Google Glass: What You Can and Can't Do With Google's Wearable Computer

Watch Video Below explains how the Google Glass Works
.http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/google-glass-googles-wearable-gadget/story?id=19091948#.UYKo1bWsjTo

10 Upcoming Technology That May Change The World

1. Google Glass

Augmented Reality has already gotten into our life in the forms of simulated experiment and education app, but Google is taking it several steps higher with Google Glass. Theoretically, with Google Glass, you are able to view social media feeds, text, Google Maps, as well as navigate with GPS and take photos. You will also get the latest updates while you are on the ground.

(Image Source: YouTube)

It’s truly what we called vision, and it’s absolutely possible given the fact that the Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin has demo’ed the glass with skydivers and creatives. Currently the device is only available to some developers with the price tag of $1500, but expect other tech companies trying it out and building an affordable consumer version.

2. Form 1

Just as the term suggests, 3D printing is the technology that could forge your digital design into a solid real-life product. It’s nothing new for the advanced mechanical industry, but a personal 3D printer is definitely a revolutionary idea.

Everybody can create their own physical product based on their custom design, and no approval needed from any giant manufacturer! Even the James Bond’s Aston Martin which was crashed in the movie was a 3D printed product!

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

Form 1 is one such personal 3D printer which can be yours at just $2799. It may sound like a high price but to have the luxury of getting producing your own prototypes, that’s a reaonable price.

Imagine a future where every individual professional has the capability to mass produce their own creative physical products without limitation. This is the future where personal productivity and creativity are maximized.

3. Oculus Rift

Virtual Reality gaming is here in the form of Oculus Rift. This history-defining 3D headset lets you mentally feel that you are actually inside a video game. In the Rift’s virtual world, you could turn your head around with ultra-low latency to view the world in high resolution display.

There are premium products in the market that can do the same, but Rift wants you to enjoy the experience at only $300, and the package even comes as a development kit. This is the beginning of the revolution for next-generation gaming.

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

The timing is perfect as the world is currently bombarded with the virtual reality topic that could also be attributed to Sword Art Online, the anime series featuring the characters playing games in an entirely virtual world. While we’re getting there, it could take a few more years to reach that level of realism. Oculus Rift is our first step.

4. Leap Motion

Multi-touch desktop is a (miserably) failed product due to the fact that hands could get very tired with prolonged use, but Leap Motion wants to challenge this dark area again with a more advanced idea. It lets you control the desktop with fingers, but without touching the screen.

(Image Source: Leap Motion)

It’s not your typical motion sensor, as Leap Motion allows you to scroll the web page, zoom in the map and photos, sign documentss and even play a first person shooter game with only hand and finger movements. The smooth reaction is the most crucial key point here. More importantly, you can own this future with just $70, a price of a premium PS3 game title!

If this device could completely work with Oculus Rift to simulate a real-time gaming experience, gaming is going to get a major make-over.

5. Eye Tribe

Eye tracking has been actively discussed by technology enthusiasts throughout these years, but it’s really challenging to implement. But Eye Tribe actually did this. They successfully created the technology to allow you to control your tablet, play flight simulator, and even slice fruits in Fruit Ninja only with your eye movements.

(Image Source: Eye Tribe)

It’s basically taking the common eye-tracking technology and combining it with a front-facing camera plus some serious computer-vision algorithm, and voila, fruit slicing done with the eyes! A live demo was done in LeWeb this year and we may actually be able to see it in in action in mobile devices in 2013.

Currently the company is still seeking partnership to bring this sci-fi tech into the consumer market but you and I know that this product is simply too awesome to fail.

6. SmartThings

The current problem that most devices have is that they function as a standalone being, and it require effort for tech competitors to actually partner with each other and build products that can truly connect with each other. SmartThings is here to make your every device, digital or non-digital, connect together and benefit you.

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

With SmartThings you can get your smoke alarms, humidity, pressure and vibration sensors to detect changes in your house and alert you through your smartphone! Imagine the possibilities with this.

You could track who’s been inside your house, turn on the lights while you’re entering a room, shut windows and doors when you leave the house, all with the help of something that only costs $500! Feel like a tech lord in your castle with this marvel.

7. Firefox OS

iOS and Android are great, but they each have their own rules and policies that certainly inhibit the creative efforts of developers. Mozilla has since decided to build a new mobile operating system from scratch, one that will focus on true openness, freedom and user choice. It’s Firefox OS.

Firefox OS is built on Gonk, Gecko and Gaia software layers – for the rest of us, it means it is built on open source, and it carries web technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3.

(Image Source: Mozilla)

Developers can create and debut web apps without the blockade of requirements set by app stores, and users could even customize the OS based on their needs. Currently the OS has made its debut on Android-compatible phones, and the impression so far, is great.

You can use the OS to do essential tasks you do on iOS or Android: calling friends, browsing web, taking photos, playing games, they are all possible on Firefox OS, set to rock the smartphone market.

8. Project Fiona

Meet the first generation of the gaming tablet. Razer’s Project Fiona is a serious gaming tablet built for hardcore gaming. Once it’s out, it will be the frontier for the future tablets, as tech companies might want to build their own tablets, dedicated towards gaming, but for now Fiona is the only possible one that will debut in 2013.

(Image Source: Razer™)

This beast features next generation Intel® Core i7 processor geared to render all your favorite PCgames, all at the palm of your hands. Crowned as the best gaming accessories manufacturer, Razer clearly knows how to build user experience straight into the tablet, and that means 3-axis gyro, magnetometer, accelerometer and full-screen user interface supporting multi-touch. My body and soul are ready.

9. Parallella

Parallella is going to change the way that computers are made, and Adapteva offers you chance to join in on this revolution. Simply put, it’s a supercomputer for everyone. Basically, an energy-efficient computer built for processing complex software simultaneously and effectively. Real-time object tracking, holographic heads-up display, speech recognition will become even stronger and smarter with Parallella.

(Image Source: YouTube)

The project has been successfully funded so far, with an estimated delivery date of February 2013. For a mini supercomputer, the price seems really promising since it’s magically $99! It’s not recommended for the non-programmer and non-Linux user, but the kit is loaded with development software to create your personal projects.

I never thought the future of computing could be kick-started with just $99, which is made possible using crowdfunding platforms.

10. Google Driverless Car

I could still remember the day I watch the iRobot as a teen, and being skeptical about my brother’s statement that one day, the driverless car will become reality. And it’s now a reality, made possible by… a search engine company, Google.

While the data source is still a secret recipe, the Google driverless car is powered by artificial intelligence that utilizes the input from the video cameras inside the car, a sensor on the vehicle’s top, and some radar and position sensors attached to different positions of the car. Sounds like a lot of effort to mimic the human intelligence in a car, but so far the system has successfully driven 1609 kilometres without human commands!

(Image Source: Wikipedia)

“You can count on one hand the number of years it will take before ordinary people can experience this.” Google co-founder, Sergey Brin said. However, innovation is an achievement, consumerization is the headache, as Google currently face the challenge to forge the system into an affordable gem that every worker with an average salary could benefit from.

Microsoft is making a smart watch!

Microsoft is working on releasing a touch screen smart watch, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Citing unnamed supply chain sources, the journal that Microsoft asked Asians suppliers to ship components for the device.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/15/tech/mobile/microsoft-smartwatch/index.html c

Dish launches $25.5 billion bid for Sprint!

Satellite TV provider Dish Network on Monday stats that $25.5 billion bid for sprint Nextel. The offer is an attempt to top another bid for Sprint: $20.1 billion for a 70% stake from Japanese tech company softback. Sprint did aspect the offer in October, to prevent going into bankruptcy.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/15/technology/dish-sprint-bid/index.html

Google Boss

The boss of Google saying that " The entire world will be online by 2020!"

Editor's note: Doug Gross covers consumer technology and the Web for CNN.com. Follow him on Twitter, and add him to your Circles on Google+.

(CNN) -- Everybody in the world will be on the Internet within seven years. That's what Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said this weekend in public comments that inspired everything from excitement to incredulity.

"For every person online, there are two who are not," Schmidt wrote Saturday on his Google+ account. "By the end of the decade, everyone on Earth will be connected."

He followed up with a related thought on Sunday.

"Think about how great the internet is with 2B users. Now think about how amazing it will be when 5B come online in a decade. #NewDigitalAge."

It's just the sort of big thinking that has led Google to become one of the largest and most innovative tech companies in the world. But some of Schmidt's own followers took exception.

"You really believe that? What about the millions in Africa who can't even get enough food to eat or the natives in South America who have no idea what technology is?" a Google+ user going by the name "Mary M" wrote. "Maybe you should rephrase to those in civilized areas or something like that..."

About 38% of the world's population uses the internet in 2013, up from about 35% last year, according to the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency dedicated to information and communication technology.

With poor and developing nations around the world isolated by crumbling or nonexistent Web infrastructures, and others hindered by factors ranging from remote geography to government censorship, is Schmidt's vision overly optimistic?

Maybe. But don't rule it out.

As Business Insider's Julie Bort notes, there are some projects under way to bring everyone the advantages of the digital age.

Google itself supports a project called Geeks Without Frontiers, a nonprofit group that donates computers and related technology to poor areas around the world. Focusing largely on Mexico, Central America and Africa, the decade-old group now aims to bring wireless access to regions with no traditional Web access.

Samsung also is backing a project to turn old shipping containers into solar-powered, Web-enabled classrooms in places like South Africa and Sudan.

The rise of the mobile Web is also sure to play a role. In Africa, more people have access to a mobile phone than have access to electricity. In South Africa, for instance, Google says, 25% of its searches during the week are via mobile devices, rising to 65% on the weekends.

What do you think? Is Schmidt's vision farfetched? Or could it happen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Does Europe need its own Mooc?

While Moocs (massive open online courses) are on the rise in the US, little has happened in the rest of the world, with the exception ofFuturelearn, the Open University partnership consisting of 17 UK universities, as well as the Berlin-based iversity. At European Union level, there have been reports about talks at the European Commission, but little action has been taken so far.

In May 2012, WiredAcademic reported that the EU's Erasmus programme might soon go online – a good start if we want to see the equivalent ofCoursera on this side of the Atlantic. But this does not go far enough.

Higher education is one of the few policy areas where European unification is seen positively by most stakeholders, despite the occasional problems caused by the Bologna process. The creation of theEuropean Higher Education Area (EHEA) has benefited most institutions by enabling them to provide comparable and compatible qualifications and compete at an international level. The Erasmus programme also continues its success, with numbers of participating students steadily growing.

What is missing from the equation is an institution that would not just bring together individual universities in Europe, but would be European in essence. At the moment there are no genuinely pan-European higher education institutions, apart from a few niche institutions in Warsaw, Florence and Bruges, specialising in postgraduate research.

Moocs constitute a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a truly European university. But it will have to be something substantially bigger than a simple online version of the Erasmus programme, and perhaps more complete than Coursera and Udacity.

Europe and the rest of the world

A European Mooc will need to have its own brand name, degree awarding powers and a viable business model that would attract international students, not just Europeans. Students should have the option to combine online and in-campus education, perhaps by splitting their on-campus time across two or even three countries, as with international dual degrees.

Some might see the language barrier as a problem, as 23 official languages and even more dialects and semi-official languages are spoken across the European Union. But as we have been repeatedly told by EU officers, Europe's advantage is its diversity.

English already has a leading position in higher education, while other European languages are dominant in some emerging higher education economies, such as Latin America. Meanwhile substantial parts of Africa have populations that speak English, French or Portuguese. In all these regions there is growing demand for higher education that local higher education systems cannot possibly meet. So a degree-awarding European Mooc could provide access to quality education to billions of people around the world in their own language.

Europe's other asset is its history and political links to other regions. Synergies with other parts of the world could come through existing institutions and programmes, and a European Mooc should not necessarily exclude non-European institutions. The Union for the Mediterranean, for example, is an international partnership bringing together 37 European, northern African and Asian countries. It has enjoyed huge success so far because it lacks a specific mandate. Here is an area where it can actually work.

As for Latin America, the Alfa Puentes programme has already opened the way for cooperation between European and Latin American universities in areas such as degree recognition, quality assurance and academic mobility, so what about sharing content?

Why does Europe need a Mooc?

There are many reasons – one is that this might be the only means of survival for smaller universities. Even before Moocs became a part of our lives, there was speculation about the imminent shrinking of the industry, with only a bunch of universities around the world, perhaps not more than 50, surviving the next few decades. What was speculation now seems inevitable, as access to online courses reduces demand for on-campus education at mid-tier institutions.

A European Mooc might also help policymakers address the worst problems facing Europe: unemployment, skills mismatches and lack of labour mobility. EU unemployment stood at 26 million people in November 2012 according to Eurostat. A big part of that number belong to the 18-29 age group, likely to be tech-savvy and capable of picking up new skills relatively quickly.

Online education could help some of them go back to employment. In capital intensive sectors such as ICT for example there are unfilled vacancies due to lack of qualified candidates. According to the European Commission, there will be a shortage of up to 700,000 ICT workers in Europe by 2015. These vacancies could be filled by young Europeans if education, employment and welfare policies focus on providing the skills needed. A European MOOC would also provide access to lifelong learning opportunities for everyone, facilitate career changes and boost mobility from one country to another. This is why it should directly link workers with employers by allowing the later to have access to students' CVs, as Coursera and Udacity do.

A European online university is also necessary to boost the nascent European identity. Umberto Eco recently argued that a whole new generation of Europeans will be needed to build a nationalism-free Europe. There is no policy area more suitable to do that than higher education, as proven by the success of the Erasmus programme. Even institutions not participating in such a project could require their students to take a couple of courses in another European language, not necessarily in English, to broaden their horizons.

Finally, a European version of Coursera might spark in Britain a debate similar to the one about the UK's membership in the European Union. A European university without a few reputable UK institutions would be a halfway house. Chances are that some of them would be glad to join a partnership including Sorbonne, Freie Universitat and the like. Would this create a split across the UK sector between Europhile and Futurelearn institutions?

Alex Katsomitros is a research analyst at the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education – follow it on Twitter @theobhe

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To get more articles like this direct to your inbox, become a member ofthe Higher Education Network.

Samsung GALAXY S4

 Go in check it out http://reviews.cnet.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/