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i3D app brings glasses-free 3D to iOS, tracks your gaze like a creepy portrait tracks Scooby Doo (video)
i3D is a new app that can create a glasses-free 3D display on iDevices, using a technology known as Head-Coupled Perspective (HCP). Developed by the folks from the Engineering Human-Computer Interaction (EHCI) Research Group, HCP uses a front facing camera to track the movements of a user's head, allowing the app to adjust the display accordingly. The result is a monocular 3D screen that creates the illusion of looking into a box. If the concept sounds a little familiar, it could be because Google unveiled a similar headtracking feature for Ice Cream Sandwich during the opening keynote at this month's I/O event. And by "similar" we mean "pretty much the exact same thing." i3D is now available for free in the iTunes Store and runs on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and fourth generation iPod Touch. You can compare both iOS and Ice Cream Sandwich 3D generators after the break (Google's demo kicks off around the 16:50 mark).
Google I/O 2011 keynotes available on YouTube (video)
Is there anything you don't know about Google's blowout I/O 2011 developer conference? If you've read our recap of happenings over in San Francisco this week, you should be well on your way to becoming the most knowledgeable Google geek in your local data cluster, but if you're looking for all the key info in a more digestible format like, say, video, Google's taking care of you as well. Both of the company's I/O keynotes have been posted to YouTube, where they can be consumed in up to 720p resolution, and we've done our bit too by embedding them for you after the break. So what are you waiting for, your Googlification awaits!
Live from Google I/O 2011's day 2 keynote!
No, you aren't losing your mind. You're really tuned in to the second Google keynote in as many days, and if we had to guess, we'd say Chrome and / or Chrome OS will take top billing. Things haven't started just yet, but your patience (or impatience) is greatly appreciated. Have a look below to see when things get going! 06:30AM - Hawaii 09:30AM - Pacific 10:30AM - Mountain 11:30AM - Central 12:30PM - Eastern 05:30PM - London 06:30PM - Paris 08:30PM - Moscow / Dubai 12:30AM - Perth (May 12th) 12:30AM - Shenzhen (May 12th) 01:30AM - Tokyo (May 12th) 02:30AM - Sydney (May 12th)
Android 0-click NFC sharing demonstrated in Ice Cream Sandwich (video)
Ready to get your bump on? You'd better be because Google's planning to bring peer-to-peer NFC sharing to the Ice Cream Sandwich release of Android. Imagine it: 0-click contact, web page, and YouTube video sharing between your NFC-equipped Android smartphones and tablets. Just bring the devices together and voila, data shared without launching an application or navigating through the UI. Google plans to build this functionality into as many systems apps as it can while providing the API to developers to 0-click enable their third-party applications. Watch it go down phone-to-phone and phone-to-tablet (prototype) after the break. It's the future, get used to it.
Google clarifies 18 month Android upgrade program, details far from solidified
We're camped out here at Google'e executive Q&A session, and Andy Rubin and co. are spitting out answers to questions from curious minds. While mentioned briefly in the outfit's keynote earlier, the structured upgrade program is obviously becoming a huge focal point here at the show. One of the major pain points for Android owners in the past (and even now, truthfully) is the inability to know if and when your particular handset will ever get an Android update. Epic 4G owners had a particularly hard go at it, but most everyone outside of Nexus One users have experienced something similar. Unfortunately, it seems as if our excitement may be a bit premature. While LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, AT&T, Vodafone, Sprint, Samsung, HTC and Verizon Wireless are technically onboard, all of this feels like it was decided upon at the 11th hour here in San Francisco. When pressed about how long it'd take updates to flow to phones after given the thumbs-up by Google itself, there's no hard news to report. In fact, the details there are still being hashed out. To quote Google, "It's a logistics problem." We can only imagine. Trying to get every Android partner to follow a timeline for releases has to be a complete and utter nightmare, but the company seems certain that these stipulations won't cripple anyone's ability to innovate on their skins (or have too little time to make the needed changes). We would've loved to hear a specific figure that we could start holding phone manufacturers to, but alas, it isn't to be. The only hard number thrown out today is 18 months. That's how long future hardware will be in the support cycle (at least, anyway), so you'll "soon" be able to count on your next Android device receiving all applicable updates for 1.5 years after purchase. As for phones that use custom skins, like Blur and Sense? Hard to say if that'll slow things down, and it's even harder to say if outfits like Dell will be joining this party at any time in the future. Though, to be fair, Andy Rubin clarified that there's an "open invitation" for anyone not listed to waltz on in. Naturally, we'll keep you abreast of any further developments from the show floor.
Google Ice Cream Sandwich coming in Q4 2011 to smartphones and tablets alike
"One OS that runs everywhere." There you have it, folks! Google intends to meld its Honeycomb tablet wares and Gingerbread smartphone software into one delicious Ice Cream Sandwich. Maybe that's why the "sandwich" bit is in the name, eh? Either way, it'll be a universal OS that runs on everything from teeny tiny Android phones to 10-inch tablets and will intelligently adapt to each form factor with things like a resizable status bar. Some other fancy new additions were demonstrated during Google's I/O 2011 keynote, including face-tracking and camera focus shifting based on voice recognition, but most of the salient details remain under lock and key for now. We'll be sure to dig around Mountain View campus fridges in search for more clues about the next major iteration of Android. %Gallery-123220%
Google details some of the Honeycomb features coming to Ice Cream: action bar, 'hologram' visual style
Google has already confirmed that its Honeycomb and Gingerbread iterations of Android would be combined in the next version of OS -- dubbed Ice Cream by all accounts -- and it's now also providing a few more details about what Honeycomb features will be carried over to smartphones. Speaking to Phone Scoop, Google Android Engineering Director Dave Burke said that the contextual "action bar" at the top of the screen on Honeycomb tablets will be used on phones as well, but that the system bar at the bottom of Honeycomb might not make the transition. You can apparently expect the so-called "hologram" visual style of Honeycomb to carry over though, along with the multitasking app switcher that provides a snapshot of each app running. That's about all the details there are at the moment, but you can be sure we'll be digging for more.
Next version of Android will combine Gingerbread and Honeycomb, arrive on a six-month cycle
Eric Schmidt didn't give a ton of details about the future of Android during his MWC 2011 keynote, but he did drop one interesting tidbit: the next version of Android will "start with an I, be named after a dessert" and combine Gingerbread for phones and Honeycomb for tablets into a cohesive whole. We'll just go out on a limb and say that he's talking about Ice Cream, and that we'll see that Fragments UI construct used to bridge the phone / tablet display size gap. Unfortunately, Eric didn't say anything about timing -- just that updates have been happening on a "six month cycle." Considering that Honeycomb has yet to officially launch on any devices, we'd say that's not so long to wait -- but of course we're also dying to know more as soon as possible. We'll let you know if we hear anything good.
Android 'Ice Cream' the sweet toothed followup to Honeycomb?
Ah, the age old alphabetical dessert guessing game. Pretty soon we'll have more future Android versions named than existing ones on the market. And you know what? That's okay, because we're hungry. Apparently the President of ARM, Tudor Brown, spilled the vanilla beans to Elizabeth Woyke of Forbes, saying that Android 4.0 will be called "Ice Cream," and while it seems like a bit of an obvious choice for an "I" dessert, that's never stopped Google's crack naming crew before. (Donut, anybody?) Somehow we get the feeling that Google spends a lot less time thinking about potential names for desserts than we do, and that's alright: they've got a lot of OS work to do. Us? We just have to whine about Android fragmentation for an hour or so a week on the podcast. Hardly a full load. [Image courtesy of Robot Dreams]
