to that point,” Kagan added. In the meantime, “taking Glass to certain industries to start sounds like a much better idea.”

Posted by Unknown Friday, July 31, 2015

News Google Glass Update : Will the GG2 Be Bulkier Than Google Glass? Enterprise Edition Will Have A Larger Prism, Sources Reveal

• Rumours suggest Google will release a new version of Google Glass, dubbed the Enterprise Edition, with a larger prism display
• Improved screen could help to reduce eye strain for wearers
• Smart specs are also said to include an Intel Atom processor for improved performance and battery life compared to the previous version
• Some users of Glass, which was pulled in January following poor sales and mixed reviews, complained of eye strain after prolonged use

Despite complaints that Google Glass was too bulky and nerdy, rumours suggest the tech giant will release a new version with a larger prism display.

The Enterprise Edition (EE) is also said to include an Intel Atom processor for improved performance and battery life.

Some users of Glass, which was pulled in January following poor sales and mixed reviews, complained of eye strain after prolonged use.

This may explain why Google might have decided to include a larger screen in its next design, 9to5Google reported.

It’s rumoured that final iterations of the EE include a prism that extends further, allowing wearers to glance upwards and focus on the screen more comfortably than before.

Sources suggest the screen resolution of the EE might be better too.

In December, The Wall Street Journal reported that the forthcoming device will have a new low-power Intel chip in a bid to boost battery life.

This has been confirmed by 9to5Google’s sources, who say it will boast an Intel Atom chip, although it’s not clear which model.

This could potential make the smart spectacles a bit faster than top of the range Android smartwatches.

The EE has also been spotted with a Google-made external battery pack, although it’s not clear whether this will be included in the final design, or how much battery life it adds.

Google has previously vowed to design Glass 'from scratch' and papers filed by Google last month, reveal the tech giant has successful tested a mystery device dubbed GG1, which is thought to stand for Google Glass.

The test report was submitted to the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) at the start of June and was made available on 1 July. It was first spotted by fan site DroidLife. 

Google's mystery device is simply described as an instrument in the filing and as 'Bluetooth & DTS/UNII a/b/g/n/ac', suggesting it is Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled.

The model number is the biggest hint at the device being the next-generation headset, although tablets and phones also come with these features so it could be a different device entirely.

Aside from saying it was committed to working on the future of the product, Google gave no timescale for the launch of an improved product.

The previous Google Glass headset was launched in a beta version under the firm's Explorer programme.

This programme gave software developers the chance to buy Glass for $1,500 (£990), and was launched in the US in 2013 and in the UK in last summer.

'It's hard to believe Glass started as little more than a scuba mask attached to a laptop,' the Glass team said in a post on Google+ last month.

'We kept on it, and when it started to come together, we began the Glass Explorer Program as a kind of 'open beta' to hear what people had to say.'

'Glass was in its infancy, and you took those very first steps and taught us how to walk.

'Well, we still have some work to do, but now we're ready to put on our big kid shoes and learn how to run.'

THE RISE OF THE GLASSHOLE :

The previous Google Glass headset was launched in a beta version under the firm's Explorer programme.

This programme gave software developers the chance to buy Glass for $1,500 (£990), and was launched in the US in 2013, and the UK last summer.

But, as the Explorers hit the streets, they drew stares and jokes.

Some people viewed the device, capable of surreptitious video recording, as an obnoxious privacy intrusion, deriding the once-proud Explorers as 'Glassholes.'

'It looks super nerdy,' said Shevetank Shah, a Washington, DC-based consultant, whose Google Glass now gathers dust in a drawer. 'I'm a card carrying nerd, but this was one card too many.'

The Enterprise Edition (EE) is also said to include Intel Atom process for improved performance and battery life. An older version of Google Glass is show

Posted by Unknown Friday, July 10, 2015

News Update On Google Glass : How Google Glass v2 Could Change The Enterprise

This week a new device passed through the FCC—codenamed GG1—and many have speculated that it’s the next generation of the Google GOOGL +0.68% Glass hardware. While the Explorer Edition was anything but a runaway success, what some are calling the “Enterprise Edition” could very well be what Glass needs to take it mainstream into the office.

When Microsoft MSFT -0.18% launched their Surface Tables years ago I could see a lot more enterprise use from the device than simply moving photos around during the early days of the demos. Since then Surface adoption was a commercial disaster and are consigned to be little more than a gimmick than for day to day business use. With Hololens now in the frame, Microsoft are back in a big way, touting virtual and augmented reality as the next big thing in the office, and at home.

I’ve been writing about marrying up touch and virtual enabled devices with an enterprise productivity purpose for years and personally I still feel that losing the mouse and keyboard is somewhat inevitable, hands are infinitely more adept at manipulating an environment and objects and having a touchscreen/ gesture based version of enterprise tools would be a natural transition.

At the time in 2010 I also got in touch with Schematic (www.schematic.com), the firm behind the technology as seen in Minority Report because creating such a device for enterprises in a workshop environment would be an exciting prospect. If anything it would be a boon to lose the frankly archaic brown paper model. I even pointed towards John Underkoffler at TED demonstrating the very same thing, and in which towards the end he lists the kinds of end user industries he’d see this kind of technology implemented in (I urge you to watch the demo all the way through and try to imagine integrating this in an enterprise context. Great stuff. http://bit.ly/9lMx2G)

Anyway, I digress, back to Google Glass v2. Just how can Google Glass and Augmented Reality add value in the enterprise. If we look to an article which discusses how Glass can change advertising you can begin to see where this can lead.

    ….what if the ads you saw were different than the person next to you? What if, like the ads you see online, they are based on a composite sketch of you created by all the searches you’ve done and the websites you’ve visited? In other words, what if you looked up and instead of seeing an ad for something you would never buy — like women’s shoes — you saw an ad reminding you of that Amazon search you did a few days ago ?
So, what if you’re sitting in a call-center and instead of staring at a productivity pie-chart on a screen you pop your supervisory head above the parapet and with your Enterprise Edition Glasses can see each individuals performance figures ? By calling up the person in question using the interface you can see their stats in a heads-up (HUD) display. Plus with not being tied to your desk you can floor-walk at the same time or do this anywhere, anytime, without the need to carry a tablet or phone interface with you.

In an interview I took with Dr Ross Brown of QUT he stated that “Augmented reality system tools for Business Process Management would be nice as well.  Imagine six sigma data overlaid on the artifacts used in a process model…all on a heads up display as you walk around the company – a “BPM Tricorder”.

That was in 2011. Before Google Glass v1.

And similar to the article about advertising, every co-worker will have a different view based on their own work and position in the organisation, again able to call this up at any time, any where. Go deeper and you could have enterprise social integration, the obvious trick is to offer filters for the noise from the relevant and actionable information to present in front of the user.

It’s not just implications for workflow scenarios and businesses in customer service industries, healthcare is another example of where wearable technology like this could be a massive boost in real-time and mobile patient informatics. Or in education, no more ‘smart boards’ if the kids are wearing augmented reality sets and receiving tailored tutoring depending on their own individual needs. Indeed, BMW were experimenting with augmented reality in the workshop several years ago.

Google Glass v2 could very well be the catalyst for true mobilility and personalisation in many industry sectors.

Whether enterprise software vendors will make a serious investment in Glass v2 will remain to be seen but Glass “Enterprise Edition” will not be the only AR device on the market to develop for when it’s eventually released.

It’s interesting times as consumer devices lead the revolution in the workplace we’ve all been waiting for.

Posted by Unknown Saturday, July 04, 2015

News Microsoft Gadgets Update : Mass Effect Franchise Creator Will Oversee Microsoft's HoloLens Game Development

HoloLens may not solely focus on gaming, but Microsoft appears to have big plans for games on the augmented reality glasses, and today it's named the man who will oversee those plans.

As revealed in a post on Microsoft's official Xbox Wire website, Casey Hudson has been named the creative director of Microsoft Studios, where he'll oversee development on games for HoloLens and Xbox, among "other awesome projects." Hudson is best known as the creator of the Mass Effect franchise at Electronic Arts subsidiary BioWare, a company he left in August to "take on a new set of challenges."

 
In a brief interview on the Xbox Wire post, Hudson said his "primary focus will be the creative direction of HoloLens Experiences," though he added that he "will be involved in driving a creative focus for Xbox and Windows gaming."

Hudson, who spent 15 years at EA and BioWare, said he was able to try and early prototype of HoloLens prior to its announcement, though he didn't give any indication of what kind of gaming experiences users can expect with the glasses. The veteran game designer said he will "influence the full-spectrum experience on HoloLens, from hardware to OS, to applications and games," however.

Microsoft hasn't set a release date for HoloLens, though the company has said it will launch sometime "in the Windows 10 timeframe." Windows 10 for computers and large tablets is expected to launch in the summer – possibly at the end of July – followed by a smartphone and small tablet version later in the year. A HoloLens release would likely follow that, possibly in late 2015 or early 2016.

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, May 19, 2015

News Sony Product Update : Sony's Google Glass Rival SmartEyeglass Goes On Sale For $840 Or £520

Sony is making a pass at Google Glass, announcing that a developer edition of the Sony SmartEyeglass high-tech specs are available to order now -- and they're cheaper than Glass, even if they're nowhere near as elegant.

The SmartEyeglass Developer Edition SED-E1 is the first set of smart glasses from Sony to go on sale. They are available from March in the US, the UK, Germany and Japan for $840, £520, €670 or 100,000 yen, and pre-orders are open today in the UK and Germany. They'll also be on sale to business customers in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. No Australian prices or details were announced but the UK price converts to around AU$1,020.

Smart glasses are like regular specs with a transparent screen in the lenses, so you can see features like emails and notifications floating in front of your very eyes. Paired with your phone, the glasses can show you information or tell you what's going on with the apps in your pocket.
The SED-E1 displays information in the colour green only. The battery lasts around 2 hours 30 minutes.
Although there are plenty of high-tech eyewear alternatives, the Google Glass specs are the best known. Glass was one of the early devices that kickstarted the trend for wearable tech, but earlier this year Google stopped selling it. Costing $1,500 and only available in limited numbers, it was never aimed at a mass audience. What's more, the camera-equipped device raised controversy over questions of privacy -- bars banned them and wearers earned the nickname "Glassholes".
In design terms Glass is much more subtle than Sony's chunky 77-gram (2.7-ounce) black-rimmed SmartEyeglass. Having worn them in September last year, I can tell you they're pretty cumbersome. Glass is also wireless, whereas Sony's specs connect with a wire to a hockey puck-sized control unit that holds the battery, speaker, microphone and touch controls.

Posted by Unknown Thursday, February 19, 2015

New Product Release Update : Sony SmartEyeglass Developer Edition On Sale Now

 Where Google failed, Sony hopes to succeed. Its SmartEyeglass Developer Edition eyewear is available now for pre-order in the U.K. and Germany.

The SED-E1 transparent-lens headset will go on sale in eight more countries—Japan, the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden—next month. Developers can access the official version of the SmartEyeglass SDK today.

Using holographic wavelength technology, Sony's futuristic glasses connect with compatible smartphones to superimpose information onto the wearer's field of view—"without any half mirrors that may obstruct the user's vision," the company boasted.

It also comes with a built-in 3-megapixel CMOS image sensor, accelerometer, gyro, electronic compass, and brightness sensor, behind the 3-millimeter lenses. Together with GPS location data from the attached phone, the headset provides information tailored for the current task or scenario.

A separate (but wired) circular controller that clips onto your jacket or shirt collar houses the battery, speaker, microphone, NFC, and touch sensor.

Early application concepts include a step-by-step guide on how to assemble an engine, scrolling in front of the mechanic's eyes as they work. Sony also suggested an app to share player stats while watching a sports game, or to display sightseeing information while visiting a tourist attraction.

Early developers will have access to a handful of SmartEyeglass apps—available in the Google Play store—which enable access to Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, RSS, calendar, and voice control.

The developer edition will cost $840 in the U.S., £520 in the U.K., €670 across Europe, and ¥100,000 in Japan.

Sony hopes to release its SmartEyeglass headset to consumers sometime next year.

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, February 18, 2015