Babak Parviz, the man behind Google Glass, leaves for Amazon

The man behind Google Glass has left the Plex and has moved on to Amazon. Babak Parviz, who was part of the A-Team at the Google X skunkworks (responsible for self-driving cars, Google Glass and other moonshot projects), is the latest of Google's elite to exit the company. His destination is Amazon which has recently released its first smartphone and has a stable of Kindle tablets and TV streaming devices as well as a lot of interest in mobile technology.

Parviz confirmed the move in his Google + bio page.

Having worked at companies ranging from tiny start-ups to huge corporations and universities in Europe and the US, I have found each one to be fun in its own unique way.

I founded and led a few efforts at Google (among them, Google Glass and Google Contact Lenses are public so far :) prior to moving to Amazon and work on a few other things now…

Replacing Parviz as the head of Google Glass is Ivy Ross, formerly of Bausch & Lomb. No word on what Parviz will be working on at Amazon but it should be pretty exciting.

Source: TechCrunch

Raspberry Pi gets first major upgrade with more USB ports and microSD slot

The popular DIY computer is still crazy affordable at US $35.00  but now adds two more USB 2.0 ports and the ability for extra storage via microSD. Aside from this, all other specs remain the same. Raspberry Pi B+ has been used in various applications. it is ideal to teach kids how to code, it can run various Linux operating sytems and be used as a controller for robots as well as be turned into a bespoke GameBoy  Clearly, the new I/O will make the Raspberry Pi an even more versatile nan0-PC.

Source:Raspberry Pi

SourceCode: It's a new day at Microsoft

Microsoft 3.0: Pushing productivity across platforms and devices

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's e-mail to employees last week served as the company's manifesto for a new era. Titled 'Bold Ambition & Our Core', the lengthy document sets the foundation for a new Microsoft, one that's moving away from Steve Ballmer's 'Devices and Services,' focused company to a more universal 'mobile-first and cloud-first,' company that embraces the opportunity to be the lead productivity and platform company.

We've seen the writing on the wall, under Nadella Microsoft has become a more altruistic technology giant, one that released their crown jewel, Microsoft Office, to the iPad, the device whose immense popularity threatened to bury the PC as a thing of the past.

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Apple's iBeacon hardware revealed in FCC application

Apple's iBeacon technology allows for low-powered transmitters to recognize nearby devices and push localized information. This is useful for retailers or business owners wanting to reach out to customers to push sales and product information. Various third party manufacturers have built iBeacon devices but it looks like Apple is stepping in and looking to create their own line of iBeacon optimized hardware. An FCC application revealed Apple might be considering its own iBeacon devices and while there's no indication this will be made available to to the consumer market, some analysts are seeing the potential of using iBeacons for the connected home via Apple's HomeKit which is their framework for controlling and communicating with connected devices. iBeacon has been kept generally under wraps even if the use of these devices is becoming widespread.

Retailers like Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, JCPenney, Old Navy, Sports Authority, Target and others are said to be testing the implementation of iBeacons, which are optimized for iPhones but will also work with other smartphones, albeit in a limited capacity.

Source: Appleinsider