Hasta La Gadget!

This week the folks at Google dropped quite a few users out of a blimp to land on the Moscone Center for Google I/O wearing Project Glass – then they explained how they did it. This process included several different components that will be much more compact in the future, with the microphone, several sensors, and connections being rather large and bulky right this moment. This process included bicycle flips, running down the side of a building, and a couple more hardcore sports actions, so the glasses were also attached a bit more securely to each users face than they would have been otherwise.

In the demonstration after the big drop, it was revealed that the display is not in front of your eye when you use Project Glass, not in front of it. The camera lines up with the eye line of the user so that moments can be captured from the user’s perspective, while the design philosophy behind this project remained “ridiculously light.” Of course the units used on the air drop were certainly prototypes, while the final product will “weigh less than mini-sunglasses.”

As the device has been tested over the past few weeks, Google revealed that they found that the units would not only have to be light, but incredibly sturdy as well. Communication with images is set at the heart of this project, with the capture of fleeting moments being one of the primary activity of users in test form thus far. A first person point of view is being pushed here, and noone is safe, not even you shooting a terrible shot in a game of pool – beware!

Stay tuned all week for the rest of our I/O 2012 coverage and head to the Android portal as well to stay up to date on the mobile world of Google!

Project Glass gets demo product blast at I/O is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Just when you were finally beginning to understand the difference between Openzone and Fon, British operator BT has decided to merge them into a single hotspot service called BT Wi-fi — creating what it claims is the “world’s largest wi-fi community.” Access already comes free and unlimited with home and business broadband connections, so there’s “no need to pay for 3G or a dongle” so long as you’re in a relatively densely populated area. The re-branding should have little impact on how you use the service, except that the old network names will gradually be replaced, but then a bit of unification often has unexpected benefits.

BT unites Openzone and Fon as a single WiFi hotspot service in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BT Wi-fi  | Email this | Comments

It’s time again for Google’s own developer conference, and SlashGear is here to bring you the whole set of events as they happen. We’ll be bringing you everything from Android to Chrome as an operating system to Chrome as a browser and back again, and right from the show floor as we do it. The big events begin tomorrow morning, bright and early, and they last all week long!

There are several ways to follow SlashGear as we traverse the landscape that is Google I/O, starting with our Android portal – which you’ll see below this paragraph in link form – and moving on to our in-post timeline system (in each post you’ll see covered this week.) You can find more information on Chrome through our Chrome tag, and of course our Google portal will bring you the whole series of events as well. The same is true of our IO 2012 portal which went live this past week!

Head to any of several important articles linked in the timeline below to get caught up as we head into the main event starting tomorrow morning. We’re sure to see so much Google software and hardware that it’ll make your gadget-loving mind burst!

Google I/O 2012: We’re here! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Microsoft responsible for the mobile sect of their world have promised a dedicated homepage for Windows Phone version 7.8 specifically. This page will be the future home for Windows Phone 7.8 news, not unlike the page that currently exists for Windows Phone 7.5 and brings with it some excitement surrounding this nearly-next release of the Windows Phone platform. While the next wave of Microsoft smartphones will be rolling out with Windows Phone 8, you’ll be back on Windows Phone 7.8, and you’re going to like it, whether you think you want to or not.

Of course there are quite a few relatively large changes to this next-generation update to the Windows Phone user interface when it comes down to it, beginning with the most obvious: the addition of a tile size. You’ve got colors, three sizes of tiles, and ultra-easy to re-arrange goodness. Next you’ve got an announcement that Audible just hit the Windows Phone app market, and that Words with Friends, Draw Something, and the online banking system PayPal will all be hitting the market soon.

Above you’ll see a brand new Microsoft-made hands-on video focusing specifically on the start screen, with Windows Phone 7.8 live and in-action – this just one of a vast collection of content bits we’re sure will be appearing on the Windows Phone 7.8 homepage soon. The basic push for this version of Windows Phone as a viable alternative for those not quite entirely happy about the fact that their devices will not be upgraded to version 8 of Windows Phone is plain to be seen. Microsoft will certainly be continuing to make an effort to appear fair for legacy users moving forward, you can bank on it.

Have a peek at our own Eyes-on with Windows Phone 7.8 and check out the video from the big event earlier this month here:

Windows Phone 7.5 getting official web presence is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft revealed Windows Phone 7.8 last week. The system update got a bit of stage time details were still a bit lite. The Windows Phone team posted the video above and it should clear up some confusion around the new Start Screen.

Windows 8 brings a host of new features, but most are hidden from the user, involving the platform’s kernel. For better or worse, the biggest visible change involves the Start Screen that will feature re-sizable tiles. But current Windows Phone will not be able to jump on the Windows Phone 8 bandwagon due to hardware requirements. And so, to likely prevent an angry mob of users, Microsoft is bringing the new Start Screen to current phones through the Windows Phone 7.8 update.