Google Refuse to Change Privacy Policy For Google Glass

Google Refuse to Change Privacy Policy For Google Glass Posted: 05 Jul 2013 07:00 AM PDT Google has said that it will not be changing the privacy policy for Google Glass. The company sent a letter to US Congressman Joe Barton on June 7 in response to an open letter that contained eight questions surrounding concerns about Google Glass. Barton, who is co-chair of the Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, said of the reply, “I am disappointed in the responses we received from Google. There were questions that were not adequately answered and some not answered at all.” “When new technology like this is introduced that could change societal norms, I believe it is important that people’s rights be protected and vital that privacy is built into the device.” Google has again stated that it will ban facial recognition in response to the letter, however, developers claim that it is still possible to load facial recognition apps without Google’s permission. Some questions raised by the original open letter have not even been addressed by Google, and so it is not surprising that Barton’s concerns have not been allayed. For example, Google were asked to provide examples of when they would reject requests on Google Glass that would risk the privacy of others. Google have not provided those examples in the response letter. Keeping things simple and to the point, Google said, “Use of Google Glass will be governed by the terms of the Google Privacy Policy. No changes to the Google Privacy Policy are planned for Glass.” This isn’t the only open letter that Google have received on this issue. Representatives from ten international data protection agencies also wrote to Google. “Google Glass raises significant privacy issues and it is disappointing that Google has not engaged more meaningfully with data protection authorities about this technology,” says Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. Google has defended itself by saying that there are measures in place to protect privacy. Users will have to give voice commands to activate the camera and the device will have social signals, alerting people to the fact that a recording is taking place. It will be possible to delete data and wipe the device remotely. CEO of Google, Larry Page, has urged people to wait and see whether issues arise Therefore we can take it that questions will not be answered fully, if at all, until Glass is finally released.

IT Spending To Hit $3.7 Trillion Posted: 05 Jul 2013 06:00 AM PDT The IT services industry is on track to spend globally $3.7 trillion in 2013.  Gartner, the analyst house publishing these numbers, projects spend for 2014 to rise to $3.9 trillion, up 4.1%. From devices through to data center investments and the services that run on them are the sources of this revenue.  But that represents shrinking growth of only 2% on last year, as more expensive items like on-premise software and PCs continue to get forced out by less expensive, newer technology like lower-cost tablets and cloud service computing. It is important to note that these figures do not include the vast amounts of money that we as consumers spend online, via e-commerce and in apps etc; nor does it include services like advertising, which is often used to "pay" for content indirectly. “This may change in the future but at the moment it's excluded," Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner has said. Be that as it may, these figures, which do include global numbers on IT devices, provide a gauge for how and where the wider Information Technology world is growing.  The $3.7 trillion in IT spend in 2013 represents a downward revision from where Gartner thought we would be today: compare to last quarter, when Gartner noted growth of 4.1% for this year; that is now more than halved and one of the main reasons for this is because of currency fluctuations. In constant currency, growth would still be down compared to 2012, but less so, to 3.5%.  One of the bigger categories contributing to the lower forecasts comes from declines in IT devices, which Gartner has revised down to growing only 2.8% this year, or $695 billion, this is in comparison to a previous projection of 7.9%.  This is directly linked to trends in what people are buying today for their computing needs: the  time is up for bigger and more expensive PCs; and it’s the smaller, and often less expensive, tablet and smartphone time to shine. Gartner noted that although PCs are still the second-largest category of IT devices, the shipments of these are decreasing rapidly, while shipments for mobile phones and tablets continue to climb. In all, there will be 2.4 billion devices shipped in 2013 , an increase of 6% on last year, Gartner said.  Analysts spell that out in revenue numbers that tablet revenue will grow by a mammoth 38.9% and mobile devices by 9.3%; but in PCs, "while new devices are set to hit the market in the second half of 2013, they will fail to compensate for the underlying weakness of the traditional PC market," Gartner notes.  The biggest category of all has been and continues to be telecoms services, which includes things like broadband, telephone services and your mobile bills. These will rise to $1.7 trillion in 2013 — growth of only 0.9%, but at least reversing the declines of -0.7%in 2012.  Enterprise software remains one of the smaller categories but growing the strongest: $304 billion will be spent on enterprise this year, a rise of 6.4%. IT services and data centers will each grow only around 2%.

Meaningless to Compare Console Specs, Xbox Execs Say Posted: 05 Jul 2013 05:00 AM PDT Ever since the E3 show last month, we've all been caught up in a fierce debate about what next generation console is better and what features and specs would make it so. To all those who are still trying to work that out, Xbox executive Albert Penello says that comparing next-generation console specs is meaningless and that what actually matters is the games. Penello also said that the discussion about which console is better, the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4, does not really matter. The same happened with previous generation consoles and this argument is pointless, because people debate things they don't actually know about, the Xbox executive said. His comment was a clear jab at Sony, whose PlayStation 4 was hailed by many fans and analysts as being a significantly more convenient and affordable option than the Xbox One. The greatest advantage Sony has is the price, as the PS4 will retail for $100 less than the Xbox One ($400 vs. $500). The two consoles will be officially released this fall, but so far only Microsoft announced an exact date. Gaming fans who can't wait until then to get their hands on the next-generation gaming platforms will get the chance to try them out at the GameStop Expo in Las Vegas on August 28. According to Penello, consumers will ultimately choose their next-generation consoles for the games it has, not for the technical specifications they see on paper. And in this respect, he added, Xbox developers feel that their console will be able to work some serious technical magic and offer an incredible gaming experience to fans. It's hard to disagree with Penello, but some gaming fans do look at the technical specs when purchasing their console. And we should also keep in mind that a great game requires equally great specifications to run smoothly. How important are the console specs to you when you're trying to decide what to buy? And just to add fuel to the fire, which of the two next-gen platforms has better technical specifications in your opinion?

Microsoft Develop A Force Feedback 3D Touchscreen Posted: 05 Jul 2013 04:00 AM PDT Microsoft have published details on a force feedback 3D touchscreen project that allows you to feel and manipulate images. Researchers have combined an LCD flat panel screen, force sensors and a robotic arm that moves forwards and backwards. Microsoft say that by controlling the amount of resistance in a user’s fingertip, then they can simulate the shape and weight of things shown on the screen. The screen can recreate the feel of an object’s shape by being moved backwards and forwards. When the prototype is touched, it responds by pushing back with a light force so that your fingers stay in contact with the screen. Then, by pressing against it, the robotic arm is programmed to instantly pull the screen backwards in a matching smooth movement. To create a 3D effect, size and perspective is automatically adjusted. “As your finger pushes on the touchscreen and the senses merge with stereo vision, if we do the convergence correctly and update the visuals constantly so that they correspond to your finger’s depth perception, this is enough for your brain to accept the virtual world as real,” said senior researcher Michael Pahud. Medical Uses Microsoft have said that the device could be used for medical purposes as well as for gaming. They think it could be a useful tool in aiding doctors explore body scans. Using an MRI scan, they demonstrated how a medic could navigate through the various sections of the scan by pushing a finger against the display. It was also possible to draw notes and leave a “haptic detent” (or force-feedback marker) so that it was possible to find specfic layers again. “I could imagine receiving haptic feedback when you encountered an anomaly, such as a tumour, because we can change the response based on what you touch,” said Mr Pahud. “You can have different responses for when you touch soft tissue versus hard tissue, which makes for a very rich experience.” A Bit Artificial Although Microsoft are making considerable progress with this device, some feel it is still not responsive enough to make it accurate. Dr Paul Weller, who is head of the Centre for Health Informatics at City University,London, said the screen would not be accurate enough for detecting texture. “If you were moving your finger over a surface that was rough the screen would have to go up and down very quickly to be able to give you that impression.” “I think their example of the brain scan is a bit artificial, but where I could see it being useful would be for a doctor doing teleconsultancy work,” he said. So while this 3D touchscreen needs some more work, it looks like we will see more of this type of technology in the future.

Facebook to Try Games Publishing Posted: 05 Jul 2013 03:00 AM PDT Facebook is working with a number of small mobile game developers to undertake publishing by offering distribution through mobile ads in exchange for a percentage of revenue.  Facebook confirmed it's working on tests for new mobile game distribution, but the company did not share any more details publicly. The thinking is, that publishing is an old model that goes back to the world of console gaming, so it's a structure that is already well familiar for gaming studios.  Consider this; In the console era, a big gaming company would market and distribute games from smaller studios that lacked the resources to promote their products. At the same time, smaller developers are having a hard time finding audiences when they are competing against bigger companies like King, Kabam and Supercell, which now have the power to spend tens of millions of dollars per annum on marketing. The initial costs of producing and distributing a competitive mobile game have gone from the hundreds of thousands into the millions of dollars mark for titles that have a place in the top-25 grossing spots.  So in this experiment, Facebook is partnering with smaller companies and independent developers. They are also primarily focusing on distribution. They are not concentrating on editing games for content or financing their production, which is what other (larger) publishers sometimes do.  On the developer side, some of the feedback apparently, is the typical skepticism that comes with the publishing model in general. Today, since mobile developers can simply "self-publish" just by putting their apps in the store, there's a longstanding debate about what value publishers can really add. When games are not successful, neither the developer or the publisher make money.  But when games are hits like with the original Angry Birds, originally published by chillingo, there can be cause for concern when the original developer questions why they are paying a massive revenue share to another party. They can also go down other routes by releasing games that are similar to the original and coercing  users to the new version of the game, where they won't have to pay the original publisher. While advertising has always been the mainstay of Facebook's model on desktop PCs and mobile devices alike, there are many revenue possibilities on mobile devices that the company has yet to fully explore.   Facebook may feel that it is not fully realizing the potential of the mobile app economy. Through mobile advertising, the company basically turned on a $1.5 billion-a-year business in about six months.  Facebook has been earning a little over $200 million per quarter from payments and other fees, most of that revenue coming from virtual currency transactions from inside games.  Facebook does also earn a large amount of revenue from mobile game developers through normal mobile advertising buying. But it hasn't been able to replicate that business on mobile devices, because Google and Apple both control the market’s two major smartphone app stores.

NeverWet Waterproofs Almost Any Surface Posted: 05 Jul 2013 02:00 AM PDT What if you never had to worry about spilling your coffee and totally ruining your brand new outfit you bought with some hard-earned loads of cash? Or that you'd spill some red wine on your favorite couch and leave a big ugly stain there for all eternity? With NeverWet, from Ross Nanotechnology and Rust-Oleum, you really will not have to worry about these things anymore, as this amazing spray kit can waterproof virtually anything and everything you own. How does it work? The NeverWet kit consists of two spray cans: one of them creates a base coat and the other a top coat. It's an easy process that only requires the user to apply the two sprays, waiting a little to allow the coating to get dry and then, your sprayed objects will be completely water-repellant. The product is designed to be used on various surfaces and fabrics and it actually creates a superhydrophobic barrier on them, which will repel water and other liquids. Unlike with most waterproofing substances, which only prevent the liquid from permeating the surface, the NeverWet actually forms beads that roll off the waterproofed surface. This is due to the fact that the silicon-based coating creates a 165 degree contact angle when applied, which creates what is known as the Lotus effect. Rust-Oleum has released several marketing videos showing how NeverWet interacts with multiple surfaces. The videos show how a pair of sneakers and shirt treated with the product repel chocolate spread or how a cardboard box turns into a do-it-yourself ice box after being sprayed. Manufacturers say they have tested the NeverWet with almost any surface and against many different kinds of liquid and the product always worked. Apparently it works best on wood, metal, aluminum, concrete and most types of plastic. And although the videos show how NeverWet works to waterproof a shirt and even an iPhone, developers advise against using the product on clothes and electronics for the time being. The NeverWet kit is available at the Home Depot for $20. What do you think of this awesome product, would you give it a try?

Tech Beat Google Refuse to Change Privacy Policy For Google Glass IT Spending To Hit $3.7 Trillion Meaningless to Compare Console Specs, Xbox Execs Say Microsoft Develop A Force Feedback 3D Touchscreen Facebook to Try Games Publishing NeverWet Waterproofs Almost Any Surface