Where Google is Really Heading (Or so it seems)

So after an amazing response from the post Why I'm More excited for Key Lime Pie than Moto X, I decided to write a new post for the tech community's enjoyment. This Post is direct and somewhat thought provoking. I hope you all love it. :D

Artificial Intelligence? Yaay!!!

Everywhere you go you'll see Google doing something crazy with computing. It could be something like Artificial intelligence /w Neural networking or getting you information as you need like Google now or a Self-Driving Car too. Most of you Google fans see these technologies as cool, and they are, but if you look you'll there's a common pattern to their wacky & revolutionary inventions, which is to bring about the age of Web 4.0. Web 4.0 is basically the point when people and machines have a symbiotic relationship with each other. Coming together as one is another way to explain it. Computers on a network will assist people with everyday work. 

What about Web 3.0?

If you're like me, you'd first think about Web 3.0 first, because I almost skipped the stage. While not enough people have openly used the term Web 3.0 in popular tech news, it's already alive and strong. So let's look at the characteristics of Web 3.0:

• Website or Web Solution
• Which we already use for everything
• Mobile
• Like Android, Windows Phone, or iOS.
• Universal
• All over the world in as many mediums as possible.
• Accessible
• Available anywhere at any time. Similar to universal
• Individualized
• filtered and shared by friends or trusted source
• Efficient
• Contextual information accessible at anytime

This will be the biggest thing out there

The biggest forerunner of Web 3.0 is Google's Google Now, an application that's supposed to be a lot like a personal assistant for the average person. It monitors what the person does on an average day while giving assistance to each individual. It supplies information like traveling back home or to work from a specific location, your favorite sports team results as the game is happening, the weather condition in your location, or even when your flight is going to leave and a online boarding pass to go with it.

Full Scale

The truth is, Web 3.0 is soon to hit full scale within the next year for the US. It's to go even further in two years. There are actually signs listed below, all of which are from Google, that point to the fact that a full scale Web 3.0 is actually coming, and Google will dominate it:

Android

Check out the market share

It's no doubt that in terms of market share Google is the reining champ. Because Google has 75% market share, they are more able to get their services to more people w/ less resistance, which includes their main medium the web (chrome). But it's not just them, they're also able to get their software to other platforms like Apple's iOS devices. Apple devices are a major source of profit for Google, as iOS users use their devices more often than most users from any other platform.

This adds to the universal part of Web 3.0

Google Now

Screenshot of Google Now

Google Now is a key indicator that Web 3.0 is to come along faster than earlier predictions. With Google Now, you're able to get the information you need as you need it, meaning it's contextual. The algorithms Google uses also are able to predict what you need before you request it with ease. I usually use their functionality to get information on bus schedules, stock information and weather on-the-go. What's more is that Web 2.0 social services are perfectly joined into this. Google+ birthdays and important events appear as I need it. Behavio, the old human tracker company now purchased by Google will definitely add a new spin to the application.

Internet everywhere

Google is making sure that internet will be going everywhere with their new projects Project Loon and mid-orbit satellites. This is surely an effort to get cheap, widespread yet effective service to places all over the world, then have them join Google's network. This will allow people in undeveloped nations  to finally connect to the internet for the first time. With such connections, they have more advertisements worldwide, and people are able to produce more using data they never had access to, therefore both them and Google could increase overall revenue by a lot. They can also receive more data for contextual products like Google Now. With this the criteria of universal accessibility will be even further extended.

The Moto X

This is the Moto X

After Google purchased Motorola Mobility, and word got out that they would keep the hardware side of the company, rumors starting coming saying Google and Motorola would create a golden device, which eventually became coined as the X Phone by Droid-life's Bionic. Around the end of May this year, the device was confirmed for the first time as the Moto X. Dennis Woodside, Motorola Mobility's CEO stated that the device would be a contextually aware device. It will likely extend the capacity of Google Now beyond our imagination. It certainly makes a device efficient and more contextually beneficial. When you include the fact that Motorola has been advertising their Google now capabilities non-stop, you'll find it hard to deny that one of Moto X's missions is to take Google Now to the max.

Android "K Release" A.K.A Key Lime Pie

This version of android is supposed to solve the problem of fragmentation, and allow for cheap, well-running devices to be some around the world using the android operating system. More people on the newest OS = More on Google Now. It's plain and simple. The accessibility instantly part of Web 3.0 instantly becomes greater. My previous blog post explains why I think I'll like the new Key Lime Pie. Instead of explaining that, I'll just point you to that post.

You're gonna love that key lime pie

Other 3.0 Info

More Efficient API

If you look at the latest Google developer conference. You'll see that they were to
ting a lot about incredibly efficient Maps API for Android and new back end cloud systems for the average Android app so data can be transmittable and accessible everywhere with ease. They'll soon add predictive technology for the all Web Services and Android Applications. I have no proof on that last claim, but I can certainly bet you on it.

What Web 3.0 means for developers

Because Web 3.0 will be here full-fledged in a guesstimated 9 to 15 months, It means you developers will have no lives by the end of the year. You'll be stuck at your computer upgrading your product to stay current and ahead of the game for consumer's enjoyment. Fear not, by next Google I/O Google might have a solution for you to do it with ease almost like Android's Easy Cloud Function. On a serious note. Developers will probably start paying attention to automation inside of their apps. Many applications will utilize live information based on contextual information. Things like location based changes, phone distance from face, or maybe a wink from the person in front of the front facing camera. Really any contextually aware services that people can imagine will be more frequent in the coming year alone. And developers will play a key role in making sure that happens. Looking at the bright side, Android fragmentation might be reduced with the next Android release "K release".

Credit to 
Dayne Reast

Where Photo Technology Fits In

Last Google I/O, Google was talking a lot about using camera technology with Google+. I bet you didn't know that Google also has an amazing photo search technology. Hopefully with the use of 3.0 technologies, photo quality and the use of those photos for everyday search will be twice as amazing as it is now.

Now About 4.0

You're probably thinking, "That's Amazing! Now what about the original topic, Web 4.0?" So Web 4.0 is explained earlier as a platform where people and computers pretty much become one with each other. While so far there's not a clear definition of web 4.0 there's at least a small criteria to it, which are:

• Artifical intelligence (computers with synthetic intelligence to resemble humans)
• Ambient intelligence (better described in a list)
• embedded: many networked devices are integrated into the environment

• context aware: these devices can recognize you and your situational context
• personalized: they can be tailored to your needs
• adaptive: they can change in response to you
• anticipatory: they can anticipate your desires without conscious mediation.

Do they seem familiar, because they should? Google has been easing this concept to people slowly but surely using Google Now and their Google [x] projects on artificial intelligence and more.

Here's a little about Google[x]

From Marques Brownlee

Wearable Computers

Next Gen Wearable Technology

The "Grade-A" platform, Web 4.0, has already been slightly introduced without you knowing.  When Google Glass first came into the world this especially became so. Now the product can see as you can and use AI technologies to assist human beings in new ways computers have never been able to before. With the wearable shoe, and smart-watches coming out, I can predict that eventually almost everybody
will be okay with having such technology integrated into their everyday lives, just as we have for every commercial technology until now.

The self-driving car

The self-driving car is the transition from Web 3.0 to web 4.0. It's predicted to hit mass audiences in 2016 once it's been tested and tried in multiple legislation. I'm betting the companies Kia and Hyundai will be the original testers for the service. They seem more eager to use Google's services. This type of car will probably be contextually aware. There's no telling what else will be part of this car, well just have to wait and see.

The Way We Game

Web 4.0 is going to change the way we game. A key example is the game Ingress. It's a contextually aware game that uses GPS sensors to play. I can only imagine the new ways Google will introduce their technology to further extend the very interactive gaming experience.

Conclusion

So that seems like pretty much everything. As I have said, Google seems to be heading toward the path of Web 4.0. Inside the tech world things change rapidly, and so will the definition of Web 4.0. What do you think Web 4.0 will be about, and how do you think modern technologist will bring it about to the world. I want to know your options about that.

Feel free to leave questions, comments or suggestions. Oh, and I'm looking to find a new name for my weekly post. A name that's fitting for all of the tech world, and something that's says trend setting as well. I want you the community to make some suggestions.

Why I'm more excited for Key Lime Pie than the Moto X

This type of article is an occasional thing. Every month, I will make a new article like this about android an post it to the internet. 

Two exciting (maybe revolutionary) things are coming from the android community in the upcoming months:

1. Android 5.0 aka Key Lime Pie
2. Motorola X phone (Moto X)

Both are to be great, revolutionary products. I will speak about both of them, but I want to state why I'm more excited about Android 5.0 KLP.

Moto X

This seems like the Moto X based on FCC reports too

I personally think the Moto X, a widely distributed phone from Google's child company Motorola Mobility, will bring some new concepts to the table hardware wise.

Defending the Rumored hardware

Rumors are coming in stating the device will be a dual-core Snapdragon processor with 2 GB of RAM and a base of 16GB of storage, believed to be expandable. Seems there's second processor inside to control the components of the device to give the phone extra battery life. Sure this seems seems unimpressive in this year's line of devices (competing with  devices that have 4 - 8 cores), but in reality this actually still has a chance to wipe out the competition. I know what you're saying, "Dual-core porocessor defeat a quad-core or octo-core processor? That's retarded." I would like to teach you why it's not. After doing some research, I found out how you could realistically determine speed with certain devices. On wikipedia(Which is a good source) I found this:

QuickPath Interconnect frequency specifications

QPI operates at a clock rate of 2.4 GHz, 2.93 GHz, or 3.2 GHz. The clock rate for a particular link depends on the capabilities of the components at each end of the link and the signal characteristics of the signal path on the printed circuit board. The non-extreme Core i7 9xx processors are restricted to a 2.4 GHz frequency at stock reference clocks. Bit transfers occur on both the rising and the falling edges of the clock, so the transfer rate is double the clock rate. 

Intel describes the data throughput (in GB/s) by counting only the 64-bit data payload in each 80-bit "flit". However, Intel then doubles the result because the unidirectional send and receive link pair can be simultaneously active. Thus, Intel describes a 20-lane QPI link pair (send and receive) with a 3.2 GHz clock as having a data rate of 25.6 GB/s. A clock rate of 2.4 GHz yields a data rate of 19.2 GB/s. More generally, by this definition a two-link 20-lane QPI transfers eight bytes per clock cycle, four in each direction. 

The rate is computed as follows:
3.2 GHz
× 2 bits/Hz (double data rate)
× 20 (QPI link width)
× (64/80) (data bits/flit bits)
× 2 (unidirectional send and receive operating simultaneously)
÷ 8 (bits/byte)
= 25.6 GB/s

Edit: I have just been notified by a reader that the model about speed is  wrong. Arm chips are more affected by clock speed than Intel's chips are. Krait architecture is so good, that the chips can clock at a higher rate than most others, therefore they more likely to move faster.  Again, later on I state something about ignoring the intel part. Ignore that and QPI, that's an Intel specific bus.

So I know what you guys are thinking this looks like random crap thrown on a screen, but trust me it's not. Despite the Intel title, there's a formula that's pretty much the same no matter what processor you look at, which is for the data flow rate. It's a rate that pretty much determines the overall speed of the processor. As you can see, number of cores isn't the only part of the picture here. There are things like the bit/Hz rate, QPI link, which is size of the bus (The link between the CPU, I/O ports, and the memory) on the processor and the bit rate (android runs 32) are all more important than the number of cores. The number of cores are there to amplify the speed by 40% - 60% per core. The model explains why no two dual-core processors are equal, it's because inside the processor more things are present than just the number of cores. Plus the Nexus 7 problem is a good indicator that ram quality is still a very important factor.


That and if Motorola was able to convince Qualcomm to place one of their(Qualcomm's) best GPUs in a dual-core processor, you're looking at a device that could easily outperform the competition.

Contextually Aware device
The device is also supposed to be contextually aware, meaning you can take your phone out of your pocket and instantly snap a photo because the device will initialize the camera for you, saving you seconds of time. This seems like something a Google employee thought of. Maybe because they were annoyed with the current process of the device.

Extreme Battery Life and Build quality
I'm not the first to say that Motorola is amazing with the quality of their devices. I still have the old Droid Bionic, and I have been able to throw the device around without it breaking. After getting my hands on all their devices there after, like the Droid Razr, Razr HD, Razr Maxx, I can firmly state that they have the best build quality out of all the manufacturers, including Apple and their iPhone. Their Battery-life has also been amazing too, with the longest life I've seen is 3 days on the Droid Razr Maxx, something difficult to reach with almost any other smartphone.

Everything better
With the good build quality, things like camera quality and the screen are supposed to be amazing. I really don't have much of a comment on that, but I can only hope that this is true.

All of the above explains why I can't wait for the Moto X. I firmly believe it will be the best device of the year, with a reduced price because their parent company, Google, will likely subsidize them. I can hardly wait. I now want to state why I'm more excited for KLP.

Android Eating a Pie
Picture from a Googler

Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie is supposed the be the pentacle Android OS that nerds have been looking forward to for a long time.  And they have a reason to be excited.

Design
With the introduction of Google Now a new style of android apps have come about called the Card Style. So far, we have seen this lighter than Holo style take over in applications like Google Play Music, Google Drive, Gmail, Hangouts, Google+ and even the Play Store. I think Google is going to revamp their design to this lighter happier style in the KLM addition of Android. Being a front-end User Experience Designer like I am, I have to say that I'm very excited for this. But there's more.

More Project Butter

In 2012, Google released their device with project butter. Project butter is the project that is meant to give the android OS a constant 60fps, and help resolve the lag in the devices as much as possible. While they did a phenomenal job, the lag is still there. I'm expecting project butter to be extended to near perfection in with this release. I think they will reduce the memory of the OS using the linux kernel 3.8, then give extra memory to the graphics end which should greatly help the smoothness of the OS. I love smooth animations, if they can make things smoother than they are, I'll be super happy.




Project Roadrunner
Remember Project Roadrunner? Well the project was first conceptualized by the Android community to solve the problem of battery-life in 2012 before the launch of Android 4.2. Sadly it didn't come to be, I think however that they will make some move towards that point. I only believe this because I saw a patent that seemed to make steps to resolve the issue here.

I'm sure there will be more modifications to the than what's in the link, like Bluetooth 4.0 LE or better Wifi radio performance, but the patent is the first clue that Project Roadrunner may soon exist. The Second Nexus 7 also has a smaller battery than the original, Project Roadrunner could be reason. Remember this mostly my thoughts right now, take this with a grain of salt until the tides of the technology world shows more.

Solving Fragmentation

KLP could take 80% of the android chart

Let's be honest, trying to develop an app for hundreds of devices at one time is difficult. It's even more difficult when you're trying to create a OS for a bunch of different devices. So much that even Apple, a veteran company, has a problem doing so, which forces them to keep their OS closed and just sell a lot of one type of phone. Google has managed to do it somehow, but they generated a bit of fragmentation over the years. Gingerbread still holds the largest share of the green pie (See what I did there?), compare to iOS, where most of the users are on the most resent version. While more people have Jelly Bean than ever before, most people haven't enjoyed that Jelly Bean goodness. Based on reports from VR-Zone, a Singapore tech news site, Google looks like they are to bring those on ICS on board, and maybe even some of the people on GB. Froyo and Eclair are both a lost cause, sorry you two. They say that the new version of android should be able to run on just 512MB of ram, which is barely possible with 4.1 Jelly Bean. Letting this OS run on weaker hardware should make an opening for phones to perform well for a cheaper price. This could allow for the end of fragmentation and allow manufacturers to focus less on heavily powered hardware and more on quality and brand, which should help bring profits up for more manufacturers. It should also give power to the low and mid end cell phone market, meaning everybody in developed countries will have an amazing device for the cost of $50 - $100.

Contextually Aware Hardware Support
Just as Google brought NFC with their Galaxy Nexus in Android ICS and that spread, I think they will add support for contextually aware hardware. This would make sense, when you consider that Motorola's CEO Dennis Woodside did state the features will be in their device, why wouldn't Google want the feature to be in all devices with their OS. I don't have much proof for this one, but I think Android devices with contextually aware hardware seems to follow trends. If I can buy a device from a different manufacturer with contextually aware hardware support, I would be very happy.

More Google Now Integration
So you know how Apple tots more siri integration? I'm thinking Google will add a personality to Google Now (almost like how Siri has one) and integrate it throughout the system. Perhaps it would be used with the contextually aware hardware. This would be cool since I already use voice commands for simple things like writing short post to Google+ and Facebook, or telling my phone to do something.

Likely, yet unlikely features
If you're an avid Android fan, then you've probably heard of the MIUI operating system, a popular variation of android in China. If you're not, check out the OS here. You'll notice I sent you to a feature page, beside the obvious features that the OS will bring like the ones under the privacy protection category, you'll notice their theming abilities. You can change your lock screen, icons and, status bar colors, and setting panel using a theme artist create and submit to the MiStore store. I don't think Google will have this, but I do know it's possible, and I want this feature default with stock android, not with only Cyanomoganmod.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm ecstatic for both the Moto X, and Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. I'm, however, more excited about KLP because of all the new features that will set an entirely new standard across all devices. I hope you enjoyed the article, feel free to ask questions or comment, I'll try to respond.