Google’s Operating System for the Internet of Things: “Brillo”

August 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment

In 2014, I was fortunate enough to get a ticket into the annual Google I/O Conference, a much coveted ticket to say the least! It's Google's only conference each year and it's extremely difficult - almost impossible - to get into (unless you know someone, which was my case). Thanks again, Lynn Langit! Before I get started on the topic of Google's Operating System for the IoT, I'd like to explain just a little of my experience at Google I/O 2014, to give those of you a taste of what it's like if you've never been there. Being used to Microsoft conferences (with the attendance to one other type of conference under my belt at that time, the  unsurpassable Augmented World Expo 2014 (AWE) which is something you should never, ever miss!) I experienced total corporate culture shock! I/O is a bit like AWE but showing "some" of the Wearables, Smart Glasses, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and the Internet of Things (IoT) that you'd see at AWE but specific only to Google. Google however … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Brillo, Google I/O, IoT, Lynn Langit, Weave Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Google Leaves the DARPA Robotics Challenge, Robots, Robots, and More Robots!

July 4, 2014 by 7 Comments
Google's HRP-2 Schaft Robot

Google is thought by many to be the front-runner in robotics. The company's interest in robotics is huge indeed; it's in the "Robotics Business Review's Top 50 List" (RBR50). RBR50 is a list of the most influential pubic and private companies in the global robotics industry (quote from "About the RBR50"). In 2003 Google acquired seven (7) awesome and technologically diverse robotics companies: Boston Dynamics, Bot & Dolly, Holomni, Industrial Perception, Meka Robotics, Redwood Robotics, and Schaft, Inc. At the end of this post I'll add some cool videos about each company's robots. Google pulled its "Team Schaft" HRP-2 robot out of the Pentagon-funded DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). Although the 3-year competition is less than halfway finished, the Schaft robot was the obvious front-runner. Tokyo-based Schaft, Inc. was founded specifically to enter in the $2M DRC and easily won the qualifying event in 2013. However, now with Google owning Schaft, accepting money from the DoD … [Read more...]

Filed Under: augmented reality, Boston Dynamics, Bot & Dolly, DARPA Robotics Challenge, Dr. Don Nagy, Dr. Robin A Felder, Google, Google I/O, Google X, Holomni, Industrial Perception, Kim Schmidt, Meka Robotics, Redwood Robotics, Robots, Schaft Robotics, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Introducing DVF (Diane Von Furstenberg) – Made for Glass

June 28, 2014 by 2 Comments
Current Google Glass for Style & Rx's

I just returned from Google I/O 2014! I have a lot of fun info, photos, & news to share with you on #wearables, #googleglass, #throughglass (a very funny story there to come!) and more Google awesomeness. 25 days ago Engaget (where you will find more announcements from Google I/O 2014) announced "Google's first fashionable Glass frames are designed by Diane Von Furstenberg". Today I received an email from Google Glass News that there is a celebration (think "launch") July 28 & 29th 2014 at DVF stores in Boston, Dallas, LA, Miami, and New York where you can try them on, purchase frames and shades. Since everyone can't make it to these events, you can purchase curated combinations of DVF Made for Glass collection at NET-A-PORTER (check out how interesting this site is - it's a luxury fashion site - with Google!) Below are the styles featured on the NET-A-PORTER site: We all know that Google isn't done designing and developing the features and look on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: augmented reality, Google, Google Glass, Google I/O, Kim Schmidt, wearables Tagged With: , , ,

The Glass Class at the Augmented World Expo 2014

June 23, 2014 by 1 Comment
Me & Jenny Murphy

I attended "The Glass Class" with leaders Mark Billinghurst of HITLabs (Human/Computer Interface Technology), Rob Lindeman of HIVE (Human Interactions in Virtual Enviroments) Labs, Det Ansinn of BrickSimple, and Jenny Murphy, a Developer Advocate at Google focused on Google Glass and wearable technology. Short bios on the panelists are below this article. I learned A LOT about Google Glass, what to do/not to do when developing for it, the APIs to develop Glass apps with, and the many 3rd party apps that integrate with Glass. Below is a photo of the panelists: I have a couple of #throughglass short movie clips from the class (amateur quality, I guess I was too excited about what I was learning when I told Glass to "record a video"! But I'll share them with you here. The first two videos demonstrate the incredible uses of Glass in the medical field, being used TODAY. I don't know if you know this, but I work with MARC (Medical Automated Research Center) with Dr. Don Nagy, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: augmented reality, AWE2014, BrickSimple, Det Atsinn, Dr. Don Nagy, Dr. Robin A Felder, Google, Google Glass, Google I/O, HITLabs, HIVELabs, Jenny Murphy, MARC, Mark Billinghurst, PhD, Rob Lindeman, technology & medicine, The Glass Class at AWE2014, VGo Robots, wearables Tagged With: , , , , , ,