WITH Google Glass now widely available in the US, there has been increased focus on how we will use wearable technology in the future.
While Google has confirmed there are no immediate plans for Google Glass to be made available in Australia, a number of local developers are already building apps that will likely be used by local businesses and consumers at some point to make our world more productive, safer and innovative.
Google Glass is a pair of spectacles with an in-built computer, display and microphone. It’s like having a computer screen in front of your eyes.
Airtasker’s Google Glass view
One business that is exploring potential applications is Airtasker, an online market that matches jobs and tasks with the people who can complete them. Co-founder Tim Fung says it is developing functionality that will allow Google Glass users to reduce the time it takes to get a job done with Airtasker.
“Wearers will be able to see jobs as soon as they are available and bid on jobs as soon as they come in,” Fung says. Facial recognition technology will also make it easier to verify the identity of people bidding for jobs.
However, the functionality that Airtasker is developing is in its infancy. “Google isn’t releasing enough hardware to build a critical mass of users,” Fung says. When the device becomes more widely available it will make more sense for Airtasker to devote resources to developing apps for it.
In partnership with Telstra, app development business b2cloud is also exploring the potential of Google Glass. Managing director Josh Guest explains the functionality it is developing for the hearing impaired.
Just because you’re the biggest doesn’t necessarily make you the best, though. While Samsung may be a TV titan, Sony hasn’t lost its chops, and over the past few years, its prices have come down a little. Aside from all that, these two companies make very different products. Let’s take a closer look at what differentiates the two.
Aesthetic design
Samsung has a sort of obsession with making the thinnest possible TVs with the thinnest possible bezels. The company’s F8000 LED/LCD televisions are virtually bezel-free, and, with an average depth of just 5/8-inch, they are about as thin as you can get. This changes some as you move down Samsung’s line-up, but you can usually count on Samsung to deliver a smallest-in-class bezel and cabinet depth. That doesn’t always play to Samsung’s advantage, however. We’ve seen some of the company’s mid-level televisions showing more edge light bloom because of their skimpy bezels.
Samsung un55f8000 front stand macro 1486×991 Sony makes a sexy TV, but it tends to show a lot less skin than Samsung does. Put another way: If Sony’s top-level TV’s wear miniskirts, then Samsung’s wear microskirts.
Take a look at Sony’s W900, for example. Some might argue that a half-inch of difference in bezel width is splitting hairs, and we might tend to agree. For most, the bezel on Sony’s is plenty slim, and we’ve found that as you move down Sony’s line, the small amount of additional bezel can help hide some edge-light blooming.
When it comes to the TV’s stands, we’ve become indifferent. It used to be that we preferred Sony’s to Samsung’s considerably because Sony supplied higher-quality glass stands with its top-tier models. Now, both companies tend to use chromed-up plastic stands in various swooping shapes.
