This week’s Tech Of The Week is an advance in automobile technology and the interplay between smartphones and large-scale consumer products.
Before his death, Steve Jobs had a idea to make Apple an even bigger part of society than it already is. One concept has been called the iCar.
After Jobs died, the idea for an iCar faded, but under new Apple CEO, Tim Cook, there are rumors that the company has started to rethink the idea. An Apple iCar would seamlessly interwork all of Apple’s devices. We could of course expect a typically stylish and futuristic design from Apple as well.
The interior of the car would be a key challenge for the designers. They want it to interwork multiple devices, yet be still a car, not a mobile Apple store. Also, when people shop for cars, they want comfortable seats and attractive dashboards. Apple’s design, like Ford or Tesla, could resonate with the buying public or Apple’s design success for small gadgets might not transfer to large scale products.
“Look at the car industry; it’s a tragedy in America. Who’s designing the cars?” said Mickey Drexler, a long time Apple board member. “Steve Jobs’ dream before he died was to build an iCar.” It will be interesting to see how Apple would do on the car, being a mostly smartphone and computer manufacture. Even without Jobs, Apple will most likely impress the public with a futuristic iCar, just like Steve Jobs wanted.
Apple are working on a new smartphone, but this time in the shape of a watch.
Apple haven’t decided on a name, but they have two good options, iPhone Wrist and iWatch (I’ll be calling it iWatch). iWatch could use Corning’s Willow Glass, a type of bendable glass. Willow Glass is a new technology and will most likely be used for many things from smartphones to bringing back scrolls, only digital.
The iWatch hasn’t been fully designed yet, and could still be in concept phase. There are a few suggested designs out there, such as a clear ring around your wrist. The problem with that is that it might be too wide, and bump into the table when you are trying to write. Also, being clear, it might be hard to see colors like yellow or especially tan. Another design for the watch might solve that particular problem, but bring up some other ones.
For instance, the small screen might not bump anywhere, but might just be to small to actually serve as a “smart” watch. It would be EXTREMELY hard to type on the screen, and if you have bad eyesight, the lettering will be very hard to read.
Apple iWatch, along with Google Glasses (see my Google Glasses article) are going to start a new industry, smart clothing. Smart clothing will soon transform our world, using Willow Glass as just the start. And just like lots of other industries like smartphones and software, it will most likely be led by Google and Apple.
Back in 1932, Mercedes Benz released their motor and Formula One racing car, the Silver Arrow. The Silver Arrow was very successful, and the most popular car for german racers in the 1930s. The trademark white, for Germany, decorating the car, the Silver Arrow won many competitions. It even won the French Grand Prix 1-2-3. This type of car was a source of pride to the company and country, and it was only logical to preserve it’s greatness.
The Silver Arrow
79 years later, at the 2011 LA Design Challenge, Mercedes Benz were showing off their concept car, Silver Lighting. Silver Lightning, as you may have guessed, was inspired by Silver Arrow, reintroducing the pride of Mercedes prowess in the racing sport.
As part of their presentation, they made a short film about the car:
Silver Lightning was not only inspired by Silver Arrow, it was also inspired by classic sci-fi movies, as is a lot of technology today. Think about it. The flip-up communicators from Star Trek. In the Silver Lighning’s case, the futuristic lights on the wheels were inspired by Tron: Legacy, and the shape was inspired by Star Wars: Episode II. Along with science fiction, the Silver Lightning embodies everything we want the future to be like: flashy, slick, technologically advanced, and as cool as heck.
Silver Lightning is still not coming out any time soon. It uses a lot of future technologies, like Mag-Tech. Mag-Tech is a retractable roof system, a lot like nowadays convertible roofs. But instead of having to take the whole roof off, this technology would make it easier. Mag-Tech uses small lightweight magnetic squares to quicken the process, and can be quickly put together to make a roof, or easily contracted to make a convertible.
When you look at Silver Lightning, you may be wondering, “Where are the wheels? All I see are rings where the wheels should be!” Totally understandable. Those rings ARE actually the wheels, which is another future technology that might postpone the release of Silver Lightning. The technology is called Omni-Directional Wheels. Inside the rings, there are rollers that are all placed in a different direction, making the car able to move in all directions. This technology would let the driver be able to move the car in all different directions, not just forward and back, and is already being used in the storage and manufacturing business for lifting boxes and heavy objects. Omni-directional wheels would eliminate the need for parallel parking, which in sure many new drivers would be happy about, but the technology isn’t yet ready for implementation into racing or even regular automobiles.
Silver Lightning is designed for speed. The sleek design is perfect for zooming down the freeway or track. But just like Lamborghinis and Maseratis, it will probably become a fancy sports car that like to show off. The problem with many of these technologies, such as the segway, and even Google Glass, is that the hype surrounding them blocks out the unfortunate downsides of the technology itself. It may look cool now, but by the time we get to a point where any of these technologies would be possible, which wouldn’t be that far into the future, there will most likely already be many cars with the same design. Who knows, there may be a time when having a Maserati Silver Lighting would be just as normal as having a Toyota, but for now, it is still a futuristic concept, yet to be built.
Every year, Fujistu holds a design contest for new and innovative gadgets, smartphones and other tech products. In 2012, one of the winners was a line of smartphones and tablets. It was called Bento Box.
Designed by Rene Lee, Bento Box is three inner-working smartphones, Bento Book, Bento Pad and Bento Phone in a specially made dock. The holder also connects all the phones together. So when all the phones are in the dock, they form a laptop. Bento Book as the screen, Bento Pad as the keyboard or scroller and Bento Phone as any extra add-ons like a clock or metronome. The great thing is, they can work without each other. So if you go on a trip, or need to take one of the smartphones, but other people in your family ALSO want one, you can share them. The only problem is if it comes out, it will probably cost a fortune, because you’re basically buying 3 different smartphones and a case.
First, lets start off with Bento Book. Bento Book is about the size of a laptop monitor, which is much bigger than an iPad. It can be used for reading, writing, recording music using Bento Pad as the piano or just surfing the web. So far, the designers haven’t released how it’s going to be set up, what software it’s going to be using or any special features.
Bento Pad is a key part to Bento Box. Without it, you either would have to use the small Bento Phone as the keyboard or even resort to awkwardly typing on the Bento Book. It also solves the problem Apple has of buying keyboard/cases, like you have to with iPads. Alone, Bento Pad is very interesting. It’s shape may make it easier to hold, and revolutionize racing and shooter games.
Bento Phone is about the size of a iPhone 4. By itself, Bento Phone is more or less your average smartphone. But when it’s in the dock, it becomes part of the laptop. It could be a zoom when you are sketching something, page flipper when you are reading something and other useful widgets.
When Bento Box comes out, my guess is it will be a hit. The only problem is, it’s not made by a big producer like Apple or Google, so there may be some software problems or features the critics don’t like (for instance Apple’s Siri). Still, when it comes out it will be high on my list for potential buyings.
At the 2012 CES(Customer Electronics Show), Samsung showcased a prototype for their new smart window.
Samsung Smart Window is a great window for a double-tasker. If you put the window in your kitchen, you could get recipes with the recipes widget on the widget page, check your Twitter account and get the weather all in the time that you make breakfast.
The Samsung Smart Window is the start of a big wave of technologies, a lot like the smartphone and tablet wave(which is still not over). In fact, one of my earlier posts was about a future design for smart glass, Corning’s Gorilla Glass. In case you missed it, here they are again.
Samsung Smart Glass is good for night or day. At night, LEDs shine at the top and bottom of the window. Plus, if it is daytime, and you don’t want people to look in on what you are looking at, you’re covered. The window is one way, so people can’t even see into your house. Unfortunately, Samsung’s windows are not yet out on the market, and the prices are still undisclosed.
A driverless car. It seems way in the future, but once again, Google thought of it. They call it Google Car.
Google Car uses LIDAR, a 64-beam laser system to sense when other cars, side walks or bikers are near them. It also uses Google Street View as a basic outline for where buildings and stoplights are.
There have been some arguments about whether this autonomous car is safe or not. Google engineers fight back and say that robots have faster reactions, never get sleepy and have a 360 view, so you never have the dreaded ‘in the blind spot accident’. So far, only 3 states, California, Florida and Nevada, have permitted Google to test Google Car their state.
Google are also taking lots of precautions. In the states they are allowed in, they have given the car lots of tests. They’ve had they car navigate through traffic, drive in the bumpy desert-plains of Nevada and it’s even made its way down the infamous Lombard Street, on which lots of human drivers have trouble.
Google have taken the first step(as usual) in the autonomous cars industry, but soon, when we go out side, we will see lots of updated autonomous cars navigating the streets, taking people wherever they want to go.
Ever seen those REALLY muscly guys with biceps bigger than your head? Ever wonder how they do it? Most of them train and workout all day, eat really well and do whatever they can to get big muscles. There is another way to get that strong without working that hard (besides drugs), but you can’t control it. It’s completely random. Not just humans can have it. Animals can get it to.
It’s called Myostatin Deficiency. Myostatin is a gene which stops your muscles from growing continuously. Some natural athletes have one of the two myostatin genes missing. But its when their kids have BOTH of the genes missing, that’s when it gets incredible.
(those are 5 pound weights, the kid is only 30 pounds)
So far, there aren’t any drugs or ways to remove your myostatin genes. Even when doctors and scientists come out with a way of removing the genes, it is probably not the best idea. There have been test for side effects, one possibility being muscular dystrophy. Muscular dystrophy is a disease where your muscles gradually degrade over time, and eventually you can’t move and most likely will die early. You don’t want that to happen just because you want to have giant muscles.
The myostatin gene is not something you want to mess with. If don’t have it, good for you, but if you do, I wouldn’t recommend doing anything about it.
Smart highways? This might sound crazy, but in mid-2013 in Brabant, Netherlands, they are actually BUILDING them.
These smart highways were designed by Studio Roosegaarde in the Netherlands. These green highways are meant to decrease the amount of extra lighting and equipment on the side of the road. Also the designers added some safety features to these highways. For instance, when the road is covered in snow and ice, cartoons of snowflakes appear on the ground (as pictured above).
The most important feature of the smart highway is the photoluminescent lines. In the day, these lines soak up light from the sun and in the night they can shine for more than 10 hours.
Plus, if you have a electric car, and you live in Brabant, you’re in luck! They added a special feature to the highways were there is a special lane just for electric cars. But not only that, the lane actually RECHARGES your car at the same time!
Street lights are also something these designers want to eliminate. On the side of the road, there are little lights that sense your car and turn on when you come by to save energy.
In November of 2012, Google released the Nexus 4 smartphone.
The Nexus 4 uses ONLY Google products such as Google Maps, Google Play and Google Voice. Google Maps is much better when driving, because it combines Google Earth with Google Maps. It’s basically a satellite map with the blue line for directions. Also, it shows your car on the map much more accurately than on the Google Maps app for iOS devices.
Another plus for the Nexus 4 is that it has Android Beam. Android Beam works as a sharing tool, but much easier to use than Dropbox or Airplay. Unfortunately, both Nexus’ have to have the same version of Googles OS. Otherwise, all you have to do is open the file, webpage or map and you hold your phones together. It should say ‘Touch To Beam’. You touch it, and the other person gets what you had on your screen. Easy!
Google Voice is a voice recognition app. To open it, you slide up from the bottom of the screen which opens Google. Then, in the search bar, there is a little microphone symbol. Hit that and it opens Google Voice.
With Google Voice you can ask it anything, and it pops up a a bar with the information. The problem is, you can’t just say ‘send email to Joe Smith’. It would search the web for that. You would have to say ‘Joe Smith’ and it would bring up info from your contacts, then you can select to send him an email. Still, Google Voice is better than the notoriously bad Siri.
Phone designers are always trying to make their products easier to use. The keyboard on other phones such as the iPhone are a struggle to use. You are always buying add on keyboards for things like the iPad, but those only work if you are sitting at a table. Google came out with Gesture Typing to fix that. With gesture typing you just slide your fingers along the letters you want and it gives you 4 guesses. Gesture Typing proves to be very useful when texting in a hurry.
One con for the Nexus 4 is the memory. If you want an IPhone 5 with the max memory, you can get the 64 gigabyte version for $400. The most memory you can get with a Nexus 4 is 16 gigabytes, which costs a ridiculos amout of $350. They also have a 8 gigabyte Nexus 4 (only someone who only has like 5 apps would want that) for 300$.
Overall, if I had to choose between iPhone or Nexus 4, I would choose iPhone mostly because if Nexus 4’s cost.
Even before that, in June 2012 at the Google I/O, they came out with the Nexus 7. The Nexus 7 is about the size of an iPad Mini. Even though the Nexus 7 was made before the Nexus 4, it has most all of the same features, which proves Google basically just changed the size.
The price on the Nexus 7 is actually BETTER than Apple’s iPad Mini. For a 32 gigabyte Nexus you have to pay $300 (probably because it was made earlier). It is $430 for a 32 gigabyte iPad Mini. Still, I think Apple have the upper hand.
Here comes the turning point. Google Nexus 10, that came out in early 2013, is a great family tablet. Its gigantic 10″ screen beats the iPad’s 9×7 screen. The big screen is great for watching movies with the family or reading books. It has all the regular features that the Nexus 4 and 7 have like Gesture Typing, Google Play and Google Voice. Another feature that makes the Nexus 10 a great family tablet is the User feature. You can have different on your Nexus 10 for all the people in the family. You sign in just like a laptop or computer and you can even costomize your desktop.
Again, just like the Nexus 7, the Nexus 10 trump the iPad by the cheapest, which most people go by. For 32 gigabytes, Nexus 10 is $500, and iPad is $600.
The Nexus 10 and the iPad are very close in which is better. If you have 3 or more people in your family and you only want to buy 1 tabet, buy the Nexus 10. If you have 2 or less people in your family, the iPad is more for you.
Altogether, the Nexus family is very unique and very cool, and maybe their next add to the family will be even better than Apple version of it (there is definitely going to be one).
Just as they have been planning, Google finally introduced their augmented reallity glasses, Google Glasses.
Google Glasses have many features, including a camera, speaker and mini screen that is placed in front of your right eye. The camera is used more for social purposes. You can quickly take a picture, and upload it to google+(not that anybody uses it). The speaker, which is hanging down in front of your ear, is used as a Siri type app to tell the glasses what to do. The glasses also double as a phone and a FaceTime monitor, which will eliminate holding your phone up to your ear. If you want directions, don’t take out your iPhone, Google Glasses have it. You just tell it where you want to go, and it gives you walking or driving directions. The directions show up on your screen, but it also says it in your ear. You can even get direction around a store, in case you can’t find your way around.
Here is a video that shows what it is like wearing Google Glasses on a regular day.
When Google had their I/O, not everyone could go. Only developers could go, and they could even BUY it for $1,500 before it comes out for the public in late 2013 early 2014. Google Glasses are also developer friendly, so they can make more apps, or even design mini add-ons.
Even though Google Glasses are very unique, they are DEFINITELY not the ultimate augmented reality glasses. Ultimate augmented reality glasses will completely erase the IPhone, having even better apps and utilities. Gaming in augmented reality glasses (something Google Glasses doesn’t have) will be the total experience. You would actually be seeing yourself race in a car alongside Mario, pulling back the slingshot in Angry Birds and slicing the rope in Cut The Rope.
There still might be some problems with Google Glasses. For instance, if the Siri app stops working, you can’t tell it to do anything. Plus, there is no manual way to type anything in. Still, it is very cool and I want one ( I don’t know about you).
TOTW: Google's Project Ara Modular Phone May Be The Future Of SmartphonesOctober 30, 2014
