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- As Google and Uber Circle Each Other, Google to Test Carpooling Service in Israel: Google said on Monday that it would start testing a carpooling service in Tel Aviv through Waze, the Israeli social mapping start-up that the company bought in 2013 for $1 billion. Unlike similar services offered by the likes of Uber, Google’s carpooling service will allow drivers to recoup only the cost of gas and wear and tear to their vehicles. Drivers will not be able to use the app to offer traditional taxi services. The service, which is currently available only in Israel, is part of Google’s increasing moves into the territory of Uber, the ride-booking service in which the search giant has invested millions of dollars through Google Ventures, its venture capital unit. Over the last year, tensions between the two companies have mounted as both jockey to offer people new services like self-driving cars and on-demand delivery of goods like groceries. Uber, which is valued at roughly $50 billion, has announced plans to develop autonomous cars, and has a team of engineers working on digital mapping technology. The company also has made a tentative offer for Nokia’s digital mapping unit. Uber has started its own carpooling service in the United States, which allows users to divide the cost of a ride when traveling in the same direction.
- Samsung Profit Misses Estimates on Galaxy S6 Phone Struggles: Samsung Electronics posted second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates as shortages of new smartphones made it harder to lure customers from Apple’s iPhone and cheaper devices made in China. Operating income fell 4 percent to 6.9 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in the three months ended June, the company said in a filing Tuesday. That compares with the 7.2 trillion won average of 33 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Samsung’s seventh straight profit drop comes as Galaxy S6 phone sales have fallen short after winning early praise as a device that could attract users that had shifted to Apple’s iPhone 6. Production constraints for the model with a curved display have led to shortages, trimming sales of the device and forcing the company to rely more on its chip unit for earnings. The company's shares were little changed in trading in Seoul.
- Mood-changing wearable tech sets pulses racing: Doppel is a new breed of wearable device, one that its developers say can actually change the wearer's mood by delivering a tactile beat to their wrist. The makers of 'doppel' call it the next generation of wearable technology - one that can actually change the mood of the user. They say the device taps in to the body's natural rhythm and gives the wearer control over how alert or relaxed they are. Similar to the way that upbeat music can motivate the body, while downbeat music relaxes; doppel provides a tactile beat to the wearer's wrist that they can adjust to make themselves feel more alert or relaxed. Doppel is synchronized to each individual via a smartphone app that measures their resting heart rate. This is all the information needed for the device to tap into the body's natural response to external rhythms. Team Turquoise says prototype models have been successfully tested on hundreds of people. They say doppel was also independently tested by psychologists at Royal Holloway University of London; with their controlled tests showing the device can improve alertness when correctly set to the user's preference. The team is planning further independent tests aimed at validating doppel's ability to calm people down and reduce anxiety. They recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to turn their prototypes in to consumer-ready models, with backers to be the first to get their hands on their own doppel.
- Search After the Search Box: Google Now Pushes Into the Next Frontier of Mobile Behavior: Google Now, an intelligence layer on Android and the Google app that was launched in 2011 is beginning to spring to life. In January, the service started integrating with popular apps, pushing notifications customized around personal data. This summer the product team is rolling out Now on Tap, a new Android feature that weaves Now into apps (and, likely soon, mobile websites). It’s search without the search bar — and, sometimes, without the query. Aparna Chennapragada, the Google executive who has run Google Now, its AI-driven smart personal assistant, since the start of this year, spelled out the three-pronged direction of the product — what she called the “bets” her team is taking. The first bet was embedding Now with Google’s full “Knowledge Graph” — the billions-thick Web of people, places and things and their many interconnections. The second is context. Now groks both the user’s location and the myriad of signals from others in the same spot. If you enter a mall, Now will tailor cards to what people in that mall typically ask for. And this is where the third benchmark for Now comes in: Tying that context to the apps on your phone, or ones you have yet to download. In two years, Google has indexed some 50 billion links within apps. In April, it began listing install links to apps deemed relevant in search. Indexed apps will be included in Now on Tap when it arrives in the latest Android version this fall.
