Software : Google Now for all! Personal assistant app coming to Google homepage?

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Google Now for all! Personal assistant app coming to Google homepage? Posted: Google is preparing to turn its Google Now application into a personalised homepage, which works universally across all web browsers, judging by a dip into the source code of a company test page. The Android 4.2 Jelly Bean feature, which brings users time and location-based updates, has been a huge success since launching in 2012, prompting intense speculation that Google will soon make it available for iOS and within the Chrome web browser. However, if the suspicions of the Google Operating System website are correct it will also be rolled out to the Google.com homepage, presumably for for those logged into Google accounts like Gmail. "It looks like Google Now won't be limited to Android, iOS and Chrome," the site wrote. "It will also be added to Google's homepage. Some code from a page that's tested by Google offers more information about this feature." Is this an iGoogle replacement? The code displays text like "Get started with Google Now. Just the right information at just the right time," while the wording 'now_card' is also another notable feature within the code. A personalised Google homepage is an interesting concept, but not a foreign one. The company has offered the iGoogle solution since 2006, offering email, news stories, YouTube videos and weather. That service will be shut down this November. Is Google Now, as some have today speculated, a ready-made replacement? We may find out as soon as Google IO in three weeks time.

Google Glass code hints at possible wink controlled camera functionality Posted: Give a man an app, and he'll use it for days; teach a man how to code an app, and he'll harvest all the relevant information he can to find out the secrets that lie within. Such has been the case for the Google Glass companion app on Android, MyGlass, which tech savants have already culled for clues about possible features of Google's new augmented reality specs. As MyGlass will provide a range of extended capabilities for Google Glass, which itself isn't able to run more sophisticated programming, it makes sense the Android app will be responsible for doing some of the heavy lifting. There was apparently more than just gaming features hidden away in the data files though, as Reddit user fodawim uncovered new eye gesture commands that could change the way pictures are taken forever. Eyes wide shutter According to the coding, Google Glass may allow you to calibrate the device to take photographs with a mere wink of the eye. There is programming included for wink calibration, turning winking controls on or off, and for taking photos by winking, which gives credence to the idea Google Glass will be able to recognize eye gestures as input for commands. Calibration would certainly be a key factor, as the last thing any user would likely want is a host of images taken out of context just by blinking. Of course, with a feature like this there are bound to be a host of new social mannerisms created just so we can all tell the difference between a wink and a nod and a wink and a picture. Mind your manners Improved social etiquette is a sentiment shared by Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, who recently divulged his thoughts on the matter to a BBC radio program, as reported by the Telegraph. "The fact of the matter is that we'll have to develop some new social etiquette," Schmidt said. "It's obviously not appropriate to wear these glasses in situations where recording is not correct... you have a responsibility as well which is to understand what you're doing, how you're doing it, and behave appropriately and also keep everything up to date." Though some institutions have already taken precautions against Google Glass infringing on the privacy of members, it's still going to be up to the consumer to make proper use of the technology in almost every other instance. One more tidbit from Google's executive chairman: the wearable tech is about a "year-ish" from being retail ready, so start saving your lunch money. With Google IO just a shade under a month away, it shouldn't be too long until we learn more about the full range of capabilities of Google Glass.

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