Tech Article 4/24

Given that both heads up displays for our cars and smart glasses are emerging product categories, it’s not surprising that a company would try to combine the two into a single product.  Mini’s new Augmented Vision, a set of driving goggles that brings some of the features of your standard heads-up display to a set of glasses, which uses connected eyewear and connected vehicles. By enetring your destination and plugging it into your car, it will give you driving and walking directions. While wearing the glasses arrows point on where to turn and the speed limit is. While driving it will also point out individual sites that you pass along the way, and also tells you available parking spaces.

Project Loon, Google's plan to bring the Internet to everyone

Project Loon is Google's bold experiment to bring the Internet to the world, ferried on the back of high-altitude balloons. The project has come a long way since it was first announced back in June of 2013. A balloon that once took 3 to 4 days to create can now be produced in a just a few hours. Google launches these balloons with automated cranes and can now launch dozens of balloons a day. And these can stay aloft for over a hundred days, a mission-control center has been set up to keep track of the thousands of balloons that will be maneuvering about the globe, guiding them into ideal places to maximize Internet coverage.

Spring Break

My spring break mostly consisted of me at home on my iPad, sleeping, and once in awhile I hung out with friends. On Friday I went to the mall with my friends and got Starbucks, and after the mall I went to go get a new iPhone. On Saturday I had a Track relay at 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, and I ran the 200 meter relay. Since my aunt went to Disney this Easter we had Easter dinner at my grandma's house. For Easter I got candy, clothes and a new coffee mug because I lost my old one.

On Monday I went to Arianna's house with Halie and we played volleyball. I also cracked my new phone case and got Ritas. On Tuesday I had track practice and when I got home I slept for two hours. On Wednesday I went to the movies with my friends, and then on Thursday and Friday I didn't really do anything. On Saturday my grandma came over and on Sunday I went out to eat with my family.

Fancy a game of Pac-Man? Head to Google Maps

You can now play Pac-Man right in Google Maps.  To play the game, simply go to Google Maps in a browser on your computer, or on the updated iOS and Android Google Maps apps, and find a location near you with a good amount of streets. From there, click the Pac-Man button in the bottom left corner, and Google will transform those streets into a playable version of Pac-Man. The controls are pretty simple: just tap on the up, down, left and right arrows to move Pac-Man around while you collect dots and cherries, all while avoiding being killed by ghosts. I guess this is Google's bizarre but amazing April Fools Prank.

Drones Beaming Web Access Are in the Stars for Facebook

                         

A rendering of a Facebook drone, which will weigh less than a small car and have the wingspan of 156 inches is the centerpiece of Facebook’s plans to connect with the five billion or so people it has yet to reach. Facebook hopes to use about 1,000 drones to connect people to the web. They believe their solar-powered craft can eventually be aloft up to three months at a time, beaming high-speed data from 60,000 to 90,000 feet to some of the world’s remotest regions via laser. Test flights are to begin this summer, though full commercial deployment may take years.

Emoji Keyboard for Mac

 
An art and technology studio in Oakland, California called Disk Cactus has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Emoji Keyboard, a product that combines software and hardware to turn your Mac's keyboard into an emoji typing machine. The keyboard is a silicone cover that you put on top of your Mac's keyboard. After you click the Emoji button, you're in emoji mode and can type emoji with the simple press of a button. There are over 150 emoji available, and you can type them by using a combination of the keyboard and the shift, control and option keys on your Mac.

Meet Keys, a musical keyboard that fits in your backpack and links with your iPhone

Keys is the first modular keyboard with full-sized LED keys that features gesture control, that connects to your PC or iPhone. Gesture control allows you to wave your hand over the keyboard to create special-effects sounds.What's interesting is that you can magnetically connect two of the 24 key keyboard together to form a 48 key keyboard, and in the future you will also be able to attach modular control panels and other accessories. When you're done playing you can break down the modules and stack them on top of each other, making it easy to fit in backpack or bag. Keys is available for pre-order now for $100 and will ship this summer with free shipping.