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ICYMI: Robot barkeeps, Android Experiments and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-618936{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-618936, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-618936{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-618936").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: We take on two pieces of robot news, both of which seem promising for different reasons. First, a robot with responsive, human reflexes is being designed to enter dangerous situations where a real person might be injured. The secret is that the controller is a guy wearing a matching robot exoskeleton. Then, more MIT scientists executed an algorithm that allows robots to actually buzz around and serve alcohol. Obviously, we're fans of that. Lastly, Google unveiled a video describing its Android Experiments project and some of the applications are super interesting.
Google's Alphabet doesn't include N for Niantic Labs
Google's newly-created parent company Alphabet apparently has room for only one "N" brand -- Ingress and Field Trip creator Niantic Labs is telling users that it's becoming an independent company. Google will stick around as a supporter, but there will be "amazing new partners" helping out in the near future. Although the company is shy about where it's going (we're told you'll hear more "in the weeks ahead"), it plans to stick to its exploration-minded projects. You shouldn't expect a major shift in direction any time soon, in other words, although you can opt out of transferring your data by September 11th if you're skittish about the whole thing.
Google's Life Sciences division to build a miniature glucose tracker
A pin-prick from a finger stick is a daily ritual for about 10 percent of the American population. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29.1 million people in the United States have diabetes. In most cases, the condition requires long-term medication and lifestyle changes that are based on the patient's daily glucose levels. Dexcom, a California-based company known for its diabetes-management devices, has partnered with Google's Life Sciences division (now a subsidiary of the much-talked about Alphabet) to develop a miniature product line of its existing continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system. The new disposable version of the slap-on sensor could potentially replace the bulk of blood-monitoring devices.
With Alphabet, Google wants to avoid becoming Microsoft
You're probably tired of hearing just how "unconventional" Google is after yesterday's surprise restructuring announcement. Sure, making Google a subsidiary of a company called Alphabet is certainly strange, especially after it's become a household brand practically synonymous with technology culture. But, really, CEO Larry Page's decision to reorient the company makes plenty of sense given just how far Google has come from simply being a search company. On top of wildly popular offerings like Android and YouTube, Google is also exploring things like self-driving cars, delivery drones and even life extension. Now with everything under Alphabet, Page no longer has to justify why a search company is delving into such far-out territory. And that sets up a future where Google can avoid the stagnation so common to big tech companies, and its subsidiaries can be even bolder in their ambitions.
Google reveals Alphabet, but BMW already owns that trademark
Google co-founder Larry Page unveiled a surprise restructuring yesterday with the announcement of Alphabet, a new company that owns Google and all of its semi-related products. Google's stock soared 5 percent directly after the announcement, the world was busy dissecting the meaning of alpha and bet, and things looked rosy for the new company. However, there could be one problem: BMW owns the trademark and .com domain for "Alphabet." And it doesn't want to sell, a spokesperson tells the New York Times.
Google gets an overhaul and a new CEO: Sundar Pichai
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have started a new "collection of companies" called Alphabet -- and it includes Google. That's right, now there's a company bigger than Google. In a letter to investors, Page outlined Alphabet and the changes this new organization will bring, including the appointment of a new Google CEO, Sundar Pichai. Page is now CEO of Alphabet, while Brin is President. Alphabet comprises Google and other companies that have been housed under its primary-colored umbrella, including the X lab (which is building delivery drones), investment arms Ventures and Capital, and health-focused efforts Calico and Life Sciences. "This newer Google is a bit slimmed down, with the companies that are pretty far afield of our main internet products contained in Alphabet instead," Page writes.
Splash Brush Colorbook app beats the mess of a real one
Splash Brush Colorbook is an educational coloring book app for pre-schoolers and Kindergarten kids that incorporates letters and numbers into the coloring. Each letter and number is linked with a visual representation, like A for ant, and it's up to the child to color in the entire page. Splash Brush Colorbook is available for both iPhone and iPad universally and is free with in-app purchases. The app offers two coloring "books," one containing the alphabet and the other containing a number pack. The alphabet pack has an image representative of a word beginning with every letter, plus the letter placed within the image. Everything is in black and white and in need of color. Luckily, Splash Brush Colorbook offers a generous assortment of 35 different paintbrush colors for kids to scroll through and tap to select. This is a big plus as it allows kids to get really creative with the coloring. There's three brush sizes to work with and three eraser sizes. Even the smallest brush size seemed a bit too big as it was hard to color into edges of borders. Additionally, the app seems to be more tailored for iPad use. Even drawing on my iPhone 6 feels cramped. Underneath the paintbrush and eraser are buttons to save and share the colorful creation or clear all progress and start from scratch. Parents be warned: the sharing feature means your children can share their paintings to your social networks if they're using your iOS device. An ant accompanies the letter A, a bear accompanies the letter B, a cat is with the letter C, so on and so forth. For free, the app gives you six different canvas: A, B, C, D, E and F. To unlock the rest of the alphabet requires an in-app purchase for US$0.99. The numbers pack is also a separate purchase for the same price. The app lets kids to save their work to the camera roll, but there isn't a way to save it within the app or even just save progress to return and complete later. That's a bit disappointing. Kids will have to complete their work within one shot. It'd be nice if Splash Brush Colorbook offered a save-progress feature, but I could also see the alphabet pack being a 26-day project for kids to complete, assuming you're willing to shell out a buck to unlock the full set of letters. I also took my iPhone off silent to discover the app apparently plays music too. It's no Bach or Beethoven, though thankfully it's no Nicki MInaj either - just your average clichéd but always pleasant ice cream truck songs. My biggest feature request is actually smaller brush sizes to make coloring easier, especially on an iPhone's comparatively small screen real estate. Still, Splash Brush Colorbook is definitely worth a download in my book. Even if you opt to spend the $2 for both in-app purchases, that's likely cheaper than buying an physical, educational coloring book...and it's much less messier too. Get Splash Brush Colorbook for free in the App Store.
Found Footage: iPhone alphabet made from 540 apps
Urikane, an iPhone user with a LOT of time on his hands, has put together a (nearly) full alphabet using 540 apps. Each screen contains one letter -- except for the W, which as our commenters point out, was skipped. It would be especially hard to do on a 4x4 matrix, unless one could find app icons with the right contours to simulate the angled sections. Outside of this being really clever, you have to admire the resolve of Urikane to actually get this done. It must have taken forever.
ZTE's Evolution handset sports dual alphabet support
Here's a bizarre one. ZTE's latest mobile not only sports a sleek, black enclosure and 3G connectivity, but also includes a "dual level, multilingual Fastap keypad based on Digit Wireless' Fastap Keypad Global Language Platform." As you'd expect, both English-speaking individuals and those proficient in Romanized Ukrainian and Russian should have no trouble entering text messages, as the keypad clearly sports both Cyrillic and Latin-based letters. Although the minutiae of this here device has yet to be unveiled, we do know that it'll be distributed by PEOPLEnet -- the first national provider of 3G communications in Ukraine -- and while nothing was written in stone, ZTE also suggested that the Evolution could be used by "international operators for authoritative certificates and assurances to overseas markets." Click on through for a more detailed shot of the bilingual mobile.[Via Slashphone]
The Wii alphabet
While PS3 owning hopefuls wait outside all week for their chance, Wii fanboys have time to come up with cheeky alphabet columns. Over at 4cr they've developed a column where each day, using a letter from the alphabet, they post another detailed and debatable nugget about the Wii, they've made it up to R for Relaxation. It's like the 12 Days of Christmas -- but with the alphabet, and no FIVE GOLD RINGS!A is for Aesthetics, E is for Exclusives, L is for Longevity, each letter brings up a different concept. One of the most interesting columns was O, for "Is the Wii Obsolete"? A topic that gets brought up over and over again in our comment threads. 4cr goes into exceptional detail about this debate and comes out the other side writing, "Basically, the answer is a resounding no!"By next Sunday's Wii launch they'll end of the alphabet. The column is cute, but now the real hard letters come: X and Z ... oh wait, Zelda!
