Google Glass – The future is here, or at least around the corner

If you thought that there couldn’t be any more tech gadgets to surprise you and leave you a bit flabbergasted, think again. Enter Google Glass. Google Glass is a wearable computer using an optical head-mounted display that is being developed by Google within their plan Project Glass, with a mission of producing a “mass-market ubiquitous computer”. Yes, that does sound like a term from an ominous sci-fi movie.

Google Glass displays information in a smartphone manner with a hands-free design that can interact with the wearer using voice commands. The frames do not have lenses fitted to them at the moment, but Google is considering partnerships with sunglass retailers like Ray-Ban and may also open retail stores to allow customers to try on the device. The Explorer Edition cannot currently be used by people who wear prescription glasses, but Google has confirmed that Glass will soon be able to be attached to prescription lenses. 

Glass is still very much a prototype, even after 8 months of testing and developing. The first thing noticed about Glass is the cube-shaped glass prism that sits above the right eye. It has a 640 x 360 resolution and hangs just out of the way of the wearer's line of sight. For the wearer, the display has to be viewed by pointing the eyes up and to the right – which possibly could look strange and cause major headaches – and acts as a much larger screen; one that's equal to a 25-inch High Definition television.

There are about 8 thousand "Explorers" currently – a group of engineers, scientists, artists, and journalists in the U.S. – who were allowed to buy and test Glass for about $1500, about R15 000. At the Glass office in New York, they got a crash course on how to connect Glass to the Internet, take videos, snap photos, get directions, perform Google searches, return e-mails, make calls, and much more. And all this using just your voice with an instruction that begins with “Okay, Glass.”

Google Glass is still in its developmental stage but is expected to be released in the latter part of 2014. But don’t get too excited. The cost of Glass is likely to be pretty exorbitant until Google finds a way to mass produce it and make it accessible to those masses. And that’s not the only downside to Glass. This could potentially be one of the most disruptive pieces of technology to be invented in current years and has also become a regular subject in legal circles around the U.S. But whatever may come of Google Glass, the development of the technology is fascinating and mind-boggling and will most likely become “ubiquitous” just as Sergey Brin and his Google guys want it.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 vs. the Apple iPhone 6

The rumours so far about the smartest smartphones

The rivalry that began not too long ago between Samsung and Apple is set to continue this year as the two manufacturers – arguably the best in the electronics business – will be releasing their latest top-of-the-range smartphones; the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Apple iPhone 6.

The first Apple iPhone was released in 2007, running on Apple’s iOS software while the first Samsung Galaxy was released in 2009 with an open-source Android operating system. Both the brands are keeping the specs and features of the smartphones under wraps until they are officially released. The Internet is mostly abuzz with rumours of what the two phones will have to offer. The latest release approximation is that the Samsung Galaxy S5 will arrive soon around April this year, while the iPhone 6 will hit the market in the latter part of the year in November.

Apple may continue using the same 8-megapixel setup as with their iPhone 5S or up it. But there’s more; a new patent filed by Apple suggests the new camera technology inside the iPhone 6 could feature Lytro-like capabilities. Lytro is a type of camera which allows the capturing of an image and then to dynamically select (and re-select) a focal point later on. This form of wizardry is achieved using something called "plenoptic" technology, and the idea is you can shoot an image and then re-focus it later. This is pretty amazing if it is true.

An interesting bit of information is that apparently Steve Jobs had met with Lytro's founder to discuss a partnership before he passed away. This patent was filed in September 2011 and various sources have claimed that most of Apple's products released since he passed away were developed in accordance to blueprints laid out by the late CEO-genius. In light of this, it's quite viable that the iPhone 6, complete with the Lytro-like camera, could be a part of his posthumous plan and legacy.

It has also been leaked that the iPhone 6 might even have a name change. The most recent snippets claim that this iPhone will have a chassis of only 6mm thick. And so may be called the iPhone Air as a result of this and to keep up with the iPad Air re-branding. The screen will be approximately 4.5mm thick, definitely another record-breaker for smartphones. If there’s one thing that Apple has in the bag, with all their products, it’s the sheer beauty of their sleek designs and creations.

The early release date of the Samsung Galaxy S5 will certainly set the manufacturer up for major sales around the world. But the pre-Christmas release of the iPhone 6 is even more strategic, ensuring that the smartphone will be on a lot of festive season shopping lists. In terms of spec info, the latest news about the Galaxy S5 is that it might feature eye-scanning technology, a security feature of remarkable proportions. If this is true, it does seem a bit like outright competitiveness with Apple, mimicking their fingerprint-scanning technology that was included in the iPhone 5S. Another rumoured component is that the Samsung will include a full 4GB of RAM.

The body of the Galaxy S5 is also rumoured to be more rugged and might even be metal, unlike its plastic predecessors, making it dust- and waterproof. There are mixed reports that the smartphone might have a 13- or 16-megapixel camera. While the megapixel count with the S4’s camera is 13, the S5’s unit features more advanced anti-shake image-stabilisation. The unit is said to support anti-shake correction of up to 1.5 degrees, while existing image-stabilisation for smartphones tops out at 0.7 degrees.

But whatever the specs and features will be from these two smartphones, technology is undoubtedly ever-changing and far too fascinating to be comprehended. Samsung and Apple have been the two heavyweights when it comes to electronics, and most importantly smartphones and computers, so if their unsaid rivalry and competition bring about some of the most amazing, sci-fi-like developments in the tech world, all the better for us.