Google X Hopes to Launch Drone Deliveries by 2017

Google – Drone Delivery Business – 2017

Google plans to launch its drone delivery business in the next couple of years wherein the research lab Google X has revealed its plans recently, for its program. Known as the Project Wing, it intends having a commercial business in 2017. The engineer and executive of Project wing, Dave Vos, at an annual Air Traffic Control conference at Washington DC; who was a keynote speaker, shared the plans of the company with regards to its upcoming aircraft from Google X which is presently Alphabet Company.

 Vos confirmed stating that they expect to operate a delivery service with their Wing vehicle by 2017. However the Federal Aviation Administration – FAA has not settled the new rules and regulations yet, regarding how the commercial drones need to operate, but the company had so far evaded some of the preventive legislation in California.

Inspite of the doubt, Google is still keen on this state-of-the art innovation. The Project Wind has some focus in mind as the Amazon Prime Air that aims in bringing the packages of the customers within a time span of 30 minutes utilising the drones. The Wing aircrafts had been showed already last month, but the commercial use of them is not known.

Online Shopping Sites – Specific Air Space for Commercial Drones

The drone race is not exclusively by Google but Alibaba, Amazon and possibly Walmart would also be joining in the competition. Google’s competitors in fact have an improved track record in delivering logistics and a managing committee.

The only state in the United States permitting any kind of drone delivery till now is Virginia but this could bring about a change in the years to come. Alphabet – GOOGL, Tech30, earlier Google and Amazon – AMZN, Tech30, have both confronted regulatory roadblocks in the United States for drone delivery programs. Amazon had called on U.S. regulators to act quicker.

Online shopping site had recently planned that specific air space to be selected for commercial drones in order to deliver packages. No comments have been provided by Alphabet. The company has refrained from commenting on its plan beyond what Vos had shared during the annual Air Traffic Control conference.

Drone Delivery Soon a Reality

Project Wing had been announced in August 2014 on YouTube showing a field test with its most practical example in Australia that was around 1.5 metres wide and 0.8 metres tall. It shared the same four propeller quad copter design as prevalent consumer drones.

The company has a global vision and there is a possibility that autonomous drone delivery would soon be a reality. Project Wing seems to be a very aspiring program and Google X will definitely make it happen in the next two years. The project will see unmanned self-flying drones delivering packages to customers but no more details regarding what the package would contain has been provided.

The task force have also been working on options ensuring that the drone do not violate on airspace utilised by bigger aircraft. Alphabet is also in talks with the FAA regarding an air traffic control system for drone flights at an altitude of below 500 feet. On Finalization of the rules, Alphabet together with Amazon would use small drones for package delivery together with other consumer services. So, all spectators of drone need to look out for this huge invention in 2017.

Ultra-Hard Glass Could Put an End to Smashed Phone Screens

Ultra-Hard Glass – End to Smashed Phone Screens

A new kind of glass which tends to be stronger than steel putting an end to smashed phone screens has been developed by scientists in Japan. Due to a the latest kind of ultra-hard glass which is said to be almost as strong as steel, smartphone screen would no longer tend to get smashed.

Smartphone tend to have a big problem besides a short battery life and breakable touchscreens. Several of the smartphones either have cracked or broken screens and screen protectors apparently are not of much help. A survey was also conducted by Motorola and it was found that around one-in-five smartphone users were presently using a device with cracked or shattered screen.

However, scientists from the University of Tokyo and Japan’s Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute have developed a new material made by using alumina, which is an oxide of aluminium. Earlier efforts in using alumina in glass had been futile since it tends to crystallise on touching the sides of a container.

The research team however utilised oxygen gas in pushing the materials in the air and have used lasers to melt them, thus producing a glass which seems to be colourless, extremely hard and transparent.

Screens Thinner & Lighter

Besides being hard, the new substance also seems to be very thin, enabling mobile phone screens to become thinner as well as lighter than before. Reports of the results provided by the scientists in the journal Scientific Reports state that thinner and lighter glasses are desired for the fabrication of windows in buildings and cars and cover glasses for smartphones.

From the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo, Dr Atsunobu Masuno informed the Asahi Shinbun newspaper that he along with his team hopes to commercialise the technique in the span of five years. The scientists are of the opinion that it could be the best since the earlier attempts to develop such a type of glass had failed. The ultra-hard glass tends to have various advantages besides being tough and very thin thus making the mobile phone screens thinner and lighter.

Shatterproof Display – An Assimilated System of Five Layers

Remarkable displays for the gadgets to capture the growing marker had been developed by tech companies.Displays always tend to give buyer first impressions which is a lasting impression and hence companies such as Apple and Samsung have invested on great screens. iPhone 6S series has a 3D touch with high resolution of 1,242x 2,208 pixels while the Galaxy S6 Edge+ has a remarkable resolution of 2,560 x 1,140 pixels QHD.

The phone has a curved display on both ends. Besides this, Motorola had launched a smartphone which has one of the toughestscreens and the device is called the Moto X Force which was launched last month. It has a shatterproof display due to an assimilated system of five layers which tend to absorb shock from an impact.

The embedded lens and display are warranted against cracking and shattering for a period of four years from the initial date of purchase. However, the phone is not shockproof or intended to withstand all types of damage from dropping.

Google Maps for the iPhone Gets a Helpful New Navigation Feature

Google Maps – Spoken Traffic Direction

Google - GOOG Maps, in the latest update for iOS users has learned to portray and tell and the app would now be using spoken traffic directions when you tend to hit a slowdown ahead. Prior to the start of a trip, it would give you a verbal summary of the traffic condition. While moving, Google Maps tends to support in avoiding tunnels which are overcrowded as well as highway routes with accidents.

This feature tends to automatically pop up while utilising the Navigation feature to provide spoken turn-by-turn directions. The app would talk in mid-journey notifying of any incident which would lengthen the journey and provided options to reroute. It seems that Google is drawingout some of Waze’s best features.

Google had acquired Waze for $1.1 billion in 2003, a sum which seemed small in contrast to some of the latest acquisitions and funding sequences. Waze, significant of its secondary community based navigation app, Google would be integrating real time information with explanations for what could be causing the delays in Maps so thatdrivers would be able to avoid slowdowns flawlessly than earlier. This feature has been made available since May to Android users.

Voice Navigations & Alerts

Waze’s app got a new pretty redesign and it leaves one to wonder why it has not just replaced Google Map as the flagship navigation service for Google. Google Maps envisages more updates than iOS, in Android version and already tends to sport voice navigation as well as alerts.

This is one of the several features that Google has added to Google Maps for iOS this year and others comprise of the ability of sending location one would find on the browser of the phone, enhanced public transit direction for navigating cities as well as to see where one is going prior to departure with a Street View thumbnail on the map.

Besides the added spoken traffic alerts, Google also states that the latest update enables the user to easily add new and missing businesses from the sidebar. If one intends to install the update, they could check out the Google Maps page on the iTunes App Store.

Does Not Incorporate with Siri

Google Maps does not incorporate with Siri and does not run in the background like Apple Maps and the reason is that Apple does not give its third-party inventers, access to the APIs it tends to use to try and have an advantage over them.

 Google Maps tend to falter where any app would. One concern with regards to Google’s fault comes in the traffic estimates. Often the app tends to offer a route which tends to suffer from heavy traffic when it only affects a tiny portion of the trip.

Since one gets to view the actual traffic on the route before confirmation, it is only something to warn you regarding the traffic which will probably have no effect on the trip. It is hard to beat Google Maps, no matter what kind of transportation one would be using to move around. It seems easy to use with features found only in standalone GPS units, like lane guidance.

It is ahead of Apple especially when it comes to car and pedestrian navigation. Moreover, its accurate maps mean that one will never get lost. With the combination of accurate traffic information from Waze, Google Maps seems to be an easy choice for Editor’s Choice award.

Guide to Mastering the New Apple TV

Apple’s Streaming TV Box –Redesigned/Revamped

Apple’s streaming TV box features a redesigned remote control, a revamped interface with a full Apple Store. Besides streaming content from Netflix, Hulu and other services, the Apple TV doubles also as a gaming console.

It is said that Apple TV is not just for streaming anymore. It latest embodiment which will be shipped this week, tends to provide on the big screen almost anything one would earlier have done only on an iPhone or iPad. The new Apple TV seems to be an accomplished device though it is not flawless. The streaming TV features also tend to outdo its predecessor.

The Apple TV being a dependable streamer though till now its range had been limited to a few services which included HBO besides Netflix and Hulu. However, Apple did not let the addition of other channels like the competitive videogame play from Twitch.tv.

All this seems to have changed and the new Apple TV features the iPhone like app store which enables you with the choice of your own streaming services. It is no longer forceful in directing you to iTunes and the other service of Apple. One can customize their favourites on the home screen.

Quality of Video – Full High Definition

The quality of the video on the new Apple TV is very successful at full high definition which is technically known as 1080p and should be quite a bit for most of the individuals. Though video supporters may tend to complain that it does not maintain a high quality video standard known as ultra-high definition or 4K like the other streaming boxes do, but there are not many 4K TVs or much of the programming made available so far.

The remote of the Apple TV does not seem to have a headphone jack that the other streaming devices such as the Roku 3 and 4 as well as the Nividia Shield tend to provide, to spare family and roommates during night.

Apple TV on the contrary supports Bluetooth wireless headphones and one needs to buy them separately. So far it is not known whether one will be able to stream video from Amazon and Google Play. Both the companies seem to have competing video stores and one point could be the cut that Apple tends to take on in-app digital sales.

Voice Search with Siri Virtual Assistant

Other main services expected on the Apple TV include Google’s YouTube. The CBC News app will be compatible for iOS with Apple TV at the time of launch and on adding the CBC News app; users would then be in a position to watch The National live and on demand together with demand episodes of Marketplace as well as the Fifth Estate and latest news clips.

Besides this, the new Apple TV also permits voice searches with the use of Siri virtual assistant. On request, Seinfeld or Jennifer Lawrence together with Apple TV can look through the catalogs for iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Showtime with much more.

 Users could also ask for good documentaries to view. By default the Apple TV comes with the following apps namely iTunes Movies, iTunes TV Shows, the App Store, photos, music, search, computers and settings. Besides these stock apps, the fourth generation Apple TV unveils an App Store full of third party apps as well as games for the television.

Apple’s Survey App Helps Venues Easily Create Indoor Maps

Apple’s Dedicated Indoor Positioning App - iOS

Apple had now launched a dedicated indoor positioning app on iOS, enabling business holders to map out their venues by utilising their iPhones. The Indoor Survey App was first noticed on the App Store by Steve Troughton-Smith, a developer and though it did not appear in search, it is effortlessly accessible through a direct link.

The app had been updated on October 27 and hence it had been on the App Store for a week before anyone had discovered it. Its description stated that an iOS 9 would be needed or later with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch compatibility together with an 18MB download size. Description on iTunes reads thus `enable indoor positioning within a venue using the Indoor Survey App.

By dropping points on a map within the Survey App, you indicate your position within the venue as you walk through and as you do, the Indoor Survey App measures the radio frequency – RF signal data combining it with an iPhone’s sensor data’.

 Apple had been building up its indoor mapping tools for a year now in silence. It had introduced iBeacons in 2013, small Bluetooth transmitters, which retailers as well as venue owners could utilise in delivering location specific notifications and alerts.

Mixture of Wi-Fi & Radio Signals – Track Positions

In the iOS 8 update last year, Apple had given the developers access to more comprehensible location data using the iPhone’s indication coprocessor. As noted by Apple Insider, the Indoor Survey App utilises a mixture of Wi-Fi and radio signals in order to track positions, like the technology created by Silicon Valley start-up,WiFiSLAM that was purchased by Apple in 2013, at a price of $20 million.

Apple had also launched in October, the Apple Maps Connect that invited business owners to submit their indoor mapping information. Though this was not for small corner shops, Apple specified that participating venues should be accessible to the general public offering Wi-Fi connectivity throughout and drawing over one million visitors yearly.

According to a report from 9to5Mac, indoor position, as of June last year was added to locations which comprised of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and the Mineta San Jose International Airport. There is a possibility that the Indoor Survey App could be beneficial in extending this availability and make it easy as App Store descriptions notes for venue holders to gather data without installing any special hardware.

Maps Connect

Apple’s mapping attempts was something that was needed in the past and the company had apologized for moving from Google Maps with iOS 6 in 2012. Since the failure, Apple had made several attempts in improving the quality of its maps and had launched the Maps Connect urging small businesses to improve their Maps selecting public venues with more than one million yearly visitors.

With iOS 9, Apple had extended its map offerings including transit directions and like the Indoor Survey tends to include navigation options for indoor locations. The company has made a limited quantity of iPhone apps available through its App Store and had only 16 apps shown on the store page at the time of writing.

Apple seems to have a history of bundling apps together with stock iOS should it feel that the functionality is crucial to a core iOS involvement. This had led to some complaints stating that the basic OS has too many additions.