Google has released the latest update for Glass users. This latest has arrived as the XE8 update and brought items to include a new video player, additional support for apps to include Path and Evernote, a new volume card in Settings, additional Google Now cards, new voice commands and more. As we often see, this […]
We’ve yet to see how helpful – or harmful – Google Glass can be to people with sight, but you might be surprised to know that it can be used to help blind people too. A two-man company called Dapper Vision is working on OpenGlass, a system of tools and services that can help identify objects as well as provide additional information via Google Glass.
In the video below, you’ll see two of OpenGlass’ services that can help the visually impaired – or anyone for that matter – identify objects. The first is Question-Answer, wherein the Glass user takes a picture of an object and uses voice commands to send the picture to Twitter or Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service to be identified. The Glass user receives the answer via voice as well. The second is Memento, which is like a real-time version of Question-Answer, but it requires someone to build a database of images and annotations for it to draw data upon.
That was awesome, but I hope as wearable technology improves that OpenGlass will be less reliant on online sources of data. Maybe someday Dapper Vision can cram in a visual dictionary of sorts in Glass. As I said, the video only shows a small part of OpenGlass. Head to its official website to see more information and videos.
[via Engadget]
It looks like Microsoft is taking a dip into the wearable technology pool with a new patent that reveals plans for a pair of augmented-reality glasses that would be used during multiplayer gaming to receive voice commands, track your eyes, and recognize the faces of other players. As such, these glasses take a different approach […]
It’s known by many names. White whiskey, new make, white lightning, unaged whiskey, "straight from the still." Some even call it moonshine. To us, it’s white dog, a unique spirit with a lot of diversity and character. It’s time we got to know it and talked about what you can do with it.
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You’re going to have some friends over for a cocktail housewarming party. No problem, you think to yourself, I’ll just pick up some glassware at Crate & Barrel. You get there, and panic sets in. It’s an absurd, transparent cornucopia of tumblers and flutes and who knows what else, in every conceivable shape and size. You weren’t prepared. Pay attention now, and you will be.
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A developer by the name of Brandyn White has created for Google Glass an augmented reality user interface that will one day be integrated as easy as any other Glassware. This means that while some so-called augmented reality apps created for Glass are still working outside Google’s preferred Glass-friendly software environment, pushing forward with basic Android APKs, this solution aims for a real-deal Mirror API build. Mirror API is a software developer environment unveiled by Google earlier this year made for developers to easily create apps without Google’s supported bounds.
As with Android, Google will be supporting Glass software that falls within a set of specifications. At the moment, to stay within this set – to stay within Google’s Mirror API, that is – White has had to turn this app into a sort of photograph-then-display app as such. In the future it may be possible to display information in an augmented reality landscape in real-time.
At the moment you’ll find Glass taking a photo first, then having it analyzed (as you would if you did a sort of Google Image Search), then having it sent back to the user with data embedded so they can compare to the original vision. It’s hoped that in the future this will all be able to be done in near-real-time without the need for photographs and several-step processing.
The guide image above shows White’s use of Picarus software for this process, too. This is an analysis system created by White and his colleague Andrew Miller who together create the group Dapper Vision, Inc. This system is made for large-scale visual analysis and both Computer Vision and Machine Learning web services. Picarus is used here to annotate the images fed back to the user once a photo is snapped.
The software included in this augmented reality precursor is included in what White and his colleagues have dubbed “OpenGlass”. This software library known as OpenGlass is, of course, open-source, and can be accessed by any intrepid developer or Glass user hoping to get in on this futuristic build early.
VIA: SelfScreens
Google Glass augmented reality demo birthed in open-source library OpenGlass is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Google updated the look and feel of the Google Play Store yesterday for desktop users, giving it a cleaner look that fits more in the line with the mobile version. However, the update hints at the possibility that Google Glass apps could be distributed through Google Play, and Glass owners may be able to browse the Google Play store on Glass itself.
When you go to download an app in Google Play, you can choose from a list of all your Android devices from a drop-down menu. The updated Google Play store now lists Google Glass in the drop-down menu, giving us proof that Google has at least some intention of bringing the two together at some point.
As it stands now, Glass owners have to navigate to a specific portal in the My Glass app on their Android device, which isn’t too terrible of a process, but it would be so much more convenient for Glass users to download and install apps without the leaving the comfort of that small heads-up display and touchpad on the side of their head.
Of course, the appearance of Google Glass in that drop-down menu leads to a grayed-out selection, meaning that compatibility between the two isn’t quite ready just yet, but Google may be in the process of getting it up and running.
We already know that Google Glass is getting some kind of boutique app store with Glass-specific apps, thanks to code that was discovered in the latest Glass update, but Google hasn’t addressed it publicly and they haven’t enabled it yet. This boutique method seems a little different than the simple Google Play integration, so it’s possible Google is experimenting with a few different options right now.
VIA: Android and Me
Google Play Glass Boutique support hinted in new store update is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
You know that sad feeling you get when a headache’s coming on while watching a 3D movie and you remember that you can’t actually take the glasses off for a few seconds of relief because the ghosted 2D image is even harder to watch? That could be a thing of the past as researchers from the University of California Santa Cruz have developed a new kind of 3D display that doesn’t appear ghosted when you’re not wearing those special glasses.
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People who have been blind since a young age can sometimes learn to develop a sort of low-grade echolocation. This technique, used by the likes of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Ronnie Milsap, and Ben Underwood, works much the same way as it does in bats and dolphins. But people who have just recently lost their sight can’t harness this ability innately. They need the vOICe to do it for them.
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I’m sorry to disappoint athletic Pokémon fans out there. This is not a jockstrap, it’s a drinking cup shaped like the monster catching Poké Ball. I’m not sure if it’s licensed, but I’m pretty sure Nintendo would rather license this and release all of its games on iOS than approve a Pokémon Ball Cup.
It holds 20 oz. of liquid. Er, drinks. Dammit you and your dirty minds! You can order one from PartyBell for $3 (USD), although as of this writing they’re on sale for $2.
[via That’s Nerdalicious!]
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