The U.S. Air Force’s “BATMAN” research team at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is beta-testing Google Glass for possible use on the battlefield.
And so far, it likes what it sees.
The positive attributes “are its low power, its low footprint, it sits totally above the eyes, and doesn’t block images or hinder vision,” said 2nd Lt. Anthony Eastin, a behavioral scientist on the BATMAN team testing the glasses.
Google is launching a new program to find practical ways to use its Google Glass wearable gadgets in the workplace, the company announced today.
More specifically, the “Glass for Work” program wants to cooperate with outside companies on ways that Google Glass might enhance an employee’s workflow, such as adding it to IT support workers while on calls or giving it to surgeons while operating. The main point of the program is to help make Glass an indispensable gadget in the office in the same way desktops and smartphones are.
According to a report, Google is interested in buying Skybox Imaging, a California-based startup that builds high-resolution imaging microsatellites and provides a platform to view the data. Because apparently Google needs satellites now that Facebook has drones.
As The Information states, the purchase would line up nicely with Google’s mapping ambitions. Skybox Imaging’s microsatellites would provide Google with its own fleet of cameras in the sky, allowing the search giant to capture its own imaging for Google Earth.
With his Google Glass, Stanford University physician Dr. Homero Rivas pinpoints a target on the skin of an anatomical human model.
The surgeon and his assistant then direct their Glass at the target to reveal an augmented reality display on their screens. To their eyes, looking through the Glass, they can see the procedure illustrated step by step with images superimposed over the skin of the model.
Google wants to make it easier for lots of wearables to run on the Android operating system.
In about two weeks, the tech giant will release an Android software-development kit (SDK) for wearable devices, Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Android, Chrome, and apps, said today at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
“We’ll lay out a vision for developers as to how we’ll see this market working,” Pichai said, according to a report from The Verge.
When it comes to developing software, few companies can match Google’s prowess. It doesn’t just have the most popular search engine. Chrome is the most widely used Internet browser. Gmail, Calendar, Spreadsheets, Docs, and Presentations are legitimate alternatives to Microsoft Office. Picasa, Google’s free photo management software, might be as good as anything from Apple. Android dominates the phone and tablet landscape. Google Maps is becoming the best navigation program on any device.
Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, has worked with Google before, helping the technology giant assemble hardware like Glass.
Now Google is in the position to give something back (beyond contract dollars).
Google’s robotics team, headed by former Android executive Andy Rubin, is working with the Taiwanese contract manufacturer to accelerate automation efforts in its factories, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Google’s $2.9 billion sale of Motorola Mobility to Chinese PC maker Lenovo might seem like lousy business, given Google’s $12.5 billion purchase in 2012 and losses in the interim. But it leaves Google with a mobile research unit and a war chest of patents arguably bought at a very good price. And it gives a boost to Android in developing countries.
At Google, the smart home is in but the smartphone is out.
Two weeks after announcing the $3.2 billion purchase of smart thermostat and smoke detector company Nest, Google said Wednesday that it is selling its Motorola smartphone business to Lenovo for $2.9 billion. The move is surprising as it comes less than two years after Google paid $12.5 billion for the business and other assets.
Google has invested in revamping the company’s image and released some impressive new handsets like the Moto X, but Motorola is still not a moneymaker. In the first three quarters of last year, it cost Google hundreds of millions of dollars.
