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Google Glass Project Aura
Wearable Technology

Google Glass Becomes Part Of New ‘Project Aura’ Initiative

September 17, 2015

Google Glass Project Aura

Google Glass has had a tough life. Besides having limited usability, public sentiment was never great towards the device, and became downright seething after people began wearing them in public. Google realized the uphill battle it was facing and pulled the consumer version from the market. Regrouping, it placed Nest CEO (and former Apple designer) Tony Fadell in charge of developing a new version of the device. But when Google reorganized into Alphabet and spun Nest into its own division, there was a large question regarding the current status of Google Glass and whether Fadell would still be involved.

Thanks to Business Insider, things are beginning to clear up regarding Google Glass. It seems that Glass has been transformed into a new wearable initiative titled ‘Project Aura.’ The new group consists of Glass team members and a number of designers and engineers recently let go from Amazon’s secretive Lab126 hardware development group (perhaps answering our own questions regarding the future of Amazon’s wearable device that the company alluded to last year). ‘Project Aura’ will continue to be housed under the Google umbrella, along with the  

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by Doug Parker
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Zac Posen NYFW LED Dress Made With Code
Fashion

Zac Posen Shows LED Dress Coded By Teen Girls At NYFW

September 11, 2015

Zac Posen NYFW LED Dress Made With Code

One of the biggest hits at designer Zac Posen’s New York Fashion Week showcase this week was an LED dress. The dress, beautiful in its own right, was made even more striking because of the people behind it; a team of teenage girls coded the dress’s amazing LED display. Through a partnership with Google’s Made With Code initiative, mentor and fashion engineer Maddy Maxey reached out to NYC’s Flatiron School, Black Girls Code organization, and Lower East Side Girls Club. The girls were presented with a drag-and-drop coding interface and were given a day to design LED animations, but it was not until later that they were told what it was for. Fifty of the girls involved were even in attendance at Zac Posen’s show.

We have talked about it before, but getting women of all ages more involved in STEM is vital. According to Made With Code less than 1% of women study computer science. This is horribly disproportionate and worrisome, especially for a field which is having more and more of an impact on our culture. Made With Code attempts to make coding more accessible to girls through gamification and educating them about real-world applications of computer science skills. If you want to tryout the interface the girls used to code the dress, Made With Code has posted it on their website. Head past the break to check out the LED dress (worn by model model Coco Rocha).  

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by Doug Parker
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Retail

Android Pay Officially Launches Today

September 10, 2015

Android Pay Launches

Google has announced that Android Pay will officially launch today. After being rumored to premiere several weeks ago, the company’s Google Wallet replacement will start hitting handsets over the next few days. Android Pay is functionally equivalent to Apple Pay, providing Android users a tokenized NFC payment system. Unlike Google Wallet, which required users to preload a virtual charge card, with Android Pay you simply connect your credit or debit card to make charges. Android Pay should be accepted any place Apple Pay and other contactless payment methods are accepted.

Google’s launch of Android Pay is well timed, hitting just before the launch of new iPhones and Samsung’s competing service. Samsung’s service will officially begin on September 28th in the US and, unlike Apple Pay and Android Pay, will allow you to use your Galaxy handset to pay at any magnetic swipe register. All 3 services will beat the much delayed, and outdated, CurrentC to market; the QR based CurrentC began its first single market test a few weeks ago.

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by Doug Parker
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Wearable Technology

Official iOS Support For Android Wear Arrives Today

August 31, 2015

iOS Android Wear iPhone

Today Google announced the immediate support of Android Wear devices with iOS. Google’s official iOS Android Wear app launches today and will unlock an entire ecosystem of wearable devices to iOS users. To start with, only 3 devices will be iOS compatible: the Huawei Watch, the Asus ZenWatch 2, and the LG Watch Urbane (which is the only watch of the 3 available to buy today). Moving forward, all future Android Wear watches will be compatible. Unfortunately, the bargain priced first version of the Moto 360 is left out of the iOS party.

From a functionality stand point, without the deep, system level hooks Apple is able to use for the Apple Watch, the Android Wear experience is a bit shallower. You aren’t able to edit your iCloud based calendar, reply to iMessages, or respond to emails through Mail. You also cannot currently install any third party apps or watch faces onto Android Wear devices, because they depend on the Google Play store. The good news is that  

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by Doug Parker
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Retail

Leak Suggests Android Pay Launch On August 26th

August 25, 2015

Android Pay Launch McDonald's

It seems that Google may want to ensure they beat Samsung Pay to market. A document leaked from McDonald’s (of all places!) pegs Android Pay’s launch date as Wednesday, August 26th…that’s right, tomorrow. We don’t know how reliable McDonald’s internal documents are since obviously there is little precedent. That said, if Android OS Marshmallow (which includes Android Pay) launches tomorrow it would follow Google’s usual Wednesday release cycle. It also wouldn’t be surprising that Google is not making a lot of noise around the launch. When Apple Pay launched last October, it did so rather quietly – likely a move to ensure there were minimal launch issues. Even with a launch tomorrow, you probably shouldn’t rush out to pay with your phone at Bloomies through, these updates usually take a while to percolate down to your specific handset.

But perhaps things aren’t so binary; there could be a third option besides ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ The document also lists an August launch for Samsung Pay. While Samsung Pay does not officially launch until September 28th, the service opened to select users in the US (read: beta) on August 25th. If tomorrow comes and goes with no general release of Marshmallow, the August 26th date for Android Pay could be indicative of the start of a wide beta test of the service.

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by Doug Parker
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Watches

Android Wear Updated With Interactive Complications

August 20, 2015

Android Wear Interactive Watchfaces Bits 1.3

Hey Android Wear users, been loving your Moto 360 but long for Apple Watch’s interactive complications. Get excited because Google has heard you pinning away and has released Android Wear version 1.3. The new version of Android Wear allows developers to include complications, such as weather and a calendar, that can be tapped on to display more information. For launch there are 3 new watch faces. ‘Bits’ is designed by the development team of one of our all time favorite mobile games: ‘Monument Valley.’ The highly customizable watch face allows you to have six circular complications of your choosing surrounding a clock. ‘Under Amour’ is more focused on physical activity, displaying step count, calories burnt, and distance. The third watch face is called ‘Together’ and enables you to easily send scribbles (like the Apple Watch’s digital touch), emojis, or photos to friends. The update should be rolling out to compatible watches over the next few weeks.

Updates like these continue to make Android Wear a compelling option. Custom watch faces that behave differently for different activities makes a lot of sense; it will be interesting to see if Samsung’s Tizen OS and Apple’s watchOS follow suit. While the Apple Watch allows for a high level of customization, their watch faces are largely derivative of each other.

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by Doug Parker
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Google Alphabet Reorganization
Business

Google Forms New Parent Company Named Alphabet

August 11, 2015

Google Alphabet Reorganization

From search to wearables to self-driving cars to combatting aging, it is no secret that Google has their hands in a lot of pots! Typically a company the size of Google faces a challenge to stay as nimble as a tech leader needs to be. To help combat that and still allow the company to grow into new businesses, Larry Page made a surprise announcement last night that Google was restructuring. The new organization, which is reminiscent of Berkshire Hathaway, will create a new holding company, named Alphabet. Within Alphabet will be companies such as Google (which will oversee internet products such as search, maps, YouTube and Gmail), Nest, Calico, and Google X (which is pioneering commercial drones and self-driving vehicles). Wearables such as Google Glass will be placed inside Google X while Android and Android Wear stay part of Google (at least for the time being). Larry Page and Sergey Brin will head up Alphabet and Sundar Pichai (who had been SVP of products) will become CEO of Google.

The new structure is designed to allow the sub-companies to behave more like a startup. As tech companies sprawl to become more present in more parts of our life, their product offerings have also multiplied across business spaces. Companies such as Apple, Facebook, and Amazon (which provides everything from shopping to web services to consumer electronics) are facing similar sprawl issues to Google. It will be interesting to see if any other tech giants follow Google’s path and reorganize their company. The change is expected to take place later this year.

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by Doug Parker
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