Category: Gadgets

Virtual reality kits from Google headed to more city schools

The VR tech for students will be expanding by 15 additional cities through the Expeditions Pioneer Program.

Google has recently announced that it will be broadening the reach of its Expeditions Pioneer program, which means that it will be sending its virtual reality kits to schools in a larger number of cities around the world.

The idea is to provide students with a new and fascinating VR based learning experience in the classroom.

Google explained that the program is meant specifically for providing virtual reality within the class environment. In order to create its over 100 different VR journeys, the company’s developers worked alongside teachers and other content partners from across the globe, “making it easy to immerse students in entirely new experiences.” Alongside this announcement, Google has also stated that it will be providing the technology to 15 new cities, some of which are in international marketplaces.

That said, Google did not immediately identify exactly how many schools would be receiving the virtual reality kits.

Virtual Reality - Image of ClassroomAcross the United States, the cities that are expected to receive the VR technology kits include New Orleans, Las Vegas, Detroit, Baltimore, Orlando, Cincinnati, Alexandria, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Washington D.C., Salt Lake City and Portland. The countries into which this technology news will be taking steps includes Canada (Toronto), Singapore and Denmark. An unknown number of schools within those cities will be receiving the technology kits through the program.

The Google Expedition kit will be expanding through a partnership with Subaru and will include a tablet for the teachers of participating classes, ASUS smartphones as well as a router and the viewers that will convert the phones into VR devices similar to Google Cardboard.

The Expeditions program has not actually been around for very long since its initial launch, so it is quite interesting and potentially promising to see the speed at which Google has been broadening its reach. Many are interpreting the decision to add 15 new cities to the virtual reality program as an indicator that things have been going well in the cities that were involved in the first waves following the initial launch.

EasyJet embeds wearable technology into uniforms full of sensors

New uniforms for crew have now been debuted by the U.K. airline, which are lit with LED.

New uniforms have now been released for EasyJet crewmembers to wear, which are embedded with wearable technology in the form of sensors and LED lights that are designed to offer several features and benefits.

The cabin crew now have high tech uniforms that include many features of embedded wearables.

The airline was first founded in 1995 by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and is the largest airline in the United Kingdom, based on the number of passengers it carries. It is now using the company’s 20th anniversary as the opportunity for cabin crew and engineers to be able to don uniforms that have wearable technology features woven into them. Both of these types of uniforms have features such as microphones built into them. The microphones were chosen to make it possible for pilots, crew and engineers to communicate with each other.

Cabin crew uniforms also feature dots of LEDs along their shoulders among their wearable technology features.

Wearable Technology - EasyJet airbusThe LEDs indicate the flight number and the destination of the plane. The lights provide illumination along the hemlines and also offer additional lighting for visibility in case of an emergency.

On the other hand, the wearables laden uniform meant for engineers has both LEDS and reflective panels in the hood. The idea is that the clothing itself will provide lighting to a work area so the engineers won’t be required to have to try to direct a light while trying to complete their tasks at the same time. This will leave both hands free to complete a job, replace panels, and do everything else that is required to keep aircraft in top shape.

Furthermore, built-in video cameras make it possible to send images to other engineers in order to receive a second opinion about complex problems and the best course to take in order to correct them. At the same time, barometers and air quality sensors are meant to help engineers keep up with the safety of their work environments. It even becomes possible to use this wearable technology to create air quality maps for various cities.