Wednesday's Words

Music Monday

The Number

One of my favorite web series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl" is currently on hiatus so as I sit and wait for season 2 to start I have discovered another web series that it growing fast in popularity called "The Number" which is pretty hilarious and touches on some of the same awkward moments that happen in life but this time its those awkward moments that can happen in a relationship. Funny enough Issa Rae of ABG plays Jason's sister Lisa. Get caught up below. Check out episodes 1-3.

- Bridgette Ivory

Google Glasses?

image cred: csmonitor.com

So according to the NY Times, Google is suppose to be dropping "Google Glasses" later this year which will feature the Android technology. Wow! I can only imagine what this could lead to. Check out the NY Times article below.

SAN FRANCISCO — It wasn’t so long ago that legions of people began walking the streets, talking to themselves.

On closer inspection, many of them turned out to be wearing tiny earpieces that connected wirelessly to their smartphones.

What’s next? Perhaps throngs of people in thick-framed sunglasses lurching down the streets, cocking and twisting their heads like extras in a zombie movie.

That’s because later this year, Google is expected to start selling eyeglasses that will project information, entertainment and, this being a Google product, advertisements onto the lenses. The glasses are not being designed to be worn constantly — although Google engineers expect some users will wear them a lot — but will be more like smartphones, used when needed, with the lenses serving as a kind of see-through computer monitor.

“It will look very strange to onlookers when people are wearing these glasses,” said William Brinkman, graduate director of the computer science and software engineering department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. “You obviously won’t see what they can from the behind the glasses. As a result, you will see bizarre body language as people duck or dodge around virtual things.”

Mr. Brinkman, whose work focuses on augmented reality or the projection of a layer of information over physical objects, said his students had experimented on their own with virtual games and obstacle courses. “It looks really weird to outsiders when you watch people navigate these spaces,” he said.

They have not seen the Google glasses. Few people have, because they are being built in the Google X offices, a secretive laboratory near Google’s main Mountain View, Calif., campus where engineers and scientists are also working on robots and space elevators.

The glasses will use the same Android software that powers Android smartphones and tablets. Like smartphones and tablets, the glasses will be equipped with GPS and motion sensors. They will also contain a camera and audio inputs and outputs.

Several people who have seen the glasses, but who are not allowed to speak publicly about them, said that the location information was a major feature of the glasses. Through the built-in camera on the glasses, Google will be able to stream images to its rack computers and return augmented reality information to the person wearing them. For instance, a person looking at a landmark could see detailed historical information and comments about it left by friends. If facial recognition software becomes accurate enough, the glasses could remind a wearer of when and how he met the vaguely familiar person standing in front of him at a party. They might also be used for virtual reality games that use the real world as the playground.

People flailing their arms in midair as they play those games is a potentially humorous outcome of the virtual reality glasses. In a more serious vein is the almost certain possibility of privacy issues and ubiquitous advertisements. When someone is meeting a person for the first time, for example, Google could hypothetically match the person’s face and tell people how many friends they share in common on social networks.

This month, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a research and advocacy group for Internet privacy, asked the Federal Trade Commission to suspend the use of facial recognition software until the government could come up with adequate safeguards and privacy standards to protect citizens.

Mr. Brinkman said he was very excited by the possibilities of the glasses, but acknowledged that the augmented reality glasses could pose some ethical issues.

“In addition to privacy, it’s also going to change real-world advertising, where companies can virtually place ads over other people’s ads,” he said. “I’m really interested in seeing how the government can successfully regulate augmented reality in this sense. They are not really going to know what people are seeing behind those glasses.”

A version of this article appeared in print on February 23, 2012, on pageB1 of the New York edition with the headline: Behind the Google Goggles, Virtual Reality.

S.L.A.T.E.

I came across this pretty cool video that Karmaloop TV put together from S.L.A.T.E. at Magic this year in Las Vegas. Although The Ivorys aren't here yet (key word being yet) we are excited for what the very near future holds for us.

- Bridgette Ivory

Wednesday's Words

Eastbound & Down is Back!

So we are big fans of Eastbound & Down and the antics of Kenny Powers and his sidekick Stevie. This past Sunday was the premiere of season 3 of Eastbound & Down and boy did it start off with a bang! Kenny Powers is more turnt up than every before and back in the US playing for the Myrtle Beach Mermen. If you haven't had a chance to check out Eastbound & Down I suggest you set your DVR. This season is sure to be hilarious.

- The Ivorys

Monday Music

- The Ivorys

Happy Valentine's Day from The Ivorys

Happy Valentine's Day love birds! Looking for the perfect something? Well its not to late! The Ivorys Women's Love Tee makes the perfect gift!

Music Monday

We were saddened by the news over the weekend of the passing of Whitney Houston who had a voice like no other. She will always be remembered and will be missed.

- The Ivorys

Tavis Smiley w/ Viola Davis & Octavia Spencer

Happy Friday all. I am sure by now many of you have had a chance to see the movie The Help. If you haven't you should definitely check it out. I came across this very interesting interview posted on Indiewire that Tavis Smiley had with oscar nominated actresses Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer surrounding the movie The Help.

Watch Actresses Viola Davis & Octavia Spencer on PBS. See more from Tavis Smiley.

- Bridgette Ivory

Wednesday's Words

Music Monday's- Hudson Mohawke 'Freek'

- The Ivorys

Wednesday's Words