Google Glass Meets Google Polymer

Needing to launch a web page to test and deploy Park University's first glassware application open to the general public, I thought it would be a great change to also start playing with Google Polymer.

For those who do not know, Google Polymer is an HTML5, CSS3, Javascript tool that makes responsive web design a snap.  Sites can be built quickly and be instantly optimized for the desktop, smartphone and tablet screens.

While the site is not yet ready to launch, I thought I would give you all a sneak peek.  Enjoy!

The site as viewed on a desktop with resolution of 1280 x 1024:

The view of the exact same html pages on an HTC One:

Park University student developing Google Glass app for firefighters

Park University and Google Glass Featured on WDAF Fox 4 News at 6pm

Tonight in the second block of Fox 4 News at 6:00 (around 6:10 pm) one of Park University's Honors students will be featured in a story about his research project involving Google Glass and how they can be applied to first responders. 

There may be a cameo by yours truly, so be sure to check it out and see how Park University is using new and innovative technologies to aid learning.

If you miss the live airing, the video stream of the segment should be available online later in the evening at http://fox4kc.com.

Homer's BleeBloop Glasses #OogleGoggles

Last night Fox invited the Simpsons to join the Google Glass Explorer program and hilarity followed.

As we have come to expect from the show, the writers effectively used satire to address the very question Google's Explorer program was setup to examine.  Where should society set limits on what should be kept private or shared? When does the easy availability of information transition from useful to hindrance?

You can view the entire episode below.

What If People Winked in Real Life as Much as They Do Online?

I think Google aims to find out with their newest update to Glass.

In addition to several other new features, Google has enabled the ability of Glass Explorers to snap photos with the literal wink of an eye.  This new feature allows pictures to be taken without having to talk or touch Glass.  I do like this new feature and find it extremely useful, especially in crowds or noisy environments where Glass would have a difficult time hearing my voice, it will no doubt stir more privacy concerns over the already controversial new technology.

Taken using the new Wink feature and Make Vignette

Trouble with the Google GDK Sneak Peek

As promised, we have begun experimenting with Glassware.  Unfortunately, Google's instructions for installing the Glass Development Kit (GDK) Sneak Peek are less than complete.

I will spare you the unnecessary regurgitation of Google's GDK installation instructions because they are readily available online.  What I will let you know about is the portion they seemed to have left out for those of us running Windows.

In my case, I used Windows 7 64-bit and my problems began when I went to plug in Glass, the final step in setting up the Glass development environment.  Instead of Glass appearing in the Devices tab of DDMS as promised, I received a Windows installation error, "Windows could not install device driver".

Fortunately, there were trailblazers before me that already solved this issue.  Here are their instructions:

1 - Find your usb driver folder within the adt bundle folder, on my computer it was here:

C:\Users\mscheel\Development\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20130219\sdk\extras\google\usb_driver

2 - Open up the file called android_winusb.inf
Add this magical snippet to both the [Google.NTamd64] and [Google.NTx86] section, which includes the correct PID and VID for Google Glass:

;GoogleGlass%SingleAdbInterface%= USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E11&REV_0216%CompositeAdbInterface%= USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_4E11&MI_01

%SingleAdbInterface%= USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_9001&REV_0216%CompositeAdbInterface%= USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_9001&MI_01

[Update August 2013 - In windows you can find the values for the above by going into Device Manager, right clicking your device > Properties > Details Tab > Change Dropdown to Hardware Ids. Once you have them make sure they match what you put into your inf file, for a developer I helped recently we had to comment out the top two lines above and just use the last two lines]

NOTE December 2013: I did not have to change the Device IDs as instructed.  After talking with other developers they were also able to just use the IDs in the samples above.

3 - Go into Device Manager and find the yellow warning icon for Glass, right click it and select Update Driver Software, choose select from computer and enter in the path in step #1 (just the parent folder of android_winusb.inf). My computer gave an anti-virus warning that I dismissed, and shortly after I was able to use Droid AT Screen to mirror my Glass display onto my windows PC, which is great for presentations.

Additional details available at my Glass Community post.

The Auto Awesome Photo of Herr House

I was playing around taking some photos of locations around campus.  I ended up taking several shots of Herr House trying to get more familiar with framing the scene.  I thought what Google+ and Glass did to the series of photos without being prompted was interesting and worth sharing.

Here is the Auto Awesome Motion Photo that resulted.  It was automatically created by taking a burst of 5 or more photos.

Herr House - Park University