Google: Your Hands May Be the Only Interface You’ll Ever Need

Project Soli – Hands Only User Interface

Wearable devices tend to get smaller and smaller and our hands and fingers find it difficult in keeping up with them. Hence gearheads at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group – ATAP have been working on ways in controlling devices with simple hand gestures. Google ATAP is aware that the hand is the best method for interaction with devices though not everything seems to be a device. Project Soli the latest wearable is not a wearable one would think, neither a watch but ‘you’.

Project Soli intends to make the hands and fingers the only user interface that would be needed. It is actually radar which is adequately small to be fitted into a wearable like a smart watch where the small radar tends to pick up on the movements on real time, utilising the movements made to modify its signal. While the hand rests, it is actually moving slightly which tends to end as a baseline response on the radar and moving the hand away or from side to side with regards to the radar could change the signal and amplitude. Crossing the fingers or making a fist could also change the signal.

ATAP to have APIs

In order to make sense of the signal to a service or app, ATAP would be having APIs which could tap in the deep machine learning of Project Soli. However, it is still early for the new entry though it has got the people at Google I/O eager and instead of going hands-free, Project Soli would make the hands the UI which could be a better option than voice control could be. Ivan Poupyrev, technical program lead for Google ATAP comments that `should Project Soli become a reality someday, users would be able to control smart watches, fitness trackers as well as other devices with the use of gestures in utilising their smartphone, only without the phone’.

 He informed the audience at Google I/O that their hands tend to be always with them and are ergonomic and could be the only interface ever needed in controlling wearable devices. Nevertheless, gesture based interfaces tend to already exist and several of them such as the Kinect or PlayStation Move utilise camera in detecting the hand movements. Thus they work only when there happens to be clear lines of sight which are worthless in the dark.

Flares out Radar Signals – Numerous Antennae

The Soli chip is said to flare out radar signals from numerous antennae, thousands of time each seconds creating an arena that could measure the minute movements of the fingers, detecting when the fingers are crossed or record signals at once from both hands. It is a kind of software developers generating a vocabulary in interpreting each gesture, translating it into action similar to deleting a message or taking a call on the smartwatch.

The latest radar chip has the capabilities of a range of 5 feet or more, enabling it to be integrated to all types of devices which include the walls of the home. Probably there may be a time in the near future that one may be capable of turning on the lights on snapping the fingers or turn up the volume on Sonos by turning an imaginary dial in the air. Presently Project Soli is just a research project.            

Google's 'Smart' Food Diary Is Actually Kind Of Dumb

Google – Automated Food Diary to Estimate Calorie Count

Google has been building an automated food dairy which could help to estimate calorie counts from the images taken of our meal according to a report in Popular Science. Named Im2Calories, the project is said to utilise technology from DeepMind, which is an AI start-up Google acquired in 2014. Google has filed a patent for Im2Calories, however there is no mention yet on when the service is likely to be made available.

Meanwhile, several other companies are making similar attempts on the projects like Im2Calories which are being supported by equally questionable science. Im2Calorie is said to measure the size of the food, in absolute terms as well as relative to what is on the plate and could also identify the condiments. According to the report, it does not even matter if the picture tends to be high resolution or not. Presently, the technology is still imprecise in estimating calorie counts.

According to Kevin Murphy, a researcher at Google acknowledges as much to Popular Science stating that `it’s okay fine, maybe we get the calories off by 20%. It does not matter’. The focus for Google is in minimizing those inaccuracies over a period of time, claims Murphy. There does not seem to be any doubt in Google’s ability in collecting and processing data from large section of users though the company would still have to solve a big problem for the function of Im2Calories – calorie counting could be unreliable.

Counting Calories – Look at Kinds of Calories Eaten

A main study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2011 observed that the quality of food is a main contributing factor than quantity. Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, lead author of the study informed the New York Times - `Conventional wisdom – to eat everything in moderation eat fewer calories and avoid fatty foods, isn’t the best approach.

Just counting calories won’t matter much unless you look at the kinds of calories you’re eating’. However if calories seems to a good measure for health, food labels, - the basis of Google’s date, has also considered to be inaccurate. In 2010, there has been much uncertainty with regards to calorie counting where David Kirchoff, the CEO then of the Weight Watchers acknowledged that `calorie-counting has become unhelpful’ for those intending to lose weight. Since then the company is said to have abandoned its calorie first approach.

Im2Calories – A Potential Tool

Im2Calories, which is the potential tool, had been announced at the Rework Deep Learning Summit, recently. Murphy had unveiled a project that utilises `sophisticated deep learning algorithms to analyse a still image of food, estimating how many calories could be on the plate. In one instance, the system viewed an image and counted `two eggs, two pancakes and three strips of bacon.

Although the food stuff does not seem to be a universal unit of measurement, the system could scale the size of each piece of foot with regards to the plate together with the condiments. Murphy has no intention of shaming users with this new system but wants to have the `process of keeping a food diary and awareness of foods and this seems to be much easier than feeding information manually to a food app which could include portions of food items, types of food and much more.

It is assumed that the latest tool Im2Calories could be popular especially in the US since obesity tends to be a crisis. However, even if Im2Calories does not seem to be accurate, Murphy is of the opinion that the new system will tend to have an impact on the users.

Google's Project Vault Is a Security System Disguised As a MicroSD Card

The search engine giant is coming up with new project where it is planning to use make phones much more secure than ever by the use of microSD card which will act as the security powerhouse. In present both web and mobile security is the primary concern of consumers and enterprise companies because both have to secure their personal information such as; financial detail, clients detail and other very sensitive data, so it is expected that Google’s Project Vault will be much useful in future.

Recently, at the I/O developer conference, Google unveiled its latest projects. In Project Vault, Google is trying to make phone more secure, without changing the way to manufacture the Smartphones. On last Friday, the company announced its Project Vault, which will enable the microSD card to act as the the digital security system apart from traditional use where computers and phones was recognizing it as the storage device.

According to the statement of Regina Dugan, who is Team lead for ATAP or Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group, Project Vault will make your mobile devices more secure than ever which is also known as big security in the small package. Google is trying to cater the need of consumers where due to advanced technology today users are able to get each and every service at on their Smartphones, but still the cyber security is their primary concern. It is expected that Project Vault will be useful for all the platforms such as; Android, iOS, Windows and OS X.

The Vault card will be the secure way to protect the data and personal information of phone or computer users. For an example:- It will be able to encrypt the chat messages which will be on app and by doing this it will provide the extra levels of security or secure authentication, so that device will be able to identify your correctly. In industry, the Google will be the first company to develop this kind of technology for personal use as well as for the use of enterprise companies.

According to Google officials it will easily meet the standards of consumers and high bar of well known companies. The card will have the NFC or near-field communication, chip for communication to contact to the nearby devices and 4 gigabytes of storage as well.

According to experts, unfortunately the consumer segment will not able to secure their mobile or other device anytime soon because in present, Google is developing its microSD card for enterprise companies and later it will focus on the consumer segment.

The idea behind this concept is that enterprise companies need to secure the data of their customers, clients and product information as well. Project Vault will provide the secure way to communicate and store data as well for free services such as; Gmail email service, Google Maps, Chrome Web browser and more. Officially, Google has not stated that when it will launch the SD card as this tech giant is involve in several other projects.

Polaroid Mobile Zip Printer

Polaroid Zip – A Small Box – Photo Printer


Polaroid Zip, a small box which is a little bigger than a deck of cards, is around an inch thick and can be utilised as a photo printer. It is a compact little pocket printer producing high quality photos straight from the smartphone. Polaroid has been in business for instant printing for more than 65 years and there is something amazing about being able to get photos and a physical copy within a matter of few minutes.

The procedure has undergone a tremendous change since the original Polaroid instant camera went on sale in late 1948. Way back then, the film packs were used in the cameras which comprises of sheets of plastic negatives that were covered in reactive chemicals which could develop when they were exposed to light. Currently, Polaroid, digital instant cameras tends to use Zink paper containing dye crystals and when an image is printer, the film is hit with 200m pulses of heat that tends to melt the crystals creating a wallet sized colour photograph.

Its technology is built into some of Polaroid’s products which compriseof the Z2300 instant camera though presently the company has launched a stand-alone portable printer that enables to print off wallet-sized photos from their phone.


Printer Size of a Smartphone


Size of the printer is around the size of a smartphone that measure 2.9 x 4.7 x 0.9 inches with approx. weight of 186 gm. which can be carried around in one’s handbag or else in a pocket. It can connect to phones with the use of Bluetooth or NFC where an app could be used in selecting and editing an image, to apply filters, enhance the brightness, saturation and contract as well as to create collages.

A 2 x 3 inch photo image is obtained within a minute and the Polaroid Zip has the potential of printing around 25 photos with a single charge where the Zink paper is backed with adhesive and once printed, the photos could also be used as stickers.

Bluetooth can be used if one has an iOS or a non NFC phone. For NFC, the same can be turned in `on’ position, on an Android phone and touch it to the top of the printer. This enables the Polaroid Zip app to launch on the phone and thereafter you could take a picture or select a photo from the gallery of the phone. An option to edit the photos or adjust the position, adding text and emojis or embed a hidden message in the form of a QR code is also available.


Appropriate for Events – Weddings/Graduation


Obtaining a print of a photo takes around 40 minutes, once the blue smart sheet passes through the deviceThe prints tend to be a little bit pixelated from the normal print from PhotoBox or Snappy Snaps while the colours seems to be a bit faded, nevertheless the size of the print does not seem to damage the whole effect. The Polaroid Mobile Zip Printer could be appropriate for events such as graduations and wedding which would make it possible to get instant memento prints for any given occasion.

It is recommended that Polaroid could be utilised in creating business cards and the app offers several template as well as the option to add in images together with personal information. It could be a good idea, though a laboured way in the making of business cards. It could also make a nice choice in adding pictures to scrapbook at the time of travelling since the size of the printer enables the user in carrying it along with the ability to print images whenever needed with the sense of spontaneous functions in creating images.


Can Be Connected to iOS/Android Devices 


The Polaroid Zip is priced at £110 and being provided with instant images whenever needed could give the recipient, especially when most of the images in the present age tend to remain only in the digital format. The Zip mobile printer when compared to the Fujifilm Instax Share SP-1 is priced at $129.99 and can be connected to an iOS or Android device through Bluetooth. With the use of free app, one can change the photos on the phone or tablet into small 2 x 3 inch border less prints.

The firm `Ammunition, which designed Polaroid’s Cube camera, also worked on the Zip and its results can be seen. The Zip seems to be an attractive simple device similar to the Cube, which looks somewhat like a portable hard drive than a printer. Besides, the glossy plastic cover, it picks up quickly hairline scratches and fingerprints but one would want to check down a microfiber pouch to make it more attractive since it is not included.

The only port is Micro-USB for charging and the only button is for power while the battery is built-in which tends to last for around 25 prints, meaning that for a long event, it may have to be plugged in to keep the prints going. The top area tends to slide off easily and reveals a compartment which holds 10 sheets of paper.

Sony to Roll out 'Ultra Street Fighter IV' PS4 Patch

Sony has announced to release patch for its recently launched Ultra Street Fighter IV by next week for the PlayStation 4 (PS4) users. The gamers have already complained about the lag in the game in form of unwanted glitches, lag in inputs and some silly but important shortcomings like the button which starts the screen is non-existent along with other issues. In short this game doesn’t provide optimum level of gameplay experience which Sony games are known to deliver.

The Much Awaited Patch For PS4 Users

A tweet has revealed about the much awaited patch by none other than the Sony Director of Third Party Production, Gio Corsi. Tweet had shared the information that patch had been successfully completed by the game developers and it will be tested to analyse its performance. Once this patch successfully passes in the test it will be rolled out for the all the legitimate game users.

The Problems Faced By The Game Players

Ultra Street Fighter IV was launched in March by Sony with a huge fanfare and great expectations of providing a demanding and adventurous game for the gamers. But it turned out to be plagued by a huge number of bugs along with menu slow down. Play Station platforms are designed in such a way that it offers an exclusive and dominant version which can be easily used for the tournaments and other purposes. Furthermore Play Station 4 offers better graphics and gameplay functionalities over the predecessor PS3.

Ultra Street Fighter IV Fails To Feature In Game Tournaments

Due to the number of reports relating to the glitches and problems along with input lags in Ultra Street Fighter IV, Capcom decided not to include this exciting fighting game for tournament play. Capcom certainly won’t be allowing this game in the tournament for aggressive gameplay until the issue is rectified or resolved from the Sony. Even other tournament organisers are dwelling on their decision whether to use this game on the PS4 platform or not. Sony has maintained that this game is very much playable on the Xbox 360 platform without suffering any glitches or problems. Sony and Capcom are required to address this problem and rectify it as soon as possible; otherwise it will certainly destroy its reputation on the PS4 platform.

Patch Expected To Resolve All Issues

Ultra Street Fighter IV had suffered problems both on the online and offline gameplay which seriously diminished the quality of game in all essential sections of graphics, audio and video retention. Menus happened to load terribly slowly along with jagged textures and numerous technical glitches which were subsequently reported by the game players. Sony has confirmed that it will be releasing patched to fix the bugs present in the game through a synchronized roll out plan. The Ultra Street Fighter IV fans are delighted by this development and they are hoping that Capcom will reconsider its decision of excluding the game from EWO 2015.