Google’s Project Ara: 7 Things You Need to Know

Google may have sold Motorola to Lenovo last month, but the Iinternet giant is holding on to one of the smartphone maker’s most ambitious projects. Originally announced as a Motorola initiative in fall 2013, Project Ara is a modular smartphone concept that would allow users to swap out individual components or modules, such as the camera, CPU and display. Google hopes to have a commercial version of the product available by early 2015, so here’s what you need to know about the company’s plan for a single handset that evolves with your needs. 

Project Ara is designed to make upgrading your smartphone’s guts as easy as putting together a LEGO set. (Think sleeker). Instead of having to splurge for a new handset if you want the fastest CPU, strongest battery or loudest speakers, the idea behind Ara would allow you to acquire those individual pieces and snap it onto your device. The platform has the potential to let developers and users get really creative, with multi-textured smartphone skins and multiple camera lenses on one side. If successful, Project Ara could be the Android of hardware, creating an open ecosystem in which developers can create their own unique modules for consumers.

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Motorola and Google may be parting ways, but the two giants are still collaborating for Ara–sort of. Google is holding on to Motorola’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group. ATAP is lead by Regina Dugan, who has plenty of experience crafting unique tech as the former director of the government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Project Ara is being headed by ATAP’s Paul Eremenko, another DARPA veteran who has shifted his efforts towards the modular project. 

3D Systems is bringing its renowned 3D printing tech to Project Ara, with a new high-speed printer in development that can manufacture individual modules in mass volumes. This new printer will be able to print 600-dpi color images, and users will be able to choose what type of material their modules are printed in. Eventually, 3D Systems might even be able to print electric smartphone components such as antennas. 

While specific measurements haven’t been released, the Ara platform will support mini, medium, and jumbo-sized phones. Mini phones will be very compact, medium devices will have a mainstream build in the vein of an iPhone or Galaxy, and jumbo phones will look and feel more like a phablet. The phone’s size will be determined by its endoskeleton, which is the only Ara component that will be made by Google itself. 

Despite its technical nature, the Ara website uses the tagline “Designed exclusively for 6 billion people.” Google wants to get those folks who have never been online easy access to the Internet. In fact, the base $50 model will only have a Wi-Fi connection, not cellular. However, the bundled app will let you order additional modules.

MORE: 10 Best Android Apps You’re Not Using

Over time, the easy swapability of Ara modules could appeal to mainstream shoppers who want a sharper camera without buying a new handset. There’s also plenty to Ara to entice power users, as someone who wants the maximum amount of juice could drop that same camera for an extra battery. The project holds the potential to give handset users only the parts they want, which is a concept we’ve yet to see with today’s mainstream devices.

It might be a while before we see modular smartphones hit store shelves, but the development wheels behind Ara are already spinning fast. The ATAP team is hosting three developers’ conferences this year, starting with one in California’s Computer History Museum on Apr. 15 and 16. Module Developer’s Kits could release by winter 2014, with the 100 most active devs to receive free Ara phones. Google’s goal is to get the first Project Ara phone on shelves by the first quarter of next year, which could appear in convenience stores.

According to Eremenko, a potential Ara phone shopping kiosk that can measure muscle movements, pupil dilation, and heart rate would aid users in configuring their Ara phones. For example, if the kiosk detected that a user was particularly stressed, it would be able to provide additional tips during the building process. Google might even rummage through your social posts to help you pick the right modules for your needs, though you would have to give it permission.

Sources: Time, Engadget

Mike Andronico has been reporting on the latest tech trends for Laptop since July 2013. With a B.A. in Journalism from Purchase College, Mike's love for "Street Fighter," comic books, and cool gadgets has led to contributions at GameNGuide, Examiner, Joonbug, and 2D-X.

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First Look at Project Glass: Google’s Augmented Reality Goggles

We’ve been intrigued by Google’s augmented reality glasses since we caught wind of the top-secret project a few months ago, and now the company has come out with a lot more details about the venture. In a post shared on Google Plus Wednesday, Google released a teaser video showing off some of the remarkable features of the HUD contraption. Dubbed “Project Glass,” this Google X Labs initiative is like a virtual alert system veil over your eyes, which responds to spoken commands as you make your way through your busy day.

In the demo video, we’re placed in the shoes of a guy who’s supposedly donned the futuristic frames, and we follow him as he accomplishes small missions all over New York City. He looks outside and checks the weather, inspects his appointments, shoots off a text message, navigates a new course when his regular route is blocked, sets a reminder, looks up a friend’s location, snaps and shares a photo, controls his music and conducts a video call. Click on the embedded media below to check out how neat the AR goggles are in action yourself.

Google also revealed the design study for the prototype — a silver wrap-around frame which looks exactly the odd sort of spectacle you’d expect from a science fiction story — but “dozens of other shapes and variations” of the glasses are reportedly being built. According to The New York Times, we may even see augmented reality contact lenses in the future, since it’s now possible to embed electronics into tiny contact lenses that will project pixels right into a person’s eye.

The glasses are not yet for sale, but they could allegedly drop into the market by the end of the year. However, Google employees are already testing the glasses out in the public, so if you spot someone sporting a pair of the Star Trek-like bifocals, don’t be alarmed. But you may want to duck out of their way lest they beam your identity up back up to the cloud.

via The New York Times

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Goalscape Desktop Project Manager Keeps Big Picture in Sight

To-do lists are great for keeping track of the myriad little tasks we must accomplish every day. "Submit expense reports," "Take cat to vet," "Buy coffee," and so on. But what about the really big things--the dreams we want someday to come true? A to-do item like "get company onto Fortune 500 list" or "write prize-winning novel" may look a bit silly. But such lofty goals are made up of numerous subgoals, each of which can probably be broken down further. Goalscape Desktop (89 euro, $117 on March 12, 2012) is a tool for realizing your goals that does away with the list metaphor and uses an innovative circular interface instead.

Goalscape Desktop offers a striking way to balance your priorities, activities and progress on your way to success.Goalscape's interface is very eye-catching, but its beautiful form has everything to do with function. This cross-platform, Adobe AIR-based application puts your "master goal" in the center of a circle, with subgoals surrounding it. So if you are trying to get to the Olympics as a competitive sailor and must perfect your boat handling, "boat handling" would take center stage, surrounded by specific areas of handling, such as "upwind," "downwind," and "start."

This particular example is interesting because that's what Marcus Baur, Goalscape's managing director, used to get to the Sydney Olympics in the 49er class. This was done on paper, before Goalscape existed as an application, but makes for a great use case for the methodology.

There are only so many hours in a day, and we all have just so many resources to work with. Having subgoals arranged as pieces of a pie reflects that, making for a clearer use of resources. You can also adjust each subgoal's size to reflect its relative importance, and track your progress by moving a slider from 0 percent to 100 percent. As you move the slider, the subgoal gradually fills with color, as does its "master" goal, proportionately to the subgoal's importance.

Goalscape Desktop avoids breaking things down to a to-do list, preferring to focus on the greater view. Even so, every goal can have a start and end date, tags, and a responsible person assigned to it. You can filter goals by these attributes, and there's also a search-as-you-type feature for quickly finding goals, no matter where they are located on the Goalscape.

The main drawback is that Goalscape doesn't tightly integrate with a to-do based workflow, so using the tool must be an intentional act: You must decide when to open Goalscape and start reviewing your progress. It's a habit that isn't always easy to build, and the biggest barrier for adoption (at least for me). Goalscape's iPhone companion app does offer a list view, and the company is considering integrating such functionality in future desktop and Web versions as well.

Since each subgoal can be further broken down, goalscapes can become very detailed. In my own use, I easily got to five levels of nested subgoals. Goalscape offers two ways to manage this visual overload: You can limit the depth of the current display, or you can double-click a subgoal to drill down into it, making it the center of the circle. You can also print out your entire Goalscape or a specific view of it, to make an interesting motivational poster.

Since Goalscape is so open-ended, it can be used for more than project management. I used it to get a bird's-eye view of my entire day-to-day existence, subdividing my life by areas such as family, work, health, learning, and so on. Having to resize each such area made me consider my priorities, and setting specific subgoals for each area made me consider what would make that area "successful" (reading enough books, planning to avoid overload, and so on). I wish Goalscape Desktop offered an easy way to transform those insights into complete to-do lists for implementation, but the application is more focused on the big picture view of things.

Goalscape also offers an online subscription-based service called Goalscape Connect that teams can use to set their priorities and monitor their progress. If you are looking to get a clearer picture of your activity and make tangible progress, Goalscape Desktop offers a unique and compelling way to get there.

Note: Clicking the Download link takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download Adobe AIR (if necessary) and install the desktop software.

--Erez Zukerman

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