Marriott wants you to vacation on a virtual beach

Source: Marriott Hotels

Marriott Hotels is betting the future of travel will be, at least in part, virtual.

The hotel brand is rolling out the Oculus Rift technology at select hotel locations to enable guests to virtually explore the black sand beaches of Hawaii or the city of London. 

But to make the experience more immersive, Marriott is taking things one step further by adding in sensory elements such as heat, wind and mist.

Read More Facebook buying virtual reality firm Oculus for $2 billion

The program works like this: A person stands in a phone-booth like structure dubbed the Teleporter, puts on the Oculus Rift virtual headset and wireless headphones, and is then "teleported" to the destination.

The Teleporter has built in 4-D technology that makes it so the user physically feels different parts of the environment, such as temperature and moisture. 

While Marriott claims this is the first time these technologies are being applied for a travel experience, the idea of using virtual reality for travel is nothing new. 

In June, Second Life CEO Philip Rosedale said at the Singularity Finance Conference that it won't be too long before people actually purchase a virtual reality (VR) property so that they can visit it anytime they want. 

Read More A battle for the future of virtual reality gaming

Given how much momentum, there's been in the VR space this year, Rosedale's prediction may not be too far fetched.

In March Facebook shelled out $2 billion to purchase Oculus Rift's technology. And in June Google revealed Carboard, its own open-source mobile-powered virtual reality headset. Samsung recently rolled out its Gear VR headset, which is also powered by a smartphone (specifically the Galaxy Note 4), but it has tapped Oculus Rift to handle the software.

While it's become the norm for tech giants to jump into the VR space to grow their gaming and entertainment ambitions, a traditional hospitality company like Marriott Hotels may seem like an odd fit to be using the technology.

But the company sees the virtual world as a big opportunity to breathe new life into its brand and possibly even spur new business.

"It's part of our transformation message," said Michael Dail, the vice president of brand marketing for Marriott Hotels. "This isn't the Marriott you once thought of."

Read More Samsung ups the ante with its latest innovations

Dail said that while a long-term VR strategy hasn't been determined for the company, the possibilities are endless.

For example, if someone is planning a vacation, they could use VR technology to check out different destinations before booking a trip, Dail said. It could also be used in hotels to transport guests to new locations, he added.

"It can inspire their decision of where they want to go and it could also be used to enhance their stay," Dail said.

Marriott is kicking off its virtual travel experience Thursday at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, but the Teleporters will be traveling through November at select locations around the country.

"We can be disrupted to ourselves," Dail said. "We want to take things to the next level and we are thinking ahead about the future of travel."

Here's The Driverless Car Video Google Doesn't Want You To See

We caught this over at IEEE Spectrum — here's a video of a couple of rascals horsing around in their Infiniti Q50. What begins as an autonomous but innocuous joyride turns into a nonsensical, dangerous stunt around the 1:28 mark.

Watch above as the blurred-out would-be stuntman leaves the driver's seat to sit in the back. The driver's seat is completely unoccupied as the thousand-pound vehicle hurtles down the freeway.

No, this isn't a Google self-driving car. But as Google aims to be synonymous with self-driving car technology, we can't imagine they'd appreciate getting the idea into people's heads that a driver could catch a nap in the backseat while a car's in motion.

It also bears mentioning that the Q50 isn't an all-in-one driverless solution. It merely has a highway autopilot-type function designed for keeping the car in its lane, and nothing more.

How BIG Is Google?

Google Buys Scary Military Robot Maker

Can Schools Solve The Tech Industry's Pipeline Problem?

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When Google went public with data about the diversity of its workforce, it fueled the ongoing conversation about diversity in the technology industry.

It's been only a couple of weeks since Google released the diversity numbers on its workforce, and there's been a lot of talk since then about why the tech giant and others in the industry don't really reflect the American population as a whole.

A well-written piece today in Mother Jones offers some provocative thoughts on what can be done about it — and schools could play a big role.

So, to catch up, Google last month released a breakdown of its 46,000-member global workforce that put some data behind stereotypes about the tech giant. And turns out, that stereotype is largely true: Google's workforce is heavily white and male.

Thirty percent of Google's employees worldwide are women, according to the figures released in May, and just 17 percent of technical staffers are female.

Racially and ethnically, Google's U.S.-based staff is 61 percent white, 30 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic, and 2 percent African-American.

So, how does that stack up against the U.S. workforce as a whole? Here are the comparable figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor:

• 47 percent of U.S. workers are women,
• 80 percent are white,
• 12 percent are black and 5 percent are Asian. (The numbers for Hispanics are more complicated, because people of Hispanic ethnicity may be of any race.)

Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president of people operations suggested in a blog post that there are a slew of reasons why Google and other tech companies struggle to reflect the demographics of the country:

"There are lots of reasons why technology companies like Google struggle to recruit and retain women and minorities. For example, women earn roughly 18 percent of all computer science degrees in the United States. Blacks and Hispanics each make up under 10 percent of U.S. college grads and each collect fewer than 10 percent of degrees in CS majors. So we've invested a lot of time and energy in education."

Google isn't the only tech company facing this challenge, and it certainly isn't the only one to lay the blame, at least in part, on a "pipeline problem." The argument is that companies can only hire the people who apply for jobs, and in tech, those people tend to be male and white.

Today in the Mother Jones piece, Tasneem Raja suggests that part of the solution might be quite simple: start introducing coding and computer skills to children early.

"Exposing today's third-graders to a dose of code may mean that at 30 they retain enough to ask the right questions of a programmer, working in a language they've never seen on a project they could never have imagined," Raja writes.

Raja, an editor at the publication, also suggests changing the message on STEM, so that girls will embrace science, technology, engineering and math rather than be repelled.

"Research shows that girls tend to pull away from STEM subjects—including computer science—around middle school, while rates of boys in these classes stay steady."

Raja cited evidence that tweaking the way computer science is introduced can make a difference:

"A 2009 study tested various messages about computer science with college-bound teens. It found that explaining how programming skills can be used to 'do good' — connect with one's community, make a difference on big social problems like pollution and health care — reverberated strongly with girls. Far less successful were messages about getting a good job or being 'in the driver's seat' of technological innovation — i.e., the dominant cultural narratives about why anyone would learn to code."

Sure, there's an argument that it's critical for the workforce of the country's leading technology companies to reflect, well, the demographics of the country. But as Raja points out, it's also just good for the corporate bottom line.

"It was a little more than a century ago that literacy became universal in Western Europe and the United States. If computational skills are on the same trajectory, how much are we hurting our economy—and our democracy—by not moving faster to make them universal?"

A Tour of OpenSocial Developer Resources

Tour Google's Luxurious 'Googleplex' Campus In California

Google is constantly being named as one of the best companies to work for. It feeds its employees three gourmet meals a day for free. It offers them a crazy array of perks from yoga classes to massages.

See the pictures »

So we asked for a tour of the famous Googleplex, hoping to see cool spots like the bowling alley or one of the seven fitness centers.

Unfortunately, Google's PR folks asked if they could review and approve our photos before we published them. We declined, but we were allowed in the campus and the land Google owns around its offices, including the sculpture garden and the outdoor cafe.

The Google campus is located in a quiet town called Mountain View. Trees are big. Google signs are low to the ground, so the campus almost feels hidden.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

The Googleplex is composed of scores of buildings that sprawl across Mountain View, Calif. At the top are tennis courts, at the south end is the 101 freeway.

Google maps

Here's the main front entrance to the three buildings at the heart of the campus. This spot was featured in the movie about Google called "The Internship," shot at the Googleplex.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Here's the volleyball court in the center of campus. It was also featured in the movie. No one was using it this day.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Google's color scheme is primary colors, used on everything, like these free campus bikes. Employees can use them to ride around the 'Plex. Don't want to ride? You can let these valets fetch and park your car for you.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Here's where they invented Google Glass. I got to try Glass while I was there and was blown away by how well the voice command system worked.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Here's where they create the Android operating system. There's a statue for every version of Android, all named after sweet things to eat.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Here's the newest statue, KitKat Android. There's Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, Cupcake and Honeycomb, too.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

The Googleplex is a tourist attraction. There were lots of people wandering around taking photos. These folks are shooting the Android and Android Donut statues outside the Android building.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

This is a massive Android statue peeking out of the Android building. Its eyes glow red when the sun sets, so it's kinda freaky looking at night.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

New Google employees are called "Nooglers" (pronounced "NEWglers") This is the Noogler statue dedicated to them.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Public art is everywhere. Here are some very tall statues in front of the Android building.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

This is the famous Google dinosaur statue filled with twirling flamingos. The founders bought it to remind Googlers to stay creative and not let the company become irrelevant like a dinosaur.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

There is a statue garden in the main campus area filled with random busts meant to inspire. This is an effigy of Lloyd Bridges to honor his role in the 1960s TV show "Sea Hunt."

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Google has two organic gardens on site. They grow veggies and herbs for the restaurants.

Google

The gardens are part of a society that trains and educates others on horticulture.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

There gardens also have tables and chairs as a quiet meditative spot for employees.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

This is perhaps the most famous, familiar view of the Google campus, the outdoor cafeteria with colorful umbrellas. Primary colors are everywhere on campus, giving it a "preschool" feel.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

A lot of employees commute every day to the 'Plex. Electric cars are everywhere and so are electric charging stations.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Lots of Valley companies have EV charging stations, but Google's massive EV parking lot is solar powered. Solar panels cover the carports.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

The parking lot was filled with Tesla electric cars. Rows of them.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

At the north edge of campus Google built a park with tennis courts, soccer fields, fitness stations, Frisbee golf. Its lights are powered by a giant bank of solar panels.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

The park is next to a big swath of public lands with trails and an amphitheater, but Google's park is not open to the public. Its gates have these signs.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Inside the Google logo is EVERYWHERE. On the walls. In the elevators. On all the beverage coolers. So are logos, statues, artwork of other Google products. While at the 'Plex you can never forget you're in Google's world.

Flickr/Joe Goldbert

Here's the Google logo on recycling garbage cans. (These are in Google Ventures offices that we previously toured.)

Julie Bort/Business Insider

This was one of the few indoor pics we were allowed to take in the Chrome building. Note the Chrome artwork on the walls. This is Caesar Sengupta, VP of Chromebooks with a Pixel notebook.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Note the Google logo on this "nap pod" where employees can work or sleep.

REUTERS/Erin Siegal

There are multiple fitness centers on campus. We didn't get to see any but here's a picture from a tour Google gave to Reuters a few years ago.

REUTERS/Erin Siegal

Here's one of the massage rooms, one of the legendary perks employees get, a picture also by Reuters.

REUTERS/Erin Siegal

Googlers work in cubbies in open offices. Here's a picture of one available online from Google's PR folks.

Google

Here's one of the micro-kitchens located everywhere. Employees don't have to bring their own lunch, much less cook it. They get breakfast, lunch and dinner for free at various campus restaurants.

Google

As we were leaving the campus, we saw the self-driving car wiz by with two passengers.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

The self-driving car was circling the campus, sharing the road with the many Googlers on bikes.

Business Insider/Julie Bort

Google self-driving car

Google's self-driving cars are all over the highways, near Mountain View, too. We saw one fly by on Highway 101 while leaving the 'Plex, driving north toward San Francisco. We couldn't safely grab the camera while driving, so here's a picture someone else took.

Flickr/Max Kiesler

For a look inside some of the buildings on campus, check out this tour of Google Ventures.

Julie Bort/Business Insider

Google Ventures Is Hiring And It's An Awesome Place To Work: Take A Look »

Build: A Chrome Experiment with LEGO®

Best Of Google (playlist)

Did Google Accidentally Reveal The Nexus 5? And Is It LG-Made? Signs Point to Maybe

Sections: Communications, Google, Mobile, Smartphones

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It’s no secret anymore, Google joined hands with its unlikeliest partner ever, Nestle, and took the wraps off the next version of Android, dubbed 4.4 “KitKat”. De-li-cious, though, you know, I’m more of a Snickers guy myself.

Anyways, what Big G “forgot” to announce was exactly what this KitKat brings to the table and how much better, smoother and cooler it is compared with 4.3, 4.2 or 4.1 Jelly Bean. Also, if a Nexus 5 is to be expected anytime soon and whose labs will it emerge from, Motorola’s or LG’s.

Well, brace yourselves, dear readers, as you’re in for a hell of a ride. Apparently, Google made an incredible gaffe earlier today when uploading a YouTube video. The clip starred the statue of Android 4.4 on its way to the Mountain View lawn where everybody from Cupcake to Jelly Bean lives, but also… the Nexus 5.

Wait, what? I know, I’m as dazzled as you all, but, as hard as it might be to believe, it appears a couple of frames focusing on a mysterious Google employee using an equally as mysterious phone evaded the editing room and ended up in the final clip.

Not at all surprising, the official video was made private soon after its uploading, but the harm was already done and you can still check the film out via a number of other YouTube channels. Now, how sure are we the mystery phone is the N5?

Well, it can’t be anything else, as it rocks a big-ass Nexus “tattoo” on its back and looks nothing like anything we’ve seen before. There’s also clear proof it’s made by LG, not Motorola, namely a smaller, barely intelligible LG logo, so there you have it. All that’s left to be revealed is a list of features. And a price tag. And release date.

<Source: 9to5Google>

TAGS: Android 4.4, Android 4.4 KitKat, android smartphones, google, google nexus, Google Nexus 5, Google smartphones, lg nexus, LG Nexus 5, Nexus 5, Nexus smartphones