Google launches Ripple, an open standard that could bring tiny radars to Ford cars and more

İmage Credit: Google Google has been publicly building tiny radar chips since 2015. They can tell you how well you sleep, control a smartwatch, count sheets of paper, and have you play the world's smallest violin. But the company's Soli radar hasn't necessarily seen commercial success, primarily in an ill-fated Pixel phone. Now Google has launched an open source API standard called Ripple that could theoretically bring the technology to additional devices outside of Google, possibly even a car, as Ford is one of the participants in the new standard. Technically, Ripple is under the auspices of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the same industry body that hosts the CES show in Las Vegas each January, but there's no doubt who is actually behind the project. "Ripple will unlock useful innovations for the benefit of all. General Purpose Radar is a key emerging technology for solving critical use cases while respecting privacy," read a quote from Ivan Poupyrev, The man who led the team through G oogle's ATAP skunkworks. who invented Soli in the first place. "Standard Radar Api" seems to be the original Name. Adritionally, the Github ripple project  is filled with  references to Google, including different instances of "Copyright 2021 Google LLC" and contributors must sign a Google Open Source license agreement to participate. (One commit points out that the project was updated “to include CTA.”) Ripple appears to be a rebranding of Google’s “Standard Radar API,” which it quietly proposed one year ago (PDF). None of that makes it any less exciting that Soli might find new life, though, and there may be something to the idea that radar has privacy benefits. It’s a technology that can easily detect whether someone’s present, nearby, and/or telling their device to do something without requiring a microphone or camera. Ford, for its part, tells The Verge that indoor radar might become part of its driver-assistance technologies. Right now, the automaker says it’s using “advanced exterior radars” to research those features instead (which sounds expensive to me). Here’s a statement from Ford’s Jim Buczkowski, who’s currently heading up the company’s Research and Advanced Engineering team: We are investigating how to use indoor radar as a  source of sensors to improve various customer experiences in addition to our  Ford CoPilot360 driver assistance technologies which now use advanced exterior radars. A standard API, with input from the semiconductor industry, will allow us to develop hardware-independent software purchases and give  software teams the freedom to innovate across multiple radar platforms.   Other companies are also exploring radar: Amazon is also investigating whether radar could help it track your sleep patterns; This smart dog collar uses miniature radar to monitor vital signs, even if your dog is very hairy or furry, and this  bulb does the same  for humans. But most of the participants listed in Google's initiatives so far are chip and sensor vendors, with only Ford and Blumio, which have a development kit for a radar-based blood pressure sensor, stand out.
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Andrew Garfield says Tom Holland was 'jealous' of his Spider-Man suit because Holland 'had to use his nose' to work his phone

On the left: Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man. On the right: Tom Holland as Spider-Man in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Columbia Pictures/Sony; Matt Kennedy/Sony/Marvel Studios When multiple generations of Spider-Man come together as they did in the recent Spider-Man: No Way Home, it's only natural for the actors behind the mask to compare their different Spidey costumes, with Amazing SpiderMan actor Andrew Garfield recalling the 'one of his companions. SpiderMen is jealous of a particularly useful item included in his costume. Remembering the first time they were all in their respective costumes, Garfield discussed what it was like on the set of No Way Home with three live SpiderMens. “[Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire and I] talked about what worked for each of us,” Garfield said in an interview with Variety. “[Holland] was jealous because I have little zippers in it. my dress that I can take off my hands  very easily. ”In fact, Garfield recalled how Holland was forced to resort to a workaround  to use the phone while he was dressed, saying,“ So that the phone works, he had to use his nose because he couldn't access his hands. Garfield brought back other memories during his time with Holland and Maguire while working at No Way Home, as Garfield discussed what he was  not just as as a SpiderMan fan himself, but as one of the many. Actors who played the character on the big screen. “I think the first time we  all put the costume together,”  Garfield said, “it was hilarious because it's just three normal guys who were just actors who had just come outside. But then  you too become a fan and say, "Oh my God, we are all dressed together  and  doing as it says!"We would also have deeper conversations and talk about our experiences with the character. Garfield recalled other memories during his time with Holland and Maguire while working on No Way Home, as Garfield discussed what it was like not only as a fan of Spider-Man himself but as one of several actors who have portrayed the character on the big screen.  "I think the first time we were all in the suit together," Garfield said, "it was hilarious because it’s like just three ordinary dudes who were just actors just hanging out. But then also, you just become a fan and say, 'Oh my god we’re all together in the suits and we’re doing the pointing thing!'...  We would have deeper conversations, too, and talk about our experiences with the character." Garfield summed up his experience with his fellow Spider-Men, as the actor went on the reveal the origins behind one of his improvised lines in No Way Home. "There's a line I improvised in the movie, looking at [Maguire and Holland] and I tell them I love them," Garfield said. "That was just me loving them." Although it's been almost a decade since Garfield last donned the Spidey suit in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the actor  recently spoke about returning to the role on a possible future project. Garfield also spoke about what got him aboard the multiversal cast of No Way Home, including how one scene in particular convinced him to dress up as a WebSlinger again. Garfield has elaborated further on the initial pitch for the film when he was approached by Sony and Marvel, detailing the concept that would allow him to explore an old character in a new way.
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