Google search getting eyes and ears

Google search getting eyes and ears
Google on Monday unveiled "Goggles" software that lets people search online using pictures taken with cameras in mobile phones based on its Android operating system. "When you take a mobile phone camera and connect it to the Internet, it becomes an eye," Google mobile search vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra said while demonstrating Goggles in Mountain View, California.

"Google Goggles lets you take a picture of an item and use the picture as the query." An experimental version of Goggles will be available for people at Google Labs website. Goggles already recognizes books, wine labels, CD covers, landmarks and more, according to Gundotra. He demonstrated by taking a picture of a wine bottle label with a smart phone and almost instantly getting reviews, pictures and other Internet data about the vintage in a Google search results Web page.

"It is our goal to visually identify any image," Gundotra said. "It is in Google Labs because of the nascent nature of computer vision. In the future, you will be able to point (a camera phone) and we will be able to treat it as a mouse pointer for the real world." Google on Monday also added Japanese to a voice-based search service first rolled out about a year ago.

People can now speak Google search subjects into smart phones in English, Mandarin, or Japanese. "In addition to voice search, Google has huge investments in translation," Gundotra said. "Our goal at Google is nothing less than being able to search in all major languages of the world." The California Internet colossus is aiming to deliver a translation service to mobile telephones some time in 2010, according to Gundotra.

People will be able to speak into a mobile telephone to have sentences translated into other languages and delivered back quickly in text and audio forms, Gundotra said while demonstrating an early version of the service. He also showed a "near me now" feature that uses global positioning capabilities in Android-based smart phones to customize map results to show shops, attractions, restaurants or other offerings that are in easy reach. "In the future, there will be many different ways of searching," said Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience. "We really foresee a world where you can search and find your answer where ever it exists and whatever language it is in."

Check the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhgfz0zPmH4&feature=player_embedded

truCall

trueCall: An innovative device that stops nuisance phone calls from getting through to you.

The Problem of Nuisance Calls

Smith was intrigued by the problem of nuisance calls and carried out extensive research on the subject. He was shocked to discover the anger and anxiety felt by some people who receive unsolicited telephone calls. For example, he came across elderly people who would be afraid to leave their house if they received a silent call in the morning, thinking it might be a burglar checking to see whether they were in or not. He decided that something needed to be done. He searched for a product but couldn’t find one and so he developed his own.

TrueCall is about the size of a paperback book and plugs into a home phone line to create a “safe zone” between the caller and the receiver.

It sits between the wall socket and the phone and checks every call that comes into your house. If it recognizes the caller it lets them through, if it doesn’t it asks them to identify themselves. It records their message and then rings you with a recording of the person giving their name. This leaves you with the choice to accept or reject the caller (many telemarketers might give up by this point). If you decide to reject, the device relays a rejection message to the caller “We are not interested in your call so please hang up now and don’t call us again.” The invention can stop all kinds of nuisance calls including recorded message calls, malicious calls and telemarketing calls.

Facing the Dragons

In a bold move he decided to go on to the BBC TV program Dragon’s Den. It wasn't to gain financial backing as he already had that, having made a fortune from selling previous businesses. But he was after publicity, contacts, credibility, and exposure. His appearance achieved a rare feat of all the dragons wanting in on his business. If anything tells you that you’re onto something big then it’s five multi-millionaire entrepreneurs wanting a slice of your action. He eventually secured £100,000 ($160,000) investment from telecoms magnate Peter Jones.

Since that appearance in July 2009 sales of trueCall have gone through the roof, and more than 30 companies have been in touch wanting to sell the product. Jones has also been introducing Smith to managing directors of his other business interests and there are firm plans to adapt the technology so that it can be adopted by mobile phone users.

Swipe Your Credit Card on a Cell Phone

Swipe Your Credit Card on a Cell Phone
By plugging a small piece of hardware into a phone's audio jack, users can swipe credit cards and transfer money without the need for an additional machine. With a small card reader that attaches to a cell phone, a new company is making it easier for small businesses and even individuals to accept credit card payments. The San Francisco start-up, called Square, which opened just last week, is headed by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey.

Currently, in order to accept credit cards, a business usually has a stationary credit card machine attached to a computerized cash register. For most medium and large businesses, the set-up works fine. But smaller businesses, such as street vendors, farmers markets, and even individuals having garage sales, often don't accept credit cards. Square hopes that these types of sellers may find its new system to be simple enough to incorporate in their micro businesses.

Square's system consists of a small card reader that plugs into a phone's audio jack. The reader is currently compatible only with the iPhone, but the company plans to make versions for Android and Blackberry, as well. To make a payment, a buyer swipes a credit card through the reader, provides a signature on the touchscreen, and has the option of receiving a receipt via email.

Only the person receiving the payment needs to have an account with Square. The company hasn't yet set account prices, but says there will be different levels for individuals who rarely use the system and for small businesses that use it more frequently. If the person paying with their credit card has a Square account, they can also enjoy extra features such as receiving a text message when their card is swiped, and customizing their swipe with an image that displays to the seller.

As for security, the system uses encrypted protocols to send transaction information to credit card companies, and the device is subject to the same regulations as other payment systems. Credit card information is not stored on the seller's phone.

As noted in a recent article in MIT's Technology Review, some people question how useful Square's system will be. Issues such as fraud protection, robustness of the card reader, widespread ATMs, and a small potential market for the device could pose challenges for the new company.

Nevertheless, Square is currently conducting pilot tests in major cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and St. Louis. The company plans to release a commercialized system in early 2010.

More information: http://squareup.com

Self Healing Paint for cell phones

Self-Healing Paint Headed to Japanese Cell Phones

Nissan recently licensed its Scratch Shield paint, which is scratch resistant and even repairs fine scratches, to Japanese cell phone company NTT DoCoMo. The paint has been used on select Nissan and Infiniti cars worldwide since 1995, but this is the first time it will be used outside of the vehicle market. Unlike the vehicle paint, cell-phone scratch-proof paint will only be available in Japan for now. But considering the wear and tear that most cell phones see, demand for the product will almost certainly expand to a worldwide market.
Scratch Shield

Scratch Shield: is a clearcoat that is more scratch resistant compared with conventional clearcoats, helping a vehicle maintain its new look for a longer period of time. The paint also repairs fine scratches, restoring a vehicle's surface close to its original state. Nissan will continue to expand the adoption of Scratch Shield globally


To read more click: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECHNOLOGY/INTRODUCTION/DETAILS/SCRATCH/

Chocolate-Powered Race Car Made Out of Vegetables

The Edible Race Car
If it's impossible for a race car to be "good" for the environment, maybe it can at least be a little friendlier. Meet the WorldFirst F3 project, a Formula 3 race car developed at England's University of Warwick: it has carrot fibers in its steering wheel, potato starch in its side mirrors and cashew-nut shells in its brake pads. The whole thing runs on a biodiesel mix of chocolate and vegetable oil.

In a small effort to make the car even greener than it already is, the designers coated the radiator in a substance that converts ozone emissions into oxygen

Read more: http://www.lolacars.com/newsstory.asp?NewsId=53

The official website: http://www.worldfirstracing.co.uk/

Spiderweb Silk

Spiderweb Silk
Spiders spin webs with a stretchy material that's stronger than steel and far more flexible. But attempts to use the creepy crawlers for making fabrics have had little success — until now. This year British textiles expert Simon Peers and American fashion designer Nicholas Godley unveiled an 11-ft.-long (3.4 m) spider-silk cloth made in Madagascar. Creating it wasn't easy. Each day 70 people collected thousands of golden orb spiders. Workers carefully spooled out the saffron-hued filament from each spider before releasing it. All told, the feat took four years, half a million dollars and more than a million spiders — and, yes, they sometimes bite.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113223398

See the unveiling: http://blip.tv/play/AYGj1hYC

Liquid Granite

Liquid Granite
Breakthrough:
A new fire-resistant building material that is as versatile as concrete, but made primarily from recycled materials.

Inventor:
Professor Pal Mangat, United Kingdom

Cement is considered by some to be something of an environmental menace, being responsible for 5% of the world’s carbon emissions.

The new kid on the construction industry block is a new form of liquid granite invented by Prof Pal Mangat of Sheffield Hallam University. He claims that it has the potential to make concrete redundant because of its incredible properties. It has remarkable load bearing capacity, whilst being a lightweight substance and it’s easy to apply and can be poured.

Mangat is keeping the exact formulation of Liquid Granite close to his chest, but says that it is made from an inorganic powder of which between 30 and 70 per cent is recycled industrial waste materials. It uses less than one third of the amount of cement that is found in precast concrete, and the inventor hopes to reduce that even further as he continues to develop the product over the coming years.

Reduces Fire Risks

This new substance not only boasts some impressive environmental credentials, but it is also a breakthrough in reducing fire risks in buildings. It can withstand temperatures of up to 1,100 degrees Celsius whilst maintaining structural properties. And unlike concrete it does not explode in high temperatures. The innovative material has been given a four-hour fire rating which means that it gives top level protection in the event of a fire.

“The fact that it has a high level of fire resistance means it can be used in areas where fire safety is crucial, such as around power stations, and in domestic and commercial buildings it can offer added time for evacuation in case of an emergency.” said Prof Pal Mangat.

Licensing of the Innovation

Although developed at Sheffield Hallam University the material is being made available through Liquid Granite Ltd (a company based in the north of England), and is now being used by a few organizations. It has been supplied to the Olympic Village (for the 2012 Olympic Games which are being held in the UK) and the Stratford Shopping Centre in East London.

Read more at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029161253.htm

Tweeting by Thinking

Tweeting by Thinking
Plenty of people's Twitter feeds appear to be connected directly to their egos, but one scientist's is actually wired to his brain. In April, University of Wisconsin doctoral student Adam Wilson — working with adviser Justin Williams, above — tweeted 23 characters just by thinking. He focused his attention on one flashing letter after another on a computer screen while wearing a cap outfitted with electrodes that monitored changes in his brain activity to figure out which character he wanted. His efforts spelled out "USING EEG TO SEND TWEET," among other messages. The feat marks a major step forward in establishing communication for people with "locked in" syndrome, which paralyzes the body, except for the eyes, but leaves the mind alert. For now, though, it's slow going: with the speediest brain tweeters reportedly managing just eight characters a minute, it's a good thing they're limited to 140.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933954,00.html#ixzz0XkatSCSx