Important Innovations

Apple, Google, Samsung's Less Expensive Pricing Source: Apple New Phones, More Affordable Apple just unveiled its new iPhone SE 2020.  It's priced at $399.00, is leading edge and the most affordable smart phone in Apple's lineup.  Apple's new strategy is to introduce less expensive phones.  This is the first time  that it has done so since 2016.   Apple has two key reasons. In these turbulent times, consumers are watching their wallets and not as free to upgrade on expensive models. Also, less expensive phones attract new consumers and  Apple wants to grow its new customer base. Bionic Chip Some of  the features of the iPhone SE 2020 include  wireless charging, Apple's A13 Bionic chip, a home button, Touch ID, haptic feedback and a Portrait mode. Interestingly, it doesn't have 5G connectivity and no facial  ID. Bargain Phone Wars The new iPhone faces stiff competition.

Jointly Developing Contact Tracing Technology Source: Smart phone stock images Purpose: Slow the Spread of COVID-19 This is a very rare, global tech collaboration.  Google and Apple power 99% of the world's  smartphones. They've joined forces to develop contact tracing technologies to stop the spread of the coronavirus. They are using their smartphone platforms to do this.  They just made the announcement. Potential: To Help 1/3 of World's Population The importance of this new use of smartphone tech is massive.  Experts say it has the potential to monitor the conornavirus spread and help  about one-third of the world's population through smart information. That amounts to 3 billion  people being monitored and helped. Phone User Privacy Google and Apple say their plan protects user privacy. It's a phone user opt-in system to get an alert if you and your phone have been in close contact with someone who has

Using AI on Health Care is One of the Biggest Opportunities for 2020's, Google Thinks Source:  Google AI & Your Health This is fascinating and directional advice on the future of artificial intelligence from the CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet.  Sundar Pichai revealed, before the huge global corporate crowd at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, that for the next five to ten years the greatest potential for using AI is to improve health care outcomes.  That is going to be a major focus for Google's development of AI. The Google CEO added that the tech giant will preserve the privacy of patients benefitting from the new AI powered devices and tech that Google will develop.  He made those comments today in Davos. Potential Uses are Profound CEO Pichai said the potential for this AI HC tech is profound.  His example in Davos was cancer.  If it means the difference in outcomes, the disease can be devastating. Pichai says on lung cancer, if

Google and Boeing Developing Electric VTOL Vehicle Source:  Kitty Hawk's Cora EV flying vehicle New Future of Driving and Flying Boeing and Google founder Larry Page's flying car start-up Kitty Hawk just accelerated, re-booted and re-branded an important flying car, VTOL development venture. They call it Wisk Aero and it's focused on Kitty Hawk's semi-autonomous, 2 seat, electric flying car Cora. Their plan is to make it fully autonomous, all electric and great as a flying taxi for congested urban areas. For a great blog on this, go to Important Innovations Collection: Google's Larry Page, Boeing Flying EV : Wisk Aero Source:  Kitty Hawk's Cora Big Push for Sustained Electric Powered Personal & Taxi Flight Google founder Larry Page...

Google's Futuristic Smart City in Toronto Source:  City of Toronto Urban Tech Living Sidewalk Labs, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, just rolled out details on its smart city project in Toronto.  The extent of the technology being applied is phenomenal.  Some new details have just been released on the 12 acre site project, which has tentative approval from Waterfront Toronto, the agency overseeing the project. Details and Highlights Noise tracking monitors in apartments to eliminate noise pollution Adaptive street designs Responsive sounds to help the blind and visually impaired navigate Infra-red sensors to count foot traffic in stores Self-driving garbage cans with volume and optical sensors Majority of services proposed have been implemented by Sidewalk Labs in city projects around the world No facial recognition will be used 60% of the services won't generate personal information and the personal data generated won't be shared with 3rd parties

Connectivity and Style - Fashion Titan Yves Saint Laurent Partners with Google Source:  Yves Saint Laurent Smart Shoulder Strap Powered by Google Project Jacquard It's called the Cit-E Backpack and it features a smart shoulder strap that's powered by Google.  Specifically, by Google's Project Jacquard, that transforms ordinary objects like clothing and backpacks into interactive surfaces.  It weaves touch and gestures into any textile to enable connectivity.  The smart backpack is manufactured by Yves Saint Laurent in a partnership with Google.  YSL is a fashion titan and the price is pricey at $878. Smart Strap, Smart Phone There's a tiny module containing a battery and hardware made by Google that fits into a hollowed-out space in the backpack's compartment.  The module works with the wearer's cellphone and allows the left shoulder strap to control the phone.  There's a special cell phone pocket inside the backpack. Backpack with Co

Controlling Your Dashboard - New Big Tech War Source:  GM Embedding Google Tech in 3.6 Million Cars Yearly GM has selected Google Technology to be embedded in their vehicles starting in 2021.  The win for Google is huge.  Their tech could be installed in 3.6 million GM vehicles yearly.  The Google technology will power navigation and provide voice-activated controls.  It will also deliver expanded infotainment functions.  Google beat Amazon for this deal which is part of a big, emerging race among technology companies to control vehicle dashboards. Google Apps Onboard GM Vehicles Google Assistant, Google Maps and other applications will be available through the Google Play App Store for all GM brands.  The first brands with built-in Google technology will roll in 2021 with more to come.  The one market this won't be available in is China, as of right now. Amazon Versus Google This Google win was a big defeat for Amazon which is trying to sell its rival

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google Executives to Testify Source:  Stock Image  US Congressional Anti-Trust Hearings This news broke a few moments ago.  Next week, in Washington, DC, there will be a Congressional hearing concerning alleged anti-trust matters related to some of the biggest technology companies in the world.  The stakes for this Congressional hearing are big.  It's all about the tremendous market power that Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook wield.  On July 16 top executives from those four companies will testify and answer questions on Capitol Hill. Multiple Investigations The hearing will be held by the House Judiciary Committee's Anti-Trust Subcommittee.  The House Judiciary Committee is investigating the extent of competition in digital markets.  Both Democrats and Republicans are concerned about the power exercised by these companies, that are some of the world's most valuable and innovative.  There are multiple investigations currently underway i

Visiting Global Heritage Sites with VR Source:  CyArk's 3D VR Image of Ancient Stone Temples in Thailand No Need to Leave Home to Tour This is one of the greatest uses of technology and virtual reality.  Google and a non-profit CyArk have collaborated on a website Open Heritage that allows you to tour global heritage sites via a virtual reality app without ever leaving your home.  You can tour the ruins of Pompei or a 1,000 year old Mayan Temple online and/or enhance it with VR googles right at home.  For a great news blog Important Innovations Collection: Visiting World Sites with VR : Virtual Reality Tours of Global Heritage Sites Source:  CyArk 3D VR image of ancient stone temples in Thailand  Google & CyArk Co...

Google's Translatotron Source:  Google AI Enabled Translator Google software engineers have invented a translating system, enabled by AI, that captures and preserves the original speaker's tone, cadence and words and converts all of that into another language, for instance French into German.  The Google team hopes their experimental system provides a starting point to develop this new speech technology.  For a great news blog on this, go to Important Innovations Collection: Google's Translatotron : New Tech Translates Tone, Cadence and Words Source:  Google AI Translatotron  Translator Google software engineers have just annou...

Leads Investment in New Biotech focused on Therapies for Coronary Heart Disease Source:  Stock Image of Gene Editing Goal: Therapies to Safely Edit Human Genome to Permanently Reduce Heart Disease Risk Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.  Alphabet's venture capital arm GV is leading a $58.5 million investment to launch Verve Therapeutics.  Verve, based in Cambridge, MA, has been founded by a renowned team of researchers in cardiovascular genetics and gene editing.  They are developing therapies that involve editing the human genome to permanently reduce the risk of heart disease.  The company will use the funding to go into early stage testing of its therapies on animals. Verve's Focus The company says it will develop treatments only by editing adult cells so that the effects of genetic manipulation can't be passed on to future generations.  Also, it plans to focus on adults at risk of coronary artery disease. Their Approach Verv

FAA Gives 1st Approval for Drone Package Deliveries to Google Source:  Google Drone Google Drone Package Deliveries to Start in Virginia in a Few Months Package deliveries by drones in the United States has been approved for Google by the FAA.  Google is cleared to start drone delivery service in Virginia.  Operations are expected to get airborne in a few months.  Google calls it Project Wing.  The drones are expected to cut costs and time for package deliveries.   For more on this news development, go to Important Innovations Collection: Drone Deliveries to Your Door : Google Wins First FAA Approval to Deliver Packages by Drones Source:  Google Drone Starts in Virginia Google is now on its way to de...

Creates Highly Realistic 3D Images Source:  Google showing 2D & 3D images Google & MIT Research Team Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab and Google have created a next generation AI system capable of creating 3D shapes with realistic texture, lighting and reflections. VON It's called VON or Visual Objects Network.  It not only generates images more realistic than most state of the art systems.  It also enables texture and shape editing, viewpoint shifts and other 3 dimensional tweaking. 3D & 2D Most systems focus on generating 2D images, which limits their practical use in many fields.  VON synthesizes 3D shapes and 2D images.  The researchers next step is fine modeling for producing shapes and images at a higher resolution, disentangling texture into lighting and appearance and synthesizing natural scenes.  Their research was just presented and accepted at NeurlPS 2018 in Montreal.

Google Forecast - Speech Will Be the Next Big Leap for the Internet MIT Image of Speech Recognition Google Turns Twenty Google turned 20 on 9/24/2018.  And, the company, with a storied history of innovation, is forecasting that speech recognition and the understanding of language are the keys to the future of information and search.  They believe that is literally the future of the internet. Better Understanding of Common Language Advanced voice services will be the next big leap.  That's according to Google's head of search Ben Gomes.  He and Google believe what's crucial to the future of the internet is a better understanding of common language.  This is very complex territory as there are millions of problems that arise and need to be solved in the many languages used to search for information on the internet. Google's Leadership in Speech Recognition Tech Google has been at the forefront of voice recognition.  Voice recognition is built into Googl