Windows 'open' for Apple and Android

Microsoft is keen to sell its mobile devices
Microsoft is releasing software tools that make it easier to run popular Apple and Android apps on Windows mobile devices.
By changing a "few percent", Apple app makers should be able to run code on Windows 10 mobile devices, it said.
And many Android apps should run with no changes.
Experts said the move was an "imperfect solution" to Microsoft's problems persuading people to use Windows mobile.
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For iOS, Microsoft has unveiled an initiative called Project Islandwood, which has led to the creation of a software interpreter that works with the development tools Apple coders typically pick.
By piping code through this interpreter and changing a few other parts, it would be possible to transfer or port iOS apps to Windows 10, Microsoft said in a presentation at its Build developer conference in Seattle.
Already developers working for game-maker King have ported the massively popular Candy Crush Saga to Windows using these tools.
A separate initiative, called Project Astoria, is aimed at Android and involves code built in to Windows itself that spots when an Android app is running and gives it the responses it expects.
Microsoft said this meant many Android apps would run with no changes on Windows mobile devices.
However, the way that Android is built means changes will have to be made to some apps.
The tactic is seen as a way for Microsoft to to boost its popularity and persuade developers to include Windows 10 in their plans.
While many apps are already available on the Windows store, some popular ones, such as Pinterest and Plants v Zombies 2, are absent.
Microsoft has also added tools that let Android apps reach some parts of Windows, such as its Cortana personal assistant, they would not otherwise be able to use.
CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber said: "The decision to embrace Android and iOS applications is an imperfect solution to an undesirable problem.
"Nonetheless, it's a necessary move to attract developers otherwise lost to Apple and Google."

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Amazing Google Glass Takes Photo by Winking

Google Glass update lets users wink and take photos

Google said the wink feature could have various potential uses in future

Continue reading the main story

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Google has introduced a new feature to its Google Glass, which allows users to take a photo with a "wink of the eye".

Google said the feature was faster than the camera button or the voice action and works even when the display is off.

The update to Google Glass, dubbed version XE12, also adds a screen lock feature and the ability to upload and share videos on YouTube.

Technology firms have been keen to capture the wearable gadgets market, seen by many as a key growth area.

"Glass is about helping you look up and experience the world around you without getting bogged down by technology,

How Google Glass Could Augment Our Realities and Memories

Countless wearers of Google Glass stalked the halls of this year's Google I/O developer conference, but only a lucky few were sporting the prescription model, which makes room for lenses in a more conventional glasses frame. Among those lucky early adopters with imperfect vision was Thad Starner, a Georgia Tech professor who, in 2010, was recruited to join a top-secret project at Google's fabled X Lab. That project, as it turned out, was Glass, and Starner's role on the team as a technical lead would be a vital one.

Starner invented the term "augmented reality" in 1990 and, after experimenting with wearable technologies for 20 years now, offered us a rare perspective on where the stuff has been and where it's headed. So, then, we were very glad to get a few moments to chat with the man at I/O and get his insight into how we got to be where we are and, indeed, get some suggestions from him on where we're going from here.

Starner says he's been wearing computer devices of some form or another daily for the past 20 years, a claim that few others can make. Before becoming an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, he founded MIT's Wearable Computing Project. It's in these years that he made the acquaintance of a pair of grad students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The group had discussions about the future of search and, given Starner's tech persuasions, how wearables might fit in to that:

We talked about how it would make you more powerful if you could have web search on your eyeball ... One of the problems was simply making a search engine that was good enough that the right hit was in the first four links, versus AltaVista which was the first 14 links. That took way too long to navigate.

They went their separate ways, Starner continuing to refine his wearable prototypes while Page and Brin built themselves a little search engine. After about a decade, Starner thought that it was time to reconnect:

About 2010, I sent Sergey an email saying, "Now that you guys are doing Android and you're doing these phones, you should really take a look at the wearable computing technology that we've been working on in academia. Why don't you come out to Atlanta and I'll show this stuff to you?" Next thing I know I'm on a plane out [to Google Headquarters] to join the Glass team. They had the same kind of thoughts. The time was right. The next thing you know I'm working on it too, making the early prototypes.

The term "augmented reality" comes from Starner's earlier work, a 1990 fellowship proposal. (Fun fact: this wasn't actually Starner's preferred term. "Artificial reality" had already been used by Timothy Leary to describe a drug-induced state.) However, his concept of a life augmented by technology is rather different than the "AR" that we generally think of when describing things like the Layar browser.

Starner's term for augmented reality simply referred to "information .....................

Google Glass bone conduction technology referenced in FCC filing

As if Google Glass wasn’t already cool enough, today we’re finding out that it feature bone conduction technology. The glasses recently made an appearance at the FCC, and the filing for the project mentions “integral vibrating element that provides audio to the user via contact with the user’s head.” Of course, Google recently filed a patent for glasses that feature the tech, so it seems that bone conduction will definitely be a part of Project Glass.

Some of you will already know what bone conduction is, since it isn’t exactly a new technology. Essentially, the glasses will send vibrations through bones near the ear. This means that users can hear audio with the glasses on, without the need for headphones. The added benefit here is that users will be able to hear the audio Google Glass is putting out while still hearing whats going on in their surroundings – something that’s a lot more difficult or even impossible when you’re wearing headphones.

Having bone conduction tech along for the ride should do something to allay the concerns of those who think Google Glass could potentially be unsafe. After all, having a little screen in front of your eye could prove to be quite the distraction. At least with bone conduction technology, users would still be able to hear what’s happening around them.

Bone conduction technology isn’t new, but it isn’t very popular either, so perhaps we’ll see it popping up more in other devices after being included in Google Glass. Google recently held developer hackathon events for Google Glass, but don’t expect to hear any news from them. Hopefully we’ll be finding out more about Google Glass soon, so stay tuned.