Slashdot Mirror


Google Glass Specs Hit the Web

Nerval's Lobster writes "Google has issued the specifications for its spectacles. The search-engine giant's Google Glass, an augmented-reality headset that allows wearers to view information on a tiny screen embedded in one of the lenses, features a camera capable of snapping 5-megapixel photos and 720p video. That aforementioned screen, in the words of Google's just-released specs sheet, "is the equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away." Google Glass is compatible with any Bluetooth-capable phone. Its MyGlass app, which enables SMS messaging and GPS, requires a companion device running Android 4.0.3 (the "Ice Cream Sandwich" build) or higher. Google claims the battery will provide a "full day of typical use," although the company warned in the specs sheet that certain functions—most notably video recording and Hangouts—could drain the battery faster. Despite those neat features, Google Glass also raises some thorny questions about surveillance culture, and whether people really want whole crowds recording every moment of our collective lives. But those are the sort of conundrums that will only become more clear when Google Glass is actually released sometime later this year."

20 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. so what am i supposed to do with them again? by alen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    i still can't figure out the point in spending $1500 on a pair of glasses when i don't even wear glasses

    1. Re:so what am i supposed to do with them again? by larry+bagina · · Score: 4, Informative

      Maybe it's me, but the only use I can think of is (secretly?) recording POV porn.

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    2. Re:so what am i supposed to do with them again? by BasilBrush · · Score: 3, Funny

      At least it'll be safe. Wearing a pair of Google Glasses will be the best contraceptive known to man.

    3. Re:so what am i supposed to do with them again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why just be a walking douche when for a few thousand dollars more you could be stood on a segway and enjoy the total douche experience?

    4. Re:so what am i supposed to do with them again? by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 5, Funny

      i still can't figure out the point in spending $1500 on a pair

      - stylish accoutrement while riding your Segway
      - Create instant envy while in Starbucks with your iMac
      - Hands-free brutalization while recording cops brutalizing you
      - hilarious Google Glass Fail videos for the rest of us to enjoy

      --
      Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
    5. Re:so what am i supposed to do with them again? by BorisSkratchunkov · · Score: 4, Funny

      Who will ever be able to forget the 21st century's greatest porno hit- "Google Asses"?

    6. Re:so what am i supposed to do with them again? by prelelat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I can think of a crap ton to do with these things.

      Facial recognition comparing people with facebook: Can't remeber a persons name? have glass go through your contacts and match up faces.
      Overlay of items at a grocery store: Setup your grocery list before you leave home, your local store now has everything mapped and your glasses will optimise your route in the store and show you where each item is on the shelf.
      Guided tour: Going on a vacation and want a tour of the town? We have an app for that! visual recognition of landmarks(or gps locations) and you will get videos and audio on historic events and buildings as you walk through the area.
      Education: learning anatomy has never been easier as you look at the subject and glass tells you where each part of the body is.
      Google Hangout/Skype: Take a video call or hangout with your friends while your on the go.(can't see you but hey it's a cool idea especially for conferencing in)
      Record videos: Make home movies while your out
      Play music and video
      Play games that require interaction: kind of like geocaching but with monsters along the way.

      I don't know if you could do all of this with the current version the area is pretty small that you see. That would affect things like overlays. I think there's lots you could get out of it though and many more crazy ideas people could use. Some of it your smart phone can do and maybe do better, others not so much. I like the idea of having facial recognition so that it pops up the name of someone you know when you see them out on the street. That would be cool. my phone already can do facial recognition for security so that doesn't seem impossible. I won't be getting one when it comes out and I may never will but there's a boat load of things you can do with it.

  2. The display is not HD. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Read the UI guidelines. The display resolution is 640x360.

    1. Re:The display is not HD. by tysonedwards · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Unfortunately, the summary does allude to being a HD screen by the passage "is the equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away."

      --
      Thirty four characters live here.
    2. Re:The display is not HD. by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Read the UI guidelines. The display resolution is 640x360."

      Very good point. That is why:

      "... is the equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away."

      is a totally bullshit "specification". It means virtually nothing. 640 x 360 is crappy resolution, no matter how you try to spin it.

  3. The glass battery lasts all day, but... by schivvers · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What does their app do to my phone battery life? Who doesn't wear glasses in the rain (it can't get wet?) Why/what does this actually bring in utility to my life? I think this will actually be adopted by a few, but not mainstreamed in the immediate future. (Think Segway)

    --
    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally wo
  4. Re:Radiation by JeanCroix · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Protip: Your eyeballs are just fancy radiation detectors. Worried? Keep them closed.

  5. Good one! by John+Napkintosh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Specs! I get it!

    --

    Long signatures suck.
  6. Can't wait for the game from Risa... by ath0mic · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...I'm told it's better than chocolate.

  7. Re:Radiation by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Funny

    Protip: Your eyeballs are just fancy radiation detectors. Worried? Keep them closed.

    And covered with tinfoil

  8. Re:Augmented reality. by gsgriffin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The funny part is that they the 25" display they say is equivalent to "high-definition". What a stroke of marketing brilliance. At that size and distance, you could be running QVGA, and it will look like high-definition for most of us.

    Of course, if they told us it would look like a 13" VGA CRT display at 4 feet away, most would laugh. Good twist on the stats, Google!

    --
    jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
  9. Re:Pitiful resolution by telchine · · Score: 3, Funny

    .. awful. Really, try it. Back eight feet away from your monitor and what can you see?

    I can see doctors...

    I backud up and fell out of the window and now I'm in hospital :(

  10. Oblibatory Snow Crash (gargoyles) by BetterSense · · Score: 4, Interesting

    All welcome the real-world gargoyle. Bluetooth headsets weren't enough...

    Following quotes from Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson:

    Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time. ...

    Gargoyles are no fun to talk to. They never finish a sentence. They are adrift
    in a laser-drawn world, scanning retinas in all directions, doing background
    checks on everyone within a thousand yards, seeing everything in visual light,
    infrared, millimeter. wave radar, and ultrasound all at once. You think
    they're talking to you, but they're actually poring over the credit record of
    some stranger on the other side of the room, or identifying the make and model
    of airplanes flying overhead. For all he knows, Lagos is standing there
    measuring the length of Hiro's cock through his trousers while they pretend to
    make conversation. ...

    "Where the hell are you, Hiro?"
    "Walking down a street in L.A."
    "How can you be goggled in if you're walking down a street?" Then the terrible
    reality sinks in: "Oh, my God, you didn't turn into a gargoyle, did you?"
    "Well," Hiro says. He is hesitant, embarrassed, like it hadn't occurred to him
    yet that this was what he was doing. "It's not exactly like being a gargoyle.
    Remember when you gave me shit about spending all my money on computer stuff?"
    "Yeah."
    "I decided I wasn't spending enough. So I got a beltpack machine. Smallest
    ever made, I'm walking down the street with this thing strapped to my belly.
    It's really cool."
    "You're a gargoyle."
    "Yeah, but it's not like having all this clunky shit strapped all over your
    body. . .'
    "You're a gargoyle. ..."

  11. Re:Augmented reality. by nametaken · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To be fair, it's obviously not even close to the augmented reality demos we're all used to, so it doesn't have to be much more.

    I mean, how amazing does the display have to be to show a small little box that says, "Your friend is calling."

    If it were supposed to change my movie watching world, or overlay amazon prices on everything in the pantry as you look up and down, it'd have to be doing retina projection or cover your whole face. Nobody was going to bring that to market for $1500.

    So yeah, it's to augmented reality what the VirtualBoy was to virtual reality.

  12. Re:Radiation by somersault · · Score: 4, Funny

    So what you're getting at is.. there's a risk it will turn some of us into werewolves?

    --
    which is totally what she said