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<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #115b8f"><span style="font:
32.0px Helvetica"><b>Google Developing Tablet With Advanced
Vision Capabilities</b></span><u>
<br>
<br>
Google</u></span><span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color:
#323333"> Inc. </span><span style="font: 17.0px Arial; color:
#21a620; background-color: #eafaea"></span><span style="font:
14.0px Arial; color: #323333; background-color: #eafaea"></span><span
style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333">is developing a new,
cutting-edge tablet as it continues to experiment with advanced
vision capabilities for mobile devices.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
The company plans to produce about 4,000 of the prototype tablets
beginning next month, according to people briefed on the company's
plans. The device would come with a 7-inch screen and will be
equipped with two back cameras, infrared depth sensors and
advanced software that can capture precise three-dimensional
images of objects, said these people.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
The tablet is being developed as part of a Google research effort
dubbed Project Tango, according to a person familiar with that
effort, and could be released ahead of the company's annual
developer conference scheduled for the end of June, said this
person.</span><span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #666666"><i></i></span><br>
<span style="font: 13.0px Arial; color: #323333"> </span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333">Run out of the
company's Advanced Technology and Projects group, Project Tango
released a prototype smartphone in February that is similarly
packed with sensors and designed to create a kind of
three-dimensional map of its user's surroundings.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
The technology demonstrated in the smartphone could be used for
improved indoor navigation for the visually-impaired, step-by-step
directions within stores as well as for more immersive videogames,
Google has said.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
Rival Facebook Inc. is similarly jumping into advanced computer
vision technology with its planned acquisition of Oculus VR, the
maker of futuristic virtual reality headgear. Such technologies
are far ahead of standard 3-D displays, which have been around for
years, said Rajeev Chand, head of research at Rutberg & Co.,
an investment bank focused on the wireless and digital-media
industries.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
As with the smartphone released in February, Google initially
plans to build a small quantity of the new tablets that it will
furnish to developers.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
"It is critical to open the new technology to developers first as
the key is how you can translate the technology into practical
applications," said Bryan Ma, an analyst at research firm IDC.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
Indeed, the challenge for Google's new devices could be coming up
with functions that are useful for consumers.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
"The technology is ahead of the applications," said Mr. Chand,
though he said he is optimistic that it will catch on given
advances in image processing and the fact that tech companies like
Google and Facebook are throwing their weight behind it.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
Google prefers to let developers experiment with its more
futuristic devices in the hope that they will create applications
that will help the devices appeal to consumers. Besides Project
Tango, there is also the company's Internet-connected eyewear,
Google Glass, which was first unveiled in 2012 but had only been
available to developers and early testers until recently.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><br>
The strategy stands in contrast to Apple, which prefers to develop
devices in secrecy before staging massive consumer launches.</span><br>
<span style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"><b><br>
Write to </b>Lorraine Luk at </span><span style="font: 15.0px
Arial; color: #115b8f"><u><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:lorraine.luk@wsj.com">lorraine.luk@wsj.com</a></u></span><span
style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #323333"> and Rolfe Winkler at </span><span
style="font: 15.0px Arial; color: #115b8f"><u><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rolfe.winkler@wsj.com">rolfe.winkler@wsj.com</a></u></span><br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">
--
Tobias Hollerer
Professor, Department of Computer Science
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5110
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:holl@cs.ucsb.edu">holl@cs.ucsb.edu</a>, Office: (805)284-9395, Fax: (805)893-8553 </pre>
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