Tag: Android

Google Nexus Q, a Google device in your house!

Nameet Potnis2 Comments
Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...
Google

At the ongoing I/O conference, Google’s Project glass and Nexus 7 might be the most talked about devices but there is another device that Google has created that is ready to invade our homes, the Nexus Q. The Nexus Q is part of Google’s Project Tungsten, which looks at incorporating Android into Home devices.

According to Firstpost, “The Nexus Q is a minimally designed, spheroid home entertainment hub, and also functions as a streaming hub with 25-watt amp for external speakers that can link to your Android Smartphone or tablet”.

The device provides a functionality which is something which I have long dreamt of, the ability to let multiple users connect to the same speaker and choose which music to play!

 The Nexus Q will utilize the user’s Google cloud content – PC Mag

Would you use something like this?

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The technology behind Apple Inc’s own Mapping system

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Image representing Apple as depicted in CrunchBase
Apple Inc via CrunchBase

Apple just announced that they will no longer be using Google maps and will instead be using their own Maps on all iOS devices. Back in 2010 when SAAB filed for bankruptcy, an unknown company bought their missile guiding system. This unknown company was later identified to be Apple Inc. This missile guiding technology now forms the backbone of their new Mapping system.

How does this technology work

The video above shows a  corporate version of the process, which, as described by an article in MIT Technology Review, works in the following manner:

“C3’s models are generated with little human intervention. First, a plane equipped with a custom-designed package of professional-grade digital single-lens reflex cameras takes aerial photos. Four cameras look out along the main compass points, at oblique angles to the ground, to image buildings from the side as well as above. Additional cameras (the exact number is secret) capture overlapping images from their own carefully determined angles, producing a final set that contains all the information needed for a full 3-D rendering of a city’s buildings. Machine-vision software developed by C3 compares pairs of overlapping images to gauge depth, just as our brains use stereo vision, to produce a richly detailed 3-D model.”
 

Fascinating technology? Let me know your thoughts.

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