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Google gets Glass ideas and some snark

Google put out a call for Glass explorer applicants and submissions are pouring in

Computerworld - After putting out a call for people to test drive its upcoming Glass wearable computers, Google is getting a lot of ideas for how to use them, as well as a lot of snark.

On Wednesday, Google issued a call for what it's calling "explorers," who will try out the computerized eyeglasses, which are still under development. The company is looking for explorers to explain how they would use the glasses and then to test them out.
Google then asked people to tell why they should be among the first group of explorers. With a Feb. 27 deadline, people were encouraged to apply using either Google+ or Twitter, using the hashtag "#ifihadglass" to say in 50 words or less what they would do with the had Glass. Participants also must be at least 18 years old and live in the U.S.
If chosen, participants are required to pay $1,500 plus tax for the device and attend a special pick-up experience, in person, in New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles.
Google wouldn't say how many submissions it has received, but applicants immediately took to Twitter and Google+ with their ideas. Some suggestions were for personal use, some were for charitable causes or work-related.
Hashim Warren posted his submission on Google+, writing, "#ifihadglass I would capture my newborn daughter's first steps, first words, and first everything without having to stop playing with her."
Tom Nardone tweeted, "#ifihadglass I would show people how a free community garden can make kids happy & healthy. http://MowerGang.com."
Many said they want to use Glass to document their children's lives and share the information with friends and relatives. Others want to record and share their jobs or hobbies. Dustin Belt, a guitarist with the band Big Time Rush, tweeted, "#ifihadglass Id show the world what I see every night while Im doing this on stage! pic.twitter.com/G5EbSDBu
Some focused on a business use for the wearable computers. "#ifihadglass I would research ways to provide team members, in the field, better access to the data they need to provide excellent customer service," tweeted Frank Brunke, a project manager at Ricoh Americas Corp., the copier and printing company.
However, not all the submissions were as serious. Some were even snarky.
Mathew Ingram tweeted "I would try to look cool while I was gobbling motion-sickness pills by the handful #ifihadglass."
Rstevens 3.01 went all Star Trek with his tweet "I would be ambassador for Cyborg-Americans, helping the Augmented find acceptance among the Unmodified Masses."
Google on Wednesday released a video showing clips of Google Glass in action. The clips included pictures and video taken of users in such activities as hot-air ballooning, figure skating, riding a roller coaster and playing with their children.
The video also gives potential users a first look at the Glass interface. A translucent pane on the right eye glass shows options for taking photos, shooting videos, getting directions, sharing, search and showing maps with graphic overlays.
The glasses also enable users to activate all these options with voice control.

Tom Nardone posted this twitpic with his application to become a Glass explorer. He says he would use the computerized glasses to show how community gardens can help kids.

 

 

 

An inside look at Google's news-ranking algorithm

Patent application seeks to refine algorithm for third time since 2003

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Computerworld - A patent application filed by Google last year provides a detailed look at some of the metrics the company considers when ranking news stories and deciding how prominently to display them on its Google News page.

The application, filed in February 2012 and published last July, seeks to build on a patent Google was issued in 2009 titled "Systems and Methods for Improving the Ranking of News Articles." Computerworld found the document while conducting an unrelated patent search on the United States Patent Office's website.
A Google spokesman had no comment on the specifics of the application. "We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with," he said via email. " Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications."
The 2012 patent application offers details on more than a dozen separate metrics the company uses to rank news stories created by other Websites. How Google evaluates stories has been a point of contention with various media companies who have in the past said the company is infringing on their work. Many have also complained that Google can effectively turn on or off a spigot of visitors to a Web site by prominently displaying, or downplaying, a story. Google's decisions also affect what stories readers see, potentially shaping their view of news events.
Since it was launched in 2002, Google News has become the largest aggregator of news content on the Web. The site, which is completely computer-generated, collects and display headlines from thousands of news sources around the world.
The metrics cited in the patent application include: the number of articles produced by a news organization during a given time period; the average length of an article from a news source; and the importance of coverage from the news source.
Other metrics include a breaking news score, usage patterns, human opinion, circulation statistics and the size of the staff associated with a particular news operation.
Also factored in are the number of news bureaus a news source has, the number of original named entities used in stories, breadth of coverage, international diversity and even writing style.
The patent application provides some much needed visibility into how companies like Google select and rank online content, said Sree Sreenivasan, professor of professional practice at Columbia University's Journalism School and the university's first chief digital officer.
"In the world of technology, so much is opaque. It's nice to have some clarity around this stuff," Sreenivasan said. He noted that some of the metrics Google appears to be using to judge the quality of a news source are the same kind of metrics editors would use in deciding whether to trust a publication or not.
He pointed to metrics like staff size and audience diversity as examples. Even Google's use of story length is a good metric, Sreenivasan said. At first blush, it would appear that Google is emphasizing quantity over quality, he said. But the reality is that many high-quality media organizations now generate more content than they used to. So using story lengths and word counts is valid, he said.