Google | Page 3 | World Tech Today

Self-Driving Cars Could Save Lives and $190 Billion in Damages and Health

Mar 6, 2015 by Vamien McKalin Leave a Comment

Self-driving cars are slowly become a thing of the future that might eventually replace our current way of doing things. If everything goes according to plan, we could witness fewer road fatalities, and nearly $200 billion could be saved each year.

Cars that drive themselves without much interaction from the passengers could mean the end of dangerous accidents that take the lives of millions around the world per year. In the United States alone, 2.5 million people visit the hospital for car related injuries per year, and the cost for treatment is around $3,300.

Of the 2.5 million people, over 200,000 of that number are hospitalized, and the cost of staying in the hospital along with all the treatments that come with it, is around $57,000.

Clearly this is a huge problem that needs to be solved, and chances are self-driving cars are the way out of this decades-long debacle.

The report claims that over 1.2 billion people spend 50 minutes per day driving their vehicle. It means if self-driving cars are capable of giving back that 50 minutes of time back to the driver, revenue in other sectors could improve.

For example, if a person is not driving, chances are he/she would be playing around on their mobile phone or tablet. This 50 minute of free time is more than enough time advertisers need to show off their wears and contents in hopes to make a quick buck.

“This could potentially generate global digital media revenues of [$5.6 billion] for every additional minute people spend on the mobile Internet while in the car,” the report said.

At the end of the day, not everyone will be pleased with the outcome of not being able to drive their vehicles themselves. There’s a high chance we’ll see protesting throughout the United States in the years to come, but they won’t be able to stop progress.

Those who are against self-driving cars should bear in mind that despite the amount of advertisements about drinking and driving, speeding, among other things, drivers are still breaking law.

Who knows, self-driving cars might become a dangerous thing, but we’ll cross that river when we get there.

Source: [USA Today]

Google creates YouTube App for Children, to be available from Monday

Feb 21, 2015 by Vamien McKalin Leave a Comment

Millions of people around the world use YouTube. The content is strong, and there is something for everyone, from the young to the old. However, the platform is not always the best place for the young ones, which is why Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has chosen to release a YouTube app for children.

According to the search giant, the app should be available on Monday, but folks should bear in mind that they will only be able to give it a spin on Android. We’re sure an iOS version is in the pipeline, but those who are fans of the Windows Phone platform should not expect a thing, ever.

This app is a big deal since parents have been rallying for a YouTube app just for children for a long time now, and Google is only just delivering on the demand.

“Parents were constantly asking us, can you make YouTube a better place for our kids,” says Shimrit Ben-Yair, the project’s group product manager, noting that family-friendly fare is a booming business on YouTube. “(Year over year) we’ve seen 50% growth in viewing time on YouTube, but for our family entertainment channels, it’s more like 200%.”

The app should make searching YouTube more child and parent-friendly. From what we’ve come to understand, the UI will be simple since the developers did away with all the distracting elements. Icons are larger than when compared to the regular YouTube app, and it should be faster too.

Furthermore, there’s a parent control timer that allows parents to set the app to turn off automatically after a certain period. Not only that, Google made some cool changes to the search area. If a child should attempt to search for “sex,” the app will provide a pop message that says “try something else.”

Children these days are smart, so we hope parents work alongside technology to make sure their children never search for something online that they should not have in the first place.

Samsung acquires LoopPay mobile payment firm

Feb 20, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Samsung Group is in talks to acquire one of the mobile payment firms in the country, LoopPay to compete with the existing Apple Pay. Its been said that the company will integrate the LoopPay in its upcoming smartphones for easy and quick payment processing.

LoopPay, unlike the Google Wallet and Apple Pay, does not uses the NFC mode of transmission to transmit the credit card information from the smartphone to the Point-of-Sale terminal, however, it generates a special magnetic field that is similar to the one that is produced while swiping the card.

LoopPay was first seen on the Kickstarter last year, and it puts a little add-on to the device which uses the company’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) to to transmit the magnetic fields for the payment processing. It is almost similar as swiping a card on the terminal. LoopPay’s technology allows the vendor to use the existing payment terminals for the mobile payments. Unlike, NFC payment systems, it doesn’t requires any special hardware amendments and works on the traditional PoS.

“NFC is currently only available in less than 10 percent of U.S. retailers despite NFC’s mobile launch almost a decade ago,” a Samsung spokeswoman said via email. “MST solves the merchant acceptance issue that has prevented other mobile wallet solutions from reaching mass adoption.”

In addition to it, JK Shin, head of Samsung’s mobile division said, “Our goal has always been to build the smartest, most secure, user-friendly mobile wallet experience, and we are delighted to welcome LoopPay to take us closer to this goal.”

The acquisition will apparently put the South Korean smartphone giant ahead of all in the mobile payments system. Currently one of the major competitor is the payment system from its closest rival Apple Inc. Cupertino giant last year introduced a new payment system called Apple Pay.

Study finds Apple iOS 8 more Crash Prone when compared to Android 5.0 Lollipop

Feb 18, 2015 by Vamien McKalin Leave a Comment

The new iOS 8 mobile operating system that powers the iPad and iPhone is allegedly causing more problem for developers than Android 5.0 Lollipop. Apparently, the latest version of Google’s operating system is more stable than what Apple has dished out.

This is a big surprise to some since Android 5.0 has been causing a lot of problems for consumers ever since the operating system began to make the rounds back in 2014. While iOS 8 has had its own share of problems, reports of developers and consumers facing weighty issues have not been constant in the press.

Crittercism, a firm that specializes in application performance management, has posted crash reports of over 20,000 apps that range. It discloses which software evolution is more prone to glitches and crashes and as expected, both Apple and Android or even.

However, things take a nasty turn when comes down to the latest versions of both operating systems. As it stands right now, apps on Android 5.0 crashes at a rate of 2 percent while, for iOS 8, it is 2.2 percent. Now, that is not a significant number, but it is still more than the competitor is.

Previous versions of iOS have always had a lower percentage when compared to Android, so this is a significant step back from Apple. It is clear sign that Google has caught up, so the next few years might be a challenging ride for the Cupertino giant as competition is bound to get even more heated.

Before we walk away from this, we should note that Crittercism also made an interesting claim. Apparently, the Samsung Galaxy S5, which is the most popular Android high-end smartphone right now, is prone to crashes 2.5 percent times when compared to other devices. Behind the Galaxy S5 is the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4. For the Apple, the most glitch prone iPhone would have to be the iPhone 4S with a crash rate of 2.21 percent.

Google Shutting Down “Helpout” on April 20: What is Helpout?

Feb 15, 2015 by Vamien McKalin Leave a Comment

Google Helpout is on its way to the grave ladies and gentlemen but doesn’t anyone care? After all, not many folks have heard of Helpout, which is probably the reason why the search giant is shutting it down for good.

The company plans to end the service on April 20th, so for those who have not heard of it, this is the perfect time to see what Helpout is all about because in 2 months it will find its way to the grave where many Google services are now wandering.

What is the purpose of Google Helpout?

The service allows folks who are willing to learn new topics to connect with experts who are ready to give advice among a great number of solutions. The community has been vibrant due to the small amount of users, but it failed to take off in ways Google would have liked. It is the main reason why the company is shutting it down, which is quite sad.

Many critics have claimed Helpout isn’t that great of service when compared to the likes of Hangouts, which is used by millions of people around the world, including folks in the U.S. government and celebrities.

Apparently, coaching a person via Helpout can be a chore due to some people having low bandwidth and the compression of audio quality that causes for distortion. We’re surprised Google did not get this issue under control, which is proof enough the search giant has little interest in the product after a time.

Chances are Google might re-launch the service in the future once its Fiber Internet service is available everywhere in the United States and other parts of the world. In fact, the company could simply make this a feature in Hangouts instead of making it a separate service.

While we have not used it before, we can definitely say it was a good idea. Google just failed to execute in the proper manner.

Source: [Google]

Google to shut down Helpouts in April due to slow growth

Feb 15, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

Google is planning to shut down its expert video chat service, Helpouts, in April. The tech giant confirmed the news despite its previous plans for improving the service. Google had previously made an announcement that has partnered with Ambarella to develop wearable cameras. But the plan has now been scrapped, and Helpouts will be discontinued from April 20. The service hence meets the same end as the other Mountain Products, such as Latitude, Schemer and Reader.

Helpouts was launched in 2013 as a service that brought people in touch with experts from varied fields, like healthcare, science, home-improvement and a host of other options. The real-time interaction service offered users a better experience than other community forums. The service also allowed users to take paid sessions from several industry experts.

However, Google’s Helpouts failed to gained popularity with the people, even after the company introduced a mobile app for the service. Hence, Google has announced scrapping the service because it failed to grow as the company had anticipated. Apparently, Google had expected it to gain more popularity within the two-year time frame for which it was available. The company has already notified existing users of the service’s shut down through e-mails. But they will be allowed to download their history via Google Takeout until November 5. The company has also stopped accepting new applications.

With the service, Google aimed at competing with its own video service, the YouTube. But it faced tougher competition from rival Amazon’s Mayday service. Mayday connects a user with a customer representative and has received the highest satisfaction ratings from users. It is also expected that Helpouts users will now be forced to make a switch to other tutorial websites. Some potential services include Udemy, which provides both free, as well as paid tutorials on a variety of topics.

Google and Mattel teams up to present the updated View-Master VR headset

Feb 13, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

TIME named the View-Master, originally debuted in 1939, as one of the best toy in the history, in 2011. Today morning, Google and Mattel announced to team up to update this classic toy, which will be powered by Google Cardboard technology. Cardboard is a recent Google project aimed at making a virtual reality experience more affordable.

Mattel is planning to start selling this device in the fall, which will deliver an experience of virtual and augmented reality to kids. The device is expected to cost around $30. Google’s Mike Jazayeri told that their goal is to make VR accessible for everyone. Mattel’s new View-Master, which will work with various smartphones, resembles closely to an Oculus Rift VR headset.

It’s likely that the technology enhanced View-Master will also offer visual experiences from other creative developers. However, the more information is likely to become available only as its release date comes closer.

The new View-Master will allow kids to explore 3D scenes, including the solar system, Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay and the streets of Paris. Users can also buy additional reels for more immersive experiences, as the company plans to make available four reels for $15.

Mattel will also curate and create new reels to continue to expand its View-Master offerings. The company may partner with other Google Cardboard developers to foster even more unique content.

Doug Wadleigh, Mattel’s senior vice-president, said that the company is also working on adding light gaming to the View-Master platform.

The company revealed that the View-Master is safe for children ages 7 and above. The device doesn’t cause dizziness, as experienced with certain VR headsets on available in the market. However, Mattel noted that the View-Master shall be used only for shorter duration, and the company is also conducting more testing.

Boston Dynamics new 160-pound robotic dog ‘Spot’ has stunning sense of balance

Feb 11, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

Boston Dynamics adds yet another leggy member to its portfolio of quadruped robots. This one is dubbed “Spot,” and its special characteristic is an astounding sense of balance. The 160-pound robot is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated.

As per the tradition, the bot maker introduced Spot via a YouTube video. Even earlier, the company has introduced cheetah robot, humanoid Atlas, Big Dog, and Little Dog via YouTube. In a video, the robot is shown to manage to be standing even as Boston Dynamics employees repeatedly kick Spot.

The Spot can operate both indoor and outdoor, including jogging with its minder. It can easily tackle rough terrain with a head-mounted sensor and run at an average speed of about 42 km per hour.

Earlier, Boston Dynamics has made a “BigDog” robot weighing 240 pounds, which was capable of carrying 340 lbs. Its special characteristic was its ability to operate in conditions where there could not be much space to navigate.

Google last year acquired Boston Dynamic, which was engaged in designing and developing robots mainly for the U.S. US Army and other military organizations. The military uses the small robot dog to help troops on the ground, carry kit and explore places where there is litter room for human movement.

The bot maker’s website currently lists 10 robots, including “sand Flea,” which can jump up to 30 foot into the air and drive around like a remote-controlled car. The company claims its “Cheetah” robot to be the fastest legged robot in the world.

Google seems to be focusing aggressively on the robotics technology. Alongside Boston Dynamics, it also acquired a humanoid robot Schaft, which outperformed most other robots in the DARPA Robotics Challenge. Even Boston Dynamics’ humanoid Atlas was one of the challengers in this competition, where humanoids had to withstand “obstacle-course of mock-rescue” tasks.

Google to get in ride-sharing business against Uber

Feb 3, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

According to some of the reports, Uber is probably separating away from one of its investors, Google Inc, to start rolling out the driverless cars. Google, which has already invested nearly $400 million in the ridesharing company, is also planning to bring out its own taxi service with the driverless cars that is mostly used by the Internet giant’s Moutain View employees. If reports are to be believed then both the companies, which were once partners, are apparently going to become each others rival in the business of ridesharing.

Even though, there isn’t confirmation from both the companies, Uber is still highly dependent on Google Maps and navigation system for the enterprise’s drivers to pick and drop the clients. It is without a doubt that Google Maps are best in class, and now the question arises whether Uber will stop using it or will pay a royalty to the Internet giant.

Google is highly expected to roll out its taxi service with its recently announced driverless cars that are supposed to spread even more in a couple of years. The taxi service, unlike other companies, will enable the Internet giant to provide a hassle free service to its clients, since there are no human drivers involved in it. However, that doesn’t mean Uber is going to stay quiet and watch Google minimize its user base, the taxi-sharing service has already hired people to develop driverless cars.

According to reports, Uber has picked up nearly 50 senior scientists from Carnegie Mellon and the National Robotics Engineering Center to develop a fleet of the autonomous robotic taxis. Uber has always been in the news for ignoring and mistreating its drivers. However, this new technology will help it solve the issue.

If sources are to be believed than the Uber has invested a majority of equity of $4 billion in manufacturing these autonomous fleet of taxis.

Uber partnerships with Carnegie Mellon University to develop Driverless Cars

Feb 3, 2015 by Vamien McKalin Leave a Comment

Uber is thinking a lot about the future of its business, and just like Google, the company is considering the prospects of driverless cars. The taxi company is very serious about going down this route, as it recently partnered with Carnegie Mellon University.

According to a recent blog post, Uber made it clear that its partnership with the University is to help it create what the company calls the Uber Advanced Technologies Center. This center will be based in Pittsburgh, and the goal is to develop new technologies that are capable of advancing Uber’s business.

One of the first order of business is to dive into the world of driverless cars. We suspect this might be a top priority for Uber since recent reports claim Google is making plans to compete with Uber by using its own fleet of driverless cars.

“We are excited to join the community of Pittsburgh and partner with the experts at CMU, whose breadth and depth of technical expertise, particularly in robotics, are unmatched,” according to Jeff Holding, Uber’s Chief Product Officer. “As a global leader in urban transportation, we have the unique opportunity to invest in leading edge technologies to enable the safe and efficient movement of people and things at giant scale. This collaboration and the creation of the Uber Advanced Technologies Center represent an important investment in building for the long term of Uber.”

Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, has a deep fascination with driverless cars and believes such a technology could allow for fewer expensive rides. How? Well, a driverless car means commuters will not have to pay for the expense of a driver, thus making the ride cheaper.

Basically, what Uber plans to do here is to remove the middle-man, which could cause for increased profits since the company will not have drivers to pay. It is also a sad thing for taxi drivers because as the years go by, they will have to compete with these driverless cars, and we believe they will end up on the losing end.