The Google Watch with Google Now - A wearable computer for the present

A Google Watch would be an ideal first step into the world of wearables, and putting Google Now at its heart makes too much sense for it not to happen

The future of computing is mobile, and the future of mobile is wearables. Google knows this; so does LG, Samsung and Apple. That’s why all four are rumored to be working on their own smart watches. Google’s, it’s reported, will run Android, and might be with us sooner rather than later.

The Pebble smart watch has already proved the appetite for this kind of product as a smartphone companion device. The appeal is obvious -- the ability to keep tabs on email, messages, calls, music playback, etc. using a device that’s always on your person. Relief from the burden of constant phone-checking (or at least, a weaning of users onto constant watch-checking instead.) It’s no wonder Google and others want a piece of that pie.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/uBfpavuoHV4/story01.htm

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Big Ideas: Google's Larry Page and the gospel of 10x

Larry Page lives by the gospel of 10x. Most companies would be happy to improve a product by ten per cent. Not the CEO and cofounder of Google.

The way Page sees it, a ten per cent improvement means that you're doing the same thing as everybody else. You probably won't fail spectacularly, but you are guaranteed not to succeed wildly.

That's why Page expects his employees to create products and services that are ten times better than the competition. That means he isn't satisfied with discovering a couple of hidden efficiencies or tweaking code to achieve modest gains. Thousand-per-cent improvement requires rethinking problems, exploring what's technically possible and having fun in the process.

By: Steven Levy, Edited by: David Cornish

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Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/03/big-ideas/a-healthy-disregard-for-the-impossible

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Ingress doles out new-player invites to L6 and up

If you've been dying to try your hand at Ingress -- the AR game run by the Niantic Project and Google -- but haven't been able to get your hands on an invite yet, it's time to make friends. Ingress this morning announced that any current player Level 6 and up (which means Levels 7 and 8 as well) should now have a single invite to bestow on a lucky newcomer. 

Ingress centers on the idea that there's this magical "XM" or "Exotic Matter," which lies in wait, hidden from casual view. But it affects everything around it. You use your phone or tablet to view the XM and the portals that harness it. Two sides -- the Enlightened and the Resistance -- are battling for control over the portals, linking them together and creating protective fields and capturing mind units in the process. 

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/GqV4znouxCc/story01.htm

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Plastic Logic shows off colour e-paper display smart watch concept: the future of wearable tech?

Via positioned colour filter overlay

Plastic Logic - the maker of flexible e-paper - has shown off an e-paper smart watch concept with a difference: this one's in colour.

The concept isn't the complete dynamic colour solution like the company's colour e-paper, however, because this smart watch prototype uses instead simple colour filter overlay where a wide spectrum of colours can be positioned according to an individual product's design.

READ: Plastic Logic demos colour video playback on e-paper

The initial design is to illustrate that colours brighter and more vibrant than those in a typical e-paper colour solution - such as Platic Logic's own 4,096 colour solution, mentioned above - can be displayed via this simple solution.

The working model we saw revealed colours as bright only when the e-paper display behind dropped out to its lightest grey. For devices where there's a single display area with a binary on/off use - such as a battery life display, heart rate green-through-red warning light, or such other such display functions - it makes good sense.

The areas of the device not covered by the positioned colour filter reveal themselves in the same was as the usual e-paper, which means they can dynamically display whatever they're told to. That's all down to possible future product development.

We've previously seen e-paper smart watches in abundance. There's the well-known Pebble, as well as the super-slim CST-01 E Ink watch which Pocket-lint saw at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 in January. But neither of these offers up colour to tickle those rods and cones.

READ: CST-01 E Ink watch hands-on

As Plastic Logic isn't a watchmaker, this is just a window into the could-be future. As you can see from our pictures the super-slim device - less than 1mm thick - is undoubtedly teeny. Around the back things are a tangle of wires and silicon for the time being, but that's where a designer could come in to finalise such a concept.

The addition of a battery, NFC Bluetooth, Wi-Fi functionality, front-lighting like that of the Kindle Paperwhite - as otherwise the watch would be next to useless in the dark - are all things that could be added to make up for a more complete device, among plenty of other ideas.

It all depends on those creative manufacturers out there, for now this prototype is just an interesting concept to show off Plastic Logic's e-paper technology and how sometimes a simple, cost-effective solution could be the future of affordable yet slim and stylish wearable tech.

Tags: Plastic Logic E-ink Watches e-Paper

         

Plastic Logic shows off colour e-paper display smart watch concept: the future of wearable tech? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:40:00 +0000

Source: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/50588/plastic-logic-colour-e-paper-smart-watch-concept

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Finally, A Way To Only Date People Who Agree With You On Politics

Alex Fondrier doesn't think politics should be the proverbial "third rail" in a relationship. In fact, Fondrier points to a study from the Journal of American Politics which found that, next to religion, political compatibility is the second most important criteria in a lasting relationship.

That's why last year, Fondrier and Francois Briard decided to become political-based matchmakers. Together, they created RedStateDate.com and BlueStateDate.com, corresponding sites for conservatives and liberals looking for love. 

"In terms of having a long-term relationship, raising children, and settling down, studies have shown that the majority of American people want to be in that long-term relationship with someone who shares their political views," Fondrier said in an interview this week.

The sites, run entirely by Fondrier and Briard, launched last October and recently surpassed the 6,000-member mark. The site is free to join but requires a subscription of $17.95 per month to communicate with other users and potential matches. 

Fondrier thinks the site fills a niche that has yet to be tackled in the online dating world. Websites match potential mates based on personality, religion, and other traits, but no high-profile website existed solely to match up couples based on their political views.

"I think people want to enjoy talking about politics with their significant others," Fondrier, 27, said. "People don't want to have to avoid politics, so there's definitely a niche for this."

Both sites go through rigorous matchmaking tests to match up potential couples. RedStateDate, for example, asks who Republicans should nominate in 2016, as well as past political campaigns worked on and extensive questions about economic, foreign policy, and social views. 

Here's an example:

Why haven't any sites like these two popped up before? Fondrier speculated that it's because most singles working in politics are focused on their jobs — advocacy, causes, and other issues on which they're working.

So far, he's seen a handful of success stories measured in people leaving the site because they've "found someone" — more so on RedStateDate, which so far has roughly four times the amount of members as BlueStateDate. 

"What we've done is create two unique environments for people who are passionate about these issues," Fondrier said. 

"At the end of the day, those issues will come up at some point in a relationship. So I wanted to create a product for all those people who are on the Drudge Report all the time and reading Politico every hour — folks who are really into the issues, who really enjoy talking about politics and don't have to go on dates where you have to avoid constantly talking about politics.

Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/IAhMb2samII/political-dating-website-red-state-blue-state-date-2013-3

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Spotify reportedly launching video streaming service with exclusive content

Netflix-style

Music-streaming service Spotify is working to launch a video service pegged to take on Netflix and others, reports Business Insider.?

It's an interesting move for the company, which has focused on deals with record labels to offer unlimited music streaming to users at a monthly rate in many countries worldwide. A video-streaming service would signal a new shift for a company that is already worth billions.?

According to Business Insider, Spotify is working to make exclusive video content, something it already does with music. Netflix took a similar approach with its House of Cards series, which has been generally well received?by viewers. Thanks to $100 million in recent funding from?Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs, producing such content could be within reach for Spotify.?

No details have been provided on the specifics of the service, just that it is in the?works. The rumour comes at a time when Spotify is believed to be being taken on at its own music-streaming game by Google, Apple and Amazon, all of which are said to be working on their own music-streaming solution. A video service could be added revenue for Spotify.

We've reached out to Spotify in hope of learning more.

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Tags: Spotify Netflix Videos House of Cards

 

Spotify reportedly launching video streaming service with exclusive content originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:09:00 +0000

Source: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/50567/spotify-launching-video-streaming

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Five future smartwatches that will be fighting to grace our wrists

Main image: 

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Source: http://www.stuff.tv/news/life-etc/stuff/five-future-smartwatches-that-will-be-fighting-to-grace-our-wrists

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The After Math: a million Z10s, the UnCarrier's new plan and a 16-button controller

Welcome to The After Math, where we attempt to summarize this week's tech news through numbers, decimal places and percentages

This week, there's been a mixed bag of interesting news numbers, from T-Mobile's New York event and the company's new perspective on the phone network business, to San Francisco (again) for the Games Developers Conference. We also got to take a look at BlackBerry's first financial results since the name change and its BB10 launch.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Sony, Blackberry, T-Mobile

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/the-after-math-blackberry-financials-ps4-ouya/

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What It's Like To Attend Competitive Startup Incubator Y Combinator

Y Combinator is one of the most competitive startup incubators in the country. Thousands apply, but only 47 startups are in the current class.

One of those startups is StyleUp, co-founded by Kendall Herbst and Ryan Choi. The site is essentially a style assistant: Every morning, users get an email with an outfit that matches their personal style and works with the local weather. 

"We help women who are interested in fashion but don’t have time to read a 500-page magazine," says Herbst, who met Choi at MIT Sloan and moved from Cambridge, MA to Mountain View, CA this January to attend Y Combinator.

The intense three-month program culminates in "Demo Day," where startups pitch to investors, which was on Tuesday. Herbst took a camera around with her this past week and offered to share her experience with Business Insider.  

You can follow Kendall at @kendall_to_go.

8 AM: After waking up, I immediately check out StyleUp's progress: how many new members we’ve added, how many women liked their styles from the day before, etc. I co-founded the site with Ryan Choi, an early engineer at Salesforce, whom I met at MIT Sloan.

I read all the user comments on our website. They serve as a daily report card of how well we're doing.

9:15 AM: Normally, I’d just continue working on StyleUp, but Fridays are lighter, so I take the time to jog instead. They tell you at the start of Y Combinator to fit some healthy habits into your life; three months is too long to exist on crummy food, no sleep and no exercise.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/Fh11TOMHyHQ/what-its-like-at-y-combinator-2013-3

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