OK, Glass, have an NBA player dunk in my face

The NBA's Sacramento Kings are using technology from CrowdOptic that lets fans see what players, cheerleaders, and announcers are seeing through their Google Glass. In real time.

OK, Glass, have an NBA player dunk in my face

Sacramento Kings guard Ray McCollum slams home a dunk during a scrimmage while wearing Google Glass.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--"This is the real Google," taunted Sacramento Kings guard Orlando Johnson.
Johnson leaned in, dribbling a basketball, ready to explode to the hoop. Only teammates Ray McCallum and Jason Thompson stood in the way. Through the Google Glass I was wearing, I watched Thompson prepare to stop Johnson. From Thompson's exact point of view.
Moments earlier, I'd watched as McCallum had dribbled in, jumped high in the air, and dunked the ball hard. My view? A look at the rim from a couple of feet away, close enough to see the stitches on the net, again from Thompson's vantage point,
Each of the three Kings was wearing Glass, and each was recording as they worked their way through an informal shootaround hours before the night's game against the New Orleans Pelicans. As they played, they taunted and bragged, well aware of the technology they were wearing. "Google, record that," one shouted as he made a sweet shot. "Google, stop Ray," Johnson commanded.
Johnson, McCallum, and Thompson were wearing Google Glass as part of a new program the Kings have started that is designed to let fans see things like shootarounds, pre-game workouts, and even in-game huddles from the players' perspective. Using technology developed by San Francisco's CrowdOptic, the Kings plan on making feeds from Glass being worn by players, announcers, the team's mascot, and even its cheerleaders, available during games to anyone running its app on their own Glass, on TV, and on the arena's JumboTron. Unfortunately, players will not wear Glass during actual game action.
A Sacramento Kings cheerleader dances while wearing Google Glass. Her view was broadcast to the team's JumboTron during a game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Kings' experiment is an interesting one that promises to offer fans a unique new look at game day action. Along with other experiments, like accepting Bitcoin, using drones to shoot video inside the team's Sleep Train Arena, and even incorporating Oculus Rift, the Kings are trying to take the lead among NBA teams when it comes to using technology to enhance fans' experiences.
And no wonder, given that the team's ownership group is packed full of tech heavyweights like Tibco Software founder Vivek Ranadive; Paul, Hal, and Jeff Jacobs (whose father founded Qualcomm); Leap Motion President (and former Apple vice president) Andy Miller; and former Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly. Thanks to those connections, the team, in its search for new tech to try out, is "literally one phone call away from every tech CEO in the world," said Kings senior vice president for marketing and strategy Ben Gumpert.
But back to Glass. Here's how it works.
When Glass records video, it can broadcast that feed, and CrowdOptic's software can capture it, send it back out, allowing anyone running its app to "inherit" the feed. Although there's a short delay, it means that an average Glass wearer -- or later, someone running the CrowdOptic app on a smart phone -- will be able to see just what I saw when I watched Thompson, Johnson, and McCallum play 1-on-2: an up close and very personal view of getting dunked on.

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To start with, the Kings bought 10 pairs of Glass, meaning that at any one time, there are few possible feeds that fans could inherit. But over time, as the team buys more, or fans' own Glass or smartphone feeds are incorporated into the mix, CrowdOptic's algorithms will be brought to bear to help find the most compelling views for fans. As Jon Fisher, the company's CEO explained, its technology is able to analyze multiple feeds coming from a similar location and choose the best one to share. Ultimately, when there's hundreds, or even thousands, of feeds choose from, "the fans will be in charge," said vice president of business development (and former NFL linebacker) Jim Kovach. "They're going to see what they want to see."
As far as the players are concerned, wearing Glass and using the hot wearable technology to give fans a little more access is a no-brainer. According to Thompson, the best way to use it is when doing "tricks and dunks, and flashy things....see different things, like the way people talk."
That's exactly what CrowdOptic is hoping pro sports teams will realize. In addition to the Kings, the company is working with a half-dozen other (as yet unnamed) NBA franchises, as well as some college teams. The technology, said Kovach, lets fans have a much closer look at players' personalities. "They have their quirks, and you can't pick that up from the stands," Kovach said, referring to things like players messing around during workouts, or on the sidelines. "It's just interesting to see."
Sacramento Kings players Orlando Johnson, Ray McCallum, and Jason Thompson (left to right) scrimmage while wearing Google Glass.
To be sure, this technology isn't ready for widespread deployment. Though the Kings have tested it out during two recent games, the team has so far only pushed the feeds to the arena's JumboTron screen. For now, network support is the limiting factor. But soon, Glass wearers will be able to see what it's liked to get dunked on by an NBA player.
"This is a new century," Thompson said. "It's 2014, and this is definitely the future, not just of basketball, but of the world."

Then again, maybe McCallum put it better as he scrimmaged against Johnson and Thompson. "Oooooooh, Google," the 22-year-old guard said as he drained a pretty bucket over his teammates.

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Google unveils Android Wear, its modified OS for wearables

Google is partnering up with HTC, LG, Samsung, and others for the first phase of its Android Wear wearables push: smartwatches.

Google is dipping its toes into the wearables world with Android Wear.

In a blog post on Tuesday, the Internet titan unwrapped the details of a modified version of its mobile Android operating system. The OS will be heavily based on its Google Now voice-recognition technology, and it's designed to be applied to wearables, with the initial push being smartwatches.

Google also introduced LG, Asus, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung as hardware partners to utilize Android Wear, and Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, MediaTek, and Qualcomm as chip partners. The Fossil Group will bring Android Wear-powered watches later this year.

CNET previously reported that Google would release the details of its smartwatch-centric OS in March. The report also noted LG and Google would unveil a smartwatch at the Google I/O developer conference, and a person briefed on the matter confirmed that LG would indeed be the first partner to have its smartwatch go on sale.

Google's entry marks an attempt to provide a little stability and order in the wild, wild wearables world. Samsung and Sony have already created their own Android-based smartwatches (although Samsung has recently switched to Tizen), and Google is looking to set up a foundation with a more consistent experience, just as it has attempted to do over the last few iterations of Android in smartphones.

Google also wants Android Wear to serve as a link between you and other devices, including your television or computer.

Hopefully, Google's input will help with the aesthetic appeal of smartwatches. While wearables is considered a "hot" area, sales have been anything but. Samsung's originalGalaxy Gear and Sony's SmartWatch remain niche products, and they are seen as too bulky and cumbersome to be considered fashionable. Other complaints include weak battery life and the lack of certain functions.

Still, there are a number of startups that have sprung up in hopes of meeting this new demand for fashionable technology. Pebble, for instance, has grown from virtually nothing to making headlines at a big conference such as the Consumer Electronics Show.

Google has opened up a section on wearables, and developers can download a developer preview to create app notifications for watches through Android Wear. The company teased more developer resources and APIs to come.

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Doctors testing Google Glass to get real-time patient data

Emergency room clinicians at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston try out the wearable eyeglasses as a way to speak with and examine patients while simultaneously reading their charts.

While the general public appears to still be making up its mind about Google Glass and the idea of wearing a face computer, in some fields of work the wearable could be a helpful asset.

A doctor uses Google Glass at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

One such field is medicine. By using Glass, doctors won't have to use their hands to dig through files, search computers, or look up facts on a tablet. With a simple nod of the head or blink of the eye, they could get all of the real-time information they need without having to leave a patient.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has been testing Google Glass with four of its emergency room doctors for the past three months, according to a blog post by the center's chief information officer, Dr. John Halamka. The center found that the wearable has proven helpful with getting summarized real-time information to the doctors.

"We believe the ability to access and confirm clinical information at the bedside is one of the strongest features of Google Glass," Halamka wrote . "I believe wearable computing will replacetablet-based computing for many clinicians who need their hands free and instant access to information."

Using Glass, the doctors have been able to access the medical center's internal Web-based emergency room dashboard while ensuring that all patient data stayed securely within the center's firewall. This means the clinicians were able to speak with and examine patients at the same time they saw the data from the dashboard.

As far as patient's reactions to Google Glass, Halamka wrote that no one expressed concern about the device.

"Boston is home to many techies and a few patients asked detailed questions about the technology," he wrote. "The bright orange pair of Glass we have been testing is as subtle as a neon hunter's vest, so it was hard to miss."

Halamka said that the medical center will continue to test Glass with more of its doctors.

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