| Cult of Mac

VR in the OR: Doctor will livestream cancer surgery

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vr-in-the-or-doctor-will-livestream-cancer-surgery-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201603Virtual-reality-goggles-by-fill-jpg
"OK, now let's cut this guy open."
Photo: Florian Pircher/Pixabay. Licensed under CC0 1.0

Next month, St. Bartholemew’s Hospital in London will live-stream an operation, letting anyone with virtual-reality goggles see the procedure from any angle.

Dr. Shafi Ahmed, the colorectal and laparoscopic surgeon who will perform the surgery, has broadcast from the O.R. before using Google Glass. But this will be the first time a stream will include 360-degree video that will let viewers observe from any angle.

“You’ll be with me in the operating theater,” he said.

Android’s design guru says iPhone interface is ‘heavy and burdensome’

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iPhone 6
Damn that easy-to-use grid of apps!
Photo: Apple
Damn that easy-to-use grid of apps. Photo: Apple
Damn that easy-to-use grid of apps. Photo: Apple

The iPhone may have fundamentally changed Google’s plans for its Android smartphone platform, but according to Google’s design chief, the iOS homescreen layout — consisting of grids of apps icons — is disappointingly stagnant.

“[The iPhone] crystallised a lot of other things that were kind of stayed even by that point, like the rows of icons, which don’t scale very well,” Matias Duarte, Google’s vice president of design, told Wired. “This idea of a tiny grid that you manually curate starts to feel very heavy and burdensome.”

Here’s what the new, better Google Glass looks like

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This is the new Google Glass.
This is the new Google Glass.

The FCC has given us our first glimpse at Google’s next-generation Glass headset today, thanks to a public filing that includes detailed photos of the new glasses aimed at enterprise.

Tony Fadell was put in charge of redesigning Google Glass into something non-nerds would actually want to wear, and based on the FCC’s images, it looks like his team has done just that. Not only is the new Google Glass slimmer and durable, it also touts a bigger display prism while packing a hinge that will allow wearers to fold it up during travel.

We still don’t know when or if Google will officially announce the headset, but based on the FCC documents, it appears that the device is nearly ready to launch.

Take a look at its internals:

Wearables aren’t flying with the IT crowd

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Time travel without a flux capacitor - right on your wrist.
But ... Apple Watch doesn't even connect to Wi-Fi.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

A new study suggests that the increased popularity of wearables like the Apple Watch and fitness trackers in the workplace is giving information technology professionals the willies.

IT tool and service provider Ipswitch polled 288 workers who feel like the burgeoning devices might present some problems, especially if they’re connected to company-owned Wi-Fi networks.

Apple hires HoloLens engineer for its own AR project

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Apple is assembling an AR team to take on HoloLens.
Apple is assembling an AR team to take on HoloLens.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft’s new HoloLens project has shown the tech world where the future of augmented reality might lead, and according to a Wall Street analyst, Apple is making moves to catch up with its own AR product.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reports that Apple has poached Microsoft’s lead HoloLens audio engineer — and that there are other signs Cupertino is assembling an AR team.

Apple vs. Google: Which titan will crumble first?

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Who's your money on?
Who is your money on?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Like every other company, Apple and Google have had their share of highs and lows in the past — but one thing that’s for sure is that neither of them can keep going from strength-to-strength indefinitely; they’ll both stumble at some point in the future.

Friday-Night-Fights-bug-2But which will be the first to take a tumble?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we battle it out over that very question!

New version of Google Glass will turn your boss into a Glasshole

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Google Glass header
Just when you thought you were safe from the Glassholes ...
Photo: Google

Google Glass has returned to keep looking like a really lame version of the future, according to reports. The company is rolling out a new, office-ready version of its augmented-reality wearable to businesses that aims to correct some of the problems of the earlier model.

The new hardware features a smaller form factor, prolonged battery life, and a faster processor.

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Tony Fadell: I volunteered to save Google Glass

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When Tony Fadell was put in charge of Google Glass earlier this year, we wrote that the father of the iPod had been “tasked with saving Google Glass from extinction.”

According to a new interview with the Nest co-founder, that’s not entirely accurate, though. Fadell says that rather than being saddled with the project by Google, he actively asked for it.

“It wasn’t handed to me and said, ‘Tony clean it up,'” he explained. “I offered. I remember what it was like when we did the iPod and the iPhone [at Apple]. I think this can be that important, but it’s going to take time to get it right.”

Wearables: Doomed or darlings of the next decade?

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Do you own a wearable yet? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Do you own a wearable yet? Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

After outselling all Android Wear watches within 24 hours, Apple Watch looked set to be the device that would finally give smartwatches their big break. But according to a recent report, sales of Cupertino’s first wearable have since nosedived 90%.

Friday-Night-Fights-bug-2It’s wise to take that report with a pinch of salt, but it got us thinking; if Apple’s first smartwatch really is a flop, which company can make a wearable worth wearing, and do wearable devices have a future at all?

Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we battle it out over that very question.