Google’s Project Vault secures your devices with a microSD card
Hackers are getting more brazen and passwords are becoming huge of a pain as we keep signing up for services. Password managers help ease the pain of dealing with security over multiple sites and services, but for the most part, our computing lives are open to anyone with even marginal hacking skills. Google thinks it can fix that with Project Vault, a secure device that plugs into any system both desktop or mobile that supports microSD. The device runs its own ultra-secure operating system that’s partitioned from the rest of the host device with 4GB of storage for your most sensitive data.
The system runs a custom-built Real Time Operating System (RTOS) with a suite of cryptographic solutions for keeping data secure and messaging with friends or super-secret spies that also have Vault. Google wants it to be as user friendly as possible so the host does all the work without the users having to deal with configuring the device.
The company also showed off a security protocol that determines who you are based on your habits. It takes your input and creates a “Trust Score” as to how certain it is that you’re the owner of a device.
The card and system are still “very much in the experimental stage” with 500 seeded internally at Google. But, the source code for the system is available so developers can start delving into it.
Filed under: Desktops, Misc, Handhelds, Storage, Google
Source: Project Vault
Who needs a smartwatch to make payments when you can use your voice?
Google announced a new app called hands Free that will allow you to make in-store payments with just your voice. Never reach for your wallet, smartwatch, or phone again with Hands Free. All you will need to do is tell the cashier you want to pay with Google, and you can then pay using your voice. The Hands Free app does not share your full credit card details with the store, just the necessary information to transfer money for your payment. Hopefully this helps improve our security by minimizing shared data, so we don’t have more data breaches like we had last year with Target.
The app is expected to released later this year, but limited to the San Francisco area only until the bugs are worked out. As of right now, the project is still in its infancy state and only Papa John’s and McDonald’s are signed up for this program. If you live in San Francisco and are interested in signing up, hit the link below.
Source – Google
The post Who needs a smartwatch to make payments when you can use your voice? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
YouTube bringing 360 videos to Google Cardboard
The Google Cardboard is now getting support for YouTube’s recently announced 360 degree videos (2D). Only yesterday, we heard about Google Cardboard getting some interesting additions at I/O 2015.
The company has announced that it will be bringing 3D 360 degree videos to YouTube as well, which will be something to look forward to.
360 degree videos are now supported by iOS devices as well, so iPhone users will certainly welcome its addition. There’s a wide range of content that’s available in 360 degrees, although something like this would be ideal for concerts and other events like that.
There’s a video from EDM producer Avicii which was shot entirely using the new setup of 360 degree cameras that are available in various YouTube Space locations across the world. You can check it out from the source link below.
In the meanwhile, make sure you check out our complete Google I/O 2015 coverage here.
Source: YouTube Creator Blog
Come comment on this article: YouTube bringing 360 videos to Google Cardboard
Google’s Project Soli to bring gesture control to wearables
Gesture-based system are usually attached to video game consoles like the Microsoft Kinect or your computer like the Leap Motion. Google’s ATAP team figured that the smaller form factor of the smartwatch segment needed its own finger-waving way to control the devices without having to reply on the smartphone. It’s Project Soli replaces the physical controls of smartwatches with your hands using radar to capture your movements.
The system uses broad beam radar to measure doppler image, IQ and spectrogram. The chip recognizes movement, velocity and distance and can be programmed to change the input based on that distance. the idea is to use some of the same gestures your already using for your mobile devices and augmented those with hand motions that seem natural to interact with a Soli-enabled device. “What we propose is that you use a hand motions vocabulary,” said ATAP technical program lead Ivan Poupyrev.
The Soli chip works within the 60Ghz radar spectrum at up to 10,000 frames per seconds. The final chip will contain everything it needs to be plug and play including the antennas. ATAP says the device can be made to scale.
The Project Soli team is still working to finalize the board, but it’s gone from a device the size of a pizza box to about the size of an SD card in 10 months. Soli information will be released to developers later this year.
Filed under: Handhelds, Wearables, Google
Source: Project Soli
Google and Qualcomm squeezed Project Tango tech into a smartphone
It seems like a decent of chunk of Google’s big news today deals with its partnerships. The search giant is already teaming up with Levi’s to explore the realm of smart Jacquard clothes, and now Google has confirmed that it’s been working with Qualcomm to build its Project Tango world-sensing cameras into the chipmaker’s reference phone designs. Those Tango-phones will be seeded developers and devices makers for now, and thanks to the arcane decisions that ultimately define a company’s device-making strategy, we might not ever actually see a consumer-ready Tango phone. Still, Google’s long-term ambitions are pretty clear: It’d like to get these Tango devices into our pockets en masse, and a closer relationship with one of the world’s biggest mobile chipmakers is a great way to do it.
Before we go any further, yes, there are already Tango phones out there. Thing is, there seemed only to be a very small number of them, and they were earmarked specifically for developers who proved they had something cool to use them for. Now that Tango tech is winding up in a reference design — a sort of pre-production working mockup of a phone — the leap toward a Tango-ready consumer phone is almost trivial. That future is probably still aways off, though, so for now the company’s settling for getting software creators more comfortable with Project Tango’s quirks. Google announced yesterday that developers could buy Project Tango development kits for $512 starting next week, but there’s one rub: Not everyone wants to carry around a 7-inch tablet with a trio of crazy cameras on its back. By squeezing down the size of those cameras and optimizing them to play nice with Qualcomm’s crazy-popular Snapdragon chipsets, Google and Qualcomm have made Tango way more convenient for developers to play with (eventually) and opened up another route to bring Tango to the teeming masses.
Yes, another route. Last year, Google announced at another ATAP panel that it was working with LG to bring Tango to tech to consumers in early 2015 — a launch window that’s pretty clearly come and gone. A Tango smartphone in the works at the time reportedly got killed too, the thing is, we’re in a pretty different place now. We now live in an age where your smartphone can double as a surprisingly decent VR headset thanks to a foldable hunk of cardboard and some lenses. Is it really such a stretch to think Google might want to build a way for us to capture content that can relatively easily be converted to VR with the very same devices? Not at all. The only question is when that intersection comes to pass, and with any luck, the answer is “very soon”.
Filed under: Mobile
5 Android Apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
Sponsored by: Anytime Gallery for Wear
[Price: Free / $1.99]
Anytime Gallery for Wear is a gallery application that allows you to sync photos between your phone and your Android Wear smartwatch. In the free version you can sync up to 20 photos and if you go premium, you’ll be able to sync an unlimited number of photos. It’s a simple app that seems to work well and even includes support for pinch to zoom on the Android Wear device. It’s a fun little app and a great way to see your pictures on your wrist. Give it a try and show your support for Android Apps Weekly!
Here are your headlines from this week!
- Last week we talked about the latest Humble Bundle. This week, as a gift, anyone who gets the Artifex Mundi Humble Bundle will also receive Steam keys for Mac, Windows, and Linux so you can play on mobile or on your computer. It’s still a nice way to give to charity and a good way to get some cheap games.
- An interesting new development may add Quick Reply functionality to any messaging based notification. Developer MohammadAG is working on a root-free app that will add Quick Reply functionality to almost anything without you being required to do anything. It’s not out yet but it looks very promising.
- Microsoft did a whole bunch of things this last week so we’re going to group them all together. They announced a Windows 10 companion app that will help you sync your Android phone to your Windows 10 computer for improved functionality. They also announced an app called Microsoft OneClip that will be a cross-platform clipboard app which could be nice. Cortana for Android has been officially announced although there is no release date yet. Lastly, Microsoft announced a partnership with 18 OEMs that will see Microsoft Office pre-installed on tablets.
For even more Android apps and games news, updates, and releases, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter. There we have the complete list of everything that’s happened this last week. If you’re so inclined, you can also sign up with your email address and we’ll beam this info to you every single Friday.
Subscribe to our Android Apps Weekly newsletter!
FORM Watch Face
[Price: Free]
First up this week is FORM Watch Face and this is probably the most ridiculous Android Wear watch face of all time. It’s developed by the same guy who brought us Muzei Live Wallpaper. It works like this. The watch face will display whatever background is on your phone to your watch. Then it will let pretty much any Android Wear watch face sit on top of that. It’s a nifty idea and totally free to use.
Google Spotlight Stories
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Google Spotlight Stories actually isn’t new because it used to be a Motorola-specific app. This is actually a storytelling application that lets you view immersive short stories using 360-degree video, 2D, and 3D animations. You can buy additional stories if you want and it really does bring something special to the table. Beware that not all devices are supported but it is free to download.
Periscope
[Price: Free]
You may have seen this already if you watched our best Android apps and games from May 2015. Periscope is a live video streaming app released by Twitter. It allows you to stream live from your smartphone camera to all of your Twitter followers. You can also watch old streams, stream privately, and it enjoys full integration with Twitter. It’s an interesting app that does things a little bit different.
Microsoft Hyperlapse
[Price: Free]
Microsoft Hyperlapse is an interesting camera application that helps you create stop-motion videos. It actually came out last week but we couldn’t try it out because of the lack of device compatibility. This week it got some more devices added to the list. If you want to try it out, you’ll have to become a tester on Google+ and then download it. It’s a pretty fun little app and worth a shot. You can learn how to do it here.
Playboy NOW
[Price: Free]
Last up is a new app from Playboy called Playboy Now. Despite its namesake, the app actually contains hardly any nudity and is pretty much safe for work. It’s actually a news app that gives you updates on celebrities, night life, and other activities and events one might read about from Playboy. That said it does still carry a Mature 17+ rating in the Play Store. It’s worth a shot if you like Playboy.
Wrap up
If we missed any important Android apps or games news, tell us about it in the comments! Do note that next week will be a special Google I/O episode, so stay tuned for that!
Google’s first partner for smart, sensor-laden clothes is Levi’s
Remember when we said yesterday that Google’s Project Jacquard would lead to the advent of touch-friendly pants? Well, we were more right than we thought: During the Google ATAP address here at Google I/O 2015, Technical Program Lead Ivan Poupyrev confirmed that the search giant is teaming up with Levi’s to help bridge the gap between Jacquard’s technically complex fabrics and the seemingly arcane world of fashion. “We think about Jacquard as a raw material that will make computation a part of the language which apparel designers and textile designers and fashion designers speak,” he said. “We want digital to be just the same thing as quality of yarn or colors used,” referring to how fundamental these sorts of connected considerations should be.
If you haven’t keeping tabs on Jacquard (named for a kind of weaving that requires a special loom), Google’s creating a sort of conductive yarn that they, or their partners, can embed right into fabrics. By weaving those threads into meshes, you’re ultimately left with interactive patches that can sense your touch, how hard you’re pressing on them, and even your hand’s position in space before it even makes contact with the fabric. Here’s the thing, though: Don’t expect your next pair of Jacquard jeans to put the touchscreens in your life out of job. Poupyrev says that Jacquard is better suited for broad gestures (at least for now, anyway), but the potential is still pretty staggering. One video demo showed a person swiping across the length of their forearm — clad in a Jacquard jacket, naturally — to initiate a phone call on a nearby Nexus 6.
It’s that seamlessness of behavior that’s got companies like Levi’s so worked up. By baking the ability to pick up your gestures in something that has no screen, the possibility for digital distraction doesn’t loom in the air the way it does with a smartwatch. Levi’s head of product innovation Paul Dillinger said the notion that really got the clothier’s imagination thrumming is enabling “the clothes we love to interface with the digital world, while maintaining eye with the people we’re having dinner with.”
Google taking Wallet in new direction
Via a Google+ post, the Google Wallet team tells that it is building a new Wallet app for Android and iOS.
This app will allow anyone who has a US debit card to send and receive money with no extra charges in a matter of minutes, even if the other person does not have the app. Money can be sent directly to your bank account or it can be used in stores using a Google Wallet card.
Of course, this is just an initial announcement, so the app currently is far from ready. The Wallet team adds that it expects to share more details in the next few months.
The post Google taking Wallet in new direction appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google’s Cloud Messaging now sends notifications to iOS devices
Google’s made a massive leap forward in cross-platform messaging at Google I/O that will now allow notifications to be sent to iOS devices as well as Android.
Google’s Cloud Messaging is no longer just for Android devices or your web browser since notifications can be also sent to any iOS device.
The update to the service also introduces topics that can restrict notifications to things that you care about rather than everything. For example, a news app can be restricted to sending just notifications about the world of tech.
Whilst the feature will have to be coded into each and every app to take advantage of it, the enhancements made to Google’s Cloud Messaging is a massive leap in the right direction.
The post Google’s Cloud Messaging now sends notifications to iOS devices appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google will standardize fingerprint readers in Android M
Sadly, one area where Apple iOS is severely better than Android at is reading fingerprints. Apple has pretty much set the standard for all other devices, when it comes to fingerprint readers, as their device is the easiest fingerprint reader to use among smartphones. There’s no need to swipe down across the iPhone’s fingerprint scanner like Samsung users need to do on their Galaxy devices which leads to much frustration when it does not work. Even Google’s own Nexus devices do not have fingerprint readers built into their stock devices, a fell two years after the iPhone 5S debuted with the technology.
At Google I/O, they announced that Android will standardize fingerprint ID security across all Android M devices. This will make it easier for manufacturers to access payment functions using your fingerprint and it will minimize variations across devices using the fingerprint scanner. Standardizing the fingerprint security should make the technology more relevant on Android – as of right now many flagship devices don’t offer fingerprint readers because it is not baked into the software.
Just because Android is not the first to have the best fingerprint reader does not mean Google doesn’t care about security. Don’t forget two-factor authentication was brought to Android first.
The post Google will standardize fingerprint readers in Android M appeared first on AndroidGuys.
AIVAnet 