Google X developing smart contact lens

Here is good news for diabetes patients now they can keep track with their sugar level without pricking their fingers and drawing blood up to 10 times daily. Google brings another wearable aye device, Soft contact lens that can detect glucose level in tears.

The latest project to come out the Google X lab is a smart contact lens, the company unveiled in official blog post. It is one of the few ways to make glucose monitoring for diabetic patients more convenient and less invasive.

The lens uses a small glucose sensor and a wireless transmitter to keep an eye on the blood sugar levels and adjust the dose of insulin required help those among the world's 382 million diabetics who need insulin keep a close watch on their blood sugar and adjust their dose.

Sandwiched in this lens are two twinkling glitter-specks loaded with tens of thousands of miniaturized transistors. It's ringed with a hair-thin antenna. Together these remarkable miniature electronics can monitor glucose levels in tears of diabetics and then wirelessly transmit them to a handheld device. Google is hoping to add tiny LED lights to it that could flash if glucose levels aren't what they should be.

Google says prototype will take at least five years to reach consumers. We can imagine about that time when this will equipped with mobile apps and will be easier to keep track about health.

Google X project leader for the smart contact lens, Brain Otis said that "We're testing a smart contact lens that we built that measures the glucose levels in tears using a tiny wireless chip and a miniaturised glucose sensor,"

During years of soldering hair-thin wires to miniaturize electronics, Otis burned his fingertips so often that he can no longer feel the tiny chips he made from scratch in Google's Silicon Valley headquarters, a small price to pay for what he says is the smallest wireless glucose sensor ever made.

"We've had to work really hard to develop tiny, low-powered electronics that operate on low levels of energy and really small glucose sensors," Mr Otis said at Google's Silicon Valley headquarters.

In fact, the contact lens isn’t the only device created in attempt to facilitate the lives of millions of diabetics. A similar contact lens by Netherlands-based NovioSense is a work in progress. Also, Israel-based OrSense has already tested a thumb cuff. Finally, early designs for special tattoos and saliva sensors have been presented.

One gadget, a wristwatch monitor, was approved by the FDA in 2001, but patients complained that low-level electric currents taking fluid from their hands was a painful process, and the device demonstrated some errors as well.

"It doesn't look like much, but it was a crazy amount of work to get everything so very small," he said before the project was unveiled Thursday. The embedded electronics in the lens do not obscure vision because they lay outside the pupil and iris.

It took years of soldering hair-thin wires to miniaturise electronics, essentially building tiny chips from scratch, to make what Google said is the smallest wireless glucose sensor ever made.

The contact lenses were developed during the past 18 months in the Google X lab that also came up with a driverless car. Research on the contact lenses began several years earlier at the University of Washington, where scientists worked under National Science Foundation funding. Until Thursday, when Google shared the project, their work had been kept under wraps.

Currently, 382 million people have diabetes, and by 2035 that number will rise to 592 million, according to International Diabetes Federation. Eighty percent of people with diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries, and most of them are between 40 and 59 years old.

"We're still really early on. We're confident about how the technology is going so far. But there's a huge amount of work left to do," Mr Otis said.

Nest Acquired by Google

"Matt Rogers" and "Tony Fadell" Co-founders of 'Nest'

From last few days we noticed that nest labs and Google are in headlines for Google acquisition for nest labs today I’m writing an overview about Google acquisition of nest.

Nest "thermostat"

Introduction TO NEST

Nest labs were co-founded by two former apple engineers Tony Fadell & Matt Rogers in 2010.

Nest is a Home automation company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Nest produces a thermostat capable of learning user behavior and working out whether a building is occupied or not, using temperature, humidity, activity and light sensors.

Nest Labs specializes in re-inventing common household gadgets, such as thermostats and smoke alarms, in the same way that Apple reinvented the music player and the mobile phone with its iPod and iPhone devices.

 Many of its gadgets are internet-connected, so they can communicate with other household devices or learn the user’s habits and adjust themselves accordingly

Google Acquisition

On January 13, 2014 Google announced plans to acquire Nest Labs for US$3.2 billion and leaves Nest Labs to use its own brand. Google completed the acquisition the next day, on January 14, 2014.

The acquisition ranks as the second largest in Google’s history, behind its $9.4bn acquisition of Motorola Mobility, and is expected to herald the start of a major push into consumer devices.

Google has had reasonable success with its Nexus tablets, Chromebook laptops and “Google Glass” internet-connected spectacles, but has a way to go before it revolutionizes existing hardware markets like its rival.

The firm will continue to be run by chief executive Tony Fadell and maintain its own distinct identity, Google said in a statement.

"Nest's founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a tremendous team that we are excited to welcome into the Google family," said Google chief executive Larry Page.

Toney Fadell

Toney fadell is the co-founder of nest and he is known as "one of the fathers of the iPod" for his work on the first 18 generations of Apple's music player and was also involved in the hardware design of the original iPhone. Mr. Fadell was head of Apple's music division until he left the firm in 2008. Set up Nest Labs in 2010 along with Matt Rogers and launched its first product, the Nest Learning Thermostat in October 2011. Two years later, in October 2013, the company launched its smart smoke and carbon monoxide detector.

What Toney said in His Interview?

Mr. Fadell told the BBC that he first came into contact with Google in 2011 through a "chance meeting" with the firm's co-founder, Sergey Brin .

He said he showed Mr. Brin an early version of the Nest thermostat. He liked it and many Google staff members later installed it in their homes.

"They've always been keen on what we were doing, because they thought we had a crazy idea and they love crazy ideas," Mr. Fadell said.

Rocket ship

In a blog post, Fadell explained the reasoning behind Nest agreeing to the acquisition:

"Google will help us fully realize our vision of the conscious home and allow us to change the world faster than we ever could if we continued to go it alone. We've had great momentum, but this is a rocket ship."

Google's CEO Larry Page said: "Nest's founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a tremendous team that we are excited to welcome into the Google family. They're already delivering amazing products you can buy right now--thermostats that save energy and smoke/CO alarms that can help keep your family safe. We are excited to bring great experiences to more homes in more countries and fulfill their dreams."

Matt Rogers

Rogers is the co-founder of Nest along with Tony Fadell. Fadell is known for being the guy who designed the iPod. Rogers was also working on the iPod before founding Nest. He designed the software that ran it. Rogers was also one of the first engineers on the original iPhone, and worked on the first iPad, too.

Rogers left apple in 2010. Rogers said it was really hard to leave Apple back in 2010 to strike out on his own with a startup. In an interview from May (posted in full below) he said:

"It was honestly probably the hardest decision of my life. Apple was my dream job. I was making tons of money. The stock was on the craziest ride of all time ... my family told me not to do it. My friends told me not to do it, said 'you're crazy.'"

"Matt Rogers" and "Tony Fadell" with Google CEO "Larry Page"

Google Entrance in Home Automation

Android@Home

Google has previously tried to enter the home automation market with Android@Home announced at Google's I/O conference in June 2011, however the programme has yet to produce any concrete products, despite some continued mentions of the programme in Android's mobile operating system.

Nest would have been an attractive proposition for several companies, including Fadell's former employer, but the purchase by Google will give the search giant an important foothold in the burgeoning home automation market.

Google certianly has the resources and expertise at its Mountain View headquarters to expand the reach of Nest products. It could also see Android becoming a ubiquitious platform for smart home appliances.

For Nest customers wondering how the situation will change for them following the Google acquisition, Rogers has posted a Q&A  reassuring customers that the situation in relation to warranties and support won't change.