Android TV Hands-On: This Is How Smart TVs Won't Be So Darn Dumb

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Android TV Hands-On: This Is How Smart TVs Won't Be So Darn Dumb</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyS-Ehqy01ZJKB-SVzHXCX3XIX8qVZiVo9Eqm2dfJ7MYAocC2t1sUfV1gyRqED4JBaCZhSz0_MVd_Qv-a-v_MrLqTKtz58kQ-B_GQnE1t4RqD17B2Kz8D55ODpVbwqk685u3ipE9Eow/s1600/37219451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyS-Ehqy01ZJKB-SVzHXCX3XIX8qVZiVo9Eqm2dfJ7MYAocC2t1sUfV1gyRqED4JBaCZhSz0_MVd_Qv-a-v_MrLqTKtz58kQ-B_GQnE1t4RqD17B2Kz8D55ODpVbwqk685u3ipE9Eow/s1600/37219451.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> For years, Google's been trying to plow its way onto your TV through flawed` external hardware, and today, it shifted its sights away from Google TV, and announced Android TV<inset id="1595951410"></inset>. It's the very simple way that Google is going to make your TV smart. Finally.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The built-in "smart" features that come with TVs have always been a little dumb. Recently, manufacturers from Samsung to Sony to Vizio have made great strides towards making these platforms usable, they still lack the polish and usability of a major well-developed operating system.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> That changes with Android TV, which launches officially this fall, and will hit TVs from the likes of Sony next year. It's Android-on your TV. At Goolge I/O today, I saw a demo of the new platform running off a small box that looks like an Amazon Fire TV. But according to a Google rep, the company has no plans to get into the hardware business with Android TV; the company just wants to built out the platform for others.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Google wise to stay away from hardware given the outright failure of Google TV boxes before. According to the Google rep, the minimum hardware requirements (read: chipset requirement) will be higher than they are for tablets and phones, but they'll apparently fall right in the middle of what televisions pack now.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> I say "new" platform, but the company has gone to lengths to make it feel just like Android and to make it super easy for developers to open their apps to the platform.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> When you fire up Android TV, you're shown a simple launcher with all of your apps as well as a series of recommendations across at the top rail. At this time, the recommendations are fully based on your app usage and tastes within Android TV, but later they might be based on your usage across Google services. The apps surface the recommendations to the system and then Google sorts them according to a simple prioritization algorithm. So if you watch shows on HBO Go, it'll surface those. If you've been down the cat video rabbit hole on YouTube recently, it's the hottest new cat videos you'll see at the top. (You'll need to go into Google Play and download all the apps you want to use. They won't populate from your downloads like they might on a phone.)</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Once the platform gets up and running, Google might strike deals with your cable or IPTV providers to integrate their services into the Android TV launcher. But at this time there are no active negotiations underway.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Besides being a video machine, Android TV will open the wide world of Android gaming to TVs simply and easily. This has been accomplished before with Ouya, and more recently, with R<inset id="1595341646"></inset>azer's just announced Android gaming box<inset id="1595341646"></inset>. Playing games on the big screen rocks. It's awesome and seamless, and a godsend for Android gamers.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> All in all, Android TV looks like a super promising platform. It'll be interesting to see how adoption with manufacturers and users plays out. There's anecdotal evidence to suggest that people are becoming more accustomed to smart TVs. But without a solid hardware push from Google, who knows if Android TV will get the momentum it needs to catch on, especially as Apple is reportedly gearing up to make a huge push with improvements to Apple TV later this year.</div> </div>

Android TV Hands-On: This Is How Smart TVs Won't Be So Darn Dumb

Android TV Hands-On: This Is How Smart TVs Won't Be So Darn Dumb For years, Google's been trying to plow its way onto your TV...

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Google's Getting Its Own Android-Powered Game Consoles

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Google's Getting Its Own Android-Powered Game Consoles</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQbSYgUPgVQ1qacCs385Cmh3DspJL4Csz4uTMv0h4-lez0SuieTr85i6cY-0a9oZqC3j6hpZBqDILmLmeMrCNoOiiAUSHZhM0ZLu8wH8M_J6Kwt1zJ41rkDF8x4ROCQxIoqwf8lpEvQ/s1600/37205438.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQbSYgUPgVQ1qacCs385Cmh3DspJL4Csz4uTMv0h4-lez0SuieTr85i6cY-0a9oZqC3j6hpZBqDILmLmeMrCNoOiiAUSHZhM0ZLu8wH8M_J6Kwt1zJ41rkDF8x4ROCQxIoqwf8lpEvQ/s1600/37205438.png" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Forget <a href="http://kotaku.com/ouya-the-kotaku-review-659671543" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the Ouya</a><inset id="659671543"></inset>, there's another Android game console in town, and it's coming from two of the biggest players in town.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Razer, the folks behind the awesome Razer Blade<inset id="1542132269"></inset> and Junglecat controller<inset id="1585402592"></inset>, have teamed up with Google to create a "micro-console" that will run the new AndroidTV<inset id="1595951410"></inset>. It'll work as a set-top box for TV shows and movies of course, but it'll also play games. Details are scarce, but we know it'll be controllable from an app that runs on any Android device. It's kind of like aFire TV<inset id="1557714336"></inset>, but sponsored by Google instead of Amazon.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Valuable specifics like price, availability, specs, and even its name are still a secret for the time being, so who knows how awesome this thing will actually be, but age of Google-blessed Android game consoles is here.</div> </div>

Google's Getting Its Own Android-Powered Game Consoles

Google's Getting Its Own Android-Powered Game Consoles Forget  the Ouya , there's another Android game console in town, and i...

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Chromecast Will Get A Slew Of Awesome New Features

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Chromecast Will Get A Slew Of Awesome New Features</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBrKDPI-1WwhE5md5A-ueosuE20l3G-aNrJjth-j05Ddildt8ZTlKuZYGuEhM2oOVPHcSLEi4cPFFrqFtgoSBoQKxc62V7k-0Stk1lk9OuAcVLWl74Cz7u7ji-FiLObixIISXautlsg/s1600/37205573.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBrKDPI-1WwhE5md5A-ueosuE20l3G-aNrJjth-j05Ddildt8ZTlKuZYGuEhM2oOVPHcSLEi4cPFFrqFtgoSBoQKxc62V7k-0Stk1lk9OuAcVLWl74Cz7u7ji-FiLObixIISXautlsg/s1600/37205573.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Google has just revealed that its popular Chromecast dongle will soon receive a sizable boost in the number of apps it can support. What's more, the streaming device will also receive a personalized user home screen. Here's what's in store for your living room.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Chromecast has grown rapidly since its debut last year. Its content partners have grown from just 5 partners initially into a stable of several dozen. With all of these new sources, finding what you want can be challenging. However, Google has just announced</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> This post is being actively updated so refresh early and often. Follow every announcement at this year's I/O conference as they happen by tuning in to Gizmodo's live coverage of the event<inset id="1594935478"></inset>.</div> </div>

Chromecast Will Get A Slew Of Awesome New Features

Chromecast Will Get A Slew Of Awesome New Features Google has just revealed that its popular Chromecast dongle will soon receive a si...

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Google Is Going To Bring Android Apps To Chrome(Books)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Google Is Going To Bring Android Apps To Chrome(Books)</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji23ftXTUaI2G6NpFsat3SzmKP1sRZ8TvW6CVmIPKkqfmZrEbj5jV2lOchcLkKxctPJG6VWBnBDgJ5XoEJiIi-NaeWKCRfFoFpl5RMgabv9LG64fgsG1W1MJugxGDc-thGlwtsLwf3FQ/s1600/37206370.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji23ftXTUaI2G6NpFsat3SzmKP1sRZ8TvW6CVmIPKkqfmZrEbj5jV2lOchcLkKxctPJG6VWBnBDgJ5XoEJiIi-NaeWKCRfFoFpl5RMgabv9LG64fgsG1W1MJugxGDc-thGlwtsLwf3FQ/s1600/37206370.png" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> With the upcoming L release of Android, Chromebooks are going to gain the superpower of being able to run (some) Android apps!</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Google Is Going to Bring Android Apps to Chrome(books)" data-asset-url="/photo/37206372.cms" data-chomp-id="bf9zlv2wumemukypjarz" data-format="jpg" height="358" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37206372.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Google is trying to be cautious about not just slapping Android apps onto a device with a mouse and keyboard with no modification, so it's not like every Android app is immediately there, but it's a start. It's also worth noting that everything Google said mentioned Chrome<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">books</em>, as opposed to Chrome proper. But considering the shared (near identical) DNA, it wouldn't be hard to bring Android apps to Chrome full stop. It's just a matter of whether or not Google is willing to go there.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Google Is Going to Bring Android Apps to Chrome(books)" data-asset-url="/photo/37206374.cms" data-chomp-id="fbz03fhm72k8w6zg91f1" data-format="jpg" height="358" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37206374.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> </div>

Google Is Going To Bring Android Apps To Chrome(Books)

Google Is Going To Bring Android Apps To Chrome(Books) With the upcoming L release of Android, Chromebooks are going to gain the supe...

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Google Wants To Keep Track Of Your Vitals With Google Fit

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Google Wants To Keep Track Of Your Vitals With Google Fit</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGppJP4L4hzzr9jlVbYEDrt8TibxpzVJHrCZ45j7rVle25d6TpCyda0EWdND30ggMZDts8TIme8JdOAxV7U-OTWi2rzpoM0UoaZc-wWJAGYKY6SaFrpxZiptXn6Qp-REzZg-NIFnMoSQ/s1600/37206693.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGppJP4L4hzzr9jlVbYEDrt8TibxpzVJHrCZ45j7rVle25d6TpCyda0EWdND30ggMZDts8TIme8JdOAxV7U-OTWi2rzpoM0UoaZc-wWJAGYKY6SaFrpxZiptXn6Qp-REzZg-NIFnMoSQ/s1600/37206693.png" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Going head-to-head with Apple's newly announced HealthKit<inset id="1584723732"></inset>, Google has just revealed<inset id="1594935478"></inset> Google Fit, a fitness tracking service service to call its very own.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Google Fit's open APIs allow any connected apps and devices to seamlessly share data, all of which gets sucked up by Google Fit.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The idea is that we've reached a point where basic doctors' visits have become more or less obsolete. While that logic is debatable (if not heavily flawed), we are perfectly capable of measuring all our vitals. And Google wants to give us the tools to do it. As <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-24/googles-sundar-pichai-king-of-android-master-of-mobile-profile#p5" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">BussinessWeek wrote in a profile of Sundar Pichai</a>, the chief of Google's Android division:</div> <blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Pichai says it's "crazy" that people visit their doctors, at most, once a year to have their heart rate and blood pressure measured. "You obviously need to be able to measure these things so many more times and then apply more intelligence to it," he says.</div> </blockquote> </div>

Google Wants To Keep Track Of Your Vitals With Google Fit

Google Wants To Keep Track Of Your Vitals With Google Fit Going head-to-head with Apple's newly announced HealthKit , Google has ...

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NASA Will Send Your Messages To Aliens Into Outer Space

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> NASA Will Send Your Messages To Aliens Into Outer Space</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvk8olWyyD4J1m2wwIDnHhG5C9-OnfwyvKilBFBNeUUWljVscvtsH5JSEtFRnxsAgCsUvUqmYjUP7t4jT91z054L5_81tmgz93QPCpzKcGdo3nq2sbqaVMyTrTaCCnqsPhK8Ei0AzyYw/s1600/37239318.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvk8olWyyD4J1m2wwIDnHhG5C9-OnfwyvKilBFBNeUUWljVscvtsH5JSEtFRnxsAgCsUvUqmYjUP7t4jT91z054L5_81tmgz93QPCpzKcGdo3nq2sbqaVMyTrTaCCnqsPhK8Ei0AzyYw/s1600/37239318.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Last year, when Voyager I left our solar system for the lonely pastures of interstellar space, it carried a message for extraterrestrial life: A golden record containing images and words<inset id="5981913"></inset> selected by Carl Sagan and others. But that was almost 40 years ago. Now, NASA is making a whole new message from the Earthlings of 2014. And it wants your messages.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Back in 2006, NASA launched a space probe called New Horizons. This little craft was designed to study Pluto and its moons-which it'll reach sometime next summer. Right now, New Horizons is some 300,000,000 miles away from Earth. But thanks to an idea from Jon Lomberg, who was involved in Carl Sagan's original golden record, this little probe will be undertaking a second mission when it finishes up its study of Pluto and its surrounds.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> You see, Lomberg realized that when New Horizons finishes sending all its intel on Pluto back to Earth, its system will be left with a whole lot of extra memory. And since we can communicate with the probe-albeit over a lag of, right now, roughly four hours-there's no reason why we wouldn't be able to fill it up with new data. And since it'll be careening further and further away from Earth, perhaps even into outer space, Lomberg suggests that we do something useful with it.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Last year, Lomberg <a href="http://io9.com/new-message-to-aliens-could-be-uploaded-to-new-horizons-1354922031" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">launched a petition</a><inset id="1354922031"></inset> to push NASA to consider his plan, and started the <a href="https://www.newhorizonsmessage.com/" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">New Horizons Message Initiative</a>, an independent project to fund and collect a message for New Horizons to carry with it outside of the solar system.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> But last month, they were successful. <a href="http://www.space.com/26332-nasa-new-horizons-one-earth-message.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Space.com reports</a> that NASA agreed to the idea, and the project is officially a go. Like Sagan's golden record, which Lomberg calls "a portrait of the Earth in 1977," this new message will be a portrait of Earth in 2014. And instead of letting a team at NASA decide what goes onto it, the group is soliciting content from anyone on Earth. Space explains:</div> <blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> People from around the world will be able to submit their images and vote on those that should be included in the final message. Lomberg and others will exercise editorial control to ensure that no inappropriate materials make the cut, and NASA will make the final call.</div> </blockquote> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> You'll be able to submit your message-be it an audio greeting, a Vine, or hopefully not a selfie-beginning next year.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It's a very cool project, and it's just another example of how citizen-scientists are coming together to participate in NASA missions, a bit like the group that successfully commandeered<inset id="1579851540"></inset> a long-lost NASA satellite last month.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> But it also raises some interesting questions-like how the hell we expect aliens to be able to interpret any of these messages. In a way, these messages "for aliens" aren't really for extraterrestrials. They're for us humans. Just like time capsules, which are rarely useful to the humans who end up opening them, these space-bound messages are all about letting people of the present think about what's important to them about their world at present. Either way, it's a wonderful project. [<a href="http://www.space.com/26332-nasa-new-horizons-one-earth-message.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Space</a>]</div> </div>

NASA Will Send Your Messages To Aliens Into Outer Space

NASA Will Send Your Messages To Aliens Into Outer Space Last year, when Voyager I left our solar system for the lonely pastures of in...

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LG G Watch Hands-On: A Smartwatch That Feels Like A Watch

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> LG G Watch Hands-On: A Smartwatch That Feels Like A Watch</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirK5H9tB0aTJNorgTmkKno1yOXoR3vWCrOAOKRg1C0FJ3dIurb_yBcsSlDh2sZEFT_rLG_5JPcNwhVNnuouIX6FZ68Iy75PPb-v0oiaKSG4A8nfB7WOYhWIbaijnoXkD1I9uGnsUc8yg/s1600/37214195.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirK5H9tB0aTJNorgTmkKno1yOXoR3vWCrOAOKRg1C0FJ3dIurb_yBcsSlDh2sZEFT_rLG_5JPcNwhVNnuouIX6FZ68Iy75PPb-v0oiaKSG4A8nfB7WOYhWIbaijnoXkD1I9uGnsUc8yg/s1600/37214195.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Months after it was first announced, you'll finally be able to pre-order LG's Android Wear-powered G Watch for $229 this afternoon, and today, I had the chance to handle the hardware for the first time. And, for the first time, I saw a true smartwatch that actually works like a watch.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The G Watch's rectangular display feels like a slab compared to the newly announced Samsung Gear Live. It sits relatively flatly on your wrist, and barely tries to conform to the organic shape of your body . It compensates for this by being very lightweight. Personally, I'm used to wearing watches of all kinds, and this is definitely more comfortable to type in than anything made out of metal. I could see myself running down the street after a bus with this thing on without a problem. The fact that you've got a watch on your wrist isn't going to bother you at all-unless of course you're averse to the idea of wearing a watch altogether.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="LG G Watch Hands-On: A Smartwatch That Feels Like a Watch" data-asset-url="/photo/37214196.cms" data-chomp-id="784091979846081604" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37214196.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> On first inspection, the IPS display lacks some of the shimmer and color depth of the AMOLED displays Samsung is trotting out these days, but don't let that fool you. As an LG product manager told us here today, the lower-power display tech is what gives LG it's critical spec: It'll show you the time for 36 hours straight without running out of batteries. And if you tweak the display settings in your using the G Watch app that's apparently dropping tomorrow to get four days. That's hugely impressive if it holds up-and would make the watch actually usable as watch, which is maybe the most important thing it can do.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Unfortunately, the units I used today weren't running a retail demo mode, so we can't evaluate Android Wear, or the G Watch's actual performance. It shows the same weather, fitness, messaging and Google Now screens we've been seeing for some time. We'll update as soon as I get my hands on a full version of the OS.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="LG G Watch Hands-On: A Smartwatch That Feels Like a Watch" data-asset-url="/photo/37214197.cms" data-chomp-id="784091979941429060" data-format="jpg" height="424" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37214197.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> As one of the very first Android Wear watches to hit the market, the LG G Watch has a lot to prove, and without using a version that's running the full version of Android Wear we can't say whether it's really going to work. But after just a few moments with the hardware, I think it might just prove that smartwatches can be useful.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="LG G Watch Hands-On: A Smartwatch That Feels Like a Watch" data-asset-url="/photo/37214199.cms" data-chomp-id="784091980228407876" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37214199.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> </div>

LG G Watch Hands-On: A Smartwatch That Feels Like A Watch

LG G Watch Hands-On: A Smartwatch That Feels Like A Watch Months after it was first announced, you'll finally be able to pre-orde...

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These Augmented Reality Specs Can Turn A Regular Joe Into James Bond

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> These Augmented Reality Specs Can Turn A Regular Joe Into James Bond</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvU5sUw3qkNO1KD2xGpVvHeyikPDtOfMO_ImBT5tGo9xk2PGAnFWf9h-bnLlGqAX0P0yaDV63dCodAywcQMe1H0tTKT0X-D8q18U0uIlIe-qt7aEzVIyJrqAj-gT-RYNGvFrmvtF57g/s1600/37220685.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvU5sUw3qkNO1KD2xGpVvHeyikPDtOfMO_ImBT5tGo9xk2PGAnFWf9h-bnLlGqAX0P0yaDV63dCodAywcQMe1H0tTKT0X-D8q18U0uIlIe-qt7aEzVIyJrqAj-gT-RYNGvFrmvtF57g/s1600/37220685.png" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> While 007 can seemingly pull off any impossible mission without breaking a sweat, real world field intelligence agents don't have it nearly that easy. They must maintain encyclopedic mental records of names and faces as well as relay information to and from HQ-all without blowing their covers. To give its agents an edge in their deadly cloak and dagger games, the DoD hopes to outfit them with these intelligent spy glasses.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Designed by San Francisco-based Osterhout Design Group, the X6 spy spectacles significantly boost their user's analytical abilities and memory capabilities on the sly. These network-connected, augmented reality glasses run a number of third party apps designed specifically for the intelligence community. These include a map reading app that generates a 3D topography image of any two-dimensional map the wearer views (replete with points of interest), a facial recognition app that can pull up dossiers from military biometric databases for targets and bystanders alike-in near real-time-as well as a host of others that the DoD is reportedly unwilling to disclose.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Defense Department has already ordered 500 beta units, according to ODG vice president of special projects, Bobby King. But while these specs, billed by ODG as a cross between Google Glass and the Oculus Rift, won't likely ever be available for the consumer market, the company did recently signed a $150 million deal with Microsoft to adapt the technology to civilian purposes-potentially as a gaming controller or law enforcement training device. [<a href="http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/06/military-about-get-new-spy-glasses/87292/" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" x-inset="1">Defense One</a>]</div> </div>

These Augmented Reality Specs Can Turn A Regular Joe Into James Bond

These Augmented Reality Specs Can Turn A Regular Joe Into James Bond While 007 can seemingly pull off any impossible mission without ...

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Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver For Android Users

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver For Android Users</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYI7JDP5tTV5rDX3kBH0TO36UWaIC6Pqk3B9IaCanae48A-xQBJgPeg_pK7as1PgjhwgMv9RHzaoEf2gFRl3NznsOD8WSkutfsM_sZ8M5o9zShm_WgxMek9GoiSKLjDEiB7YrRFsStbQ/s1600/37221739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYI7JDP5tTV5rDX3kBH0TO36UWaIC6Pqk3B9IaCanae48A-xQBJgPeg_pK7as1PgjhwgMv9RHzaoEf2gFRl3NznsOD8WSkutfsM_sZ8M5o9zShm_WgxMek9GoiSKLjDEiB7YrRFsStbQ/s1600/37221739.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> We human-type beings suck at using our mobile devices while driving and frequently kill and/or dismember ourselves in an attempt to pull of that stupid stunt. In attempt to keep Android users alive to buy more Android products, Google today unveiled Android Auto. We just got to play with it a bit, and we liked what we saw.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Basically all of the brains for Android Auto come from your Android phone. We assumed it would be Bluetooth-and some day it may be-but today linking your phone to your car's console is accomplished via a USB tether. All of the data that you'll be pulling down, though, will be through your phone. If your car has a GPS antenna, though, you should be able to use that, which may increase accuracy.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221741.cms" data-chomp-id="784270609437449763" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221741.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221743.cms" data-chomp-id="784270609546859811" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221743.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Android Auto is currently set to use touchscreen consoles as well as consoles that only get input through joysticks. Our demo was in a touchscreen-capable Chevy. When you're parked you'll have a full keyboard pop up, if you need to manually enter a place. Once you're in motion, though, it's almost all voice-controlled, as it should be.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221746.cms" data-chomp-id="784270609710799907" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221746.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Using the voice button on your car's steering wheel, Android Auto's voice input pops up. You can ask it for directions, ask it to play a song on your phone (or in one of your streaming services, natch), or even ask Google Nowier things like, "When is my next appointment?" or "Will it rain tonight?" Thankfully, rather than filling the screen with eye-tempting text, your answers will be read back to you over your car's stereo system.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221749.cms" data-chomp-id="784270609862821155" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221749.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Incoming calls are handled similarly. Regardless of what app you're in (Maps, or podcasts, etc) you'll get a little notification on the screen advising you that you've got a call coming in. Give that notification a quick tap, and it answers your phone and connects the call. We would really like to seem them make this entirely tap-free. Why not just say, "Brian Barrett is calling you. Would you like to answer?" and then you say yes or no? Seems safer and easier.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221752.cms" data-chomp-id="784270610237744419" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221752.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Similarly, when you get a text you get a "heads-up notification" (something debuting in Android's "L" OS update later this year). Tap it, and it will be read out loud to you (no text is displayed). Then if you want to reply you just hit the voice button on your steering wheel, say "Reply" and you're off to the races. Even if it's not perfect yet, it still seems roughy 10 times safer than trying to sneak a peak at your phone.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221754.cms" data-chomp-id="784270610332028451" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221754.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221755.cms" data-chomp-id="784270610480425251" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221755.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Maps looked really nice on Android Auto. Basically, it's your standard Google Maps, but larger and easier to control by voice only. It displays your next turn floating over the map (including the lane you need to get into), and provides easy access to alternate routes, as well nearby points-of-interest such as gas stations and restaurants.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221757.cms" data-chomp-id="784270610698536739" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221757.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Unfortunately, Google Maps still ignores the route you're on, so it just displays gas stations in a nearby radius, rather than giving you gas stations ahead of you on your route, which would be vastly more useful. As with Google Maps on your phone, though, locations you've searched for on your desktop will be automatically loaded into your recent searches screen, which should eliminate some redundant hunting for an address.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221758.cms" data-chomp-id="784270610872226339" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221758.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221759.cms" data-chomp-id="784270611041966883" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221759.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221761.cms" data-chomp-id="784270611183131683" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221761.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Music is also obviously going to be a big part of Android Auto. At launch it works with apps like Spotify, Pandora, and (obviously) Google Play Music. While each of these services is slightly different, what's interesting is that the Android Auto UI for them is extremely similar. This is intentional. They want finding the music you want and playing it take as little focus as possible. You still have access to the unique services in each (playlists, artist radio, "I'm feeling lucky," etc), but everything is laid out in the same way and very easy to find. Note the similarities above between Google Play Music, Spotify, and Pandora above.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221763.cms" data-chomp-id="784270611441303587" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221763.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> What cool is that you don't have to download separate apps for this to make it work with Android Auto in your car. Developers will simply enable Android Auto functionality within the app you already have on your phone, and it will pop up when you connect your car. This also means that you'll just update you apps through the Play Store as you normally do. Very seamless. Of course, not just any app will be approved to work with Android Auto. For example, they won't let YouTube or any other video-playing app play on your console (though perhaps they'll add a "when parked" feature down the line). They're also toying with vehicle stats, though that will be up to individual auto-makers to implement, it sounds like.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver for Android Users" data-asset-url="/photo/37221765.cms" data-chomp-id="784270611610023459" data-format="jpg" height="357" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/37221765.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> All in all, this is a very encouraging start. It's already a head and shoulders above what we're currently seeing in modern dashboards, and it's comparable to the new stuff that Apple will be coming out with. But, y'know, it's for Android. Will it work with iOS devices, too? Windows Phone? No word on that yet, but if Android wants a ton of automakers on board, it would make sense to make it as open as possible.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Android Auto definitely isn't perfect yet. We'd like to see more thorough voice commands and a UI that never required you to look at or tap the screen at all, but it's headed in the right direction. So far, we just know that it will be coming stock in cars rolling off the lots later this year from Chevy, Hyundai, Audi, and a couple others, but the door is wide open for after-market manufacturers to make in-dash systems (or tablet-like systems) that you could install on your older car, thank goodness. Anything that keeps our eyes on the road can't come soon enough.</div> </div>

Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver For Android Users

Android Auto Hands-On: An Automotive Life-Saver For Android Users We human-type beings suck at using our mobile devices while driving...

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Vodafone Doubles Data Rates For 2G And 3G Subscribers In India

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Vodafone Doubles Data Rates For 2G And 3G Subscribers In India</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3jYbE24UshlK1YIiIzVgk3a3kmwh9q4nuIhuXBoxd4h_2QQpY3gcd1KLjF9rqJMeGkjE1nxoZZpyuvmPw-3nPIhdHeNyIQBw7xeBRhSULtzSgJuHtHYxf3_fW4m4K5biTO69JKEe2Q/s1600/37238412.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3jYbE24UshlK1YIiIzVgk3a3kmwh9q4nuIhuXBoxd4h_2QQpY3gcd1KLjF9rqJMeGkjE1nxoZZpyuvmPw-3nPIhdHeNyIQBw7xeBRhSULtzSgJuHtHYxf3_fW4m4K5biTO69JKEe2Q/s1600/37238412.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Vodafone, the second largest mobile network operator in India, has announced a twofold rise in its </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">PAYG</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> (Pay As You Go) tariffs. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">PAYG</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> tariffs for both </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">2G</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> and 3G Internet users using Vodafone services will now be 4 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">paise</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> per 10 KB. Earlier, subscribers had to pay 2 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">paise</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> per 10 KB.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The change in tariff rates is applicable to both prepaid and postpaid customers in India. All regions will fall under the new Vodafone tariff change, which is currently being rolled out in a phased manner. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">According to a media report, a Vodafone India spokesperson has asserted that the telecom operator still offers the lowest standard mobile Internet charges in the industry for both prepaid and post-paid customers. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The Vodafone representative, however, stopped short of mentioning a reason for the current hike in the PAYG prices. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">In an attempt to attract more customers for its mobile Internet services, Vodafone slashed its 2G data rates by 80% in October 2013. This had brought its 2G data rates on PAYG mode on par with those of its 3G tariffs for the same. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Currently, Vodafone is holding a large market share in terms of mobile data usage in India. (Image: Wikipedia)</span></div>

Vodafone Doubles Data Rates For 2G And 3G Subscribers In India

Vodafone Doubles Data Rates For 2G And 3G Subscribers In India Vodafone, the second largest mobile network operator in India, has anno...

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Twitter Introduces A WhatsApp Share Button In Its Android App

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Twitter Introduces A WhatsApp Share Button In Its Android App</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlB-VfWTQpFa4JEzw3uTuzk4aXLYijek4bV1O9p7VWN5-Ycz6GTj6d7PbC8IZfiVKfT84JbkIZV4vcw1In2ecU1b5c5RjLCSOEyDAFgYvzKoyDB6r5mvYrPQ5QIUf8Edox9kWO14JXRg/s1600/37242320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlB-VfWTQpFa4JEzw3uTuzk4aXLYijek4bV1O9p7VWN5-Ycz6GTj6d7PbC8IZfiVKfT84JbkIZV4vcw1In2ecU1b5c5RjLCSOEyDAFgYvzKoyDB6r5mvYrPQ5QIUf8Edox9kWO14JXRg/s1600/37242320.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Microblogging</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> service Twitter has now added a </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">WhatsApp</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> share button in its new version of official Android app. The button that appears once you open an individual tweet, allows you to directly share it on </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">WhatsApp</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Earlier, users had to click on the share button and select the WhatsApp option. Now, the latest version of the app negates these extra steps so that users can directly WhatsApp the tweet. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">With the growing popularity and vast user base of WhatsApp, it seems Twitter has taken a right decision to reach more people. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">We have heard about a 'Share to WhatsApp' button in the past, but this is the first official appearance on a third-party app. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">However, the new feature is available to users using the version 5.15.0 of the Twitter mobile app. You can go to the app and tap settings to check the version of your Twitter mobile app. If you are one of those yet to get the new version, you are suggested to update the app. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">According to recent reports, Twitter is also known to be testing a new way of retweeting called 'retweet with comment.' With this new feature, a retweet will be converted into an image or card and the user will get 140 characters to express their views before adding it to their timeline. (Image: The Next Web)</span></div>

Twitter Introduces A WhatsApp Share Button In Its Android App

Twitter Introduces A WhatsApp Share Button In Its Android App Microblogging  service Twitter has now added a  WhatsApp  share button i...

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Watch A Paralyzed Man Move His Hand With The Power Of Thought

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Watch A Paralyzed Man Move His Hand With The Power Of Thought</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRHnV_Ae6UmiLePPxNJzQ-A8_hUSFaR-ga_NSaO3cqiFcrw9qsZpabbrgVX4OCQFmRzB32Ibm6uXkoeVp2BQMuqYLGdIO8y2-Jm_6JwgL_6Ah0JshWCunOSPboJoXwAFID7hgnSLazQ/s1600/37215109.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRHnV_Ae6UmiLePPxNJzQ-A8_hUSFaR-ga_NSaO3cqiFcrw9qsZpabbrgVX4OCQFmRzB32Ibm6uXkoeVp2BQMuqYLGdIO8y2-Jm_6JwgL_6Ah0JshWCunOSPboJoXwAFID7hgnSLazQ/s1600/37215109.png" /></a></div> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> For the first time ever, a paralyzed man <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/science-fiction-come-true-moving-a-paralyzed-hand-with-the-power-of-thought/2014/06/23/13c9ac88-f8a1-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">has moved his hand using his mind</a>-and some pretty badass technology. The announcement came just days after a paralyzed woman kicked the first ball at the World Cup<inset id="1590056622"></inset> in Brazil with the help of an exoskeleton. Paralysis, it seems, is increasingly becoming a thing of the past.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ian Burkhart lost the ability to move everything below his chest four years ago, after he dove head first into a sandbar and broke his neck. The 23-year-old has not been able to move his arms past his elbows since then. However, thanks to his age and the specifics of his injury, Burkhart was a prime candidate for an experimental procedure that would equip him with a virtual spinal cord, of sorts.</div> <div class="has-media media-640" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span class="clear-both flex-video widescreen" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="youtube" data-chomp-id="fEbioFpdK5E" frameborder="0" height="360" id="youtube-fEbioFpdK5E" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fEbioFpdK5E?wmode=transparent&rel=0&autohide=1&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=1" style="border-width: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 798.328125px;" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitAllowFullScreen" width="640"></iframe></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The process <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10926292/Bionic-man-the-technology-that-allowed-quadriplegic-Ian-Burkhart-to-move-hand.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">began in April</a>, when doctors drilled a small hole in his skull and implanted a chip in his brain. This enabled doctors to install so-called "Neurobridge technology" that help send signals from Burkhart's brain to a special sleeve that stimulates the atrophied muscles in his arm. Thanks to 96 electrodes, the chip can read the signals from Burkhart's brain and send them to the sleeve which zaps the specific muscle segments needed to move Burkhart's hand.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEbioFpdK5E" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEbioF...</a></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Got all that? Well, the long and short of it is that the technology works. Burkhart started off by using his mind to control a cursor on a screen. (This sort of thing has been done before<inset id="5968979"></inset>.) He worked his way up from there, doing increasingly difficult tasks with the brain-to-computer interface. Doctors said they would've considered the experiment a success if Burkhart could move just one finger, but last week, the bionic young man managed to pick up a spoon with the power of thought.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> This is just wildly exciting. While we're certainly a ways away from quadriplegics jumping out of their wheelchairs, it's safe to say we're well on our way to a cure for certain types of paralysis. And the pace of progress is picking up in pretty extraordinary ways. If it took two years to go from a mind-controlled robotic arm to a mind-controlled human arm, we can only hope the next breakthrough is right around the corner. [<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10926292/Bionic-man-the-technology-that-allowed-quadriplegic-Ian-Burkhart-to-move-hand.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Telegraph</a>, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/science-fiction-come-true-moving-a-paralyzed-hand-with-the-power-of-thought/2014/06/23/13c9ac88-f8a1-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>]</div> </div>

Watch A Paralyzed Man Move His Hand With The Power Of Thought

Watch A Paralyzed Man Move His Hand With The Power Of Thought For the first time ever, a paralyzed man  has moved his hand using his ...

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How Nest Is Already Using All That Data From Its Army Of Smoke Alarms

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> How Nest Is Already Using All That Data From Its Army Of Smoke Alarms</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NXuqtb-kG98IBW5nKsVDiF0PmpNPewKOX5BKfWGnYRFtCU7VNAgh_lgngkfB2cx8ZBeLo7DgvVdsJg2B0gOCxJBMoDwNGmZac5nI5Z4sHlnGUJ96GKcUm-ni0QQWKEV9TVCA70tp-A/s1600/36729101.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NXuqtb-kG98IBW5nKsVDiF0PmpNPewKOX5BKfWGnYRFtCU7VNAgh_lgngkfB2cx8ZBeLo7DgvVdsJg2B0gOCxJBMoDwNGmZac5nI5Z4sHlnGUJ96GKcUm-ni0QQWKEV9TVCA70tp-A/s1600/36729101.png" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The big news from Nest today is that Protect is back on the shelves<inset id="1591672701"></inset>. But lost in the shuffle is a more interesting tidbit from the company: Its first report on data culled from the alarms of hundreds of thousands of users. It's a glimpse at how Nest (and Google) can use their army of home-based smart hardware for the better-and at just how much they could know about you some day.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The report is all about carbon monoxide, a seemingly rare killer that's actually the lead cause of poisoning deaths in America. Until now, it's been hard for the government and safety experts to estimate how often CO leaks happen, because these events are self-reported by homeowners (who usually don't report them). But using data culled from its army of Protects-anonymized, of course, to protect user privacy-Nest has revealed something surprising: CO events aren't all that rare. In fact, .65 percent of users experienced a carbon monoxide event during the five months that Nest analyzed.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Now, that doesn't seem like very much; it's less than one percent. But overall, Nest estimates that about .9 percent of households are exposed to high CO, which translates into 1.4 million households in the U.S., Canada, and the UK. That's roughly the population of Philadelphia. "Nest Protect's built-in sensors provide the ability to detect additional pieces of environmental data, run algorithms to determine the level of danger, and report that data in real time to further enhance our understanding of these events," explains the company.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> At the very least the results of the mini-study should compel anyone who doesn't have a CO alarm to get one, Nest or otherwise. But it's even more interesting to ponder what else Nest can glean from its already-installed network of hundreds of thousands of devices.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Smart Home's Trojan Horse</h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Consider that each Protect is packed full of sensors, some of which are capable of much more than they're doing right now: From heat and light sensors to motion sensors and ultrasonic wave sensors.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="How Nest Is Already Using All That Data From Its Army of Smoke Alarms" data-asset-url="/photo/36729103.cms" data-chomp-id="771462942056609093" data-format="png" height="378" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/36729103.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <small style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><small style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></em></small><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Protect's sensor array. Image via <a href="https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nest+Protect+Teardown/20057" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">iFixit</a></em></small><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> This simple little device could scrape an incredible amount of data about your life if Nest asked it t From when you get home, to when you go to bed, to your daily routine, to when you cook dinner.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Now imagine how a device like that would interlock with another that you keep on your wrist, like the forthcoming Android Wear<inset id="1546476502"></inset>. Together, they would create a seamless mesh of connectivity where every detail of what you do and where you go is recorded into a living, breathing algorithm based on your life.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="How Nest Is Already Using All That Data From Its Army of Smoke Alarms" data-asset-url="/photo/36729105.cms" data-chomp-id="771457996707341745" data-format="jpg" height="345" src="http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/36729105.cms" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="636" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Now, keep in mind: Nest CEO Tony Fadell has said that the company's privacy policy won't be affected by its acquisition by Google, at least for the time being. But it's hard not to get excited (or horrified) by the idea that Google's Trojan horse for the connected home has <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">already been bought and installed</em> in more than 400,000 users in three countries.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> A Not So Far-Off Future</h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Neither Nest nor Google has stated any intention to turn Nest's hardware into more than it is right now. Protect is an alarm, the Thermostat is a thermostat.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> But as Google ramps up its vision to connect every aspect of our world, from Android Wear to its acquisition of a company that specializes in high-res, near-instantaneous satellite imagery of Earth<inset id="1588777966"></inset>, it's easier than ever to see why it would cough up billions for a company that has installed hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi connected devices in the homes of Google users.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <small style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></small></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> We're a long way off from a future where Google can access any of that data-and in fact, it may never. So fret not, if you're concerned about privacy. Both companies would have to make major changes to their privacy policies before anything even remotely like this will come to pass. But Nest is already using it to make your life safer, and the leap from making your life<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">safer </em>to making it faster, smarter, or more organized isn't all that far.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It's worth pointing out that Nest and Google haven't just built a duo of products that make your <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">home</em> smarter. They've built a nationwide network of sleeping sensors that will make <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">them</em> smarter about you.</div> </div>

How Nest Is Already Using All That Data From Its Army Of Smoke Alarms

How Nest Is Already Using All That Data From Its Army Of Smoke Alarms The big news from Nest today is that Protect is back on the sh...

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Human Genome Tinkering Could Be Our Best Bet To Beat HIV

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> Human Genome Tinkering Could Be Our Best Bet To Beat HIV</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm0vh2dtX4OP1Z8CD8L6PhBSvrBsHjqBJLKMbfVWKoS8TkRXeRXg2GRddi-MrlKUsrDTIFXTwo3hBwohFZ75q-HehAGEelNf1GDufnqQnMRXDvAYp6YxsLWBV22r6OMUCEPFptvyyUTg/s1600/36728091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm0vh2dtX4OP1Z8CD8L6PhBSvrBsHjqBJLKMbfVWKoS8TkRXeRXg2GRddi-MrlKUsrDTIFXTwo3hBwohFZ75q-HehAGEelNf1GDufnqQnMRXDvAYp6YxsLWBV22r6OMUCEPFptvyyUTg/s1600/36728091.jpg" /></a></div> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></div> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a crafty little bastard<inset id="510672032"></inset>, constantly mutating to mask itself from our bodies' defenses but always entering cells through the same molecular door. The design of that cellular door is governed by our DNA, so why not change the lock by modding our genetic code?</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In 2006, a minor medical miracle occurred. HIV-positive leukemia patient Timothy Ray Brown-the second <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Berlin_Patient" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Berlin Patient</a>-received a bone marrow transplant that saved his life in more ways than one. The marrow that he received was from a donor with a unique double mutation to a gene on the 3rd chromosome known as CCR5. This gene codes for the surface protein that the HIV virus uses to gain entry into our white blood cells (specifically, CD4+ T-cells); however the double mutation shuts down these sites and provides a natural immunity to HIV. This mutation is exceptionally rare, only occurring in about one percent of caucasians and nowhere else. It's been hypothesized that it's this same natural immunity that allowed a small portion of Europeans to make it through the Black Plague unscathed.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> While that was fantastic news for Brown, who nearly a decade later remains off of his retroviral drug regimen and maintains an undetectable level of the virus in his system, it's not of much use to the rest of us. With both the mutation's prevalence and bone marrow compatibility matches in general being so rare, there was no effective means of using transplants as delivery vectors for this beneficial genetic condition. And it's worth noting that the very process of becoming HIV-free nearly killed Brown<inset id="5713498"></inset>. But that's where Professor Yuet Kan's team at UCSF comes in.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Kan figured that if integrating this double mutation wouldn't work on the macro level-that is, replacing a patient's bone marrow with that of a naturally HIV-immune person's-maybe it would at the molecular level, thereby allowing researchers to confer the benefits while cutting out the marrow donation. To that end, he and a team of researchers from the University of San Francisco are employing cutting-edge genetic editing techniques to snip out the beneficial length of DNA coding and integrate it with a patient's own genomes.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The technique they're using is known as CRISPR (Cas9) genome-editing. CRISPRs, (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) are DNA delivery vectors that replace the existing base codes at a specific part of a specific chromosome with new base pair sets. Cas9, on the other hand are the "molecular scissors" that Kan's team employs to first cut out the offending DNA. It sounds easy, sure-just find the string of DNA you want to replace, then snip it out with Cas9 DNA scissors, and install some new DNA using a CRISPR-however the nuts and bolts of the process are far more technically challenging.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The patient's own blood cells would be employed as a precursor. Researchers would then have to convert those cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by modulating a number of genetic switches, thereby instigating their regression to more basic stem cells. After that, the offending CCR5 gene would need to be knocked out and replaced with the better, double-mutated version before the now fortified blood cells were transfused back into the patient. Not only is there no chance of the body rejecting the new cells (they are the patient's own after all), the technique also neatly sidesteps the whole embryonic stem cell issue.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> While the technique is still in its early stages of development and no human trial dates have yet been set, it holds huge promise. Not just for the 35 million people annually infected by HIV, but also sufferers of sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis-two deadly diseases caused by a single protein deformation-could benefit from similar techniques. By figuring out which genes do what on our iPS cells, we could even theoretically grant everyone on Earth immediate immunity to any number of diseases.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Of course, being able to update and augment our genetic code opens up a whole slew of potential concerns, objections, and abuses. Just look at the ire raised over the use of embryonic stem cells in the early 2000s. People were lost their minds because they thought scientific progress was being built on the backs of fetuses. Researchers had to go and invent an entirely new way of making stem cells (the iPS lines) just to get around that one moralized sticking point, so you can bet there will be plenty of chimera, master race, and<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Island of Dr. Moreau</em> references bandied about should we ever begin seriously discussing the prospect of upgrading our genes. And could certainly slow progress in this specific research.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> That's not to say that the hysteria that accompanies seemingly every news cycle these days is completely off base. Like cars, styrofoam, pressure cookers, and thermonuclear bombs, this technology can be used for evil just as easily as it can be for good. And while we're not nearly as genetically complex as, say, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6606362/Corn-contains-more-genes-than-humans.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">an ear of corn</a>, wrangling the myriad of interactions between our various genes is still an incredibly complex task and one with severe consequences should something go awry-even if we can avoid creating unwanted mutations through stringent testing and development methodology as we do with today's pharmaceutical development. So why not turn ourselves into the ultimate GMOs? It certainly beats everyone becoming cyborgs. [<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/11/gene-editing-could-erase-hiv.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Daily Beast</a> - <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2655102/Could-editing-genes-key-curing-HIV-Giving-patients-altered-blood-cells-make-resistant-virus.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a> - Wiki <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">1</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome_editing" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">2</a>]</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Image: </em><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-630403p1.html" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RAJ CREATIONZS</a></em></div> </div>

Human Genome Tinkering Could Be Our Best Bet To Beat HIV

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A Look Inside The Amazon Lab Behind Tomorrow's 3D Smartphone

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="article-header-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Oswald, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;"> A Look Inside The Amazon Lab Behind Tomorrow's 3D Smartphone</h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjPAKlRNuf7L06UExpzofYPOhBFS8Yg3UZbhKXdGyVh_VRZ-e5iTE_wZPShjN4t-kwGMKFfAAe948BqbEwCD6-MpAH2Li95HzId0WT7dIDZo0hXIZolhBVLNmhjdwRUguiUrX8APe9g/s1600/36727764.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfjPAKlRNuf7L06UExpzofYPOhBFS8Yg3UZbhKXdGyVh_VRZ-e5iTE_wZPShjN4t-kwGMKFfAAe948BqbEwCD6-MpAH2Li95HzId0WT7dIDZo0hXIZolhBVLNmhjdwRUguiUrX8APe9g/s1600/36727764.jpg" /></a></div> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></div> <div class="first-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Amazon unveils its entry into the smartphone arena<inset id="1586225798"></inset>, a long-rumored device that supposedly uses eye-tracking tech to create the first 3D smartphone display<inset id="1586175703"></inset>. <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BloombergBusinessweek</em> spoke to some of Amazon's mad scientists for <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-17/inside-the-secretive-r-and-d-lab-behind-the-amazon-phone#p2" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the inside story on Lab126</a>, the skunkworks tasked with making the 3D phone a reality.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> As Brad Stone (author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Everything-Store-Bezos-Amazon/dp/0316219266" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Everything Store</em></a>, a warts-and-all biography of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos) writes, Lab126 isn't just responsible for getting Amazon into the smartphone world. <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-17/inside-the-secretive-r-and-d-lab-behind-the-amazon-phone#p1" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">It's a workshop for hardware imagineers</a>, blue-sky tinkerers chasing ideas for their own sake.</div> <blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Many Amazon watchers struggle to explain just <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">why</em> the online retailer and cloud services provider is in the risky business of making hardware in the first place. That's the wrong question to ask. Lab126 is in the business of asking: W<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hy the heck not</em>? Fueled by his pride in Amazon's inventiveness and his stubborn refusal to cede even an inch of the tech landscape to other companies, Bezos provides much of the motivation at Lab126, pushing it to develop mainstream hardware devices, as well as a variety of so-called "science projects," many of which have yet to see the light of day.</div> <div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> One group at Lab126, for example, is working on a device that projects a computer image onto any surface. A second is developing a wireless speaker that responds to voice commands. Apparently there are many more. Lab 126 insiders whisper about a credit-card reading device similar to Square, which could help propel Amazon's fledgling payments business, plus a remarkably thin upcoming version of the Kindle Paperwhite, code-named Ice Wine.</div> </blockquote> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The strategy seems to be working: recent Lab126 debuts include Fire TV<inset id="1557714336"></inset> and Amazon Dash<inset id="1558691755"></inset>, devices that may not seem like core Amazon offerings, but which ensure that users will stay loyal to The Everything Store in the same way as Kindle e-reader users and Prime buyers.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> And now , Amazon will add its project phone, codenamed Duke, to that list. Previous reports<inset id="1586225798"></inset> indicate it'll bear some version of the Kindle name (Kindle Phone?), with a 4.7-inch, 720p display and the aforementioned infrared head-tracking cameras powering the 3D display.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> You've probably been hearing rumors about this phone for a long, long time-Lab126 has been working on it since as far back as 2009, and along the way the project has blown past several rumored release dates. <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-17/inside-the-secretive-r-and-d-lab-behind-the-amazon-phone#p1" style="color: #4296b5; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Stone theorizes</a> that at least part of the delay in the Amazon phone's rollout was to ensure that the Amazon Appstore has enough offerings to entice smartphone buyers into the Amazon ecosystem.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It's a trick Bezos has used before-he delayed the rollout of the original Kindle e-reader to make sure there were enough e-books available for buyers to download. We'll find out tomorrow just how much the Amazon phone adds to the Everything Store. [<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BloombergBusinessweek</em>]</div> </div>

A Look Inside The Amazon Lab Behind Tomorrow's 3D Smartphone

A Look Inside The Amazon Lab Behind Tomorrow's 3D Smartphone Amazon unveils its entry into the smartphone arena , a long-rumored...

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