Google Takes Over North Company for Smart Glasses

Google announced that it acquired North, an 8-year-old, Amazon-backed company that makes smart glasses, according to Crunchbase.

Google was an early pioneer in the field of augmented reality, where computer-generated images are superimposed over the real world, often in a pair of computerized glasses.

Google Glass, one of the first such devices, was unveiled in 2012, but high initial pricing and privacy concerns the glasses contained a video camera doomed its appeal among consumers. Nonetheless, Google continues to make a version of Google Glass available to enterprises, where it competes with Microsoft’s HoloLens.

Noteworthy, North company is located in Waterloo, Canada, North was founded in 2012 as Thalmic Labs, and its goal was to develop innovative technologies that help people make the most of technology.

Smart Glasses

It initially worked on a device named Myo It is worn on the wrist and converts gestures to computer commands based on the movement of nerve fluids, before moving to work on Focals glasses under a new name.

Smart Focals are similar to regular glasses in shape, but they have lenses that contain hologram screens that make them smarter.

The hologram technology allows the glasses to project three-dimensional shapes of what the user sees in front of them to help them measure and analyze scenes.

The technology is similar to what Google does on the augmented reality glasses that it develops, which provides many options for its users, and it has already been seen with many personalities, especially in sports; Including Atletico Madrid coach assistant to help him analyze the performance of players.

Most likely, Google will use North Technologies to develop new technologies for augmented reality glasses, especially with the startup team joining them.

According to reports, the deal value was not officially announced, however The Globe and Mail revealed that the acquisition cost $ 180 million.

Android 11

Later, Google launched Android 11 beta for Pixel phones after it cancelled the June 3 unveiling event due to the ongoing protests. After multiple developer previews for the upcoming update to Android, the OS has reached beta phase and brings a number of new features that Google has categorised into three groups: People, Controls and Privacy.

Android 11 beta brings chat bubbles, improved media controls, and improved control over sensitive permissions. Additionally, Google also released several new features in Android Studio 4.1 Beta and 4.2 Canary.

Google explained it is making Android more “people-centric and expressive” so that it can recognise and prioritize certain conversations. The notifications in Android 11 beta are pided into three categories namely, conversations, alerting notifications, and silent notifications.

As the name suggests, the conversations section that is on top shows all the chat related notifications. The alerting notifications section shows information like emails while the silent notifications section shows social media updates. The conversation section also allows users to create a conversation shortcut on their home screen or set a reminder.

Android 11 beta introduces chat bubbles similar to what we’ve previously seen with apps like Facebook Messenger. This bubble feature has now been integrated into the OS. Google says this is better for multi-tasking and keeping conversations in view.