This new Advanced Technology and Projects group wants wearables to be somewhat like fabric touchscreens.
Google is testing out a whole new direction for its wearable technologythrough the manufacture of some very high-tech fabrics that could be incorporated into wearables that could be worn as clothing.
This effort is being made by the company’s Project Soli and Project Jacquard teams in its new projects group.
They are a part of the Google Advanced Technology and Projects Group. Those two projects, which actually weave the electronics right into fabrics that can be worn as a combination of clothing and wearable technology, and that use a gesture-based interface, were first unveiled in San Francisco at the Google I/O developer event on Friday. By bringing those two projects together, the result has been what could somewhat be described as a fabric that functions a bit like a touchscreen.
Coming in contact with this wearable technology in various ways would activate it like a touchscreen.
There are different ways of stroking over the tech fabric, which would signal different events to take place. One could, for example, make a call over a smartphone, while another might turn the lights on in a room. Various types of contact with the patch of technology woven fabric would make it possible to accomplish an array of different types of goals.
In order to get in on the potential for this wearable tech, Levi Strauss & Co. has already entered into a partnership deal with Google.
Project Jacquard, itself, brings two different types of technologies together. The first is to weave together the conductive threads and work them into a patch of cloth. The second is to create an electronics package that would function with those threads in order to be able to read what they have sensed, so that it can be relayed into a type of signal that could be understood by a computer.
This wearable technology project was named after the first mechanical loom in history that was designed to be able to create complex fabric styles and patterns (one example of what it could do was brocades).
The popular music streaming service has officially rolled out its first application for this wearable technology.
Explorers now have a brand new way to be able to listen to music over their Google Glass wearable tech, as Pandora has now rolled out its very first app that is designed specifically for use over these devices.
The Glass app gives users the ability to be able to control their stations through the use of voice command.
The Google Glass app first came to life as an internal hackathon project earlier in 2014 that was held by Pandora. The company found that the effort was so popular that it went ahead and turned it into an official application designed for the augmented reality headset. It provides users with the ability to be able to listen to music through the AR glasses in three separate ways. The first is with the ear bud that is provided in the Glass Explorer kit. The second is with the additional optional stereo ear bud gadget. And the third is with the guilt in speaker of the wearable tech, itself, which doesn’t require any additional accessories.
The Google Glass version of the app can be controlled either through the touchpad or voice command.
Pandora made a blog post to share the control methods, in which it said that “Our Glassware allows you to access your personalized radio stations from wherever you are, interacting with the service through voice command or by using the touchpad.”
Users can also either play existing stations or create new ones through the use of the new app. Among the voice commands that are available to them are those that allow them to choose or form new stations. However, the touchpad goes above and beyond that for allowing users to play, skip, or pause tracks, as well as to rate individual tracks using the thumbs up or thumbs down signs.
In order to download the app, owners of the device simply need to visit the Google Glass page, turn on Pandora, and then sign in. This is the second app that has been designed by Pandora for wearable devices. The first one was made specifically for the Pebble smartwatch, and it was rolled out earlier in 2014. That said, the company has been dropping hints to suggest that there may be more focus on wearables in the future.
