Robocop in Dubai

A few weeks ago there was a blog post about the Google Glass and the possibilities of this technology. Most of the post was focused on the implementation of the glass in de health sector, especially surgery. Now Dubai has found a new sector to spend money on, policemen and detectives. Now Robocop is getting real, not something you only could experience in the movie theater. Dubai’s police department plans to distribute glasses to the local law enforcers.

All of this is part of the plan by making Dubai’s police force the smartest in world by 2018 (Reuters, 2014). The police department in Dubai wants to distribute the glasses to policeman and detectives with the Google glass customized facial recognition software running.

“The software that we developed internally enables us to connect a database of wanted people with the glass,” Dubai police’s director general, Colonel Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi, told the Dubai-based news site 7DaysinDubai. “Once the glass recognizes the suspect based on a face print, it will give an alert to the officer wearing it.”

However, the rollout of the new technology appears to go slowly. Now, the four glasses headsets that are available in the Dubai police department are mostly being used to catch traffic offenders. Still, the police department in Dubai takes this technology and its ‘’smartest police force plans in 2018’’ plans seriously. Representatives from the police force plan to outline its plans at the GITEX Technology Week conference in Dubai on Oct. 12.

Last year Dubai announced it would supply its police with $400,000 Lamborghini sports cars for use at the most important tourist sites. Dubai’s police department chief said the vehicles were in keeping with the Dubai’s image. So the price of $1,500 for each new Google glass is not going to be a problem for the police department. But it’s doubtful if this Google glass implementation in the police department is pure functional, or more to improve Dubai’s image. Probably a little bit of both.

http://mashable.com/2014/10/02/google-glass-dubai-police/, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/us-emirates-dubai-google-police-idUSKCN0HR0W320141002?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews, 2014

 

Liking everything

Facebook was already expanding its network by giving providers the ability to put the ‘like’ sign on their websites. When customers like the site they can immediately ‘like’ it on the site instead of a separate Facebook page of the company. With the latest update, app providers can implement this ‘like’ button in their apps making it possible for users to like the application immediately resulting in an instant message on the timeline of this user. When clicking on this like button, the user is redirected to  a mobile Facebook page to confirm the ‘like’.  This step prevents the user from liking pages on their public Facebook on accident.

With this possibility Facebook is expanding its network by giving users the opportunity to even like the applications they are currently using. This can be seen as a smart move of Facebook to go with the increasing use of mobile applications. Research pointed out that the use of applications for online shopping is increasing, opening a new market of e-commerce. This integration of social media was already happening, but only in sharing information on user’s  timeline from existing Facebook pages.  Facebook is in this way connecting itself to the new way of e-commerce which is increasing in popularity and use.  There is a disadvantage of this connection with Facebook. Users already feel like they’re losing control over what is posted on their timeline.  By also linking Facebook to the usage of applications on your mobile devices, users might develop a more negative view of Facebook. Feeling like everything they use and download will indirectly be linked to their Facebook. This can eventually lead to the rejection of the application connected with Facebook or even Facebook itself. Will this new integration of Facebook feel like an invasion of privacy or is it just a smart move to connect itself to the new and increasing e-commerce?

Vroegrijk, M. (2014) Like-button also in applications of third parties [Online] available at: http://www.nu.nl/gadgets/3893799/like-knop-facebook-in-apps-van-derden.html

Wireless connection from laptop or mobile device to TV’s?

Mozilla’s Matchstick

Even companies like Google have difficulty with maintaining the lead in some of their product markets. The next product that started competing with Google’s Chromecast is Mozilla’s Matchstick. In just a few days the project already convinced 9,000 backers and pledged over $225,000 with still 27 days to go, while initial funding goal was set $100,000.

Both of these devices are streaming devices allowing you to connect your laptop, tablet or phone with your TV wirelessly. They use Wi-Fi to connect devices to a HDMI dongle attached to the TV, enabling streaming of music, video’s, documents and even games.

Why is Mozilla’s Matchstick so important?

The first reason is that the Matchstick is only $25 whereas the Chromecast is $35, which is almost 30% cheaper. How is Mozilla able to be this cheap? Especially considering Google’s economies of scale and their extensive knowledge of the competitors market and the customers.

The second reason is that Mozilla’s Matchstick will also enable a higher quality in streaming services such as Netflix, HBO Go and Pandora.

The third and most important reason is that it will be open source hardware and software. Mozilla is requesting developers from all over the world to share their ideas to maximize the usability. Therefore it doesn’t come with limitation that Google did set for their product.

Did Google let this happen?

The third point, mentioned above, is not only an important unique selling point, but it also points out that even companies such as Google make mistakes that will cause them to lose market share. Although the company had the first mover advantage they decided to make their software closed, meaning that streaming was only allowed on the application, which they found applicable. This is in contrary with the statements they made before the launch of Chromecast: ‘any content on any HD screen, anywhere, anytime’.

All of this is making me wonder if Google Chromecast’s team was just not on point, or is it nowadays not able to keep the market leaders position and satisfy a large customer segment?

What do you think?

Reference:

Check out the latest Chromecast competitor taking Kickstarter by storm

http://www.zdnet.com/matchstick-a-25-chromecast-rival-running-firefox-os-hits-100000-kickstarter-goal-7000034242/
http://recombu.com/digital/news/best-chromecast-apps_M12963.html