You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Patent filings, we don’t take so seriously. One of Japan’s richest men, with the potential to call on an army of lawyers to defend what he claims is his invention, we probably ought to. Masayoshi Son, the billionaire (and philanthropic) CEO of SoftBank, has given a two-hour speech to his shareholders about his technological predictions for the next 30 years, and about halfway through he describes a familiar idea: augmented reality glasses that can understand what a person is saying and provide subtitles as a visual overlay. At one point, he specifically mentions protecting the concept:
“By the way, we’ve already taken out a patent on this — translation glasses with captions.” (1:22:49 in the video at the source link.)
We think we may have found the patent application in question, submitted in 2010 by SoftBank Mobile Corp. It does show a translation function similar — but not totally identical — to what’s been shown off in a recent Project Glass promo video, in which a guy translated his own words using Google’s specs. In any case, the whole patent system is so esoteric that it’s impossible to predict what ideas will clash and what won’t, but it’s worth bearing in mind how Masayoshi Son first became rich: he sold a translation device patent to Sharp for $1 million. What are the odds on that?
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile
Source: SoftBank, Ekouhou patent filing (Japenese)
If you’re still thirsting over details about life with Google Glass, you can now sit back and experience the presentation (though not filmed in first person with one of the units — opportunity missed) from SXSW last month. We covered it in our liveblog and dug up news on various apps already working with Google’s Mirror API to present their information in ways that are designed for the wearable units, don’t get in the way, and don’t pop up at bad times. These are relatively new and unique issues to deal with since the information is being presented on a device that’s in your face, so it will be interesting to see if developers are up to the challenge. Check after the break for 50 minutes of Googler Timothy Jordan showing the people what the Glass team has learned and implemented so far.
Filed under: Wearables, Google
Source: Timothy Jordan (Google+), Google Developers (YouTube)
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Google just took some time at SXSW to show off Google Glass, and it’s pulled back the curtains on some apps that are currently in the works. As it turns out, Page and Co. have been working with the New York Times to build an application. Just ask for some news and Glass will deliver a headline, a byline, an accompanying image and the number of hours since the article in question was posted. What’s more is that users can tap and have the eyewear read the story’s text aloud. The duo are also testing a breaking news feature where notifications regarding fresh stories will appear as they’re published. Gmail also got some time in the limelight with its very own app. An email sender’s image and subject line will appear on the device’s screen, and users can reply by dictating their messages.
Evernote and Skitch received some love from the folks in Mountain View too, with the ability to send images to the services through Glass’ share functionality. Social networking app Path has found its way onto the wearable computing bandwagon as well. Not only do Google’s spectacles receive curated updates from the network — to keep you from being bombarded, of course– but they allow users to add emoticons to a friend’s post and reply with comments. Not impressed? “This is just where we started with a few friends to test the API in its early stage,” says Google Glass developer evangelist Timothy Jordan.
Gallery: Apps for Google Glass
Filed under: Google
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
