The Next Big Thing...

The Next Big Thing You Missed: One Day, You’ll Google the Physical World With a Scanner Like This

Thanks to the smartphone camera industry, a tremendous amount of time and money had already been devoted to miniaturizing optics technology. Sharon and Goldring figured they could apply those great technological strides to making a miniature spectrometer, no different from the technology being used in scientific labs around the world. “We both jumped out of nice jobs. We had kids that were several months old, and we said this is what we’re going to do and got started,” Sharon remembers.

The two founders gathered a team of physicists, engineers, data scientists, food technologists, optical design specialists, and others. They took a lean startup approach to prototyping, rapidly shipping new prototypes and killing off old features. The final product, which will begin shipping to Kickstarter backers later this year, works by shining a light on an object at a very specific wavelength. That causes the molecules to vibrate, and the light that’s reflected carries that object’s molecular signature. The Scio app then uses an algorithm to compare that signature to its entire database and provide the end user with the object’s molecular breakdown.

The first Kickstarter backers will be able to analyze plants, foods, and medication using the Scio app, but Sharon is hoping that’s just the beginning. The company has created its own Application Development Kit, and Sharon is looking forward to seeing what comes out of it. He also says that in the not too distant future, people who want access to this type of technology may not even need to own a Scio. “I’m absolutely positive something like this will be built into smartphones, wearables, and internet connected devices,” he says.

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• SCiO: This Unbelievable Device Will Change The Way We Interact With The World

GOOGLE and LUXOTTICA announce strategic partnership for Glass

Technology Is Not Technology (Photo credit: lgb06)

“We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Google, and are proud to be once again setting the pace in the eyewear industry, as we have been, with more than 50 years of excellence.” Said Andrea Guerra, Chief Executive Officer of Luxottica Group.

“We live in a world where technological innovation has dramatically changed the way in which we communicate and interact in everything that we do. More importantly, we have come to a point where we now have both a technology push and a consumer pull for wearable technology products and applications. Seeing such a future, over the last years, Luxottica invested heavily in building-out our technology platforms and digital solutions to combine with our products excellence. We believe that a strategic partnership with a leading player like Google is the ideal platform for developing a new way forward in our industry and answering the evolving needs of consumers on a global scale. We believe it is high time to combine the unique expertise, deep knowledge and quality of our Group with the cutting edge technology expertise of Google and give birth to a new generation of revolutionary devices.”

"Luxottica has built an impressive history over the last 50 years designing, manufacturing and distributing some of the most successful and well-known brands in eyewear today." Said Google Vice President and head of Google X Astro Teller. "We are thrilled to be partnering with them as we look to push Glass and the broader industry forward into the emerging smart eyewear market.”

The first collection generated by this partnership will combine high-end technology with avant-garde design offering the best in style, quality and performance. These forward-thinking devices will be the result of a new and unique strategic approach reflecting attention to detail, uncompromising quality and technology nurtured in the global market.  The sophistication and elegance of this new generation of products will be a dramatic step forward in an evolving category and elevate the consumer experience in this area.

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• Google Glass Partners with Luxottica
• Google Glass Ray-Bans? Partnership With Luxottica Makes Founder Del Vecchio $700M Richer

Google's Purchase of Titan Drones

How a whirlwind 6-week courtship led to Google's purchase of Titan drones

Dan Mayfield
Albuquerque Business First

The UpTake: Vern Raburn says it took an intense six weeks to sell his company, Titan Aerospace, to Google. The solar-powered drone maker may seem like an odd purchase for the search and advertising giant. But its technology could be key for Google to get the Internet to remote corners of the globe.

Last Monday morning at 1 a.m., Vern Raburn finally got the last call and signed the last document that made it official.

After six weeks of intense due diligence work with Google, the Titan Aerospace CEO was finally signing the papers to sell the startup to Internet powerhouse Google.

 “This has been done in record time. This is the quickest merger I’ve ever been a part of,” Raburn told Albuquerque Business First. “I had no sleep from Thursday to Sunday.”

 Raburn can’t disclose the details of the merger in any way, he said. Nor can he confirm that Facebook was also interested in buying Titan.

 “I’m not Titan anymore. I’m Google,” he said.

 Raburn has been the CEO of Titan since last fall, but he doesn’t have a Google title yet.

 Titan, or Google, is developing a solar-powered drone that Raburn calls an “atmostat,” or atmospheric satellite. The idea is to bring the functionality of a satellite, such as mapping, GPS or even communications, to the high atmosphere at a fraction of the cost of launching a space-bound satellite.

 Today, though, Titan’s hangar at the Moriarty Airport couldn’t look any less Google. It looks homebuilt, and Raburn agrees.

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• What is Google buying in Titan? CEO Vern Raburn Raburn's plan
• Google buys Titan Aerospace, a solar drone maker
• Google buys Titan Aerospace of Moriarty

Light lattice that traps atoms could power networks of quantum computing | KurzweilAI

Light lattice that traps atoms could power networks of quantum computing | KurzweilAI: "The new technique allows researchers to couple a lone atom of rubidium, a metal, with a single photon, or light particle. This allows both the atom and photon to switch the quantum state of each other, providing a mechanism through which quantum-level computing operations could take place.

The scientists also believe their technique will allow them to increase the density or number of useful interactions occurring within a small space, thus scaling up the amount of quantum computing processing available."



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Google Chrome Launches Virtual LEGO Land...

Google and LEGO have launched an insidious plot, er, app that lets users play with virtual LEGO bricks in their web browsers during work hours while deadlines are rapidly approaching.
By Dan KedmeyJan. 29, 2014

Google Chrome Launches Virtual LEGO Land | TIME.com Yes, it's addictive

Technology Continues Exponential Advancement

It will be nice when we don't have to have desks that look like this for development. All three of these devices could be mimicked on one screen.

MacBook Pro                                    iPhone              iPad

Official Blog: Introducing our smart contact lens project

Is there anything that Google is not doing or about to do? Ya gotta be kidding me. Smart Contact Lenses?! So the ones I got now are dumb, I suppose. Ok. 'Should have known it was coming!
     I'm all ears: what are the amazing benefits of this new-fangled thingamajig?