The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams – Eleanor Roosevelt
These are the days of intense competition and the technology space thrives on innovation. Change is the only thing constant and even giants who fail to keep up with the changing technology would see their downfall.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been nurturing innovation for years. We all know that the employees at Googleplex spend around 20% of their work time on projects that interest them. Many of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s services like Gmail, Google News, AdSense, Google Books, etc. originated from individual ideas. But innovation at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) doesn’t stop there.
Project Glass, Google Driverless Car and Google Brain project are three such projects that would touch lives of millions in the coming future.
Project Glass is a research and development program by Google to develop an augmented reality head-mounted display (HMD). Project Glass products would display information in smartphone-like format hands-free and could interact with the Internet via natural language voice commands.
Image Source: http://tx2.cdn.caijing.com.cn/2012-06-28/111915778.jpg
This product comes in the form of an eye gear mounted with a camera, microphone and various sensors. Google glass also features “bone conduction” technology which sends vibrations to the inner ear through the skull, enabling the user to hear audio without traditional speakers. This project has almost reached its completion phase and the explorer edition was presented at two-day hackathons in San Francisco and New York. We have seen the share price of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) rising from US $750 to $775 since the explorer edition was revealed.
Source: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/goog/interactive-chart?timeframe=5d&charttype=line#.URIEeqVwrsQ
This product, when made public, will not only earn a fortune for Google but also change the lives of millions.
Google Driverless Car involves developing technology for running cars without the need for human drivers. The project team has equipped a test fleet of at least ten vehicles, consisting of 6 Toyota Prius, an Audi TT and three Lexus RX450h. The cars have traversed through hairpin turns, bridges, city traffic and circled lakes. The team has announced that they have completed 300,000 autonomous-driving miles accident free. There are some issues with the existing laws and new laws needs to be put into place before this technology can be commercialized. It may be a while before this technology is made available to general public. But once it is commercialized this technology would change the lives of millions and Google will end up filling their pockets with big money.
Another important project the Google researchers are working on is called Google Brain. Google Brain is an attempt to simulate the functioning of a human brain. Google researchers created one of the largest neural networks for machine learning by connecting 16,000 computer processors several years ago. This neural network was then presented with 10 million images found on Youtube videos. The objective was to find out if Google Brain could identify a particular object or shape without being fed any information or data about the object. Picking up on the most commonly occurring images featured on YouTube, the system achieved 81.7 percent accuracy in detecting human faces, 76.7 percent accuracy when identifying human body parts and 74.8 percent accuracy when identifying cats. This project, in the coming years, could take Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition to a whole new level.
Google is preparing itself to be future-ready. These projects will not only change our lives but also help Google to be at the top of the competition in the coming years.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is another company that gives extreme importance to innovation. iGlass or Apple’s version of Google’s “Project Glass” doesn’t exist yet, but Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s certainly been thinking about it; in US patent number 8212859, “Peripheral treatment for head-mounted displays”, it outlines “projecting a source image in a head-mounted display apparatus for a user” to deliver “an enhanced viewing experience” for her or him. Smart specs, in other words. If Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been working on this since 2006, we have to believe that a good amount of effort has been already put behind this concept. We have to wait and watch if Apple’s product is better than Google’s and how soon they will be able to commercialize it. Rumors are that Steve Jobs wanted to build a car or rather an iCar that would have no steering wheels but only touch panels to drive it. Though we do not know how true the news is but if Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is working on this concept and if we have an iCar in the near future it will definitely add to Apple’s treasure.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a company that rarely enjoys media attention when the subject is innovation. However, this is going to change very soon. Microsoft researchers are now working on some amazing technologies. Microsoft Kinect Fusion is one such project wherein the researchers are creating real-time 3D reconstructions and interaction using a moving depth camera.
Image Source: http://123kinect.com/wp-content/gallery/kinect-fusion/kinect-fusion-kfw_1-build-composite.jpg
This innovative technology would change the way 3-D printing, industrial design, body scanning, augmented reality, and gaming industry works. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also working on something called as the ‘no-touch’ technology. Kinect Glasses, along with wrist-worn accessories, can help take augmented reality to a whole new level. Though these technologies are currently at its nascent stage, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) would soon be able to come up with a more mature version of the products and commercialize it. This will help Microsoft make some big money.
We are living in a time where change is inevitable. Ignorance or resistance to change can lead to downfall. Hence it is always important that a company constantly innovates to survive and lead. Google, Apple and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) are preparing themselves to be future ready. With the introduction of every new product or service the share price of these companies would soar high and the movement of price, thereafter, would depend on the ability of the companies to survive and lead. We wish all the very best to these three tech giants.
The article Dream Technology… Coming Soon! originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Shine Kaippilly.
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