Category: Google

Google partnerships with Novartis for groundbreaking product

Google have announced that they have partnered with Novartis, the worlds biggest multinational pharmaceutical company, to work towards the development of a product that could have massive health repercussions if successful.

 

The product they have in mind is a ‘smart’ contact lens with capabilities to not only  help those who suffer with being shortsighted with an auto-focus type feature, but also to measure and transmit blood sugar levels of people who suffer from Diabetes. This would be a huge step forward in the care and health of diabetics not only with the elimination of manual glucose measuring  but with the ability for both themselves and their doctors to have real time blood sugar levels collated in a smart phone or similar device.

 

Google are already on their way with the creation of the groundbreaking product. As of January  their prototypes  being able to make one Glucose reading per second.

 

Those involved are saying that the development of the ‘smart’ lens will take at least 2 or 3 years to bring to market, but they are hopeful that with the collaboration of Novartis and those behind the miniaturization of electronics in the X blue-sky innovation arm of Google will be able to succeed as soon as possible.

 

This is one of many inroads into health technology being made by the big tech companies, and is a hugely positive marker that as an industry, they’re heading in the right direction!

 

Google Acquires Skybox Imaging

One of Google’s more recent acquisitions is Skybox Imaging, an intelligence company that has been making vast inroads in satellite technology which Google will harness to use in mapping. The technology could however also have other far reaching  implications on privacy and business to business competition and spying.

 

From the Sauce:

 

‘By the time its entire fleet of 24 satellites has launched in 2018, Skybox will be imaging the entire Earth at a resolution sufficient to capture, for example, real-time video of cars driving down the highway. And it will be doing it three times a day.’

 

Cool cool, right? But they also rather casually mention:

 

 

‘ They are already looking at Foxconn every week and are able to pinpoint the next iPhone release based on the density of trucks outside their manufacturing facilities.’

 

 

Oooooh…. Interesting? Useful? A waste of technology? Kinda creepy? NOBODY KNOWS! We appreciate the map stuff though, because just how the hell did people know how to get places before?

 

 

 

 

iPhone Tip Of The Day!

Forgotten how to use the search function on your iPhone? Trying to find that weird app you kind of remember downloading but can’t quite lift the fog on where it is among your vast collection of ( all necessary btw) apps?

 

It happens to the best of us!

 

For owners of an iDevice that has iOS 7 and above, you can access  the Spotlight search function by dragging your finger downwards anywhere on any home screen page.

 

 

Spotlight search will now appear and you can search for apps, texts, or any other content that is ( or that you think is) on your device.

 

For owners of a device that hasn’t yet been updated to iOS 7, swipe left from the first home screen to access Spotlight.

 

For owners of a device that has iOS 8, please call us, cos we would love to know how that whole thing is going…

 

 

 

Image courtesy of iMore.com

iPhone Tip Of The Day!

 

Ever see a rockin’ photo on your iDevice whilst browsing that wonderful world wide web? Something like this?

 

 

 

 

 

Or this?

 

 

 

 

In Safari or Chrome, simply place your magic finger on the image, hold down for a moment, and you’ll be given an option to save the image to your iPhoto library. BAM! Now it’s yours to do anything with (that’s not commercial or against copyright or, you know, mean. Don’t be mean, guys.)

 

Now you can use it as your wallpaper, email it, print it out and hang it on your wall, or just look back at it fondly and wistfilly every now and then.

 

Like we do with this one:

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Planetsforkids.org &  Imgur.com 

Wanna buy Google Glass?

Well kids, you’re in luck!

 

For one day only, on April 15th, Google will be selling their most anticipated wearable tech product to any adult over 18 living in the United States ( sorry everyone else in the world).

 

Go here now to sign up for a reminder to purchase, and go here to read more from Google themselves about the opportunity to purchase Google Glass.

 

The chance to buy is limited, and it will cost you $1500 + tax, so get in quick if you want to be super cool like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of cnn.com

Tech Tip Of The Day- youtube edition

 

 

YouTube is awesome, because that’s where we get Britney Spears best-of compilations and Tech N9ne lyrics for our flow parties, but it’s also got quite some surprising and secret easter eggs that not many people know about.

 

The end.

 

Just kidding! Here’s  list of what we think are the best Easter Eggs on YouTube.

 

*Protuber is a free YouTube app on the iPhone which allows you to multitask while playing a video.

 

*If you pause a video on YouTube and type the numbers ‘1980’ you will get missiles firing at your video, and the ability to fight back.

 

 

 

 

* Pause a video on YouTube, then hold down the left arrow key for 2-3 seconds. Whilst holding down that key, press the up arrow. BAM! YOU’RE PLAYING SNAKE!

 

 

 

 

*Right click on any YouTube video and you can scroll down to the ‘Stats For Nerds’ option. Click on it and you get a rundown of statistics of the video you’re watching, including dimensions, frames and volume percentage.

 

 

 

 

*Type the word ‘repeat’ after youtube in the URL – for example: https://www.youtuberepeat.com/watch?v=pt8VYOfr8To. This will let you play the video on repeat!

 

Finally, don’t forget to check out www.bestofyoutube.com to get your weekly dose of YouTube awesomness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of play.google.com, newgrounds.com, reddit.com, dailydawdle.com & weknowmemes.com

Google Tip Of The Day

 

Oh Google, you wonderful way too powerful magic machine beast you. We love/hate you, but this is pretty cool.

 

Search for a word followed by the word etymology and Google will give you a simple outline of the etymology of that word!

 

For those playing at home- etymology is the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

 

Also known as something to make you seem more intelligent,which is something Google is getting quite good at. We just hope they don’t go too far, because then HOW WILL WE KNOW, GOOGLE? HOW WILL WE KNOW?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Imgur.

The iWatch

iWatch mock up photo by Brett Jordan Via www.adr-studio.it/site/?p=269 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

 

 

The iWatch! Could it finally be on it’s way onto our super deserving wrists? Well, we think so. We’re almost as sure as we can really ever really be with an Apple product release, especially a completely new product release. Here’s a bunch of stuff we think we know about the iWatch.

 

Way, way back in 2008, Apple co-founder  Steve Wozniak confirmed to the Telegraph that “Apple’s future could lie in an ‘iWatch’.”

 

Then, in the midst of a thousand iWatch rumors, Apple trademarked ‘iWatch’ in Japan, Mexico, Russia and a number of other countries.

 

Tim Cook has said this about wearable tech:

 

“I think the wrist is interesting. I’m wearing this (Nike Fuelband) on my wrist…it’s somewhat natural. But as I said before, I think for something to work here, you first have to convince people it’s so incredible that they want to wear it.”

 

So we know it’s coming, and we know it’s going to be incredible, which is pretty exciting.

 

The iWatch is rumored to be out this year. Definitely, probably, this year. We think it will be if not announced, at least hinted at during the WWDC in June, and if not, definitely revealed  in the Fall, and released later in the year or early 2015.

 

The idea is that the iWatch will feature a small number of already established products combined into one, similar to the original iPhone when it came out.

 

It is said to be standalone with the option to be used in combination with your iPhone. It will most likely include watch, (duh) as well as fitness, health and phone functionality. Siri is a possibility, as is FaceTime capabilities, and maps, if not full iOS 8 functionality.

 

Fitness and health tech accessories were one of the big new industry product sectors at this year’s CES conference in Vegas. Many believe that it’s where the future of wearable tech lies.

 

Apple have recently made a bucketload of new roles rumored to be centered on the creation of the iWatch. Some of these are a little vague, others are quite telling. These include:

 

Sleep analysis experts who hold “several patents for integrating mobile devices with fitness equipment”

 

Biometric scientists.

 

Ben Shaffer (previously innovation leader at Nike) and Jay Blahnik, a health and fitness instructor who consulted on the Fuelband for Nike.

 

Sleep research expert Roy J.E.M Raymann, a scientist from Philips Research last month.  Raymann’s experience includes extensive research into non-pharmacological methods of altering sleep quality and in wearable sensors and miniaturization of sensors related to tracking sleep and alertness activity.

 

Nancy Dougherty was hired as a hardware engineer in late 2013. Previously she worked with technology-based medical products with Proteus Digital Health. Her work there included a health metric-reading wearable patch and ingestible, Bluetooth-connected smart pills for monitoring dosages and scheduling. Most recently, Dougherty worked as a hardware lead for Sano Intelligence, whose tagline reads ‘the API for the bloodstream,’ working on a wearable sensor system.

 

Apple recently advertised for an Exercise Physiologist to oversee cardiovascular fitness and energy expenditure tests at its main headquarters campus.

 

The ad read: Design and run user studies related to cardiovascular fitness & energy expenditure, including calories burned, metabolic rate, aerobic fitness level measurement/tracking and other key physiological measurements.

 

Michael O’Reilly, M.D. was recently added to the Apple team. Previously he was the  Chief Medical Officer of pulse oximetry (measuring the amount of oxygen in the blood)  for Masimo.

 

In the fashion line, Former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve, below, was hired last year to work under Tim Cook on a “special project”, and Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, joined Apple in a newly created position last year, as a senior vice president and member of their executive team.

 

Pretty promising stuff, right? So what else do we know?

 

A supply chain source indicated to Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White in early October that it may also serve to integrate with home automation systems, allowing users to control heating and cooling, lights, and audio/video systems right from their wrists.

 

The design will come from the delightful brain of one Jony Ive (and his no doubt delightful team).

 

It is expected to have a 1.5-inch display, it will more than likely have a battery life longer than one day (Hi Galaxy gear!) and no one is brave enough yet to guess at a price.

 

What about competition? There are already a few smart watches, coming from the likes of Samsung with the Galaxy Gear  (1& 2), the Pebble, the Sony smart watch 2 and now Google who has confirmed to the Financial Times after filing a patent that they are indeed manufacturing a smart watch, possibly for release this year.

 

Apple will be looking to blow them all out of the water, obviously. This means that it has to be innovative in the same way that shocked the world with the original iPhone, and that all the components such as battery life, synchronization with other tech, wearability and functionality will have to be perfect.

 

 

So, no pressure, Apple. Also: hurry up, cos we really, really want one.

 

 

 

 

iWatch mock up photo by Brett Jordan Via www.adr-studio.it/site/?p=269 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

iPhone Tip Of The Day! Safari Edition.

 

Got iOS 7? Yeah? Want to know a Safari feature not many people  know about? Yeah? Yeah?

 

 

 

Here you go: In Safari on iOS 7 devices you have the option to search within a page for a specific word!

 

 

Start typing the word you’re looking for into the URL bar at the top of the page. The results will show you the google search results first but if you scroll down it will show you “On This Page” and let you jump through the mentions of that page.

 

Sweet!

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Quickmeme & Troll.me

What do people think about your city? (Map Infographic)

Well, what do people think about your city? We were a bit surprised when we checked out some of the results. (Fargo is good? Bozeman, Montana is expensive?!)

 

So just to be clear, we went through and used Google to search up each city, and we used the phrase “Why is (City Name) So …”

 

This prompted Google’s Autocomplete engine (you know, the one that pops up the sometimes-silly recommendations for you when you are searching). When the autocomplete recommendations came up, we wrote them down, and the result is here!

 

The Most Common Google Searches for Each City

The Most Common Google Searches for Each City

 

 

After taking in all the data, well, it looks a little sad for most places.  That being said, there was some interesting data:

 

Four cities were “Great”:

New York City, Denver, Boston, and Nashville

 

Four cities were “Boring”:

Charlotte, Louisville, Dallas-Forth Worth, and San Jose

 

And a few others had some pretty interesting ones:

Seattle is Loud

Portland is Weird

Chicago is Windy (Duh..)

and Atlanta is Gay

 

Sorry if we offended your city, but well, Google said so..

 

Hopefully you don’t live in one of the “Bad” cities:

Cleveland, Baltimore, Jacksonville, or Memphis

 

But then again, who trusts Google anyways?

 
 
 
*Black Rock City entry may include artistic liberties.

 
 

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