Google X Lab
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Google said to be making giant displays that work like Legos
Many interesting projects have been born inside Google's famous X labs, including smart glasses, balloons capable of distributing internet connectivity and, most recently, a self-driving car. Now, according to The Wall Street Journal, the next big thing that could come out of Google X are giant, modular displays which can connect to create one very large image. Per the report, the project is being developed by Mary Lou Jepsen, co-founder of the One Laptop Per Child initiative and previously a professor at MIT.
California Governor Brown signs bill clearing use of driverless cars on public roads (video)
Google just chalked up one of the more important victories for driverless cars. California Governor Jerry Brown has signed bill SB1298 into law, formalizing the legal permissions and safety standards needed to let automated vehicles cruise on state-owned roads. While the bill lets anyone move forward with their plans, it's clear from the ceremony that local technology darling Google is the primary impetus for the measure: Brown visited Google's Mountain View headquarters to put ink to paper, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin oversaw the signing with his Google Glass eyewear on full display. If you're dying to see driverless vehicles become mainstays of the Golden State, the official act making that possible is already available to watch after the break.
Project Glass revealed to have physical trackpad along right arm (video)
Sergey Brin has appeared on The Gavin Newsom Show on Current TV to drop a few more enticing hints about Project Glass. While showing the presenter a picture he'd taken with the AR glasses, he revealed that the prototype is controlled with a trackpad running down the right* arm. He also talked about the device's genesis in Goggle's (pun intended) X Lab, which he described as an "advanced skunkworks" where "far-out projects" are developed -- it's also the department that occupies most of his time. While the units he and his colleagues have been wearing are very rough prototypes, the Google co-founder shared his private hope that the tech will make its way to general release next year. You can catch the extract in full in the video after the break. *Right for the wearer, left for the observer. It depends entirely on your perspective.
Google's mysterious 'Solve for X' launching today? (video)
Google's X Lab is the search giant's top-secret facility even its own employees didn't know about. It's believed to be working on driverless cars, internet connected appliances and Majel: a Star Trek-inspired rebuttal to Siri. It's also apparently behind the Solve for X website, which hints at a TED-style public-presentation site featuring the great and the good talking about "redefining problems into challenges." The video (embedded below) and the site's background seem to agree, given one of the big box-outs reads "What is a Solve for X talk." Richard DeVaul (a member of the "[X] Rapid Evaluation team") mentioned on his Google+ page that the videos would be launching at some point today. Presumably we can expect to see innovative new solutions on dealing with Climate Change, new Cancer Treatments and awkward silence if anyone mentions a Canadian super-soldier program.
