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Not Even Investors Know What Google Glass Is For
bdking writes "Google says it plans to ship its Google Glass Explorer Edition by the end of April to developers and consumers who paid $1,500 to test the computer-enabled eyewear, with vague plans for a general release (at a lower price) by year's end. But what will you really be able to do with Google Glass, beyond having information presented before your eyes? Even investors who are set to spend millions funding apps development for Google Glass have no clue. Is Google Glass being overhyped as a 'transformational' device?" I bet every real estate agent in the world would like one of these hooked up to a database of houses for sale, so they could instantly scan all the relevant information.
If the thing had good enough heading and position information, it could overlay detailed information on the real world. But it's not that good. It's just a smartphone display.
Also, I'll bet that driving with it will be prohibited after the first few hundred accidents.
One word: advertising. Right in front of your eyes is the most prime advertising space I can imaine.
"I bet every real estate agent in the world would like one of these hooked up to a database of houses for sale, so they could instantly scan all the relevant information."
I bet not.
This is nothing more than a head mounted smartphone, with less features.
It'll probably take a bit of time in the hands of some crazy members of the public before we see any really innovative things out of this.
Personally, I don't see the big deal, its really just a head mounted smarth phone. Just a slightly different form factor, but due to its single display, a bad one unless you like headaches. But ... thats usually said a lot just before something groundbreaking happens :)
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I suppose Real Estate agents might like google glass for providing scripted open houses for prospective buyers.
Also...to collect data on what they thought of each room, how long they spent there etc etc etc.
Data+Analytics is the lynch pin of effective sales.
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This is gonna be like when we all scoffed about the iPad's potential market, isn't it?
There will be a few real-world uses for Glass that are positive and cost-effective. For the vast majority, this device is a non-starter at any price, IMO. If you want to walk around pretending you're in a sci-fi movie, yeah, it's probably great if you're a 14-year-old, but most people aren't going to have a use for this AND they're not going to want to be seen wearing it AND it's not going to be socially acceptable. Once again, this is technology desperately in search of a problem to solve to justify its existence.
I mean, it was just looking for stuff. How could that be valuable?
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Google Glass doesn't just present information; it can record, too. And if you record every little thing you see, it's possible to review and discover small, but critically important events later. For example, one of my college instructors has a child with autism. Video from his child's second birthday party helped make the diagnosis, but more and earlier footage would have helped diagnose it sooner. If my instructor had been wearing and recording with Google Glass every time he saw or watched his child, he would have had a wealth of material for evaluation and diagnosis.
Sometimes I worry that I'll develop Alzheimer's disease, but no one will notice.
I could see that thing being awesome for golf... they already do GPS through smart phones.. if it can tell you how far away an object is in your field of vision, pretty darn spiffy.. show you a trail where your ball went, display your swing trajectory in your field of view for analysis... lots of cool things. Plus golfers will spend that kind of money.
I know it is hard for geeks to understand; but technology is not always the best or fastest answer.
Real estate agents have a meeting before the open houses. They remember all the properties agency has for sale, and specially the ones they need to off-load. They need to know off the top of their head. A really important concept called preparation.
The brain is faster than technology - instant search which is what you need in front of a client. You can't replace street-smarts with technology.
Then again, geeks would make hopeless estate agents and sales people as they have no people skills.
If so, I would want these for skiing, running, biking & so on. Otherwise, I would just pull out the phone to look at it. BTW, I am not a 24/7 phone junkie at all. But for example when skiing with family & friends, texting and calling is a big pain, but a heads-up display would be perfect.
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
...that was a passing thought ;) Am I ready to pay $1500? Not yet.
In Roman times, nobles had slaves who would whisper information in their ears about the people who were attending parties.
It would definitely be useful to have a facial recognition system for when I get dragged to my wife's business functions, so I could remember who they are, what they do, and what subjects are safe to bring up.
Google Glass is for: ;>)
-- tracking, nonstop, of every place you go (and if you're visit the bathroom, every place you go to go) and how long you stay there (hmm, in the bathroom that could tell them if you're going #1 or #2, eh? or will they just turn on the hidden microphone to listen for the tinkle-splash noises to figure that out?)
-- your random path (how fidgety you are when you are certain places, like do you stay put in ladies' wear, then swing by shoes in the deparment store before heading over to Easy spirit for the shoes you really want?
-- how frequently you follow the same paths and when (e.g. do you hit the bar every friday? do you go to margarita happy hour on thursday night? Do you go to for tacos and to J.V.'s for the flying saucer and the chimichangas?
-- what do you look at and what are you looking at when you stay put vs. when you wander?
-- what exactly can they try to sell to you by knowing every bit of detail about you that they can learn?
:>(
All of that tracking will help them build up their massive dossiers on you, citizens! Beware!
IDK, what's your computer monitor good for?
Porn recording and watching !
Given the...how to put this politely... 'strongly habituated'... cellphone-checking among a large number of people, I'd say that the closest analogy would probably be selling infusion pumps to heroin junkies.
By making 'pulling out your phone and compulsively checking it all the goddamn time, even when in company' entirely seamless and automatic, Glass allows you to indulge your vices even further, while exhibiting the formerly required movements much less often...
I thought Sergei's(deeply weird) comments about being 'emasculated' by his phone were actually sort of telling with regards to the strange contradiction underlying the 'Glass' concept.
So, Sergei comes to the realization that damn do I spend a lot of my life, even when I'm ostensibly doing other things, basically poking at the little colored lights that live inside my cellphone, what am I doing? However, instead of adopting the "Hmm, maybe I should try doing less of that" approach, he goes for the "I know, I'll build a system where I no longer find myself clutching my cellphone alarmingly frequently; because it's hovering in front of my eye all the time!".
Is the reality of technology that is truly transformational that you can't define what it's for ... the smartphone is transformational tech but nobody realized that when it was first created, it was just a phone that could save your contact list and run a few games to kill time. so nobody asked if it was being over hyped it just got sold as a phone with additional features. Nobody asked what graphene is for, another transformational tech advance that is finding dozens of uses that it's creators never envisioned ... GGlass will find it's purpose ... HUDs are all the rage in fighter jets for a reason GGlass is a HUD for your life ... we all live on our smartphones. It's inevitable that this or a similar tech will become as ubiquitous in society as HUDs are in fighter jets... and for much the same reason.
It's so people in social situations and even strangers can instantly identify assholes by the little light on their glasses which shows they're more interested in their email or augmented naked boobie apps than their physical surroundings.
You can measure power levels with it, duh.
The Blade Itself
and perfectly lined up with the real world. Smartphones do NOT do that already.
Basically, imagine all the cool and kind of creepy stuff you can do with your cell phone, if only you could stare through the camera display all the time, and people wouldn't frown at you pointing your cell's cam right at them, and looking at it instead of them. That said, expect to have folks request you, "Take off that damn camera when I'm talking to you."
While shopping it would be kinda of clever while looking at product numbers if it showed me competing prices on amazon/walmart/etc. Or when I'm at the library it would read the ISBN and display other titles by the author... or when travelling abroad it could offer a translation of items on a menu.
This is absolute bullshit. If anyone who approved this fucking article knew what they were talking about, they would know that Google held a Glass developer conference wherein they explain the capabilities of Glass, guidelines, and API abilities.
Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/5/4186182/google-explains-how-to-create-glass-services
Fucking idiots. The entire Mirror API is explained in that video. Developers(or anyone) who have done a simple Google search know how the hell to develop for Glass right now, why doesn't the author of this /. post?
As a DIY kinda guy who does his own auto maintenance, fixes stuff around his house, cooks, assembles toys for his kid, etc, the immediate thing that would absolutely make me buy one of these is just the ability to present instructions in front of my face without me having to look away from what I'm doing.
How many times have I been looking at my engine and gotten lost thinking, "Wait, was that bolt on the left side or the right side?" and had to stop and reach for the manual or the instructions I had loaded up on my tablet. Or been holding three pieces of baby furniture together with one hand while rummaging through my tool belt to get the right screws and then realized "crap, does this part take the long screw or the medium long screw?" and had to put the whole thing back down to reach for the instructions. If I had a hands-free display showing me the instructions it would be way easier.
And the instructions don't even need to be digitized already and downloaded from the manufacturer's website. Glass has a camera, so before I get started, look at the instructions and snap a few high-res pics.
Eventually, if such devices penetrate the market there might be a reason to use those QR codes. Companies could put out "Glass Enabled Instructions" where each part has a small code on it, so when you get to "Insert Rod A into Flange B" the instructions app would scan your visual field for the correct marker code on Rod A and give you a thumbs up. Which gives you all kinds of other applications for general education and training.
Also, whenever I'm taking something apart, I find myself grabbing my phone to snap pictures during the disassembly, so when it comes time to stick all the color-coded but otherwise unmarked wires back into the posts on the PCB I have a quick reference for what it looked like when I started. With Glass, fuck, not only could I take stills without rummaging for my phone, I could just record a video of the whole process and then scrub back through it if I was unsure of how anything fit together during reassembly.
Yeah, I'll buy one just for that.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
I bet every real estate agent in the world would like one of these hooked up to a database of houses for sale, so they could instantly scan all the relevant information.
Is a smartphone with GPS not able to do any of this? How would Google Glass be anymore accurate than a GPS to be able to overlay the information properly as opposed to an "AR" app on a phone?
Maybe it could be useful for some things, especially games, but even in that situation, not having a HUD or anything distracting on the screen is seen as a benefit, so why would you want it IRL? Maybe it could be arranged into something more useful to you personally such as widgets on a desktop, but I can whip out my phone and check a few quick things already.
I just don't know if I want to always be seeing data. So it'd be easier and cheaper to whip out a smartphone instead of taking out my smartglasses and putting them on.
Twinstiq, game news
This device is a culmination of everything internet stands for and a first attempt to have always-on interface directly with our sensory inputs.
It will finally allow us to browse porn and watch cat videos everywhere we go, 24/7.
Once this sort of thing is good enough then augmented reality will be the killer app.
Imagine driving in your car with the GPS route you need to take overlaid onto the actual road, or repairing your car/computer/whatever with instructions pointing to each part to remove/replace in sequence along with tips on how to properly do it. Imagine meeting people and seeing their name and a brief biography floating in between you. Virtual geo-tagging left at physical landmarks by previous people. Heck, I could see people having fun with virtual redecorating (preferably leaving the walls/furniture where they really are).
Right now, however, it's nowhere near seamless enough to handle that effectively.
And investors not understanding what they are investing in is news because... why again?
Have you not followed the last five years?
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Google Glass is for: -- tracking, nonstop
No that is what your phone is for. This may allow them to track people without phones using the camera. But people without phones have no money(or cheap) and are not worth tracking.
$1500 is to expensive for me. I'm going to order the occulus rift devkit for $300, a webcam for < $50, and a roll of duct tape from my garage. I can pipe the webcam video into a corner of the rift and use a lot more space for watching things. You also will look more bad-ass walking down the street with a full face enclosure.
don't know about you but if i'm going to buy a home i want to see it. i want to touch the walls and go into the basement to check for mold and any problems that might come up. i want to see how much sun there is. i want to make sure the walls actually block some sound. but then again i have noticed that the more expensive something is, the scummier the sales process is.
the photos on the website are there so i don't waste my time visiting something i would never buy.
this is why banks still require homes to be inspected
I don't know what the future holds for Google Glass, but I know one thing for sure: Marc Andreessen should not be bald. I'm pretty sure I saw him in a movie with Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtain twenty years ago...
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Good grief, people! Healthcare!
"Glass, call the RT." "This is the RT. Can I help you?" "Can you have a look at this man's breathing? We're not sure what's going on..."
I want it to list possible responses during conversations. For example:
- Yes/No
- Or what?
- Go away
- Please come back later
- Fuck you, asshole
- Fuck you
The reaction to Google Glass reminds me of the first tablet push over 10 years ago. The so-called experts dismissed it as pointless. They couldn't see beyond the current technological limitations and appreciate the massive potential in the technology.
Sure, those tablets had limitations. The resistive touch screen left a lot to be desired and Windows XP wasn't really tablet friendly. But the first time, years before the iPad came along, Sony tablet in hand as I sat on a subway in Asia, browsing the web on WiFi, I really understood the potential of this thing.
That's the problem with these experts, particularly since they're in a position to shape public opinion. Someone like Google, back then it was Microsoft and hardware makers, gambles on a truly innovative idea. They push something out that might not be truly ready for the mass market, but it fosters evolutionary innovation and refinement now that there's a bit of a technological goal established. Instead at the very least offering appreciation, the experts deride them for foisting an unfinished, poorly conceived product on consumers.
A few years later, after the technology has matured, Apple comes along with the same idea and these same experts gush over the thing like Jesus Christ was resurrected in gadget form. They brand the people Apple has great innovators on par with the likes of humanity's most important inventors. They conveniently ignore that Apple's success came on the backs of others.
Without question, Apple deserves credit for the implementation. The guys who came up with the ideas had enough of a head start that they could have evolved it into a successful product. So that's the question here, will Google be able to make this thing work, or is someone else going to come along and make it better.
Ooge Ass
Of course this is a hype. A well-crafted hype by Google Marketing ( TM ). I currently work for a logistics company where two or three motivated students developed exactly that: a pair of glasses with which one can walk through a warehouse and pick orders, from info displayed before your eyes. The things also allow you to log in to our software, and to look up where exactly you are in the warehouse. No hype needed.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
For driving, it's the ultimate heads-up display: anything that can be displayed on a screen can be displayed overlaid on your actual field of view without you having to take your eyes off the road. Vehicle speed, a compass, GPS navigation indications. Even an actual map so you can see a bird's-eye view of the next few blocks worth of street. One thing I can see is integrating a couple of cameras into the system to give real-time speed or closure-rate readouts on surrounding cars or warnings of cars coming up behind or beside you.
I can also see it as a replacement for more mundane things. At a meeting it's helpful to have information about the other parties on tap, but it's rude to keep checking your laptop or tablet. So feed the data directly into your eyeball where it's just as available but not nearly as obvious. I'd love to see the first negotiation where one side has a team listening (and maybe watching), pulling up needed information and feeding it directly to their representative without any obvious hints that it's happening. It'd be unnerving when the rep knows your name, your wife's name and your kids' names before you're introduced, and even more so when he seems to have detailed financial reports on your company at his fingertips but he's got no tablet or smartphone, no notes, no obvious source.
The only downside is that currently it's very one-way: you can receive a lot of data, but it's inconvenient to enter text to send. You're limited to basically a single-button mouse.
GLASS would replace the agent (ala Robocop) not the openhouse
---Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A START
In the anime series Dennou Coil in which kids adapted to such glasses far more easily than the adults, people had virtual pets. Should be easy enough to re-release a modernized Tamagatchi app for this thing. (Or even better, have a flashing light remind you it's time to water your plants and walk your dog.)
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
don't know about you but if i'm going to buy a home i want to see it.
You've got it all backwards. Do you even know that the topic is Google Glass?
If you were looking at a home, you'd go there, and put on the glasses, and walk around and do your tour. The glasses could provide you with additional info on the house, and could also record your experience so the agent had a peak at what you were doing (likes/dislikes/etc).
I'm not saying it's a good idea, but it's not the non-existent idea you were debating :-)
I bet every real estate agent in the world would like one of these hooked up to a database of houses for sale, so they could instantly scan all the relevant information.
... is to keep your eyes focused on the prospect.
He is the most important thing in your life right now; don't let him catch you drifting off into Lah-Lah land.
The glasses are a distraction. Ditch them.
Google glass looks tailor made for law enforcement and military personnel. It is reminiscent of Terminator type display. A cop can browse your full record and bio when they approach you and likewise, out in combat, a soldier will have access to the same; granted, more limited amount of info.
Your mentality is that of an Apple consumer, not that of an inventor. You tell the corporations "tell me how I should use your product". My crowd tells them "show me what your product does, I'll decide if I have a use for it". In my world, iPads are complete crap - they're an appliance for Grandma that I can't connect my 1-wire scanner to, because it doesn't even have a USB port. On the other hand, an Arduino or cheap 3-D printer is a godsend. Google Glass is meant for me, not for you.
As soon as Glass hits a good price point and works with QR codes, that's my next inventory solution. Put on your glasses and look at the QR code on a server, get a readout of what it is and who the point of contact is. Oh wait, your glasses just popped up the status from the SQL database "DO NOT POWER DOWN, LARGE UPDATE IN PROGRESS". Or when maintenance looks at the QR code on an HVAC controller, it pops up the web page to access it.
You have no imagination, that's why you don't understand that this is just the first step to the rig in "Virtual Light" (fingers eagerly crossed). It has been so long since a large company did innovation for the sake of innovation, that nowadays it's an alien concept.
Support microSD: in a post 9/11 world, it is unwise to carry your data on media that you cannot comfortably swallow.
Yes, but looking at it first via video may save you from having to go to all the houses.
Sure you see one that you like, then go and take a look, get an inspector and so on.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
provide what info?
the important stuff like the school district is already on the listing
this is a product in search of a problem
Hi Bdking,
That's the idea I posted on twitter for the Google glass competition; going to a house and scanning all the relevant information. I never got any notice that I won the opportunity to purchase a developer's copy or anything; maybe a lot of people posted the same idea.
Ohh and gold diggers will wear them to identify "good" men. All the women in the club will now know you live in your parents basements, are in debt, and have no important social connections.
don't know about you but if i'm going to buy a home i want to see it.
You've got it all backwards. Do you even know that the topic is Google Glass?
If you were looking at a home, you'd go there, and put on the glasses, and walk around and do your tour. The glasses could provide you with additional info on the house, and could also record your experience so the agent had a peak at what you were doing (likes/dislikes/etc).
I'm not saying it's a good idea, but it's not the non-existent idea you were debating :-)
The glasses aren't going to magically tell me the information I want to know.
When I'm looking at fresh paint on a basement wall, I want to know if that paint is covering a mildew problem, when I'm looking at a 3 pronged outlet in an older home, I want to know if they really rewired the home, or just put in new outlets to make it look like they did, when I see new shingles on the roof, I want to know if it'd been leaking for 2 years before they got around to fixing it.
The only thing the glasses are going to tell me is what someone posted online, which I already read before going to see the house. And I certainly don't want my real estate agent looking over my shoulder the entire time. Even without glasses, if she follows my wife around room to room, I'll ask her to leave us alone.
Yes, but looking at it first via video may save you from having to go to all the houses.
Sure you see one that you like, then go and take a look, get an inspector and so on.
I haven't found video walkthroughs to be any more effective than quality pictures when deciding if I want to view a house in person. I don't think watching the video in my Google Glasses is going to make it any more effective. And shooting a video with Google Glass is certainly not going to make a real estate agent into a great videographer.
"All of that tracking will help them build up their massive dossiers on you,"
Good.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You'll do with it what you now do with a smartphone, and more, but it's always on and in front of your eyes. Want a map with turn by turn directions? It's there. Want to see who's around you who's single and interested in Estonian fok dancing? They can be highlighted in glowing blue. Want to see the wiring diagram behind the wall? Access the building database and get the CAD drawings with the correct layer. Need to see the menu of the restaurant you're standing in front of? Watch it appear virtually on command. Oh, and you have a permanent heads-up cheap traffic and safety display as you're driving. Bored at a bus stop. Watch some youtube videos. Too dark? Turn on the infrared lense.
That's just off the top of my head. There will be as many applications as there are creative inviduals who can program. Any investor who can't work this out has probably already cooked their brain with alcohol and drugs, or suffers from some form of neurological impairment.
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New meaning of "HUD home".
Glass by itself probably won't go very far. Why? Because the video overlay is only one corner of the user's field of vision. With a full-field overlay, all sorts of real uses become available:
Combine facial recognition with my contacts list to help me look less socially inept when running into people I vaguely know
Help me cook by showing ingredients and cooking instructions without having to look at a book, and by putting dynamic fill lines on measuring cups (i.e. all I have is a 1 cup measuring cup, but put a line on it to show how much milk to pour in for 1/2 cup)
Real-time translation subtitles of conversations in foreign languages
Real-time subtitles for the hearing impaired
Combine with proximity/motion sensors for police or soldiers to give indications when someone's approaching from behind or off to the side
Add bluetooth and sensors to vacuum cleaners, and then highlight patches on the floor that still need more vacuuming
Virtual docent tours of museums (i.e. recognize the painting in the field of view, bring up information about the painting, the artist, recommend other works that people who like this painting also like, etc.)
Combine with bluetooth connection to a car to read ODB-II trouble codes and present apprentice mechanics with step-by-step instructions on how to diagnose and fix the problem (i.e. arrows on edge of vision to indicate where to look if part isn't being looked at, highlight part if it is, list steps to replace part, etc.)
Provide surgeons with live metrics on the patient without them having to look away from their work
End the "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" phenomenon by dynamically displaying the correct lyrics to the song currently playing, whether on the connected media player or through any other audio source
Automatic price comparison when looking at a UPC code of something in the store
Automatically look up in a dictionary the word I'm looking at in a book
Allow me to non-destructively highlight dead-tree books and share my highlights/notes with friends
Automatically, dynamically remove Google Glasses from my view of any of my friends who are also wearing them
Spell- and grammer-check anything I write, regardless of media
Help me learn to read/write other languages by displaying translations next to foreign text or by displaying words to practice writing on the paper (particularly useful for character-based languages, like Chinese)
Combine with multiple microphones to locate and highlight the source of that annoying noise that just woke me up
As with the Newton, this won't take off until the tech gets better (i.e. full FoV overlay, adjustable focal point to put the overlay in the same field of focus as the current eye position, better cost, etc.), but once it does, things will get VERY interesting!
For some reason, I think only being able to get data to 1 eye is going to cause headaches. If we can get a two eye version of this, Google can overlay the images/text with depth and my brain won't have to resolve why I'm seeing an image in one eye and not the other.
1. Will these glasses display only what I want them to display?
2. Will the sensors of these glasses only record what I want them to record?
3. Will the data outputs only transmit the data that I want them to forward, and only to the devices, networks or other targets that I specify?
3. Will the specifications be open enough to develop a driver for whatever appliance I want them to interface with?
A "no" to either of this question will mean a "no thank you" (put the comma where you prefer it) from me.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I think Richard Pryor was talking about Google Glass in this line from Superman III: ""Google Glass will do anything you tell me to tell it to do for you...If anyone attacks Google Glass or anything, the Google Glass counter-attacks it. I mean, it finds their weaknesses and wipes them out."
The phone is to track you, but it's pretty hard to track your circle of friends. Especially if they're not willing to join the surveillance club.
Now YOU may decide who gets to join it. Ready or not, willing or not.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Damn right. I mean, we already got everything from Cyberpunk but the tech, it's time to catch up!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'm interested in knowing more about the long term health effects of wearing Google Glass. Apparently binocular rivalry may be of concern.
I don't know what banks you deal with, but U.S. banks certainly don't require the home to be inspected. They require an appraisal that includes an external viewing of the property just to make sure it's still there, that's all.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
When it comes to the outlets and paint and such, I've found that having a pair of screwdrivers with you works really well. I usually poke things, take them apart (and put together), etc., and generally do things even home inspectors don't do. Having a moisture meter also helps -- paint won't cover that up, no matter how hard you try.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Quick, go out and get you an anti-drone hoodie STAT!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/anti-drone-hoodie-adam-harvey-surveillance_n_3007064.html
When it comes to the outlets and paint and such, I've found that having a pair of screwdrivers with you works really well. I usually poke things, take them apart (and put together), etc., and generally do things even home inspectors don't do. Having a moisture meter also helps -- paint won't cover that up, no matter how hard you try.
But how do you do all of that without Google Glass?
I'd rather ask: what the fuck would I need Google Glass for, except maybe as a "cool" video recorder with a little display showing how much storage/battery is left. Perhaps also a showing realtime image histogram just to make sure there's enough light, but not too much. So, well, there's some use for it after all, fuck or not :)
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Not before I pitch my "Bridge to the Moon" business plan!
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Detects where you are in the house...sales pitch on every room or item. When was the last service, windows/roof replacement' make model info. Comparitive data on appliances. Utility information.....just about every fact possible. Meanwhile it provides data about where you are in the house. What you looked at . How long you spent there. Even snapped pictures of for your own personal reference in the cloud. All without interacting with an actual agentm
Agent reviews data and revises pitch for more effective selling and staging. Agency runs analytics sw and develops better pitch scripts.
Everyone wins. Google gets data (gMLS?), agent gets (opened?) data, provides tons of info to potential buyers reliably and consistently and doesn't waste time with dreamers and window shoppers. Buyers get a ironically personalized experience and better information in a referrable/transmittable form.
---Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A START
The fact that Apple apparently sees nothing particularly compelling this device should tell you something, then.
Um... isn't Apple considering a useless-as-tits-on-a-bull-gator "smartwatch" that ties into iPhones?
It tells me something, alright.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
It's too early to tell what we will and will not be able to do with Glass, but I have have imagined how I'd use it:
1) GPS overlay while driving. I bet some folks will balk at this idea at first, but what's worse, taking your eyes off the road to look at a small screen, or having it overlaid (unobtrusively, of course) over some or all of your field of vision?
2) Access to the Internet is so locked down where I work that BYOD has been the employee's saving grace. I would rock Glass while at my desk as I could interact with the things I want without having to go for my tablet. This, of course, depends on how well I can control Glass by hand. The only time you will ever find me giving voice commands to Glass is on the trail, and even then only when hand commands are simply impractical.
3) Many desktop-based games do their damnedest to trap focus in the game window. It would be easier to do things like look up or track game info within my field of vision. The same would apply by default to console gaming.
IMHO Glass, and things like it, are a natural progression heading towards wetwiring. Mainframe -> desktop -> laptop -> phones and tablets -> wearable -> implantable.
that we can't even recognize it when it happens? Jeez. And we wonder why AT&T / HP / Xerox have gone to hell.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Gooe Ass?
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
>"I bet every real estate agent in the world would like one of these hooked up to a database of houses for sale, so they could instantly scan all the relevant information."
And why can't that just be done with your phone? Point it at a house and up comes the info. Far less expensive. Far less geeky. Far less intrusive. Far less privacy issues.
It's based on Google Goggles app, which tries to recognize things in front of your cell phone camera. It has a snapshot and continuous live mode.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
That's what I will always assume when I see one. Good luck with that, Google.
Seriously? Is someone trolling for free ideas or what? This isn't a hard thing to find applications for, also one will want to "intensely study" it of course for their own fiendish curiosities at least. To me there is just so much "kick ass" potential here that it should go without saying; its going to be awesome. I would suggest we all get cracking on a payday for this one and not be left at home plate watching this one go by.
Don't you have a nerdary to tend to?
Take the Red Pill.
When it comes to the outlets and paint and such, I've found that having a pair of screwdrivers with you works really well.
If I were selling and you came in with a pair of screwdrivers, I hope my agent asks you to put them away.
Your welcome to make an offer on the house, and make it subject to this sort of inspection, and after I've accepted it, you can satisfy your curiosity all you like, and if something is unearthed, we'll either get it fixed, renegotiate, or you can walk away. I'm fine with any of those scenarios.
I'd also have have someone escort you. If you jam your screwdriver where it doesn't belong and break a fixture, short something out, or otherwise fuck something up its still my house.
In any case I'm not going to tolerate every yahoo on the street walking into my home with a set of screwdrivers who thinks he is going to inspect the wiring during an open house or something. I don't know them from Adam.
While I tend to sympathize with potential buyers who don't want the agent hovering too much, I've seen too many cases of damage and theft to agree that I should let some random schmoe have the run of my house just because they might buy it.
Honestly, I really don't see the use for Google Glass. I know it's being touted as this "awesome game-changer", but at this point I see it as little more than a Segway. A neat toy, owned by a few, but never living up to the hype.
It will be a return to the younger cooler days.. The Halcon days before Jonny Appleseed was taking over in its ivory tower. Google has created a device that will Connect to your Nexus using the open sources available on the internet. These will let you show birthday invitations to your bioroid friends.
Just watch out for it trying to take over the world by connecting directly to people's brains to make them better.
(Sorry, it's too late and the clever is flickering out)
For the generation that grew up on video games such as Rock Band, it can be of huge help.
Imagine you're going to play a gig, put on the Glasses and sit behind your drums. Now you don't need to perfectly remember all those bits and pieces of the song, just play along.
Of course the software should have some feedback mechanism that listens to the actual beat and song that the band is playing, to accelerate or slow the tab down. But I can see it helping there.
Personally I'm just waiting for GoogleImplant :)
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
What if each eye could be fed a different image - now that would be cool! This would take augmented reality to a whole new level.
Google Glass would be great for all kinds of sports. From providing biometric stats to a bicyclist to a rear view and strategy collaboration for hockey players.
First of all, I'm not breaking anything. Secondly, your agent doesn't give a damn -- at least not when the house is not occupied any longer and there's nothing there but perhaps prop furniture. I have yet to see an agent who is, in the long run, not just a bored-like-a-teenager money-oriented salesperson. Besides, your agent doesn't necessarily do the showing. In fact, when I was looking for a house and visiting places, the sellers' agent was never present. My agent was opening the places and showing them to me. I'm not some knucklehead who'll just go and randomly destroy things, thank you very much. I'm just trying to make sure things are what they seem to be. My favorite trick is to try and push the screwdriver into the wood on the underside of first floor bathroom subfloor, around the toilet flange -- when there's access from the unfinished basement or crawl space. It usually lets me know right away if there are or were substantial leaks that have rotted the floor out. It's incredible how common of a problem it is -- it can progress with little obvious signs for years, while incurring thousands of U.S. dollars worth of damage if you were to hire a contractor to fix it. Even if you do it yourself it can cost ~$1500 if it's a bathroom with a shower stall, assuming you have to replace the floor, some walls, and the shower stall and toilet. With permits it might be more like $2000.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
In theory, being able to walk the street and digitally recognize people around you (and vice versa) would be like knowing everyone in a small rural village, except for the added benefit of (match nude images to person), highlight those who match your dating profile/financial status/potential(sale/victim). There might even be an advantage to being early adopters in digitally advantaged lifestyle. Or maybe companies selling fake digital social standing/history/identity. To use a car analogy, I wonder if having a readout telling you how normally you are behaving ("your anger levels are getting dangerously high, do you want...") would be similar to being conditioned by the presence of a speedometer in a car?
In NSA America social networks join you!
... it is to spy on your family, friends and neighbors
First of all, I'm not breaking anything.
That's what an idiot would say too.
Secondly, your agent doesn't give a damn -- at least not when the house is not occupied any longer and there's nothing there but perhaps prop furniture.
Depends on the agent. I've had absolutely fantastic agents.
Besides, your agent doesn't necessarily do the showing.
While I realize that "standard practices" vary from region to region and even from neighborhood to neighborhood within a city, I expect my agent to be present.
He is my agent. My representative. Or as you put it... "a money oriented salesperson" -- Why wouldn't I want my salesman pitching the sale?
My agent was opening the places and showing them to me.
As I said, I'm aware some places use lock boxes and so forth much more extensively than others. And of course you want your agent there looking out for your interests, but I want mine there looking out for mine... I'm not paying him a $20,000 commission to put a lock box on the door, hang a sign, and put some amateur photos on the internet.*
I'm not some knucklehead who'll just go and randomly destroy things, thank you very much.
Again, that's what every knucklehead says. I've never met a knucklehead who said "Hey I'm an idiot that you really don't want to leave alone in a room with a screwdriver." That doesn't mean you are a knucklehead, but you've got to acknowledge that if a random guy you didn't know pulled out a screwdriver and headed for the nearest wall that your first thought would not be "I'm sure he knows what he's doing."
And after a few run-ins with theives and idiots one is rightfully cautious. I know people who have had things like perfume, silverware, and so forth stolen. Fixtures broken... even furniture -- some "knucklehead" climbed up on an coffee table to "inspect" something or other, and broke it.
My favorite trick is...
I don't deny there are all sorts of things you can and should do before buying a house. But its totally unreasonable to expect to be left alone in someone elses house with a screw driver.
The piece of paper you pick up on the way in replaces the agent as well as Glass would.
To take pictures of the hot real estate agent while maintaining plausible deniability.
That's the killer app with Google glasses. And the reason why people wearing them are going to be thought of in even less flattering terms than the guys constantly yelling into their bluetooth headsets.
Google Glass is really an interface for the Nexus Q?
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
It's not what you can think of its what you never considered this device could be used for. Thinking just how people use thier phones, imagine something you didn't have to hold or prop up that can stream video or click pictures whenever you want. A family member could wear it and stream a funeral for others who couldn't attend. Parents could take video of thier kids while changing a baby while fending off a rouge dodgeball. Journalists could unobtrusively observe an interact with groups and people in a more natural way. Mugging victims could set thier glasses to shoot pictures of thier assailants that would immediately upload to an off-site server. You could play back last nights drunken revelry because you lost track around 2am and your buddy said that girl was way uglier than you thought she was. I could go on all day with examples but for the most part it's the amazing uses that an average person comes up with that justify the technology.