'Google Goggles': Search giant to unveil wearable computer

GOOGLE is developing computer glasses with a "heads up display" that let you use the internet out in the real world, reports said today.
The “Google Goggles” are designed as augmented reality devices that send information back to an Android smartphone attached to your clothing or body, the New York Times reports.
The latest prototype looks similar to thick-rimmed glasses but provides “a display with a heads up computer interface”, 9to5Google’s specialist Seth Weintrub said.

Google goggles 1

The Google Goggles might have to be a wee bit lighter than this "wearable piano" technology. Picture: AP

Source: Supplied

“There are a few buttons on the arms of the glasses, but otherwise, they could be mistaken for normal glasses,” Mr Weintrub said.
It’s unclear how the device will work but reports say it could operate via Wi-Fi internet connection or Bluetooth.
Google operates a laboratory nicknamed “Google X” where researchers develop their latest innovations.
The company recently hired computing specialist Richard DuVal whose PhD focused on “memory glasses” that deliver subliminal visual cues and reminders to help boost the wearer’s memory.
The company is already working on voice activated controls similar to Apple’s Siri and recently told the
New York Timesof its ambition to transport technology into wearable computers.
If the rumours of these computer glasses are true, the technology could be the first step towards doing away with touchscreen technology altogether.

ICANN names Chinese scholar as VP for Asia

NEW YORK (AP) - The organization in charge of Internet domain names has selected a Chinese scholar as vice president for Asia. The appointment of Xiaodong Lee was announced in Beijing on Thursday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Lee is a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has served as chief technology officer of the China Internet Network Information Center, which is in charge of registering names ending in ".cn" for China.
ICANN is preparing to begin taking bids next month for new domain name suffixes. They could include brand names, hobbies and just about anything else.
The Chinese government embraces the Internet as a way to promote commerce, but it also tries to block access to foreign websites deemed subversive. China has the world's biggest online population.

iPhone Ends 2011 As Web's Top Search Item

• Top 10 Internet Search Items In 2011

To Apple fans it comes as no surprise.  The iPhone was the leading gadget punched into the Yahoo! search engine in 2011, Yahoo! said on Wednesday.  Not only was it the top consumer item searched for, it was the time item overall, beating out the tragic Japanese earthquake and even Kim Kardashian.  Yahoo! web trends specialist Vera Chan said that the new iPhone 4S and Steve Jobs helped make the iPhone top the list.  Jobs, himself, didn't make the cut, though.

This list is full of female media stars, not consumer goods.  This was the first year for Jennifer Lopez to make the Yahoo! top 10. "Her new position as a judge on American Idol and being voted America's most beautiful woman by People magazine this year kept her in the limelight," says Chan.  Not that J-Lo lacks publicity. Her very public divorce from singer Marc Anthony wasn't scandal clad, but it kept her in the news.

Here's a look at the other names that learned how to use media to their advantage, and those that just hit due to tragic circumstances that touched and intrigued Americans.

Apple contacts iPhone 4S users about battery drain

Apple's senior engineers have been reaching out to customers affected by rapid battery drain

Apple engineers have made contact with iPhone 4S users who have complained about experiencing short battery life on the new iPhone 4S.
Some new iPhone buyers have seen a 10 per cent drop in battery life each hour, when the device is in standby mode, with Apple's guide suggesting it should last for 200 hours.
Engineers for the company have reached out to those affected and attempted to install a diagnostics file in order to seek out the root of the issues.

Senior engineers reaching out

One user told the Guardian that the problem persisted even with Siri (suspected by some to be the culprit) and location features switched off.
He wrote: "I switched off all the new features including Siri and location services, but it was still really poor. I also tried setting up a clean phone with no apps but it is still really poor.
"I then got a call from a senior engineer who said he had read my post and was 'reaching out' to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren't close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info."
"I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologetic in the typical Apple way!"
While some users have blamed the poor battery life on Siri, others believe it is due to corrupted contact files.
However, it doesn't appear as though Apple is any closer to diagnosing, let alone fixing the issue at this stage. At least the company is on the case.

DoCoMo Says BlackBerry Outage Not Affecting Japan

TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo Inc., a Japanese carrier of the BlackBerry smartphone, said Thursday that a broadening BlackBerry outage world-wide hasn't affected communication among Japanese users of the device.

BlackBerry users saw further disruptions in service, the third consecutive day of problems that have now spread from Europe into Asia and North America. Spencer Ante has details on The News Hub.

But DoCoMo said users of the Research In Motion Ltd. smartphone in Japan may experience problems when they try to communicate with users in affected regions such as Europe and the U.S.
"RIM has told us that Japan isn't among the regions where the outage has occurred," said a DoCoMo spokesman.
Research In Motion was scrambling to restore service to millions of BlackBerry users around the world Wednesday as the company's worst-ever outage affected office workers, government officials, emergency responders and others who rely on the messaging device. RIM disclosed few technical details about the problem and by late Wednesday had stopped forecasting when service might be fully restored.
The Canadian company said Thursday BlackBerry services have improved "significantly" in Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa and are progressing well in other regions including the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
"We are seeing increased traffic throughput on most services, although there are still some delays and services levels may still vary amongst customers. Our global teams are continuing to work as quickly as possible to restore full and consistent service across all regions," the maker of the popular smartphone device said in a statement on its website.
The statement comes after the company earlier blamed service outages affecting customers on at least five continents on an internal technical glitch: a failed switch and an inoperable backup. But even as the company had promised customers on Tuesday that it had fixed that problem--and expected customer service to quickly return--disruptions spread.
RIM said it expected some data delays after its fix, as it worked to send out a "backlog" of data to users. But on Wednesday, trouble spread to previously unaffected markets, including Japan and Singapore, and plagued subscribers across North America.
BlackBerry has a very small presence in Japan, where the market for smartphones is dominated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone and handsets that run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system.
According to local think tank MM Research Institute, BlackBerry accounted for less than 200,000, or about 2%, of Japan's 9.55 million smartphone users in the last fiscal year ended March, while the iPhone held 50% of the market and Android-using smartphones 40%.
In Japan, more than 80% of mobile subscribers use traditional cellphones rather than smartphones, according to the institute.
"Any impact from the BlackBerry outage will be very minor in Japan," said Tadayuki Shinozaki, an analyst at the institute.
RIM's Australian spokeswoman said BlackBerry users there haven't been affected by service outages.
The Australia-based spokeswoman was unable to say why Australian users weren't affected by the outages, which the company has blamed on a hardware failure in its network infrastructure.
Australia's three major telecommunications providers—Telstra Corp., Optus and Vodafone-—said they haven't received any notifications of issues with BlackBerry services.

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