Android L’s Material Design

Android L’s Material Design is not reserved only to the Android operating system or Google’s mobile apps, as the company wants to use the same design principles it formally unveiled at its I/O developers conference this year across the web. Furthermore, the company wants app developers to include the same Material Design elements in their own apps, and Google has so far showed what Material Design apps are supposed to look like. To further showcase Material Design, this time on a functional web page rather than by providing just concept images, Google has updated its Google Drive home pages (for Docs, Sheets and Slides) to Material Design.

Google announced the changes in a Google+ post titled. “Home screens for Docs, Sheets, and Slides are officially here!”

“Now when you visit http://www.google.com/docs, http://www.google.com/sheets, orhttp://www.google.com/slides, you’ll find an easy way to get back to your most relevant and recently edited documents, spreadsheets, and presentations,” the company said, encouraging users to try out the new “+” button that hovers over the page – a Material Design element – to “quickly create something new.”

Other changes should be immediately noticeable to regular Google Drive users, including the simplified menu and extensive use of colors, as seen in the image above.

Google will be deploying Material Design across its online services, whether websites or mobile apps, by the end of the year, when Android L is also supposed to be rolled out.

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Google, IEEE offer $1 mn for 'laptop' sized power inverter

Tech giant Google is offering a prize of USD one million (about Rs 6 crore) for building a compact solution for transforming renewable energy into a power source that can be used at home.

Google, along with Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), has started a 'Little Box Challenge' to design and build a kW-scale power inverter, a device used to convert renewable energy, including solar and wind, before transforming it into suitable current for home and vehicles.

The challenge is that the new device has to be of the size of a small laptop, roughly 1/10th of the current size.

"We are looking for someone to build a kW-scale inverter with a power density greater than 50W per cubic inch. Do it best and we will give you a million bucks," Google said in a blogpost.

Google believes that this will help "change the future of electricity".

"We believe that inverters will become increasingly important to our economy and environment as solar PV, batteries, and similar power sources continue their rapid growth," Google said.

It added that the innovation coming in will have wide applicability across areas, will increase efficiency, drive down costs and open up new use cases.

Google said making the power inverter smaller would enable more solar-powered homes, more efficiently distributed electrical grids, and could help bring electricity to the most remote parts of the planet.

"A smaller inverter could help create low-cost microgrids in remote parts of the world. Or allow you to keep the lights on during a blackout via your electric car's battery. Or enable advances we haven't even thought of yet," Eric Raymond from Google's Green Team wrote.

The last date for registration is September 30, 2014, while the grand prize winner will be announced in January 2016.

Google to Collect Data to Define Healthy Human 最新科學計劃：人體健康基準線

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Google最新科學計劃：人體健康基準線

閻紀宇 2014年07月25日 21:48

Google「基準線研究」計劃將為健康人體建立模型（（取自網路）

網路巨擘Google的「Google X」實驗室日前推出歷來最具野心、難度最高的科學計劃「基準線研究」（Baseline Study），然而它既非研發酷炫硬體（例如Google Glass、自駕車），與網際網路也沒有直接關聯（例如Google氣球計劃），而是鎖定一個再平凡不過也再重要不過的目標：人體健康。

 

簡而言之，基準線研究將以匿名方式蒐集人體的基因與分子訊息，為「健康的人體」測繪出歷來最完整的圖像。

 

初期計劃由分子生物學家康拉德（Andrew Conrad）領導，測繪對象僅175人，但日後規模將大幅擴張。至於研究團隊則涵蓋生理學、生物化學、光學、造影學與分子生物學。

 

大規模基因體學（genomics）研究並非創舉，然而基準線研究涵納的新資料，不僅數量更多，範圍也更廣泛。更有甚者，它的焦點並非特定疾病或致病因子，而是要為「健康的人體」建立模型（基準線）。

 

Google希望這項研究能夠協助醫界真正實踐「預防重於治療」，在癌症、心臟病等重大疾病尚未發病之前，就偵測出相關致病因子，防患於未然。

 

康拉德指出：「對於任何一個複雜系統的問題，人們都會尋求先發制人……我們只是要問：為了先發制人，我們必須知道哪些事情？答案就是：一個恆定、運作順暢系統的型態。」

 

美聯社

 

基準線研究因為涵蓋數百種人體樣本，因此將運用多種新穎的診斷工具，包括Google X研發的可測血糖隱形眼鏡。資料蒐集到位之後，Google將運用它龐大的運算能力，找出深藏在資料中的模式或「生物標記」（biomarkers）；對於疾病偵測，這些標記可以大幅提前時程。

 

舉例而言，有些人的身體可能特別容易代謝飲食中的脂肪，因此心血管系統特別健康，如果能夠找出相關的生物標記，醫師就可以針對欠缺這種標記的人，及早協助他們改善生活習慣，或者研發出可以加快脂肪代謝的新療法。目前醫界發現的生物標記大部分與晚期疾病相關，對於疾病預防幫助有限。

 

由於人體是如此複雜，各項關鍵因子的互動有許多仍是謎團，環境因子也會有重大影響，因此基準線研究形同向未知領域的大躍進，與康拉德合作的史丹福大學放射醫學系主任甘布希爾（Sam Gambhir）說：「康拉德知道，這不是可以在一、兩年內完成的軟體計劃。」

 

另外一個問題是隱私權與公平性。參與的受試者不免擔心，自己的身體資料會不會落入第三方手中？影響自己的保險、就業與婚姻？或者成為Google生財牟利的工具？

 

Google對此強調，所有資料蒐集之後，都會完全去除身分資料 ，亦即所有的受試者都是「無名氏」。至於後續研究以及資料如何運用，將由史丹福大學與杜克大學（Duke University）監督控管，Google不可能為所欲為。