Google Project Glass Jelly Bean Google Self Driving Car Nexus - Case Study Example

 Google, Project Glass, Jelly Bean, Google Self Driving Car, Nexus Google now Google now is an application developed for smartphones operating on android and iOS operating system to act as a personal assistant. As a virtual personal assistant, Google provides answers to personal questions, recommendations and the completion of various tasks through the help of the internet. By predicting the desires of the phone owners, Google now delivers customized solutions and information to the users and this is highly influenced by their search history and habits. This application was unveiled in July 2012 after its development from the Google voice search platform that initially produced results for web users based on their search history (Weiss, 2014). By recognizing the repeated actions of web users, Google now has the ability to preempt the desires of smartphone users and deliver results for different tasks. However, the adoption of this application has been associated with a number of impacts on the society, both positive and negative. Due to the tough and busy schedule of business owners and managers, the development of Google now has been received as an opportunity to comfortably run their affairs without pressure. With Google play, the schedules of an individual can be simulated and reminders provided promptly based on the culture of the user. For example, an individual who plans for a meeting at mountain view will be informed of the same 45 minutes before the time and the factors that may delay prompt arrival such as traffic is factored (Weiss, 2013). Soccer or basketball fans that spend most of their time searching for international results have benefited from the customized features of Google now. Once every match is played and the results out, Google now sends the updated results to the users without prompts from them. This has enabled different organizations to save massive time wasted by their employees online. With prompt notification, the users can continue with other activities knowing that the results will be posted in time thus saving the time. As compared to Siri, a product that was developed and sold to apple’s iOS application, Google now is instantaneous and this makes it more economically reliable. Within a few seconds, Google now will post the results of the self-prompted search and deliver to the users (Weiss, 2014). Despite the benefits of the application, Google now has also impacted negatively on the society and businesses. For example, lack of prompt updates has affected the accuracy of the results and this has negated its impacts on academic and business applications. As most products still operate on the ice cream sandwich application, their compatibility has been significantly affected. As a result, few android operated smartphone users are unable to enjoy the benefits of Google now. The cost of android smartphones that can support the application is relatively expensive and this has led to an increase in smartphone expenditure in the United States. By being able to preempt the desires and plans of users, Google now will inculcate a culture of laziness among the digital natives. This impacts their ability to blend into the conventional workplace where other generations born before the digital era work (Weiss, 2013). Google glass Google Inc has developed a wearable glass that operates as a ubiquitous computer without the need for the actual display of the traditional computers. It operates on an optical head mounted display and has a visualized display that resembles the screen of a smartphone when in use including the typing icons (Huet, 2014). Classified as the wearable, Google glass employs the voice command to communicate with the nonphysical central processing units before the results can be relayed directly to the glass. Developed as a standard optic glass, Google glass was introduced in the market in May of 2014 and has attracted considerable market share in the United States and beyond (Hong, 2013). By sliding the touchpad sideways, different events are displayed and these include the phone book, the photos among other android operated smartphone features. It has a camera that can take motion pictured at 720p HD and is gaining prominence in weather and adventure sciences. The current focus on Google plus has been associated with the benefits that it has so far brought to different sectors of the society including businesses. Manufacturing businesses are currently leading others in the demand for the Google glass product due to the benefits that they have continued to enjoy (Hong, 2013). For example, most electronic manufacturers have in the recent past suffered losses due to the production and sale of defective products. This has been associated with the fatigue suffered by the overworked employees in overseas manufacturing units in Asia and beyond. With Google glass, quality checks for manufacturing companies have been significantly enhanced and this has eliminated the losses associated with defective products. With Google glass, the manufacturing process can be monitored and recorded if the employee wears the devices while working in different products. This provides the manufacturers an opportunity to monitor the products for quality controls to eliminate defects. Google glass has also revolutionized the process of security check in the world thus presenting an opportunity for security agencies to address the complex security challenges (Huet, 2014). For example, a police officer manning a critical installation while wearing the glass can provide a recording of the events which can be analyzed in case of an incident. In healthcare and medicine, nursing care has been enhanced as the activities of nurses are closely monitored while they wear the device. This can be instrumental in determining the quality of services offered by the client and can act as a source of evidence in the event a suit on malpractice is reported. Surgical operations can also be closely monitored with a more refined and high definition imaging system which has the potential to eliminate the occurrence of surgical mistakes and errors. However, safety concerns associated with wearing the devices has blurred its image and affected it’s adopted by different organizations. Most organizations in West Virginia have, for example, banned their drivers from wearing the devices as it contributes to significant distraction that can contribute to accidents and careless driving habits (Hong, 2013). Nexus Q Digital media players have remained an attractive and competitive venture for different technology and software developers in the United States following the efforts of apple. Google has developed the nexus Q as a non-mobile device that works on the android operating system and plays different categories of media. Nexus Q plays digital contents uploaded to Google affiliated sites such as Google play and YouTube, both of which have acted as the store for the company. Nexus Q is connected to conventional home stereos and the internet and this enhances its function as it accesses the multimedia store for the company. Other Google devices such as smartphones and tablets can be used to operate the device and increase its features, a factor that has been attributed to its poor reception in the market. With nexus Q, a user can listen to any digital media as long as it is within the media store of Google and the device has high stream internet connectivity (Poeter, 2012). Nexus Q has improved access to digital multimedia thus lowering the cost of entertainment among users as the need for download before play is eliminated. With its multiple user features, nexus Q has been associated with increased social interaction among users. It has replaced the traditional turntable as a form of entertainment due to its abilities to queue different digital multimedia from the Google site and play based on the timeline of the user. It also increases access of users to YouTube videos, a fact that has increased the performance and ratings of musicians across the world as their masterpieces can be accessed from different parts using the device (Greenwald, 2012). Apart from the digital features, nexus Q is accompanied with an analog audio out which makes it possible to connect it to other devices in the house and improve the overall performance. It also has a micro USB port that enables users to listen to offline music from their portable devices in case actual internet connection is unreliable (Poeter, 2012). However, acceptability of this device has remained relatively low within the society due to its financial and economic impacts. At a retail price of $299, the nexus Q has performed dismally as compared to other products by apple that has the same functionality. Nexus Q can only play and stream contents from Google approved sources, a fact that has limited its use and increased the overall cost of operation. Poor security features of the device have also negatively impacted on the society as hackers have easily accessed and modified its contents. A number of developers have hacked into the device and manipulated it to run on other apps and play digital contents that are not originally Google approved. Lack of physical control features that can be used to modify features such as volume and content has also limited its usability as some potential customers may be using iOS operating systems as opposed to the android smartphone functionalities (Greenwald, 2012). Jelly bean The android mobile operating system has witnessed significant revolution since the entry of smartphones in the market. The jelly bean android operating system has been developed in three different levels with the 4.1 version being the most recently used version of the operating system. As compared to the previous android versions, the jelly bean has a more revolutionized display the shows different resizable widgets and provides users with the ability to minimize and maximize different windows (Segan, 2012). The system has an improved expandable notification feature that can display multiple icons and notifications at any given time thus giving the users the chance to multitask. Jelly bean 4.2 has a more pronounced keyboards prediction that enhances typing process as mistakes and errors made are automatically corrected. This has enhanced speedy typing function in the smartphone and enabled business users to multitask and type long text as compared with one versions of android (Casabona, 2012). Just like other Google devices that have been developed in the 21st century, the jelly bean android operating system has had significant impacts on the society and the business world. With jelly bean 4.2, the call, message and multimedia notification is enhanced to ensure that the users can access the source of the notification without launching the app in question. This functionality is available to updates, emails among other features in the device and this has enhanced its usability especially among business executives who have little time to shuffle through the applications in their phones (Segan, 2012). Events such as birthdays, weddings among other corporate functions can be captured and updated to the company’s Gmail and websites without involving the input of any technician. This is due to the ability of jelly bean 4.2 to automatically update photos taken or uploaded into the device into the Google+ account of the user. With this feature, multimedia loss due to spam or virus attack has been eliminated as a backup is readily available as long as the smartphone is connected to the internet. The introduction of the jellybean android has also allowed the creation of Google now application which can only run on this android version. As highlighted in other parts of the paper, Google now has impacted significantly on the society, businesses and individuals and this has been enhanced by the jelly bean android operating system (Casabona, 2012). As compared to other android versions, the jelly bean is unable to transfer the application to the external SD card and this has affected its application in smartphones with low internal memory. Though this has been seen as an advantage by other scholars, it reduces its usability in the society and thus deprives other smartphone holders of the benefits associated with using it. In the initial versions of the operating system, December was omitted in the calendar and this caused significant losses to users who rely on its calendar functionality. The cost of smartphones with the jelly bean android operating system has remained fairly high and this has affected its overall use in the society due to the high financial burden it exerts on the users (Segan, 2012). Google self-driving car With physical and mental challenges increasing across the globe, the demand for a driverless car prompted Google to invest massive resources on its research and development department towards this end. As a result, the company introduced its first driverless car prototype in May 2014 following the legislation by a number of countries in the United States to allow the introduction of unmanned vehicles into their roads. The vehicle is developed with a range finder technology that enables it to operate on a 64-beam laser to take the passenger to a place of choice based on the direction input (Knight, 2013). The vehicle operates based on the map provided; the topography of the traffic lights in the city with the help of various systems that are computerized and operating on a Google enable operating system. The introduction of this new innovation has raised significant interest in the market and though it is yet to be officially launched, the company is determined to make a driverless car in our roads a reality (Brown, 2011). Following the celebration of 1,000,000 miles by Google’s driverless car, debate on its impacts on the public transport system and how it will affect the pedestrian has continued. In the next five to ten years, self-driven cars will be reality and this will significantly affect the demand for public transport systems as we know it today. For example, the elderly, disabled and young who are not allowed to personally drive to the different places across the country have relied on public transport system, a situation that may change with the introduction of the self-driven vehicles (Knight, 2013). The cost of taxis will also reduce as revelers whose alcohol levels do not allow them to drive can easily use a self-driven vehicle without worrying about the safety. This will reduce the demand for taxis in various cities across the world and push their prices even lower. Though this has a positive side, it may negatively push most taxi and public transport workers out of employment due to decreased demand for their services. The bottom line behind the introduction of the self-driven car by Google was to contribute towards a reduction in the number of vehicles in the road and ultimately reduce the level of pollution associated with vehicle population (Knight, 2013). With this new initiative, the number of people who will be able to share one means of transport will increase and this will positively impact on the environment. Though the technical limits of this new invention by Google has not been identified, its adoption and use in public vehicles will face significant resistance from workers unions and labor organization. As Americans continue to rely on self-driven vehicles, taxi and public transport employees will lose their jobs and this will affects its acceptability to the general public. This has the potential of causing a financial crisis as resistance and protests from labor organizations will affect other sectors of the economy (Brown, 2011). References Weiss, T. R. (2014). Google Now Feature Comes to Chrome Beta Browser. Eweek, 7. Weiss, T. R. (2013). Google Now comes to iPhone, iPad as Part of Google Search. Eweek, 6. Hong, J. (2013). Considering Privacy Issues in the Context of Google Glass. Communications of the ACM, 56(11), 10-11. doi:10.1145/2524713.2524717 Huet, E. (2014). Google Glass Still Trying To Look Cool. Forbes.Com, 6. Poeter, D. (2012). Are the Nexus Q Dead on Arrival? PC Magazine, 1. Greenwald, W. (2012). Hey Google, Stick to Creating Software. PC Magazine, 53. Segan, S. (2012). Google Hints at 'Android Jelly Bean'. PC Magazine, 1. Casabona, L. (2012). Bean Innovation: Jelly Beans Follow Broader Food Trends. Professional Candy Buyer, 20(5), 16-18. Brown, A. S. (2011). Google’s autonomous car applies lessons learned from driverless races. Mechanical Engineering, 133(2), 31. Knight, W. (2013). Driverless Cars. Technology Review, 116(6), 44. Read More