You Can Now Have Prescription Google 'Glasses'

Google Glass's vision for its future is coming into focus.
On Tuesday, Google announced it will add Google Glass options for prescription glasses, its most requested feature since it launched the face-mounted computers last year.
The move is the latest attempt by Google to make the beta version of its connected eyewear more fashionable and consumer friendly before it releases the product to the broader public toward the end of 2014.
The prescription lenses will be available in a set of newly designed, fashion-conscious frames that will cost $225 each. This new Titanium line will include four frame shapes called curve, thin, split and bold. The outside of the Titanium frames is gray, but there are four options for subtle accent colors inside the frames. Google is also adding three options for sunglasses designed by Maui Jim, which will cost $150 each.
The actual Glass hardware, which can shoot video and projects Internet content such as e-mails, walking directions and sports scores onto a tiny screen above the wearer's right eye, is staying the same for now. It was last updated in October, when the team made sure the design was modular and could attach to the right side of the Titanium glass frames.
You still can't quickly pop Google Glass off one frame and onto another, because the process requires undoing a small screw. While the task is easy enough, the system is not meant for frequent frame changes. Google is betting that people will be so comfortable wearing Google Glass that they won't have to choose between prescription glasses and Google Glass.
"We're going to reach some day, hopefully it will be soon, where people will wonder 'why would I want traditional glasses? They don't do X, Y or Z,' " said Google Glass Product Director Steve Lee.
Fusing Google Glass with prescription lenses could lead to its own set of problems, however, because wearers can't take them off without limiting their vision, and the Internet-enabled glasses aren't welcome everywhere.
Earlier this month, an Ohio man was questioned by local and federal law enforcement for wearing his Google Glass during a movie. The authorities suspected he was secretly recording the film until he explained the eyewear was turned off and connected to a pair of prescription frames. (He had purchased the custom frames for $600 through a third party.)
Driving while wearing Glass is also a thorny issue in many states, including California, where a woman was ticketed last year for wearing the device while behind the wheel. The citation was dismissed in court, but since many people need their prescription glasses to drive, there could be an uptick in the number of motorists sporting Google Glass.Google is confident these types of issues will be resolved as Glass becomes more common place and people learn to recognize when the device is turned on or off. Currently there is no indicator light but when the device is on, other people can see a faint light on the Glass screen.
The company hopes venues and states hostile to Glass might even embrace it down the road. For example, there's a Glass app called Drive Safe Google Glass that can wake drivers up if it detects they are falling asleep. That might appeal to law enforcement. Theaters could embrace the technology as a way to deliver close captioning for movies to certain audience members.
"I think you need to give the technology a chance to breathe and evolve," said Google Glass spokesperson Chris Dale.
Prescription glasses can be pricey without insurance, so Google has struck a deal with vision benefits company Vision Service Provider to add coverage for wearers of the new specs. Insurance reimbursements will extend only to the frames and prescription lenses and can't be used toward the Glass device itself, which still costs $1,500.
The new frames were designed in-house by Google employees on the Glass team, despite earlier rumors of a possible partnership with hip eyewear retailer Warby Parker. Going forward, the company does hope to work with third-party eyewear companies so partners can create their own Google Glass compatible products.
Even with the regular-looking new frames, someone wearing Google Glass still stands out. In the future, it might be possible to shrink the hardware down so that it's more subtle, but Google doesn't necessarily think that's what all users will want. More modular designs and partnerships with third parties could expand the options so that a Glass wearer could decide between wearing an obvious look or going undetected.
"Sometimes I want to go out and I want to be seen, I want people to talk to me about Glass. I've actually found glass to be the most social experience ever," said Lee. "But other times I just want to go about my business, stay low key."

TEXTING MAKES YOU WALK LIKE YOU ARE DRUNK

If you're texting while you're walking, you might as well be drunk.

At the very least, texting while traipsing down the street makes you walk funny, according to a new study by researchers in Australia.

"Our study showed that people deviated from a straight line when texting while walking," Siobhan Schabrun, who led the University of Queensland study, told FoxNews.com. Schabrun is a NHMRC Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Western Sydney who studies chronic pain, rehabilitation and neuroplasticity -- the brain's ability to adapt.

While the weaving-while-texting news won't come as a surprise to anyone who's been slowed down by sidewalk-blocking meanderers sending "LOL" messages, the study took a detailed look into exactly how and what practices affected people's postures.

The researchers examined 26 people who had owned their smartphones for more than three months and used them daily. Participants were asked to walk a straight line while not using a phone, while reading a passage on a phone, and then while texting on a phone. Eight cameras monitored the subjects' gait, body position and head inclination.

The researchers found that people walked more slowly while reading and even more slowly while texting. Using a phone also necessitated less head movement and reduced arm swing, which affected the subjects' balance.

In other words, texting while walking gives you terrible posture and makes you look like you've had a few drinks.

Many studies have shown that pedestrians using smartphones can become dangerously distracted. An Ohio State University study found that approximately 1,500 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2010 for injuries sustained while using a cellphone. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that there were 4,432 pedestrian fatalities in 2011, compared to 4,109 in 2009 -- a small rise, but one significant enough for the agency to highlight it -- and the National Institutes of Health have published reports showing that pedestrians can be dangerously distracted by cellphones.

But the Australian study is the first to show that reading and texting while walking significantly affect posture. It may be harmful not only in terms of traffic safety; it may also lead to back and neck pain.

"Although not examined in our study, it is reasonable to suggest that people who adopt the posture we observed in our study for prolonged periods of time might develop neck or shoulder pain," Schabrun said in an e-mail. Further studies will be needed to determine if there are any long-term consequences.

What is immediately clear is that texting while walking can make people as accident-prone as if they were drunk. There are countless surveillance and dashcam videos of smartphone users walking into fountains, off train platforms and straight into oncoming traffic. Add drivers distracted by their own smartphone apps, and it can lead to deadly consequences.

'Brain Controlled' Devices May Help Paralysed People.

Ths is an Excerpt from Cnn .Melody Moore Jackson is the director of Georgia Tech's BrainLab
About 6 million Americans live with paralysis
Moving limbs and wheelchairs with the brain could help many people with limited mobility
(CNN)-- Wouldn't moving objects with your mind be fun? But the implications go deeper: For the millions of Americans who live with paralysis, mentally controlling artificial limbs and mobility devices would be a big step forward toward more independent living.
Melody Moore Jackson, director of the BrainLab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is trying to make that happen.
Jackson started this lab in 1998 to look at methods of brain control that didn't involve surgery. At that time, she estimates, there were about five labs working on the same topic of brain-computer interfaces. Now there are about 300.
The BrainLab was one of the first to demonstrate that a person can control a robotic arm and a wheelchair with brain signals, Jackson said.
"We can literally influence the wiring of the brain, rewiring the brain, so to speak, to allow them to make new neural connections, and hopefully to restore movement to a paralyzed arm," Jackson said.
About 6 million Americans live with paralysis, according to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.
A smaller subset in need of such technologies consists of patients with locked-in syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. These patients feel, think, and understand language, but cannot move or speak -- they are "prisoners in their own bodies," Jackson explained.
A famous example is Jean-Dominique Bauby, who became locked-in after a stroke, and wrote the memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by blinking to indicate individual letters. Jackson wants to open up possibilities for people with locked-in syndrome to communicate and move.
There has been a lot of activity in brain-computer interfaces to help such people.
Another pioneering research group in this area is the laboratory of Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University Center for Neuroengineering. Nicolelis and colleagues have shown that a rhesus monkey in North Carolina could, using only its brain, control the walking patterns of a robot in Japan. In 2011, they got a monkey to move a virtual arm and feel sensations from it.
This team is leading the Walk Again Project, an international consortium of research centers dedicated to creating brain-computer interfaces to restore movement.
One technique that Jackson and colleagues use to harness brain signals is called functional near-infrared spectroscopy. This involves shining a light into the brain to discern how much activity is there, and examining the corresponding oxygen level.
Light at a specific wavelength is beamed into the brain, and the oxygen present will absorb some of that light. This allows scientists to pick up on small differences in the blood's oxygenation.
For example, scientists can place a sensor over the Brocca's area, a part of the brain essential for language. This area is activated when you talk to yourself inside your head or count silently, which is called subvocal speech.
Scientists can use the oxygen levels associated with this to create a system of allowing a person to say "yes" and "no" just by thinking; "no" corresponds to no subvocal speech or nonsense syllables.
The original hardware for a device that utilizes this technique was developed by Hitachi, and it allows a person with locked-in syndrome to say "yes" or "no," Jackson said.
But Jackson wanted to make something more interesting to learn. Her group created a hot-air balloon video game, where the balloon reflects the blood oxygenation level. Multiple locked-in syndrome patients can compete with each other in this game.
"It's not necessarily just for fun," Jackson said. "We can actually say, 'Well, they got 70% of the obstacles correct, they were able to jump over the mountains or get through the wind.' And so it also allows us to collect data."
In the stroke rehabilitation arena, Jackson's group hopes to restore movement in people who have paralysis or partial paralysis in a limb

Google Can Hear Everything You Say, But Probably Does'nt

Google Chrome users are no strangers to speech recognition software -- heck, the internet browser has "Ok Google!" voice recognitionbuilt right into its URL navigation bar. But that recognition is triggered to "listen" only when you've opened a new tab or navigate to Google's homepage, and the expectation is that the browser isn't able to listen in otherwise. Not so, says speech recognition program developer Tal Ater, who discovered an exploit in Chrome's speech recognition that enabled unscrupulous websites with speech recognition software to listen in when users aren't expecting. First, you have to give permission to a website to allow speech recognition to work. After that, however, the website may open a pop-under window with the intent of secretly continuing to listen -- even if you've closed the tab and moved on. Google Chrome must remain running, and you have to miss seeing the pop-under, but it's certainly an issue. Moreover, Google knows of the problem and has yet to fix it...despite a fix existing. Ater describes reporting the issue to Google, finding out it was fixed by the company soon after, and that fix not being implemented in subsequent updates. Google confirmed that to Engadget with the following statement: "The security of our users is a top priority, and this feature was designed with security and privacy in mind. We've re-investigated and this is not eligible for a reward, since a user must first enable speech recognition for each site that requests it. The feature is in compliance with the current W3C specification, and we continue to work on improvements." Given Google's compliance with speech recognition standards, it sounds like Mountain View isn't changing the way Chrome's speech software works just yet, though we'd be surprised if some form of visual indication of recording wasn't included in a future build. A video of Ater demonstrating the exploit is just below.

Clicking 'Like' May Help People Spam You.

an image that tugs at the heartstrings. A smiling 7-year-old girl poses in her cheerleading uniform, circled by a ring of pompons, her bald head a telltale sign of her chemotherapy treatments.
The photo hit Facebook last year and popped up all over with messages of support. "Like" to show this little girl you care. "Share" to tell her she's beautiful. Pray for her to beat cancer.
But here's the truth. The photo was nearly six years old. And neither the girl, nor her parents -- who never posted it to Facebook -- had any idea it was being used that way.
Welcome to the world of Facebook "like farming."
Those waves of saccharin-sweet posts that sometimes fill your news feed may seem harmless. But all too often, they're being used for nefarious purposes. At best, a complete stranger may be using the photos to stroke their own ego. At worst, experts say, scammers and spammers are using Facebook, often against the site's rules, to make some easy cash.
And they're wiling to play on the good intentions of Facebook users to do it.
"The average user doesn't know any better," said Tim Senft, founder of Facecrooks.com, a website that monitors scams and other illegal or unethical behavior on Facebook. "I think their common sense tells them it's not true, but in the back of their minds, they think 'What if it is true? What does it hurt if I press like?' or whatever."
What does it hurt?
"I was first shocked," said Amanda Rieth of Northampton, Pennsylvania, whose daughter was the subject of that photo. "And then infuriated."
After being notified by a friend who recognized the girl in a Facebook post, Rieth tracked the image back to a link she'd posted to her Photobucket account in a community forum in 2009, two years after it was takenHer daughter, who was diagnosed with Stage IV neuroblastoma in early 2007, has been featured in local news segments for her fundraising efforts to fight cancer through Alex's Lemonade Stand. But her mom said she was always part of the decision and was happy to help publicize the fight.
"This? This was entirely different and entirely out of our control," Rieth said. "That's the most gut-wrenching part: the total lack of control."
Hurting the people featured in the posts, and their families, isn't the only risk of sharing such content. Sometimes, a single click can help people who are up to no good.
Often, Senft said, Facebook pages are created with the sole purpose of spreading viral content that will get lots of likes and shares.
Once the page creators have piled up hundreds of thousands of likes and shares, they'll strip the page and promote something else, like products that they get a commission for selling. Or, they may turn around and sell the page through black-market websites to someone who does the same.
It's a way to trick Facebook's algorithm, which is designed to give more value to popular pages than the ones, like scams and spam, that pop up overnight.
"The more likes and shares and comments and that sort of thing you have, the more likely it is to be seen by other people," Senft said. "If they're looking to sell the page in a black-hat forum somewhere, that's what the value of the page is."
It gets worse
Sometimes, the threat is more direct.
The "new" page may be used to spread malware -- software that attacks the user's computer -- or for phishing, the act of trying to gather credit card numbers, passwords or other personal information through links to phony giveaways or contests.

Amazing Hoverbikes Might Finaly Be Here.

Imagine a bicycle that was more than a means to get you to work in the morning, but a personal assistant to boot. It could shield you from oncoming traffic, look up weather conditions in advance, anticipate the road ahead and make adjustments to your journey. Imagine it could also double as smog filter, fit compactly on your bookshelf, and even fly.
Okay, so your bicycle won't be able to do all those things at once, but hey, any one of those features makes for a pretty cool ride. Want to know what the future will bring? Read on to see how tomorrow's bicycles might look.
The smog muncher
As a mode of transportation, bikes are about as environmentally friendly as it gets. The Bangkok based Lightfog Creative and Design Company, however, has upped cycling's already soaring ecological ante with its concept for an air-purifying bike.
It has a carbon monoxide and dust filter mounted at the front and the theory is that with the help of a lithium-ion battery, the aluminum frame would use electricity to generate oxygen from an onboard water tank. At the moment, the idea exists solely as artistic renderings (the company has yet to make a prototype, though one is supposedly in the works). Still, the idea shows potential, as evidenced by the fact that it recently won a Red Dot design award.
"Star Wars" speeder
According to Hollywood's many depictions of the future, we should all be making our travels via flying car or hover board. While the present-day is irksomely Earth-bound, there was recently a modest nod to the world we've been promised for decades by the entertainment industry. California-based engineering company Aerofex has created a flying "hover bike" that looks like it was plucked from the set of Star Wars. The "Jedi bike" floats with the help of ducted fans, and is fairly low-altitude (soaring up to a maximum 15 feet -- 4.6 meters).
Read more: The 18 propeller helicopter
The current version is only a proof-of-concept used for development, but Aerofex says it is now working now on a production version. Alas, it is unlikely the bike will ever be available for popular consumption, but will likely be limited to agricultural and humanitarian uses.
The smartest bike in the roomFirst conceived at MIT's SENSEable City Lab, the Copenhagen Wheel is a wireless device that turns any ordinary bike into an electronic hybrid. The wheel captures energy when the rider is going over easy terrain (i.e. downhill) and stores it in a battery pack. Conversely, the saved energy is used to give riders an electronic push when traversing difficult landscapes.
Read: MIT drone is a personal tour guide
The device has a sensor which learns the rider's individual style, and also anticipates aspects of the ride ahead, including road conditions and carbon monoxide levels. Riders are also able to control the wheel with their smartphones; they can lock and unlock it, track usage statistics (including calories burned and elevation climbed) and select a level of motor assistance. Startup Superpedestrian brought the wheel to the market last month, and has started taking pre-orders for $799.
Laser footprint
In the last few years, the number of cyclists on the road has skyrocketed, which is great for many reasons. Unfortunately, the amount of cyclist casualties has risen dramatically as well.
To combat the problem, a physics student from Brighton University, in England, invented Blaze, a front-mounted lamp that projects a green laser image five meters in front of a bicycle to let other road users know it is coming. The aim is to help prevent vehicles from turning across a cyclist's path by increasing his or her "footprint" on the road.
Watch this: Pinarello's road racers
Bike in a box
Forget what engineering experts say, according to Dutch manufacturer firm PedalFactory, putting together a bike is about as complicated as making lunch. This month, the company has just started international shipments of the world's first flat-pack, self-assembly bicycles.
"If you can make a sandwich, you can make a Sandwichbike," or so goes the company motto. At ?799.00 ($1,086), the price may seem a bit steep for a bike you build yourself, but then again, all the materials are locally and responsibly sourced, and each bike is tested for weatherproofing for six weeks in a climate control room at an independent wood research institute.The bike comes delivered in a compact box bearing 19 parts made from a combination of beech plywood and aluminum. Supposedly, it can be constructed in as little as 45 minutes.

Androids vs iPhones.

I think it's as clear as day to any observant person that there really is'nt any competition anymore between the two. The Androids have won.

With more companies than anyone cares to count producing them, it's pretty clear that Androids are a consumer and market favorite, and not just because of the fact that most of them are far cheaper and operate better, But because they have a far friendlier user interface that is easily customisable to your more pressing needs. Friendlier in fact than the Lumia's "welcome home" look.

For people who are more interested in the specs of their devices, Androids in general have better cameras and processors, making it easier to get a classy phone for less than 30k, which is'nt the case with any iPhone( even the older models). And to rub it in, there is'nt any iPhone that has a water or dustproof case.


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A List Of Movies To Look Foreward To This Year.

Happy watching.

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A List Of Movies To Look Foreward To This Year.

Happy watching.

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The Coolest Things Technology Has In Store For Us This Year.

From wearable technology to space tourism, 2014 will be a year of significant technological leaps. We take a look through some of the most ground-breaking developments of the year ahead.
Electric cars take to the track
As the name suggests, Formula E is all about electric power. The arrival of this new petrol-free motor racing competition is a significant step for both the car and the environment. Two years ago motorsport's international governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), announced its ambitious plan for an electric car race that would mimic the hugely popular F1 series. As the arrival of Formula E looms, experts predict that it could have a big impact on the future of car manufacturing.
Initially, the cars in the competition will be powered by enormous battery engines. Each battery weighs 200 kilograms, producing around 200 kilowatts of power. Depending on the speed, the electric engines will last anywhere from a few hours to just 25 minutes and the cars can reach speeds of up to 220 kilometers per hour.
"If you look in the past, a lot of development in the car industry has come from racing," said Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag. "The transfer of technology is potentially very big."
Space tourism blasts off
After a number of false starts and delays, Virgin Galactic is finally poised to lift off in 2014. Billionaire Richard Branson's planned commercial spacecraft underwent a successful test flight last year over California, making a commercial launch this year a distinct possibility.
In September 2013, Branson's Virgin Galactic said SpaceShipTwo completed an important test, breaking the sound barrier as it climbed from 42,000 feet to 69,000 feet over the Mojave Desert before descended using its tilt-wing "feathering" maneuver. It was the second successful powered flight for SpaceShipTwo -- a craft designed to carry up to six passengers.
Initially, Virgin Galactic flights are scheduled to be suborbital, but the hope is to take passengers further into space as the technology is refined. Already, a host of famous names have signed up to head into near orbit including Katy Perry, Stephen Hawking and Ashton Kutcher.
"We couldn't be more delighted to have another major supersonic milestone under our belts as we move toward a 2014 start of commercial service," said Branson after the test flight last yearWind power blows stronger
As scientists look to find alternatives to traditional fossil fuels, a number of major projects, including Cape Wind (in Massachusetts' Nantucket Sound) and Deepwater Wind (near Block Island, Rhode Island), are vying to become the first offshore windfarm in the U.S.
Alongside power from volcanoes, waves, biomass and the sun, wind power is set to become a significant alternative energy source in 2014.
Are we finally heading to Mars?
A new type of engine, called the VASIMR (or Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) will be tested in space in March. If successful it is estimated that it could reduce the time it takes to get to Mars from nine months to just three months. The technology -- an "advanced plasma space propulsion system" -- will be tested by NASA on the International Space Station, taking the prospect of interplanetary exploration one step closer.
Synthetic biology begins to grow
Marcus Fairs, the editor of dezeen.com, a highly influential online design magazine, says that in his view 2014's most significant emerging technologies will be in the field of synthetic biology.
"This emerging field started to hit the headlines at the end of last year and will be huge in 2014," Fairs say. "It involves the creation of new types of artificial life forms that perform useful functions. At the smallest scale it could mean man-made microbes that live inside your body and detect illness; at the largest scale it could mean synthetic creatures that are released into the wild to clean up pollution or attack parasitic species."
Wearable technology is on trend
Wearable technology fired some preliminary warning shots in 2013 with the release of the Samsung Galaxy Gear and Pebble smartwatches, but this year will see the arrival of a selection of truly innovative wearable devices. Most notably, Google Glass is expected to launch this year, offering head-mounted computing that could, ultimately, make smartwatches and mobile phones a thing of the past.Alongside Google's new high-tech glasses, Fairs says that in 2014 "technology will migrate onto the body as digital services are miniaturized and embedded in our clothing or worn against our skin. We already have Google Glass and wearable fitness trackers, but a vast array of services -- from health monitoring to augmented information (telling you what's around you and helping you navigate) will become commonplace."

NEW IPHONE CASE USES GUN GRIP MATERIAL

IPhone case manufacturer Element Case has partnered with Hogue --the largest manufacturer of firearm grips and gun stocks in the U.S. -- to create the first full line of smartphone cases from the same shock-absorbing polymer material used in its military spec gun grips. 
"Some of our best selling cases had been our tactical styles," Element CEO Jeff Sasaki told  FoxNews.com. "It was only logical to push further in that direction for its new lineup."
The new models in the Sector line of high-end cases -- which run as high as $300, as much as an iPhone itself -- are made from Hogue's polymer grip material, which is well regarded by marksmen and gun enthusiasts for its tactile and shock-absorbing qualities.
The material is a version of G10, which the military uses for radio antennae, among other things. It's very dense and light and, of course, super tough.
"It's basically military grade fiberglass," Sasaki said. 
The high cost of the cases is partly due to the tremendous engineering work that goes into the products, from resin-impregnated wood that adds strength to finding G10 -- and a manufacturer willing to work with the stuff.
"We just focus on really, really cool badass cases. The rest we'll just figure out," Sasaki said with a laugh.
Element Case was founded in Sasaki's garage in 2007, though it didn't sell its first case, a model called the Jewel, until 2008. More famous garage-manufacturers quickly took notice.
"[Apple founder] Steve Wozniak ordered a Jewel within the first 10 or 15 minutes of our launch," Sasaki told  FoxNews.com.  "It was me and a couple people in my garage making them."
The company announced the partnership with Hogue last year and is showing off its full line of gun grips at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show. Grips run from $50 to $200 and are available online at  www.hoguestore.com or  www.elementcase.com.

MAN LETS INTERNET NAME HIS BABY

Would you let the Internet name your baby?
One man -- who insists he isn't crazy -- is doing exactly that.
Stephen McLaughlin has set up a website called namemydaughter.com, where he is allowing people to vote for his daughter's first and middle names.
There is one catch: He and his wife have the final say.
"Unfortunately, Internet, I know better than to trust you. We will ultimately be making the final decision, Alas, my daughter shall not be named WackyTaco692. Sorry guys the wife wouldn't go for a free for all," McLaughlin wrote on the website.
His instincts seem to be right -- the leading name earlier today was "Cthulhu Le-Dash-A."
McLaughlin started an IAmA on Reddit to answer questions about his decision.
He said he has been "quite surprised" by how respectful people have been.
"So far I have only had to moderate several STIs and a couple of sexual positions ... I would prefer not to have to remove anything from the list."
McLaughlin, a web developer, said he was sitting on the end of his bed after coming home from work one day when the idea hit him.
"I tend to be very forward person (this gets me in a lot of trouble lol) and I just blurted it out -- 'Honey, I'm going to ask the Internet what we should name our daughter!'" he posted.
"She was supportive right from the start. I think at first she didn't think I was actually going to do it. But once the domain was registered she knew it was real.
"Hell when I saw that namemydaughter.com was available I just knew that was the sign that I HAD to do it."
The baby is due on April 2, so people have until then to vote for their favorite name.

Thanks To Google, Now You Can Email Strangers.

A new feature from Google will let you e-mail just about anyone with a Google+ account, and, in turn, give them the ability to e-mail you.
The feature, announced on the official Gmail blog, won't give your actual e-mail address to strangers. But when a Gmail user begins typing in the address box, it will provide suggestions including people in their Google+ network.
The idea, Google says, is to make it easier to contact friends and other contacts when you've forgotten, or never had, their e-mail address. But some early reactions suggested the new change may make it too easy.
"Oh god no.. Another reason to hate Google+," wrote Jeff Roberts, a reporter for tech blog GigaOM, on Twitter. "They turned it into a stalking tool."
Others, like Chris Taylor of Mashable, said it looks like another attempt to push users to Google+, which, as a social network, has never presented a real challenge to Facebook, though Google has continued to integrate it into other, more popular, products like YouTube and, now, Gmail.
"What (CEO Larry) Page and Google seem maddeningly unaware of is that nobody can ever be forced into having a party," Taylor wrote. "That in fact, the forcing is what makes a party impossible."
Google, clearly anticipating the privacy concerns, notes that users may limit the feature, or opt out of it entirely.
While the default G+ setting will allow anyone on Google+ to contact you, users may limit that access to people in their Circles on the network, or to nobody at all.
There are other limits, too. A user may only e-mail you using the system once if you don't reply (addressing the stalking concerns, perhaps). And messages from people who are not in your G+ Circles will go into the "Social" folder, along with other posts from sites like G+, Facebook and Twitter, instead of the user's primary inbox.
Google said the feature will be rolling out to Gmail and Google+ users over the next couple of days, when they will receive a message with a link to the feature.

Neptune Pine: An Android In Watch Form

The Neptune Pine is a fully functioning Android device with two cameras, bluetooth conectivitiy, wifi hotspot abilities, a music player and running on 4.0.
That makes it significantly better than any other smartwatches in the industry.

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Some Robots At CES 2014

The World's biggest <a href="http://www.engadget.com"> gadget showcase </a> was home to some of the strangest yet amazing robots around.

THE FIVE ELEMENTS BUDGEE.
This bot acts as automated basket which helps you carry anything and follows you around by scanning your phone's bluetooth.

TYCHE.
This car bot is mostly just for fun. It works by using your android as a brain and comes in different bodies ranging from bulldozer to sportscar.

WINBOT.
Nothing extraordinary about this one. It's just a window cleaner.

The Wolf Of Wall Street.

The Wolf Of Wall Street is a must see movie that was released late last year in december starring Leonardo Dicaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese.
It explores a lot of concepts like greed and lust and it also brings a lot of humour to the table. You can watch the trailer here.

Winter Pet Problems.

Saw this on <a href="http://www.mashable.com"> Mashable</a>. If you live farther away from the equator and have pets, you'll probably have a lot to deal with around this time of the year. Sometimes they even resort to human types of protection against the cold

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Xbox 1's New Update

I wanted to let you know that later today A required <a href="http://www.xbox.com"> Xbox One</a> system update will become available. This update works a little different from what most fans are used to on xbox 360. I'll update the story once xbox releases a review.

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The Future of Driving a Car With Your Mind Might Not Be So Far Away.

I just came across this on Hongkiat.com. The BrainDriver is actually a project utilizing the power features of the Emotiv EEG headset, and it presents us with an alternate future that could be more awesome than the Google Driverless Car– we can control there car by mere thoughts!
Nothing in-between, just hook up the EEG and do some mental (I prefer to call it ‘telekinesis’) training, and you’re good to roll.

The Snapchat Hack Conspiracy.

A group of hackers posted account info for 4.6 million users of quickie social-sharing app Snapchat, making usernames and at least partial phone numbers available for download.
The data were posted to the website SnapchatDB.info. By late Wednesday morning, that site had been suspended.
The hack was seemingly intended to urge Snapchat to tighten its security measures. The anonymous hackers said they used an exploit created by recent changes to the app, which lets users share photos or short videos that disappear after a few seconds.
"Our motivation behind the release was to raise the public awareness around the issue, and also put public pressure on Snapchat to get this exploit fixed. It is understandable that tech startups have limited resources but security and privacy should not be a secondary goal. Security matters as much as user experience does," the hackers said in a statement to technology blog TechCrunch
In the statement, the hackers said they blurred the last two digits of the phone numbers they posted but were still considering whether to post more with the full number visible.
By Wednesday afternoon, developers had used the data to set up a website letting Snapchat users find out whether their accounts had been compromised.
Snapchat did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Last week, Gibson Security -- a group of "white hat" hackers, meaning they don't exploit the security gaps they find -- published what they said was code that would enable such a hack. The SnapchatDB group said Snapchat implemented "very minor obstacles" after that.
"We know nothing about SnapchatDB, but it was a matter of time til something like that happened," Gibson Security wrote Wednesday on its Twitter account. "Also the exploit works still with minor fixes."
In a blog post Friday, Snapchat appeared to minimize the potential damage from such a hack, claiming that it would require a "huge set of phone numbers, like every number in an area code," to match usernames to numbers."Over the past year we've implemented various safeguards to make it more difficult to do. We recently added additional counter-measures and continue to make improvements to combat spam and abuse," the post read. "Happy Snapping!"

Monstrous Tech Innovations of 2013.

The future is all around us. From medical miracles that could cure our most deadly diseases to transportation revolutions that will change how we travel around the planet, these are the ten most impressive cutting-edge machines were covered this year by anybody. There was once a time when man looked to the skies and expected to see giant balloons rather than airplanes drifting above.

The Hindenburg Disaster promptly put an end to those dreams. But nearly a century later, one company may have finally figured out how to build a dirigible suitable for the 21st century. Just don't call it a blimp.

OBAMA'S OSPREY

Even with the VH-71 helicopter projectpermanently grounded, President Obama still has a number of egregiously expensive air transport options—such as the newly unveiled MV-22 Osprey—to choose from. The only problem is the MV-22 is that he's not actually allowed to ride in it.
The Marine Corps MV-22 is a specialized derivative of the much anticipated (and heavily criticized) V-22 Osprey designed specifically for Marine Helicopter Squadron One, the air transportation unit charged with shuttling the President and top administration officials around the world. Like its combat-ready counterparts, which have already logged more than 10,000 flight hours in Afghanistan, the MV-22 is a tilt rotor aircraft capable of both vertical takeoffs and forward flight using a pair of rotating turboprops.
The Osprey measures 54 feet long with a 45-foot wingspan. On each wingtip sits an 38-foot diameter, 3-blade composite rotor attached to a rotating nacelle that can swivel up to 90 degrees. A pair of 6,150 HP Rolls-Royce Allison T406/AE 1107C-Liberty turboshafts provide the thrust. This allows the powered lift aircraft (as it's classified by the FAA) to take off and land like a conventional helicopter when the nacelles are vertical, then convert into a more fuel-efficient turboprop plane once it's in the air by rotating the nacelles forward. It can also perform a hybrid rolling takeoff with the rotors at a 45-degree angle.

THE WORLD'S LARGEST CARGO PLANE.

Whether you need to get an airliner across a continent without flying it, piggyback a space shuttle to its launch site, or ship Snoop Dog's oversized tour stage to Nigeria, you're going to need the world's biggest and strongest aircraft: the Antonov An-225.