Slashdot Mirror


Sergey Brin Demos Google Glasses Prototype

MojoKid writes "Folks have been clamoring for more on Google's Project Glass and Sergey Brin — one of the co-founders of Google — is now burying himself in the R&D department associated with its development. Recently Brin appeared on 'The Gavin Newsom Show' with the prototype glasses perched on his face. The visit was actually a bit awkward as you can see in the video, as it's a lot of Brin and Newsom describing what they're seeing via the glasses with no visual for the audience. However, Brin dropped a bomb when he stated that he'd like to have the glasses out as early as next year."

25 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Google Glasses? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll pair these with the hated headphones from the previous story, and occupy my own, private digital HELL!

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
    1. Re:Google Glasses? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

      More like Google Goggles. Or just Googgles?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Google Glasses? by NickFortune · · Score: 2

      I'll pair these with the hated headphones from the previous story, and occupy my own, private digital HELL!

      It does make me wonder as to the business plan. I can imagine these things being given away free, but with small discrete text ads in your top right peripheral vision.

      On the other hand, imagine if Google subsidiary Doubleclick gets to handle the business. They'll be inserting hallucinations of monster movie serial killers into your left side periphery, and then using the right eye to advertise psycho-analysis.

      Still, could be worse. If it was Microsoft Goggles, they scan for apple logos replace them with the windows symbol. And if they detected a screen from a working replace Linux box, they'd overlay it with a static blue-screen-of-death image.

      Oh the possibilities! :)

      --
      Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!
    3. Re:Google Glasses? by jonadab · · Score: 3, Funny

      Will you claim it in a StreetView van? Will you claim it as a Google fan?

      I will not claim it in a van, I will not claim it as a fan.
      I do not like this prior art, I do not like it Sam Thou Art.

      --
      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
  2. Want. Now. by jakimfett · · Score: 3, Funny

    Every geek wants a pair of these yesterday. As soon as Google can get a version of them ready to go, I predict they'll sell like...well...not hotcakes, but probably like Android based phones.

    --
    Bits of code, random ramblings: jakimfett.com
    1. Re:Want. Now. by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny

      Couple these with the Google butt-plug, and Sergey will have covered all the exits!

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    2. Re:Want. Now. by TheLink · · Score: 2

      It's a start. I hope they get on with it, I've been waiting since the 1990s where we had all the basics (but even the iphone would not have been viable back then - no suitable ecosystem to thrive in).

      First generation: virtual telepathy kinda there, but needs brain computer interface for to be more seamless.

      Missing: control via thought macros (need brain computer interface for that). Also missing: ability to recall and store stuff by linking them with arbitrary thought patterns/sequences.

      Missing: virtual telekinesis- need "building/area/room" servers and similar.

      Missing: mindï augmentation stuff like face/object recognition to help you find/track people/objects in a crowd/area. Or count them quickly - the computer can highlight the stuff for the human to confirm/verify (humans can be quite fast at noticing if the computer has highlighted the wrong object, and may notice if the computer has missed stuff). If the Gov is going to track number plates, maybe the citizens should too - all these big shots visiting their mistresses better beware.

      The virtual eidetic memory should always record at low res+fps, but keep the past X minutes at high res+fps in a circular buffer, so you can start recording at high res without missing stuff (this applies to both video and sound). It should also try to do a voice recognition transcript (processing realtime or while you are sleeping look up HARK for sound source separation) so you can more easily search for stuff later.

      Problems: copyright law might cripple us to be less than what is possible technically.

      See also: http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2848877&cid=39996993

      --
    3. Re:Want. Now. by jakimfett · · Score: 2

      I kinda like this idea. Just use the glasses as a HUD, where you can set a threshold for events to be displayed. Then, if I want, I can pull out my phone, hit the home key or power button, and the display comes fully alive, controlled by me and my input to my phone. Or better yet, gesture control using the camera....but that's probably just me dreaming again.

      --
      Bits of code, random ramblings: jakimfett.com
    4. Re:Want. Now. by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

      where you can set a threshold for events to be displayed

      Great idea, in the future when I ask "where are my glasses" out loud they could SMS "on top of your head you silly old fart" to my phone.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    5. Re:Want. Now. by jakimfett · · Score: 2

      ...what is this thing useful for?

      For the average person, perhaps not so much. But it's not that these, as they exist right now, are particularly useful. It's the possibilities, when a world full of geeks and nerds says "hmm...I betcha I could make it do something crazy..."

      With a pair of these, a surgeon now has the ability to pull up live info about a patient while they are elbows deep in viscera. With these, a machine operator or plant manager can see heat readouts, fuel use, and downtime reports. With these (and a bit of software hacking), the camera can allow you to track where the person is looking, and overlay an augmented reality on the world around a user, giving them data about what they are seeing and what is nearby. With these (and a bit of hardware hacking, or just by using a specific model provided by Google for this purpose), a fireman or police officer can tap into the infrared or ultraviolet spectrum, allowing them to see through smoke or darkness and identify survivors in case of an environmental catastrophe.

      The list goes on, much longer than this, and I garentee that there will be applications that me, you, and even Google never thought of. Just look at some of the stuff that people are doing with the Kinect motion sensor, or the Raspberry Pi micro pc. Give people a sandbox, and they will come up with a hundred and ten ways to make something amazing.

      --
      Bits of code, random ramblings: jakimfett.com
  3. Rare footage of them out and about by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Funny

    Here was see an early version of Google Glasses out and about! I can't wait!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Rare footage of them out and about by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Informative

      Here's another great video I'm sure you will also despise and others enjoy!

      There are others, but oddly even though those two videos came out very shortly after the first Google Glasses video, they are still the best.

      Have a great life! I mean that non-sarcastically, I hope things look up for you.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    2. Re:Rare footage of them out and about by MrEricSir · · Score: 2
      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    3. Re:Rare footage of them out and about by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 2

      If it were that intrusive, I am pretty sure people would opt for an adblock.

  4. Price? by Hentes · · Score: 3, Interesting

    VR glasses are nothing new, the big question is whether this one will be actually affordable by the general public.

  5. Just wait for the apps! by sandytaru · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm wondering how these will fare compared to some of their sci-fi counterparts did, actually. So far the most interesting take on augmented reality I've read/watched has been from the series Denno Coil, but this sort of technology has featured in a few other dystopias, too.

    --
    Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
  6. headache inducing? by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If so, count me out.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  7. Google Rx glasses? by MsWhich · · Score: 2

    I'm tentatively excited about Google Glasses, but if they don't come up with some way to make it work for people with prescription lenses, I'm going to have to let the ship sail without me, I think. Never going back to contacts again, not even for groovy sci-fi VR glasses.

  8. Borg by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    He's the freaking Borg. Please retire the Microsoft icon and apply it to Google. kthxbai.

  9. OMFG by satanclause · · Score: 2

    Some states are trying (ineffectually) to ban texting while driving... any bets on how long it will be before the first muppet causes an accident/kills someone due to having his/her vision impaired by Google Glasses!

  10. Brother AirScouter by matty619 · · Score: 2

    When I first heard of the Project Glass, I thought they had found a way of doing what some Japanese companies have been doing for a while...rather than displaying the image in *front* of your eye, they actually draw the image line by line directly *in* your eye on your retina with lasers. I still hold out hope that this is the long term goal of Project Glass, but who knows. A bit of reading Here

    And Here

    And Here

  11. This is old technology. by GrpA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Newer technology integrates the image directly into normal sunglass or prescription glasses lenses through optical waveguides to create an image focussed at infinity that is stable even if you're moving around.

    Vuzix has already made prototypes and the lenses look normal - though they did have a projector on the side of the lens. It was technology developed by Nokia and to see how impressive it actually is, take a look at this video.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atTqT7z00Kc&list=UUXV7-Fjn7hdQcINo7-T3mWQ&index=1&feature=plcp

    That's some video I got *through* the glasses at CES in January - And you'll notice that even though I can't keep the camera still, the image is rock steady within the active area of the glass lens. ( The lens is just a few millimeters thick ).

    The newer technology looks almost holographic and can certainly be made to provide a 3D image...

    Though if Google's glasses were really cheap, I'd still buy them. There's something to be said for a older but functional technology in a pair of glasses for $100 compared to the latest tech for more than $1000.

    GrpA

    --
    Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
  12. Inevitable by optimism · · Score: 4, Interesting

    These glasses are definitely coming.

    From the video, they look small enough to be practical very very soon. Nice work, Sergey. :)

    Presumably they will connect via bluetooth to a smartphone or keypad in your pocket for an easy finger-based UI. And of course there will be a voice UI, like we have now with a small & simple BT headset.

    The big questions are a) battery life, b) how the various governments will assess this as a potential driving hazard, and c) whether Apple will steal Google's thunder by doing the same thing, only sleeker.

    I, for one, will be happy to buy a set of these glasses if the price is right. Hopefully less than US$1000.

    1. Re:Inevitable by Artcfox · · Score: 2

      Watch closely how Sergey operates the glasses. The side of it is actually a trackpad.

    2. Re:Inevitable by optimism · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I got that impression, though I wasn't sure if he was working a trackpad or jog-wheel or something else.

      I'd rather have the trackpad as a separate wireless controller, so I could keep my hand in my pocket, or on the steering wheel, or wherever else, instead of reaching up to my temple every time I need to control the glasses.

      Economy of motion will be a critical factor of adoption.