ICYMI: Smart sweat detector, AI for gaming and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: Berkeley researchers developed a wearable sensor that can track the chemicals inside your sweat. The idea is that it can help identify dehydration, muscle fatigue and stress, though it could also help spot disease flare-ups for the diabetic.
Google’s artificial intelligence lab built an algorithm that beat a champion Go player at the game– the first time that’s ever been done by a machine, since it’s one of the most complicated board games.
The gene that triggers schizophrenia has been discovered by a team of scientists with the Broad Institute. It is a gene that regulates immune system functions, just unfortunately has a habit of killing connections to brain cells in some cases. That loss of connection is what leads to the disease.
And finally, we loved the video of a paraglider seemingly moving through a breathtaking Aurora Borealis display in Norway.
Please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
Google app now has an Aussie accent
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Being an Australian, one of the things that I’ve had to learn to live with is Google butchering the names of Australian cities – I mean seriously, what’s not to get when saying Mullumbimby or Maroochydore? Fortunately, Google has heard the Aussie cries of pain (by the way, “Aussie” is pronounced “Ozzie”), and has just updated the Google app with an Australian accent, one which can actually pronounce Australian city names. That might not sound like a huge deal for the rest of the world, but it’s nice to know that Google is thinking of our small, island nation.
Ironically enough, some commenters on the above YouTube video have already spotted some mispronunciations – obviously Australian English is a really easy accent to nail. To take advantage of the more Aussie-sounding Google, you’ll need to go to the Google app, enter Settings->Search Language, and change your selected option to English (Australia) if it wasn’t already. You’ll also need to do the same in the Google Maps app to get all the place names happening in Australian as well.
What do you think about the update to the Google app to add an Australian accent? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Mashable
The post Google app now has an Aussie accent appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Google updates Docs, Sheets and Slides for easier teamwork
In a world of laptops, tablets, and smartphones there are more places than ever to get some work done. All these devices are great for their portability, but not the best for working with a team.
Google also agrees and decided to update Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Android and iOS to allow you to quickly add teammates to them. All you have to do is start to type their name in the comment bubble on the right for them to be added. This will make things much easier for teammates to work on the same documents simultaneously.
You can check the video below to see just how useful it can be. It’s not just for teammates either, you can also use this feature with your friends to make something like a zucchini chocolate cake.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Source: Google
Come comment on this article: Google updates Docs, Sheets and Slides for easier teamwork
Google Docs mobile suite now has full comment control
As someone who uses Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on a daily basis, it’s sometimes a little frustrating that the mobile versions of these services lack some of the functionality of their in-browser, desktop counterparts. Although they aren’t quite there yet, Google is constantly working to close that gap in an effort to create a completely seamless work experience. Today they finally brought comments to the mobile apps, and the desktop version of Docs got a little perk as well.
To showcase how this increased interactivity works, Google has put together a small demonstration that follows the efforts of a group of workers attempting to create a recipe page. One person who isn’t involved in the discussion yet is brought into the conversation simply by mentioning their name – a new feature for both mobile and desktop versions of the suite. The workers build on the document simultaneously and are in constant communication. It doesn’t matter whether they’re on a tablet, phone, or computer.
See also: Google Drive update simplifies organization
As icing on the cake, as it were, Google Docs for the desktop also got a little bonus. It’s now much easier to add a comment. No more going all the way back up to the overhead toolbar to post your comment, you can simply hover over the right side of the document and click the “add comment” icon that will fluidly appear. Still not quite as quick as Ctrl+Alt+M, but still pretty speedy.
What are your thoughts to these new additions to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides? Are these services that you use regularly? If so, what primary issue would you most like to see addressed in future updates? Let us know in the comments below!
Next: Best Android tablets
Alphabet working to create smartphone-friendly tech that recognizes faces on the fly
Right now, Google Photos offers some pretty impressive facial recognition capabilities. Not only faces, but objects as well: from flowers, to cats, to beaches. However, the way Photos analyzes your pictures and organizes them to be searchable leans heavily on remote data centers that process and catalogue images using deep learning technology. In the future, Alphabet wants to make that kind of computing capabilities available right on your handset.
The Google-owning tech company Alphabet is seeking to make built-in image recognition. This would allow for such futuristic things as being able to point your camera at a friend and it be able to recognize her on the fly. Bypassing the upload process currently required by services like Google Photos would open the doorway for a number of practical uses such as identifying faces for transaction authorization.
See also: Google Photos gets shared albums in latest update
See also: Google Photos gets shared albums in latest update
Google’s machine intelligence group is teaming up with Movidius, a unit and semiconductor startup also owned by Alphabet, to make this vision a reality. Google has purchased a number of Movidius chips called the MA2450 as well as the chip’s associated software to begin development. Google made no indication regarding a timeline for when we might expect to see this tech in the commercial market, but Movidius Chief Executive Remi El-Ouazzane did note that, “This collaboration is going to lead to a new generation of devices that Google will be launching. And they will launch in the not-too-distant future.”
What are your thoughts regarding Alphabet’s initiative to bring face and object recognition to portable devices? Is this heralding an end of privacy and the beginnings of an Orwellian dystopia, or are we looking forward to some seriously awesome and exciting technology? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
Google Cardboard attracted 5 million users since launch
Google Cardboard made its debut in June of 2014, and has been picking up steam ever since. Mountain View offered an official update on the usage stats today, though, showing just how popular the VR viewer really is. The company says 5 million Cardboard viewers have shipped to users in just over a year and a half. What’s more, those folks installed 25 million apps that are compatible with the headset, including 10 million between October and December 2015.
At around $20, Google Cardboard is a low-risk investment for folks who want to join the VR craze without spending a few hundred dollars. Of course, the popularity of Cardboard got a boost from Star Wars-branded versions and the arrival of a New York Times news app. There was also a revamped version that debuted at I/O 2015 last summer. The device is also popular in classrooms, allowing students to take virtual field trips to over 150 locations around the world through Google’s Expeditions project.
Google says there’s more on the way in terms of mobile VR, and perhaps that means more robust hardware. Former Vine chief Jeff Toff left Twitter to join Google’s VR efforts and a recent job listing points to new product development. While it’ll likely take a while before we see those devices, you can bet the company will have some VR-related news at its events throughout 2016.
[Image credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for New York Times]
Source: Google
42 HD textured and simple wallpapers for your mobile devices
Not everyone likes to have a busy background. That’s why we have assembled 42 HD wallpapers that are sure to keep your background simple yet great looking at the same time.
All of our wallpapers are a minimum of 1080p resolution, which means they will look great on any of your devices. The collection may be a little eclectic, but with the wide range you should be able to find a few to your liking.
The wallpapers are all in the scrolling images above, and if you want to save them, follow these instructions:
- Click the left/right arrows to scroll through the images
- Maximize the image you like by clicking on it
- Long press or hold down on the image and click “save”
- Go to your gallery or Google Photos and find your image
- Click “use as” and then click wallpaper
If you see a wallpaper that belongs to you and you would like to receive credit, I would love to give it to you! Just drop a comment in the section provided below with some proof (You know, just so we don’t have people claiming things that are not theirs…) So, please choose those that you like and enjoy!
Some of my favorites are listed below.
The post 42 HD textured and simple wallpapers for your mobile devices appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google adds chat-like commenting to Sheets and Slides on your phone
Over the last year or so, Google has put a focus on making the phone and tablet versions of its productivity suite up to par with the web versions. The latest new feature Google’s rolling out around that mission is a revamped commenting experience in Docs, Sheets and Slides for Android and iOS. For starters, Google is adding mobile commenting to the latter two apps — it launched in Docs last year, but was absent from Sheets and Slides until today.
The actual experience of using comments on your mobile device has been revamped a bit, as well. It’s a lot more like chat, something that makes sense for a mobile doc. When you’re collaborating and make a new comment, it’s easier to add people that you’ve shared the document with (or people in your organization, if you’re using Google Apps at work). Just start typing a name and it’ll auto-complete with the email address of whoever you want to add to the comment thread. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but given how much competition Google is getting from Microsoft on the mobile documents front, anything it can do to make the experience better for users is a smart move.
Source: Google
Google’s AI is the first to defeat a Go champion
Google’s DeepMind division has pulled off an impressive milestone. It’s AI has beaten a top ranked Go player five matches to zero. While computers winning chess matches against professional players has been old hat for a while, the computational power needed to master the Chinese game is astronomical. According to Google, there are more possible moves in a game of Go than there are atoms in the universe.
The company built a system called AlphaGo just to tackle the game’s nearly infinite possibilities. Instead of just trying to determine all the possible combinations of a game like it would with chess, the team feed the system’s neural network 30 million moves from professional players then had it learn how to create its own strategies by playing itself using a trail and error process called reinforcement learning.
All that training took up huge amounts of processing power and had to be offloaded to the Google Cloud Platform.
It then invited reigning three-time European Go champion Fan Hui to its office to play against AlphaGo. The computer defeated him. Google was quick to point out that beating a human at Go is, “just one rung on the ladder to solving artificial intelligence.”
AlphaGo is now slotted to take on world champion Lee Sedol in March.
Source: Google
Google Play Store streamlines comment feedback
Users have noted that a feature Google was testing in the Play Store a few months ago appears to be rolling out to all users. The feature involves the feedback options that users can provide to the reviews that are left on apps in the Play Store. Users are now limited to only a couple options when reviewing a review.
In the past the Play Store displayed both a thumbs up and a thumbs down icon next to each review. Users could use this to provide feedback as to whether a particular review was useful or not. Those icons have changed to include just a thumbs up icon and a stack of three dots ala the overflow menu. The overflow icon does function as a menu trigger, but the only option that comes up is to report a review as spam.
For now the changes mean users only have the option to provide positive feedback or report something as spam. With the code in place to trigger a menu pop up, we will have to see whether additional options are added at a later time or whether Google decides to keep things as simple as this current iteration. For now, the changes appear to only impact the Android version of the Play Store. On the web, users still have three options – spam, helpful or unhelpful.
via: Android Police
Come comment on this article: Google Play Store streamlines comment feedback
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