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Google Glass, Augmented Reality Spells Data Headaches
Nerval's Lobster writes "Google seems determined to press forward with Google Glass technology, filing a patent for a Google Glass wristwatch. As pointed out by CNET, the timepiece includes a camera and a touch screen that, once flipped up, acts as a secondary display. In the patent, Google refers to the device as a 'smart-watch. Whether or not a Google Glass wristwatch ever appears on the marketplace — just because a tech titan patents a particular invention doesn't mean it's bound for store shelves anytime soon — the appearance of augmented-reality accessories brings up a handful of interesting issues for everyone from app developers to those tasked with handling massive amounts of corporate data.For app developers, augmented-reality devices raise the prospect of broader ecosystems and spiraling complexity. It's one thing to build an app for smartphones and tablets — but what if that app also needs to handle streams of data ported from a pair of tricked-out sunglasses or a wristwatch, or send information in a concise and timely way to a tiny screen an inch in front of someone's left eye?"
24/7 to Google. meh, seems like a good idea. I'm in!
Google just patented "Google Lasek" where they replace the lens in your eye with an LCD insert.
Karma: Bad
It's one thing to build an app for smartphones and tablets — but what if that app also needs to handle streams of data ported from a pair of tricked-out sunglasses or a wristwatch, or send information in a concise and timely way to a tiny screen an inch in front of someone's left eye?"
How is this "spiraling complexity" in any way? There are standards. There are APIs. If they don't exist today, they will, necessitated for such issues.
More Twoson than Cupertino
Is all of the coding community really dreading the awesome complexity that seems to be our technological future? It is something they should be welcoming with open arms. I for one want to be one to push the boundaries and do something no one has done before, but apparently whoever wrote this would rather forget about the future, and huddle in their cubicle writing terminal programs for their 486.
Something, something about Moore's Law.
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
what if that app also needs to handle streams of data ported from a pair of tricked-out sunglasses or a wristwatch, or send information in a concise and timely way to a tiny screen an inch in front of someone's left eye
So what if it does? Dealing with different form factors is not exactly new when it comes to developing for most mobile platforms. And an input stream is an input stream - the only thing that matters is the kind of data in the stream. A camera is a camera, no matter where it's mounted - and presumably application developers are smart enough to use stream metadata to determine the input source in cases where it should affect UX.
Whining is pointless. If smart watches and Glass catch on, there's exactly two things developers can do.
Adapt or die.
Are the questions in the summary rhetorical? I mean, really. If it's a problem they'll do what they've always done: add another layer of abstraction. { Class InputDevice...}, blah, blah, blah... Sheesh!
By data headaches you really mean jobs...
Such fail. Just be quiet.
Handling streams of data from glasses or a watch is no different than handling any other stream of data. So that problems mostly solved.
Sending data in a concise and timely way doesn't really depend on the size or location of the screen (unless its someplace that is hard to communicate with, e.g., deep underwater [making most broadcast mechanism troublesome] in a place where it is inconvenient to run a cable.)
UI, on the other hand, is going to need to be dealt with, and, yeah, there's going to be some interesting challenges in UI design for apps that interact through devices like Google Glass (either the glasses or the proposed watch.) But its not like either of these will become ubiquitous overnight. There'll be plenty of time to work on the UI issues and develop reasonable early UI paradigms when the devices are in very limited distribution, and then UIs will evolve with more experience just like they have with every other kind of device.
Do not use one of these things while driving please. It's a little know issue of "looking but not seeing". That is to say, you may be aware of the red light in front of you, but your attention is not focused on comprehending its meaning. Big problem!
Life is not for the lazy.
It's not that there's "too much data," or "too many differing sources/devices," it's that there's too many goddamn proprietary standards that make universal cross-compatibility impossible. Hell, if we were to collectively ditch all proprietary formats in favor of universally accepted standards, this would be a non-issue and we could, as a species, stop wasting so much of our precious time waxing philosophic about the perils of cross-device compatibility, and just get shit done.
The stagnation of progress in the name of profits pisses me off to no end, can you tell? I want my fucking Omni-Tool!
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Glass, recall the last conversation I had with Tim keyword spaghetti. Skip ahead 2 minutes. Start point. Double speed. End point. New email to Bob. Bob, here is that spaghetti recipe that I told you about. Glass, end email. Insert video segment. Send email.
The summary is silly, the real story here is the wristwatch. From glancing through the article and the patent it looks like Google Glass, but on a transparent LCD screen that you look through instead of VRD. That could be cool for people who feel uncomfortable with a laser projecting an image onto their retina. (Not me though, I'm hoping to replace my tv with netflix streamed to a VRD asap)
There are many cool technologies such as this http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology.html
But, only Google almost patented glasses allowing to watch P0RN with 24x7 reliability.
REST APIs are your friend. If you follow solid design principles, such as seperating the view from the model, and use open protocols, adding a second UI is trivial.
AccountKiller
It's not in the patent or article, but one use I see for a wearable watch is to serve as the trackpad for the AR glasses, or in other words, a wearable wireless computer "mouse". If I understand the GooGlass design correctly, navigation is either via voice or by fiddling some controls place behind the left or right ear piece of the glasses. A wristwatch should provide more finger surface besides being a gadget in its own right. Control GooGlass via the wristwatch should be technically more feasible than a AR gesture-based system where you control GooGlass by clicking directly at the icons you see projected in front of you.
Get on it, Google!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I get the part about app developers whining about having unportable code when moving from iOS to Android or vice versa, but what is with this silly expectation that an app for a smartphone also must work on an augmented reality HUD? This is completely new technology unlike we've had before, and I expect app developers to do something creative with it. Last thing I want is a compatibility layer that allows me to run all my Android fart apps on Google glasses. This will make developers choose the lowest common denominator functionality between devices and code against that, rather than truly innovating for a new platform. I, for one, call for the new technology to bring with it a new app ecosystem, separate from smartphone apps.
We just need health on the left and ammo on the right.
Can't it just show me a VR watch on my wrist when I look down at it? Make mine a Patek, please, in 18Kt.
Cars in the future drive themselves, problem solved, go back into your video coma.