All posts tagged ‘Google’

Google Glass Anti-Theft Patent Detects Burgled Headset, Calls the Coppers

Google Glass will determine if they have been stolen via movement. Illustration: USPTO

When you plunk down $1,500 for the chance to purchase the future of wearable computing, you might expect some sort of security component to protect your investment. While tethering your augmented-reality glasses to your belt with a chain is a plausible option, Google has come up with a much more technical solution.

On Tuesday, the search giant was granted a patent for a theft-deterrent system that disables the headset if it encounters sudden, unnatural movements. The system also determines if the wearer is the actual owner of the glasses and disables the headset if it’s determined that the head-mounted display is on a stranger’s head. If the glasses don’t work, the thieves are left with nothing more than a pair of specs with a weird thing hanging over the wearer’s right eye.

The glasses being stolen by a very tall individual. illustration: USPTO

The patent’s description of an “unnatural movement” relates to the possibility of the glasses being ripped off the head of a Google Glass customer. We can only chuckle at the patent’s illustrations of a grotesquely oval-headed victim having the apparatus plucked off his face. One image shows the glasses being pulled off from above — possibly by a Batman or Spider-Man inspired thief hanging upside down from a lamppost. The thief could also simply be very, very tall.
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It’s Official: Social Media Users Happier With Google+ Than With Facebook

ACSI report finds that users are dissatisfied with Facebook, and the mobile experience is just one of the reasons. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

As ubiquitous as Facebook is, it turns out a lot of people don’t actually like using the social network giant. On the other hand, users are giving Google+ a warmer reception than they did before.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which measures the customer satisfaction of businesses across 47 industries, released its latest report for e-business on Tuesday. The survey reveals customer satisfaction levels for social media platforms, search engines and portals, and news and information sites.

Of the 20 companies featured in the report, Facebook took the biggest hit in customer satisfaction this year, dropping from a mediocre 66 out of 100 rating last year to an even less satisfactory score of 61 this year. This makes Facebook among the five lowest-scoring companies of the 230 companies measured in ACSI’s reports. Nonetheless, Facebook dominates the social media space with more than 900 million users, so what the ACSI is really telling us is that Facebook is the addiction we hate, but just can’t kick.

Google+, which has a laughably small user base size compared to Facebook, debuted on the ACSI report with a much higher customer satisfaction score of 78 out of 100. That’s a 17-point difference from Facebook. The survey attributes Google+’s high marks to the social platform’s “superior commitment to privacy,” lack of traditional ads, and overall better mobile experience. Those surveyed by ACSI expressed distaste for Facebook’s Timeline feature, ads and privacy policies. And it’s no secret that Facebook’s mobile app needs a major refresh and speed boost.

“If Google+ continues to attract users at an aggressive pace, Facebook will run the risk of losing its main competitive advantage over time,” the ACSI report states.

Overall, people aren’t especially satisfied with today’s social media offerings. Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest all appeared for the first time in ACSI’s report with less-than-impressive scores. Twitter received a 64 out of 100; LinkedIn got 63; and Pinterest debuted at 69. Users have been the most consistently satisfied with Wikipedia, which maintained its 78 out of 100 from last year, and YouTube, which got a 73, down from last year’s 74.

Search engines and portals are performing much better. Google took the lead in the search space with a score of 82 out of 100. Bing followed closely behind with an 81 — a good sign for Microsoft as the company has made strides to revamp the Bing experience in the past several months. Even Yahoo and AOL weren’t too far behind, though fewer people actually use their services. Yahoo got a 78 and AOL got a 74.

As for news websites, ACSI only included major, mainstream news sites like FoxNews.com, CNN.com, and NYTimes.com. FoxNews.com garnered the highest score of 84 out of 100 — the best customer satisfaction level of any other e-business included in the report. Overall, news sites got an average score of 73.

The key takeaways? Users aren’t very happy with social media, especially Facebook. But at least Google+ is getting a warmer reception. People have a generally positive relationship with their search engines, and the 70,000 or so people surveyed by ACSI, for some reason, like FoxNews.com.

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Hands-On With Motorola’s Atrix HD: Affordable Phone With a Killer Display

Motorola’s Atrix HD has a nice price at $100 on contract, but its killer feature is its 4.5-inch touchscreen, which offers an iPhone-rivaling level of clarity. Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired

Motorola has produced many attractive, powerful and well-built Android smartphones over the last few years, but none have had the killer feature of the new Atrix HD: a 4.5-inch, 331ppi, 1280 x 720 display. After spending more than a day using the phone, there’s no disputing that this screen is beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous.

Pixels are indiscernible. Zoom in on text, and it renders with a sharpness rivaling a page out of one of the glossiest print magazines. HD videos look, well, extremely high-definition — crisp, clear and detailed.

It’s a display that competes with the fantastic screens found on the HTC One X and the Apple iPhone 4S. But while the One X and the entry level iPhone 4S sell for $200 on two-year carrier contracts, the Atrix HD sells for $100 on a two-year AT&T data plan.

A high-end screen on a mid-range phone? Yeah, we’re in the midst of a smartphone display renaissance, a fantastic development for consumers. With any touchscreen device, the display is what you look at, and interact with, the most. It’s arguably the most important feature a phone or tablet can offer, so when a company can deliver a premium display in an affordable product, we know we’re seeing real progress.

Indeed, Apple’s Retina display advantage is now effectively over.

Motorola calls the screen on the Atrix HD a “ColorBoost” display. And colors do look boosted, a bit warm and bright. I still have some comparison testing to do, but my initial impression is that colors feel a bit amped up, over-saturated like Samsung’s intense reds, greens, and blues. It looks good, mind you, but perhaps the output isn’t fully real-world accurate.

The Atrix HD is also very thin and light — just 0.33 inches thick and 4.93 ounces. It’s also very, very fast, thanks to a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdrgon procesor and 1GB of RAM.

Another high point: Motorola’s version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is lightly skinned, making the entire OS smooth and responsive. This is as close to the stock Android experience as I’ve seen on an Ice Cream Sandwich Phone, excluding, of course, the Galaxy Nexus, which runs Android completely stock.

There’s much more testing to be done before we write up our full Atrix HD review, but so far I have only one gripe: The phone ships with just 8GB of onboard storage. That’s a laughably small amount once you get to downloading apps and capturing high-res photo and video with the Atrix HD’s 8-megapixel/1080p rear camera. There is, however, an included microSD card slot, so storage expansion is up to the owner.

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Google Starts Shipping Nexus 7 Tablet

Pre-ordered the Nexus 7? You’ll get this baby in your hands soon. Image: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

To all of you who ordered a Nexus 7 in the last few weeks, you can expect a 7-inch package delivery on your doorstep soon. Google announced on Friday that it has started shipping the pre-orders of its first self-branded tablet.

Google made the announcement in a cute and rhyming Google+ post: “Locked and loaded, ready to play: we’ve started shipping +Nexus 7 pre-orders today!” The company first unveiled the Nexus 7 tablet at Google I/O at the end of June, along with the Nexus Q and Android Jelly Bean. Pre-orders opened up at that time to anyone who wanted to shell out the very reasonable $200 for Google’s first tablet.

But those who attended Google I/O got to take home the Nexus 7 earlier than the rest. And the device, designed by Google and manufactured by Asus, has already received praise for hitting a sweet spot in terms of price, build quality and media capabilities. Though the Nexus 7 directly competes with the Kindle Fire, which shares the same 7-inch form factor, Wired reporter Nathan Olivarez-Giles found that the Nexus 7 outperforms the Fire on several levels.

Amazon, however, already has plans to release a refreshed Kindle Fire soon, according to several reports. And if rumors prove true, Apple also has a 7-inch iPad in the works. It will be interesting to watch how this new, smaller-form tablet arena plays out. For now, Google’s Nexus 7 is a top contender and it will arrive in even more hands very soon.

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Inside Google’s Fascinating Stash of 10,000 Indoor Maps

When Google announced it had added 20 additional museums to its indoor mapping service Wednesday, the most interesting part of the story was treated as just a throwaway factoid in the company’s blog post: There are now more than 10,000 indoor maps available to Android device users.

10,000 indoor maps. You can consider this proof positive that Google is making headway in its effort to chart every nook and cranny of navigable terrain, even if this includes carpet and linoleum.

Even more noteworthy: A great many of these floor plans weren’t created in partnership with Google. Instead, they were uploaded by users — business owners and institutional leaders who were motivated to make their properties just a bit more open to all. A steakhouse in Massachusetts. A camera store in New York City. Even the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. More and more pioneering spirits are using Google’s self-service tool to upload their building layouts for everyone to see.

But there’s a caveat: It’s nearly impossible to find most of these indoor maps, unless you happen to stumble upon one during your day-to-day use of the Maps app. Or unless you read Wired.
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