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CrowdOptic launches its own hardware as other Glass at Work partners seemingly dying

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 14 2016 - 4:56 pm PT
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Update 3/16: Augmate has reached out to clarify the situation, noting that CEO and founder Pete Wassell is indeed not leaving the company. The previous “team” page we linked to on the company’s site didn’t list Wassell’s name, but it appears the page — which has now been taken down — was inaccurate.

CrowdOptic, widely known as one of the larger and more successful of the dozen-or-so Glass at Work partners, has today announced its first in-house developed hardware product. The CrowdOptic Eye streams video via the company’s video streaming stack at the flip of a switch, adding additional opportunities for clients that have until now primarily used wearable devices like Google Glass for a wide variety of purposes ranging from medicine to sports…


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This future LeEco phone concept shows off an edge-screened, buttonless beauty [Gallery]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 14 2016 - 3:46 pm PT
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Chinese company LeEco (previously LeTV) hasn’t launched a phone in the United States yet, but reports from last year say that that’s probably going to change soon. Hopefully, when they do, this is the phone that they’ll launch. We’ve recently gotten our hands on these official LeEco-made renders depicting a future phone concept, sporting a Samsung-like edge screen, and a sleek all-metal buttonless design…


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SXSW: Samsung unveils Entrim 4D VR headset, Waffle & Hum On! Android apps [Video]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 14 2016 - 2:49 pm PT
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Samsung’s Creative Lab — the group within the company that cultivates small startup-like projects within the larger corporation — has unveiled three new projects here at SXSW in Austin, TX. Among them are a new VR technology called Entrim 4D which lets you more intimately feel the VR content you’re experiencing via electric signals sent to your brain, a collaborative social media project called Waffle, and a music creation app called Hum On!..


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Nexus 6P from $425, Lenovo 11-inch Chromebook $129, 200GB MicroSD $60, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 14 2016 - 11:00 am PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS

Deal: 32GB Nexus 6P down to $425 (Reg. $499), 64GB down to $475 (Reg. $549)

Lenovo 11-inch Chromebook 2.16GHz/2GB/16GB SSD: $129 shipped (Reg. $149)

Gold Box Monster SanDisk storage sale: 200GB MicroSD $60, UltraFit 128GB USB $25, much more

How-to: Use your car and an inexpensive inverter to replace the need for a home generator

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Daily Deals: 8TB Seagate USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $200, Asus Touchscreen Laptop/Tablet $155, more

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MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Holmes Smart WeMo appliances: Air Purifier $150 (Reg. $200), X-Large Heater $100 (Reg. $200)

Solartab: Powerful Solar Panel/13,000mAh dual USB battery in iPad form factor: $94 shipped ($35 off)

12-inch MacBook now $300 off: 256GB $1,000, 512GB $1,300 + extra $50 savings w/ .edu email

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

LG releases a new line of 4K Super UHDTVs with HDR capabilities and big price tags

Rule this summer’s BBQ with Mark Dredge’s new Cooking with Beer guide

SXSW: Sony’s Future Lab shows off its ‘N’ audio-based wearable, other projects

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 13 2016 - 12:04 pm PT
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Earlier this month Sony announced a new R&D initiative called the “Future Lab Program” and a mysterious device simply called “N” was concurrently shown off in a YouTube video. Details on this audio-based wearable were light until today, but the Japanese company set out to fix that by heading to the capital of Texas at SXSW Interactive to take the wraps off…


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Lee Sedol scores his first win against Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo [Video]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 13 2016 - 11:23 am PT
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Google’s AlphaGo AI may have secured the five-game match with its third win yesterday, but that doesn’t mean the competition is over. As announced today (via Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind), the second-best-in-the-world South Korean Go player Lee Sedol actually managed to score a victory against the Google AI in the fourth game…
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AlphaGo’s historic third game win vs. world’s best Go player seals the match

Avatar for Cam Bunton Mar 12 2016 - 2:56 pm PT
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Demis Hassabis, DeepMind’s CEO and founder, today announced the historic news that its machine, AlphaGo, won its third game in a row versus 18-time Go world champion, Lee Sedol. With the third win under its belt, that’s the five-game match now sealed. A machine has officially beaten the world’s best player at a game which is widely considered to be very difficult to teach a machine.


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SXSW: Hands-on with the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ claw game at the Google Fiber Space [Gallery]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 12 2016 - 9:49 am PT
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We told you a couple of days ago that Google was building a crane game for SXSW attendees, and last night we finally had a chance to try it out for ourselves. Appropriately dubbed “I’m Feeling Lucky,” the huge crane game offers some free swag from the variety of products the Mountain View company offers via its online retail presence (with no SXSW badge required!)…


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Talking Schmidt: Google to soon bring its driverless cars to the UK, humans don’t have eyes in the back of their head yet

Avatar for Chance Miller Mar 10 2016 - 3:48 pm PT
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Speaking in South Korea (where he was also seen using an iPhone), Eric Schmidt addressed the possibility of Google’s driverless cars expanding outside of the United States. In an interview with The Telegraph, Schmidt explained that UK officials have approached the company about bringing its self-driving vehicles to the streets.


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Eric Schmidt caught taking pictures with an iPhone, but is that really a big deal?

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 10 2016 - 2:53 pm PT
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Eric Schmidt is in South Korea this week to witness Google’s AlphaGo AI system completely destroy the world Go champion at his own game. Sedol lost the first game yesterday, saying then that he was “very surprised”. Today he lost again. “It was a clear loss on my part,” he said. He had predicted before the matchups began that he would win the five-game series 5-0 or 4-1 “at worst.”

But while the Alphabet Executive Chairman is in South Korea to witness the monumental battle, the Korean press (OSEN, in this case) is clearly focusing on something else. As you can see in the pictures below, Schmidt was caught at a press event this week taking pictures with an iPhone…


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Huawei Watch from $270, Pixel C for developers from $375, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 10 2016 - 10:31 am PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS

Gold Box: Huawei Watches $80-$130 off, start at $270 shipped, Black Stainless: $320 shipped

Google offering developers 25% off the Pixel C: 32GB model $375, 64GB model $449google-chromecast-2

Two-pack of Google Chromecast Audio Streamers $55 (Reg. $70), $6 Google Play Credit for every Chromecast you have

Surround Sound 5.1-Ch. Systems: Logitech Z506 $50 (Orig. $100), Harman Kardon refurb $140 (Orig. $600)

How-to: Use your car and an inexpensive inverter to replace the need for a home generator

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Daily Deals: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Headphones $100, JBL Charge 2 Bluetooth Speaker $80, more

[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5toys/status/707975740738953217 align=’center’]

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Solartab: Powerful Solar Panel/13,000mAh dual USB battery in iPad form factor: $94 shipped ($35 off)

12-inch MacBook now $300 off: 256GB $1,000, 512GB $1,300 + extra $50 savings w/ .edu email

Apple Mac Pro 12-core Xeon/64GB/1TB: $8,799 (Reg. $9,599), more

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

popSLATE’s second generation iPhone 6/s/Plus e-ink case drops the bulk for a slender design

Google Store is setting up a crazy huge claw game at SXSW, and we’re going to play it

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 10 2016 - 9:24 am PT
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Google has typically had at least a little bit of presence at SXSW in the past, but we’ve never been there to cover it. That’s changing this week, and it looks like I already have some Google-y fun to look forward to. The Silicon Valley company is heading down to the Silicon Hills to set up a huge game called “I’m Feeling Lucky,” allowing anyone to try their hand at winning some Google Store swag…


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Google+ update makes Circles more prominent, new Create program highlights top creators

Avatar for Abner Li Mar 10 2016 - 8:52 am PT
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When Google+ launched in 2011, one of its marquee features was grouping people into circles. There was a nifty drag-and-drop interface and the ability to limit posts to specific circles. Last year’s Google+ redesign hid the feature, but an update to the Android app now resurfaces it. The social network is also launching Google+ Create to recognize top content creators and give them access to early features.


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Nest’s GPS-enabled Home/Away Assist feature makes your smarthome devices much smarter

Avatar for Edoardo Maggio Mar 10 2016 - 7:55 am PT
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Alphabet-owned Nest is best known for its smart thermostat, but the company works on a number of devices which, albeit being generally good at their given task, do not communicate with each other particularly well. And that’s mostly due to the fact that said devices have always had a hard time detecting whether you are actually at home or not.

With the upcoming implementation of GPS support via the Nest app, however, it looks like your house is about to become decidedly more efficient – and smart…


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Google’s AI systems are on a roll as robots learn the best way to pick up objects [Video]

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Mar 10 2016 - 7:01 am PT
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As achievements go, learning how to pick up objects doesn’t sound quite as impressive as twice beating the world Go champion – it is, after all, something the average toddler can do. But it’s the fact that the robots themselves figured out the best way to do it using neural networks that makes this notable.

A recent Google report spotted by TNW explains how the company let robot arms pick up a variety of different objects, using neural networks to learn by trial-and-error the best way to handle each. Some 800,000 goes later, the robots seemed to have it figured out pretty well …


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Alphabet’s life sciences wing is developing a hub for collecting and analyzing health data

Avatar for Chance Miller Mar 9 2016 - 7:27 pm PT
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According to a recent FCC filling, Alphabet’s Life Sciences wing Verily has recently developed a new “Connectivity Bridge” for use in clinical studies. The device is capable of collecting and syncing medical information of people participating in clinical studies, allowing Google to continue to improve its efforts in healthcare.


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Spigen Galaxy S7 cases $5, Aukey 10000mAh Power Bank $17, more

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 9 2016 - 1:27 pm PT
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS

Outfit your new Galaxy S7/edge with these Spigen cases in a variety of styles/colors for $5 shipped

Smartphone Accessories: Aukey 10000mAh QC 2.0 Power Bank $17 (Reg. $25), Aluminum Stand $5 (Reg. $10), more

NETGEAR routers, modems & storage up to 60% off from $30: 2-bay NAS + 4TB storage $320 (Reg. $400), more

Buy 2 Chromecast Audio devices from Best Buy and save $15

How-to: Use your car and an inexpensive inverter to replace the need for a home generator

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Canon All-in-One Printers w/ AirPrint: Laser $140 (Reg. $174+), InkJet $119 (Reg. $149)

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Solartab: Powerful Solar Panel/13,000mAh dual USB battery in iPad form factor: $94 shipped ($35 off)

12-inch MacBook now $300 off: 256GB $1,000, 512GB $1,300 + extra $50 savings w/ .edu email

Apple Mac Pro 12-core Xeon/64GB/1TB: $8,799 (Reg. $9,599), more

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

LittleBits’ latest creation focuses on robotic kits and STEAM education

Google launches the Android Beta Program, gives you easy OTA access to Android N

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 9 2016 - 1:04 pm PT
3 Comments

Update: While it wasn’t appearing at first, it seems that the Nexus Player is now being listed as a compatible device with the program. Additionally, the General Mobile 4G (Android One) device is now compatible as well.

Google has now — as promised — just launched the Android Beta Program. With this program (much like similar programs from Apple), you can enroll your device to receive the latest beta builds of Android and receive them over-the-air without the need to do any manual flashing. Head over to the Android Beta Program website to sign up…


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Google Docs adds ‘outline tool’ for easier document navigation on Android & web

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Mar 9 2016 - 12:05 pm PT
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Google is rolling out a new feature for Google Docs on Android and the web today that will make navigating through long documents much easier. The new “outline tool” adds a new pane on the left of the page adds quickly links to the document’s headers so you can quickly jump to that section without having to scroll through the whole document to get there.

Displayed in a pane to the left of the page, the outline features headers for each section of your document, making it simple to quickly jump from section to section. If you haven’t manually applied headers, no worries—we’ll do it for you, intelligently detecting the logical divisions within your work. You can then edit or remove these headers as necessary.

And there’s also a second component to it that lets users scroll through documents easier with a new “navigation handle” that will appear once you start to scroll. “Touching that handle will display the entire document’s structure, allowing you quickly skip from section to section, instead of slowly swiping up and down.”

Here’s a look at the feature in action:

Look out for the feature in Google Docs on Android and the web starting today.

Here’s everything that’s new in the first Android N developer preview [Gallery]

Avatar for Stephen Hall Mar 9 2016 - 11:01 am PT
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Today marked the release of the first Android N developer preview, and factory images are now available if you want to install the update on your device. If you’re anything like me, though, you would rather not completely wipe your daily driver (Nexus 6P, in my case), just to get some hands-on time with some buggy software. That’s why we’ve compiled this huge list of new features and a gallery of Android N screenshots for your perusal…


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Sketchy report says HTC could be Google’s Nexus partner for three years

Avatar for Edoardo Maggio Mar 9 2016 - 7:06 am PT
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While we do know that LG will likely not be joining Google to build the very next Nexus, which is expected to come towards the end of the year, a sketchy rumor coming from Chinese website MyDrivers suggests that HTC might have been given the green light for a three-year long partnership with Mountain View. Directed towards bringing Nexus devices to the market, the deeply troubled Taiwanese phone maker could be part of Google’s plan to take more control over its hardware offerings…


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AlphaGo, Google’s AI machine beats 18-time Go world champion Lee Sedol in first game

Avatar for Cam Bunton Mar 9 2016 - 3:26 am PT
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As was previously announced, Google’s DeepMind project, AlphaGo took on the world’s best Go player, Lee Sedol in the first of five matches yesterday. And it won. While its first victory against a different player was important, beating the 18-time world champion is another matter entirely. This is a momentous victory for AlphaGo, and for the machine learning industry as a whole.


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