Larry Page Announces Google Spinoff Calico [Updated with link to Time Magazine Article]

On September 18th, Google's CEO +Larry Page announced a new company called Calico. This company will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases (You can read his announcement in this Google+ post below). I definitely have had my share of complaints about the company but this is exactly why, all-in-all, I love Google; the people there don't limit themselves to only do what they are expected to do and they aim BIG. A little tikkun olam to start off the new year from the technology giant.
We all are aware of how devastating age-related diseases can be. Not just for the afflicted but for the families as well. It's absolutely horrible to watch those you love wasting away or stare at you blankly because they don't remember who you are, etc. I'm absolutely elated to see the technology giant investing its technological and financial weight behind such a noble cause. Kol Hakovod!

UPDATE: Time Magazine has an article on the subject

Why I'm Really Excited About Co-processing in Smartphones

As I mentioned in my previous post, I really like the direction that Google and Motorola have taken with the Moto X. I think the new Touchless Control feature, which allows users to control certain things on their phones with just their voices, is very exciting. Since then, on September 10th, Apple announced the new iPhone 5S and, it too, includes a co-processing chip (for motion rather than voice). I'm thrilled with these development. Between the Moto X's always listening and the iPhones 5S's motion detection, we are starting to see smartphones emerge that look for cues rather than specific input. To be fair, at the moment, these capabilities are still more marketing gimmickry rather than killer feature. However, I believe that, with some contextual awareness, these features will become revolutionary in the way we work with our gadgets.
Let me explain.
At Google IO 2013 (video here - starts at the 2 hour mark), Google showed the beginnings of contextual search using terms like "Here" and "It". Being able to ask things like "How far is it from here?" makes interacting with my devices much more natural. I'm hoping to see that same kind of contextual awareness appear in the Touchless Control feature of the Moto X (and hopefully future Nexus phones). It would be great if Touchless Control could be integrated with Android intents so that we can say things to our phones like: "Bookmark this", "send this picture to my mom", "Keep this", "call her", "Navigate there", etc.
If the demonstration from Google IO is any indication, I think the capability for this kind of interaction is almost here. If so, I think it will usher in a much improved method of interacting with our phones and apps. That's why I'm really excited.

Happy 5774

Shana Tova to all my readers. It has been a very long time since I written anything in this blog. I've been thinking about getting back into blogging and figured that, this being a new year and all, it is a great time to renew the blog. I've read over my old posts and was somewhat surprised by the level of mean-spiritedness. I want to start over from a much more positive perspective. More mensch-like if you will. After all, I love technology. I love how it enables us to do so much more with our lives. I love how it moves humanity forward. Most of all, I love how it is so much fun to explore. So in the spirit of the new year and Teshuva I'd like to ask forgiveness for being deliberately offensive.

Speaking of new beginnings, Apple is on the verge of publicly releasing iOS 7 in the next week or so. From what I've seen, this is a great new upgrade from iOS 6 and earlier. It seems much simpler and cleaner. True, many parts seem to be inspired from other smartphones but the people in Cupertino sure put that inspiration to good use. Control Center is a huge time saver and the Today feature in the Notification Center is very handy. I love the flattened and clean look of the menus and buttons. Almost all of my complaints about iOS have been addressed in the latest release. The only areas that I feel still need some significant improvement are: better/more actionable notifications, the ability to set what functions are in Control Center, and that Apple would remove the arbitrary 50 MB download limit on cellular. After all, it's my data plan. I should be able to determine how I it gets consumed. All-in-all, I think iOS 7 is a much needed refresh of the somewhat stale iOS model. I can't wait to see how the next iPhone (being announced on the 10th) will leverage this new operating system.

In another new beginning of sorts, I am really pleased by the way that the Google/Motorola MotoX is rethinking the spec wars. Instead of going with the more is more play (more cores, more GHz, more screen, more pixels), the MotoX has taken a page out of Apple's playbook and designed the internal hardware around usability. I'm very impressed with the always ready nature of this phone. I really like the idea of having touchless access to Google Now. To me, it makes the device seem so much more accessible. I'm also a fan of the Active Display which only lights up a portion of the screen when not in use (and not in your pocket) to present important updates. I've been using dashclock with daydream mode on my Nexus 4 for similar functionality. I have features like these make it into the just-announced next version of Android (4.4 KitKat). I'm really hoping that this year brings about an end to the idea that specs are more important than usability and that, as a result, Android phones start focusing on ways to give the user the ultimate experience rather than the biggest and fastest device.

Thanks again for reading. Here's to a fantastic 5774