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Is Google Glass Too Nerdy For the Mainstream?
New submitter some old guy writes "Marcus Wohlsen writing in Wired Business makes a good case for why no amount of marketing hype will cure Google Glass of its inherent dorkiness. 'Google Glass fails to acknowledge that walking around with a camera mounted on the side of your face at all times makes you look dorky. Think of the Bluetooth headset: it’s a really sensible way to use your phone without having to take it out of your pocket—so sensible that there’s really no reason not to keep that headset in your ear most of the time. But you don’t, do you?' He also makes an interesting comparison to the Segway debacle: 'If we were all riding around on Segways now, cities would probably be better places to live compared to the car-infested streets we still endure. But that transformation hasn't happened. And it won’t. Why? Because Segways are lame. They’re too rational. They fail to acknowledge all the irrational reasons people love their cars.'"
Yes
Betteridge's law of headlines is way off on this one.
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
Marcus Wohlsen writing in Wired Business makes a good case for why no amount of marketing hype will cure Google Glass of its inherent dorkiness.
And walking around glued to your Smart Phone doesn't? Remember when hands-free Blue Tooth ear thingies came out? Tell me that's not dorky, walking around talking to yourself...
Yes, today it is. But being tied to your mobile device (even *having* a mobile device) use to be very nerdy. In time it will be "nerdy" *not* to have a some type of Intertube connected HUD on your eyeball. Eventually there will be implants and the data will be âoeprojectedâ directly into your brain.
Besides, we all know that "nerds" actually set the tech style trends. There will be a critical mass point, and weâ(TM)ll start seeing these things for sale at the Big Box stores.
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I think society would be a better place if people were less worried about "dorkiness" and more worried about being practical.
Another example is fanny packs. They're incredibly convenient for carrying random crap around, but because society has deemed them "dorky", nobody wants to wear them.
Heck, men can't even carry a small bag around with them because it will be deemed a "purse".
Why are we so caught up, as a society, on such idiotic things? We should just do what is convenient and works and not make fun of each other over it.
Oh wait, no it's not, which anything actually nerdy, like google glass, will instantly demonstrate. Let the irrelevant battle over terminology ("Oh but this is not nerdy, it's DORKY") begin!
In the 1990s you looked pretty dorky pulling a PalmPilot out of your pocket to browse the internet on, but it seems reasonably widely accepted nowadays. I mean, it still looks dorky, but it's mainstream anyway. Is an eyepiece one step too far to make that transition? Maybe, but I wouldn't have predicted the ubiquitous public use of smartphones, either (I would imagine people would have them, but not that they'd be willing to walk down the street typing on them).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
The problem is, nobody wants to wear glasses, even people who need them for vision correction. That's why contacts were invented, and laser vision correction. So why, oh why, would we ditch glasses, only to wear different glasses.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
OK, this article is by a person who does not understand the value of hearing things as they exist in the real world.
Next story.
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And I ran into it with my Segway.
Seriously, if everyone (or even a significant fraction of the population) rode one of these, pedestrians would be scattering in terror. Even the local mall, whose security people used to ride these, largely stopped. There were too many near misses (and a few collisions) where the incompatibilities between these modes of transportation conflicted.
Have gnu, will travel.
"They fail to acknowledge all the irrational reasons people love their cars.'"
And the rational ones too.
If we were all riding around on Segways now, cities would probably be better places to live but our daily commutes would take two to five times longer. We won't even talk about having Segways all over the icy and heavy snowed streets in the winter.
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Segway never got cheap enough.
The assumption is people will wear them 24/7 for some reason (or as long as the battery will last)
Why do we assume the proper use case isn't to use them as bluetooth headsets were meant to be: when you needed it (ignore the idiots that wear them to dinner)
In a medical setting, IMO it is a fantastic form factor. For the kid building sand castles, not so much. I see it as more of a device to enhance a particular activity you do that necessitates them, not as a device you sport all the time.
But then again, what is normal about walking down a street staring at your mobile phone composing a text message and not paying attention to your surroundings?
Because Segways are lame. They’re too rational. They fail to acknowledge all the irrational reasons people love their cars.
Yes, irrational reasons like ... rain. Or passengers. Or payload. Or personal security. Or range. Or speed.
Google Glass fails to acknowledge that walking around with a camera mounted on the side of your face at all times makes you look dorky.
Look, there are armies of douche-Borgs walking around with bluetooth earpieces in, thinking not that they fall enough below some painful threshold of dorkiness while wearing them, but rather that they look cool doing so. These are the spinning hubcaps of phone accessories.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I thought saw a pic of Robert Scoble wearing it over his glasses. It didn't look like it fit well though. Also ... most could wear contacts, but that really doesn't help when you really need to wear sunglasses as well.
Google Glass fails to acknowledge that walking around with a camera mounted on the side of your face at all times makes you look dorky.
Marcus Wohlsen fails to acknowledge that walking around with something that costs $1500 on your face at all times makes you look sexy.
Not unless your definition of a nerd is anybody who buys bleeding-edge tech for no reason whatever other than the "kewl" factor, which doesn't fit my definition (or Apple fans would be nerds, they aren't IMO). Nerds don't buy tech to be cool, they buy (and build and design and reporpose) tech for useful purposes.
"Too nerdy for the mainstream" usually means too complex for someone of average intelligence, and that wouldn't be an Apple or Google product.
How did this get modded up? It's been made in in each of the billion previous glass threads that they have versions that can be fitted with prescription lenses.
Who needs to see the real world when you can see what Google wants you to see?
..99% of time literally I am not talking on the phone. it would be more of a bother to take it off for putting on headphones or whatever. normally I just wouldn't want the extra weight to wear a google glass 99% of the time.
segways aren't lame though. they're just impractical, costly and incompatible with legislation in most countries where people could afford them...
you know what google glass will be used for though? hacked in tandem to produce porno to be viewed on future oculus devices... which gets us to the real problem of google glass, that it's not quite a content consuming device and not quite a content creation device. realtime view manipulation would be the holy grail but I don't believe for a second that they have yet nailed the AR part of it yet to recognize products well on the fly like the headset in "virtual light" or terminator. in a set environment like a gallery it could work fine for providing information about certain pieces, but not in the wild.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
...I could see them taking off. But man, even on gorgeous models they look dorky. Great idea - I'm a fan of the "dataglasses" or augmented reality concept (Virtual Light anyone?) but this, it cries out for a good designer.
The Google Glass target market has two types of people in it. People who saw the Terminator movies and thought, 'that looks really cool' and voyeurs. Sell these things at the right convention and you'll make a fortune.
The first hacks will be gaining root (already done) and when people start putting the Google Glass into glass frames that don't look like they'll get you kicked out of certain entertainment venues. I don't think these have a big future with the public at large since they will freak out most people, which is too bad as I can think of any number of legitimate uses for them.
world wide discus use just went poof ...
Never had a bluetooth headset, but if you just leave it on all the time, wouldn't you get annoyed by having to recharge the battery so often?
The segway rant in the summary is ridiculous. Segways never caught on because they fail as a replacement for cars. People still need to get their groceries home and their kids to soccer practice, and they would still revert back to using their car when it rains. That fact alone makes Segways an addition as opposed to a replacement for cars, and Segways are way too expensive to be an additional cost. Secondly, if a large portion of a population started using Segways, there would still be a large portion that also used cars, so we couldn't just rebrand the streets for Segway use. A few Segways on the sidewalk is a novelty. Hundreds at one time would be silly. Whatever the "irrational reasons people love their cars," there are still a great deal of rational reasons why people love their cars, so the "irrational" argument is moo. Of course most of the large trucks and suvs on the streets are unnecessary, but those would be replaced by smaller cars, not moving platforms that people have to stand on for miles at a time. Maybe Google Glass will catch on and maybe it won't but that has nothing to do with the failure of the Segway to actually solve the problem it wanted to solve.
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>" 'Google Glass fails to acknowledge that walking around with a camera mounted on the side of your face at all times makes you look dorky."
It isn't just dorky, it is rude, creepy, and invasive too. The author and Google (especially the CEO) seems to just completely skirt the entire issue of privacy- not only for the user, but all the hundreds of "victims" around the user, every day. Take out your phone and hold it up in the air, pointed at everyone you pass, meet, talk to, sit next to, and see what kind of reaction you get.
So stop pretending it is just about fashion, it is really insulting.
Mainstream is also becoming more acquainted with the absolute lack of privacy you are granted when using Google products.
And, more importantly, they're beginning to understand what that lack of privacy means.
An omnipotent device made by a company that makes $$$ analyzing your personal information? No thanks.
vos nescitis quicquam, nec cogitatis quia expedit nobis ut unus moriatur homo pro populo et non tota gens pereat.
Apple will just release a version with thick black frames and they'll sell like hotcakes.
Segways might work for LA, but what about Seattle? How do you carry a kayak with a segway? How do you transport small furniture with a segway? How do you park with your best gal up on lovers'-leap with a segway? How do you seamlessly transition from one topic to another? With a segue.
They're planning a version that clips onto your prescription glasses.
just like comic movies, smart phones, computer games and roleplaying games~
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It's Eye-Phone! The eye implant which links up to "the cloud" to record everything in your life.
Actually... walking around with a camera on your head is pretty dumb unless you're shooting porn or some youtube skateboarding video.
I don't even care -- I won't likely be using one of those things. I quickly tired of the bluetooth earset thing, though the little jabra speakerphone thing for my car is pretty nice.
Who knows... perceptions change all the time though. The moment some celebrities start strutting around wearing them is the moment a bunch of people change their minds about how it looks.
This product is both nerdy AND invasive. Wearers will become known as "glassholes" for spooking others whilst out and about. I cannot fathom why anyone would want to wear something or do something which they *know* will make people around them uncomfortable.
I liken this device to a wearable fart. It's offensive, and I'm a techie by trade. I love tech stuff, but this is heading down a road from which we will likely never be able to perform a backtrack.
All those question apply to segways everywhere, not just Seattle. Add to that it seems to be a false dichotomy to think you can only have a car OR a seqway.
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On what planet exactly?
They are slow scooters that require the entire world to adjust to them so those with more money than sense could walk less.
They take up more room than a walking human, have zero cargo capacity AND can't do stairs.
But most importantly they represent an overpriced way of doing something most people can do by just walking - moving slowly in a straight line.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
What is the ~40% of the public that wears glasses already supposed to do? Take off their corrective lenses in favor of this thing?
Google glass will be issuing/combining it prescription lenses for those who don't want to wear contacts. Quite how I'm not sure and it probably won't be immediate.
A product doesn't have to be used by 1 billion people to be successfull. Not everyone carries around pepper spray but it is still a big industry. Even if Google Glass is only used by security guards, police officers, dectectives, tabloid jurnalists, and debt collectors is will be a success. It just needs to be usefull to a fraction of the population to make a ton of money.
I can't think of any time I would rather drive a Segway than a car.
I could think of times I would rather Segway than bike, or walk. Segways are far too slow to replace a car for any meaningful distance.
I think the name "some old guy" is fitting, as I believe people with your mindset are dying off. In the increasingly technical world, "too rational" is not an issue. Just look around at how many young people have their faces in their cell phones all the time. Besides, the real impact of wearable computing is going to be seen in businesses, where that's even less of an issue. In the information age, data is king and companies with more convenient access to it will win every time.
Also, Seguays are not cars and to suggest that "lameness" is the reason they haven't replaced them is false.
... they're best designed for workers or students to operate within a radius of a mile or two which is why you see lots of security people use them at larger companies or campuses.
You can't get groceries in a Segway. You can't pick up the kids after school. If the weather changes unexpectedly you'll have a misserable ride. Segways are expensive and would make attractive targets for theft. You can buy a decent bicycle or even a motorcyle for far less. People change their plans during the course of a typical day and a Segway restricts their flexability in ways a car doesn't.
The people who seem most likely to use a Segway for personal use are people who don't like or have difficulty walking. Ironicly these are the people most likely to be injured by a Segway mishap.
No way!!! Who came up with that? Pure genius.
I think you need a new circle of friends.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
But that's about it. I think this article is spot on. There are tons of "smarter" things we don't do because they are socially awkward.
They've said that they've been working with glass companies to come out with prescription lenses.
Actually we should ask the reverse question: why would people who never wear glasses buy those things? Everyone would have glasses, even those who don't need prescription lenses? I don't think so.
There are reasons people wear contacts and have Lasik. I doubt most people want something that fragile on their heads full time. Its a good first start though
It's too creepy and douche-baggy. Nerds should have smart minds, not necessarily smart devices anyway.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I don't expect google glass to ever become popular for everyday use but do think it will have niche markets but the reasons that Marcus thinks it will fail are completely flawed.
I've never seen anyone use bluetooth and then put it away or have it away and then put it on just for a call, from what I've seen people either leave it on all day looking like douches or put it on the entire time while driving. ie. if they have the headset with them then they are wearing it.
He says segways are lame because they are rational which makes absolutely no sense - segways are completely irrational. How are you going to get to work 20 miles away on a segway? You're not. How would you carry groceries home on a segway? You wouldn't. How are you going to transport very young children on a segway? You can't. Segways are toys for the rich and tourists that rent them. They have extremely limited practical usage that is better accomplished with things such as mopeds, bicycles, skateboards, skates, or even good old fashion walking.
when a product is hyped to death by futurists, plugged incessantly by bloggers, fetishized by cyberpunks and danced around by investors the only purpose in damning it as 'too nerdy' is to make it an even more appealing item for the mainstream 'nerds are sexy' culture.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Can I embed my "google glasses" into sunglasses or something else? (Without tearing appart the whole thing)
Contacts.
For those who can't wear contacts, wait - eventually, if it's a success, google or a competitor will offer one that allows the easy addition of appropriate lenses.
A primitive singularity.
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
It seems like it might be fun? I dunno. I can't see wearing one to work, it would be a waste of time and would hardly complement a professional image(oh god when did I become an adult), but when I'm playing an RPG with friends, why wouldn't I want to keep my character sheet/DM notes on a tiny corner of my vision? When I'm going on a bike ride with my girlfriend, why wouldn't I want to be able to record it?
I don't think I'll buy the "all the time" type usage google suggests, but toys can be fun.
Where a bunch of wimpy nerds threaten to punch people wearing google glass?
When the first battery explodes or catches fire and removes half of someones head we'll be back to hand helds. :)
Limited charge, exposed to the elements, limited speed and range. So other than places like warehouses, parking lot attendants, sight seeing tours, there is no real market for it. Even sprawling amusement parks which use Segways in their parking lots, do not rent them to the general public in their parks. Even farmers and ranchers who have to cover long distances prefer ATVs and motorcycles to segways.
Segway is a very innovative concept relying on the physics of gyroscopes to auto stabilize an unstable platform. The price of electronics and sensors have come down enough to make this possible. Great. But it is not all innovations have practical applications. There is a highly developed, functional, excellent stabilizing mechanism for fundamentally unstable vehicles. The human brain. So segway won't even compete with motorcycles as sensible transport solution.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
before ordering contacts, you need to be fitted and prescribed a set and before you make the comment that contacts are great, I can tell you that for some of us, they're medically inadvisable and yes I'm one of them that contacts are not an option for.
For those who can wear them, a Good pair of sunglasses work just fine as I've got friends who do wear them and Ray Bans.
Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
Any perceived dorkyness can be overcome with sufficient utility.
Google Glass doesn't get anywhere near that threshold. What does it ACTUALLY do that a smartphone doesn't do right now?
Make a list.
And then tell me why or how it overcomes the "problem."
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
No.
How many people wear sunglasses inside. How many people wear corrective lenses instead of contacts or getting lasik.
It will all be in the design. If there are 100 different styles to fit people's mood/clothes/tinydogs/etc. it will become mainstream.
But if they added Warby Parker frames, the poseur nerds would presumably wear them...tho I guess thats just a slightly different brand of dork.
007: "Who are you?"
Pussy: "My name is Pussy Galore."
007: "I must be dreaming..."
Two aspects: price and usefulness.
The Segway has been to expensive, plus had usefulness issues, e.g. many jurisdictions banning them from public usage.
A decade ago, reading an ebook on a tiny electronic display was clearly very nerdy, and a couple of people wondered how I managed to walk with the head in the tiny thing, without crashing into the surroundings all the time.
Today, it's common place. Because being able to read an ebook everywhere without carrying around dead wood. Checking on your electronic communication on the way to the office is useful.
Now for Google Glass the first question is price. The developer preview seem to be a little bit pricey, but if Google wants they could push it probably down far enough. Now the question is how useful it will be.
One issue would be input for me. If Google glasses require e.g. voice input, they are setup for semi-failure. (Hint: Siri&Co might be basically useable for English-speaking people, but voice input does fail badly the moment you want to support international customers. Plus voice input has the drawback that the fallback is way worse than hacking in a word unknown to your display keyboard char by char)
Segways will never be ubiquitous because they provide no protection from the weather and you can't really carry anything when riding one (other than what will fit in your backpack). Until we all live in domed cities cars will still be more useful than Segways for getting around. I'm still wondering how they'll be able to transport more than one person at a time. A family outing to, well, anywhere isn't going to work with Segways.
The article is right on about the dorkiness factor of Google Glass. I've gotta wonder about the genius at Google that OKed the development of Glass without a better understanding as to whether people will even want to be broadcasting everything they're seeing onto the Web. And looking like a Borg while doing it.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
He had me until 'They’re too rational,' regarding segways.
Where's my sock? There it is...
The inherent non-acceptability of Google Glass was somewhat predicted by Snow Crash over 20 years ago. One of the characters, a "gargoyle" walks around in full-recording mode at all times, trying to capture every bit of information possible. The description, as given, is at best neutral and my takeaway was that it wasn't considered a positive thing by other information gatherers of that world.
Crapflooding ones own info stream is still crapflooding.
"My God...it's full of trolls!"
'If we were all riding around on Segways now, cities would probably be better places to live compared to the car-infested streets we still endure. But that transformation hasn't happened. And it won’t. Why? Because Segways are lame. They’re too rational. They fail to acknowledge all the irrational reasons people love their cars.'"
Perhaps the massive car subsidies and the legal protection car pollution enjoys have something to do with it? In a free market cars would be more expensive, and you'd have to settle on a fair restitution for your pollution. The fact that emissions are still unsustainably high tells us that a lot of people are getting away with more pollution than they should, and by extracting this rent from the rest of us they can support their inefficient vehicles.
People go out of their way not to wear glasses despite the fact there are some really nice look glasses. No matter how awesome google glasses may be I can't see people deciding all of the sudden they're ok with wearing glasses and one that look relatively dorky. We're shallow people and combining that with the reputation that google is getting for snooping on your privacy it's just not going to happen.
>irrational reason
moronic oxymoron
'If we were all riding around on Segways now, cities would probably be better places to live compared to the car-infested streets we still endure. But that transformation hasn't happened. And it won’t. Why? Because Segways are lame. They’re too rational. They fail to acknowledge all the irrational reasons people love their cars.'"
Only a complete dork could make such a moronic comment. Everyone riding around in Segways would:
Is this the Google Glass ACCESSORY PACK?! Wahooo
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Oh, I don't know.. I live in Denver, CO, never thought of a roof to keep rain and snow off, 4-wheel drive for snow and icy conditions, a defroster and heater to keep from freezing in the winter and a range that will actually get me back and forth to work without pulling over to plug in as being "irrational reasons" for driving a 4-wheeled vehicle instead of a Segway.
too spooky.
What were you wanting the internet for 20 yrs ago? To read updates to your favorite news group as you walked around?
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Ok, not Linux, but so similar that you could argue that that between Android and iOS, the most popular computer OS these days is Linux/Unix.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
It's not because the style of the glasses themselves is bad; it's actually quite clean when viewed as a product of the same industrial designers that gain huge amounts of respect for such products as the iPad or the iMac. Even allowing for the fact that they were created by industrial designers rather than fashion designers, there are classic styles of glasses that would be perfect for this technology, such as the much-copied Prada sunglasses worn by Marcello Mastroianni in the film 8 1/2 in 1963, which are still stylish when worn by James Hetfield 50 years later.
But putting Google Glass technology into these frames and giving Hetfield a copy to wear onstage would not make them polite to wear on the street. They're a walking admission that whoever you're interfacing with in person is less important than some electronic stuff that you're too socially inept to share.
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It also fails to recognise that a society that evolves around Segways wouldn't have more than one type, just as societies evolved around bicycles also have cargo and cab variants and addons.
(The first Segway was a wheelchair, so it's not like you can't have variants.)
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
There will be a time when these devices are so ubiquitous that it will just seem obvious to everyone that if you claim something is true, or that it happened, you be able to back that up with some video/audio. Imagine a car accident in 50 yrs, where both parties produce a recording of the accident to their insurance companies...ha..well...if we were still driving ourselves around then.
And as the gov increases their surveillance of the general population, citizens will need the ability to document their actions for the purposes of self defense.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
wouldn't/would
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
the google glassess will come first. google contacts are many generations down the road, but slightly ahead of the google neural interface tech.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Will I Am wants one
Lady Gaga wants one
Justin Beiber wants one
If people see celebrities wearing Google Glass left right and center, then the population will follow.
The fact that they are actually illegal to operate on public property in many areas of both Canada and the USA may have affected the product's adoption rate somewhat. I would suggest this much moreso than how "dorky" it makes someone look.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
The article is bullocks. Google glass isn't too nerdy. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a chess tournament to get to. *makes sure his Bluetooth ear piece is in place, hops on his Segway and rides off into the sunset.*
Whenever a player quits EVE to go play WoW, the Average IQ of both games increase.
Segway is not too dorky or clumsy, it just was -- and still is -- way too expensive to become normal everyday transportation.
A Bluetooth headset is dorky, but that's not the reason people aren't wearing it all the time. It's simply not nearly comfortable enough for that.
Google Glass? It's current looks is not all that cool... ok it is kinda dorky, but give it a chance. I positive future iterations of the technology can compress it even further and make more stylish.
And one more thing, fashions change quickly. Today's dorky just might be tomorrow's cool.
Nerds and Mainstream folk alike know now that you never get the first version. I'm holding out for the next revision: Ocular Implants AKA Googly Eyes
In Germany, people don't use segways because they love their bicycles. Segways are ridicoulously overengineered compared to bikes -- that's why they are considered uncool.
Because not everyone has $6K to spend on a Segway.
....I pretty much see only the bluetooth receiver in the ear all the time primarily with one race, at least here in the US.
Exactly *which* race are you alluding to? The Morons?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
The problem with Segways is that they're too expensive.
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How did this get modded up? It's been made in in each of the billion previous glass threads that they have versions that can be fitted with prescription lenses.
Because I don't want to wear their stupid fucking frames, that's why. Until Google gets with the people who make designer frames this won't ever leave the "Nerd gear" department. And before someone suggests it, fuck off with the butt-ugly contraptions that snap on/over/behind regular glasses. They look dumb as shit.
Our privacy and rights are being eroded everyday and we're willing to fully participate.
Do we really think all these products from iPhone with cameras and microphones, to information collecting software such as Facebook and Twitter are just for our enjoyment? Especially with corporate giants making patents to put cameras in the house to see how many people watch, or listen what we say? On Slashdot they caught Microsoft, Verizon, and Apple generating these Orwellian patents.
Nowadays you got cops who you can't tell apart from our military. You got a political establishment relentlessly obsessed to disarm the population in the name of the children. You police departments excited to release drones buzzing over our neighborhoods constantly watching. Video games and movies seem to have that popular post apocalyptic worldview. Its creepy...
If your a well-connected corporate oligarch you got all the pieces... Who you know, where you go, what you do, your political views, even some of your personal thoughts, and your vulnerabilities -- all stored conveniently in electronic format. Google Glass is adding a camera strapped to some fool's head to augment that. As another poster said "corporate controlled drones". Let that thought sink in.
Nobody wants to say it on Slashdot so here goes....
ITS VOYEURISM plain and simple. They just want to take their Google Glass to scope out chicks, record it and get off from it at home. Just look at youtube what people are really using it for.
Or more creepy, they will have to ability to face recognize those people and be those weirdos that call up and stay silent.
I find the whole thing disturbing.
Yes
More to the poin, fuck whatever they mainstream likes or doesn't like. I have been a self identified as a nerd for 30 years, and I have seen many of my hobbies and interests become mainstream in that time. I know what I like and I don't need validation from anyone. Society can either like tech like this or get run over by it when they don't embrace it, and I do.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Its already widely accepted to walk around with a big headphone, there is enough room to put a camera in it. Replace the visual interface by some sound or voice.
I've seen douche-bags of multiple races who feel the need to always have their bluetooth receiver in their ear. Maybe we have more equal opportunity douche-bags in this part of the US than you.
The reasons why they aren't mainstream and everyone is using them is because most people have a commute for work. No one is going to ride a Segway on a 20 mile commute to work.
A Segway has no space. Will you go to the grocery store to pick up 10 bags worth of stuff to take home on a Segway? Go the bestbuy to get a new tv and carry it home on your back? Pick up the kids from school? Nope.
Segway is slow. Our society is based around the concept of always being in a rush. So even if someone needs to go pick up some milk and bread will they ride the Segway and take 15 minutes getting to the store or do it in 4 minutes in a car?
Who is going to drive a Segway through the ice and snow? Or rain for the matter? Or the cold? Or the really hot days? No one. No one will drive one through the snow, even if its clear out and cold as hell or really hot no one wants to ride a Segway in it.
Roads and city infrastructure isn't designed for segways. Sure some cities with major sidewalks it might be doable but for the majority of cities in America there is no place for them thus limiting the willingness to do so. Would I ride one? Sure, would I ride one where the potential for death by car is exceedingly high? Nope.
They are too expensive for most people. Most people cant afford a 5-6k+ Segway. They need a far less expensive used car.
Price vs value sucks. 5k for a Segway at the minimum, 15k gets you a good brand new car that negates every single negative I listed above plus a hell of a lot I didn't.
So no it isn't irrational or lame, they just can never take the place of cars even if consumers wanted them to. Has nothing to do with being lame. Its like saying "people wont ever accept a hang glider as a alternate version to flying over seas in a 747", meaning its a stupid comment to make.
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Now lets address the "dorky camera". How come it isn't dorky to talk around constantly with a big ass blue tooth piece in your ear? How is that any different? Oh wait, it isn't different. The camera on the google glass is actually much less noticeable to me and doesn't stand out as much. So blue tooth pieces are acceptable but google glass camera isn't? Youre really reaching for reasons to bash it.
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We live in a time where playing video games is cool, there are tons of comic book stores, people love movies and shows based on comic books, playing rpgs is cool, android and apple gadgets dominate, big bang theory is a long running show about dorks and so on. I don't think its about the dorkiness factor, I think its just so new not a lot of people really know about it. The ones that do are people like us, so we know and hear about it a lot but most people haven't.
FTFY.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
I have a WebOS tablet running the linux kernel with an alternate userspace that can run Ubuntu as an app in a chroot.
I can run Android emulation on top of a "regular" desktop linux distribution.
And any given full linux distro is far more than just the linux kernel and GNU stuff on top.
It's a black thing, usually among people who are heavily blinged out - it's a subcultural thing. You'll also find black Americans put the phone on speaker and then hold it up in front of their face but parallel with the ground. Makes some sense when it's a group talking to someone but otherwise I don't get it.
I love my Android phone but can't help to think this would be the dream device for stalkers and peeping toms. First they will be recogniced but eventually they will merge with ordinary glasses and then people can filthy film whoever they like.
Change the name to Google Poindexter or Google Googly.
Delightful comment...
Wow...its getting so that you can't make an observation these days, if it involves race, without anyone freaking out over it. C'mon, I didn't even mention which race I had noticed this about, and yet severely down modded.
Are those out there that get immediately uptight about anything alluding to the differences in culture and actions between races and ethnicities (sp?), in essence saying that no one should ever discuss or point out things that are different? Are you that uptight about pointing out the distinctions between the genders?
I wasn't saying anything was wrong, bad or making fun, only that I observed differences and wondering if anyone else had noticed the same.
And again, look..I didn't even MENTION which race I noticed this about.
Grow a bit thicker skin, please.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I don't see how the D&D notes would work, unless you had a keyboard to edit them as well. And if you have a full keyboard, and google glass, why not just use a pen and paper instead?
And you can get a head mounted camera for 40 bucks.
Google Glass is crap
Google Glass is for nerds only. It sucks.
The two cost about the same amount of money. Some people are just cheap, but others genuinely can't afford both.
The OP (and the author of TFA) need to think longer-term.
Whether GG succeeds or not in its first incarnation is a completely different issue than whether it will succeed in the end.
The future is here, boys and girls. Humans have been steadily integrating more and more technology into our bodies ever since . . . well, ever since we've had bodies and technology.
Glasses, hearing aids, artificial limbs, portable writing implements, carriable cameras, backpacks . . . the amount of wearable technology is staggering. So we know people will wear technology, and will integrate it into their bodies.
Do people want to take pictures? Yes. They want to take pictures. All the time. Everywhere. Every form factor that you can use to capture an image, people use. People carry around big DSLRs. Compact cameras. Cell phones. And when Google Glass gets to be easy-enough, and cheap-enough, and common-enough, they'll do that, too.
Face it. We are well on our way to recording every freaking minute of our lives, from every possible angle. And Google will store it and search it for us. The only real question left is, will we be the subject or the object of our future? Will the govt and the corps be the only ones who record and use the moments of our lives, or will we as well?
Take back the future. The ability for people to be able to invisibly record anything and everything will also let us watch the cops and the crooks. That's a good thing.
And earpieces and Segway? Actually, more people don't use earpieces because it doesn't work well enough. Yet. When I can stick something in my ear that's near invisible, picks up my whisper, blocks out the ambient noise, and doesn't need recharging all the time, why would I ever take it off?
And look how long it took for bikes to become ubiquitous. Give Segway a chance. Pretty soon you'll see SegShare along BikeShare.
In my city (Sacramento), most of the people driving come in from the suburbs. So, to use a Segway, these people would have to drive downtown (30+ minutes in a car, an eternity on a Segway) then park and pull a Segway out of their car to go where? Their office? Then they have to park a Segway? Really, that's just stupid. It isn't because they are dorky, it is because they are completely an inconvenience. They are great for tourists or specialty applications but horrible for general public. People who live downtown ride their bikes or walk, never a Segway. Google Glass has applications for the general public even if they are dorky. Making the transition from Glass to Sans Glass is as simple as shoving them into a pocket. Comparing these to a Segway is idiotic at best. Comparing to Bluetooth earpieces is more appropriate. Dorky, but functional and so ubiquitous that nobody cares any longer about how dorky they look.
My name fits again.
No, it's because it's a fucking stupid observation with no relevancy whatsoever.
"Think of the Bluetooth headset: it’s a really sensible way to use your phone without having to take it out of your pocket—so sensible that there’s really no reason not to keep that headset in your ear most of the time. But you don’t, do you?"
Yes. Yes, I do. Know why? Because I'm a nerd, I'm practical, and I don't give two wet shits what you think.
What weirds me out about this excerpt (I did not RTFA) is the vague implication that if people are too image-obsessed to use a practical, advantageous product, it's the product that's defective and not the people.
When it doesn't look stupid and isn't controlled by talking to yourself like a crazy person
Contacts are for people who don't care about scratched corneas.
Not all things that make you look like a dork are necesarily nerdy.
Oh be quiet grandpa.
Only old fogies use tech that has a battery life of under 5 hours during normal use.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Meaning it will just be another way of spotting who the tools are when I am in line at McDonalds.
She had the right idea.
Subtle silver highlights in just the right places augment and enhance the "brow" without disrupting the "browser".
Help us Obi Wan.. your our only hope
Segways had a lot of problems, but being lame wasn't one of them. A company I used to work for had a few of them and we used to ride them around a bit for fun on the weekends. We had so many hot girls approach us and ask if they could try it. I was surprised at how well it worked.
It's a black thing
Really? Because around where I live, it seems to be fat white guys that look like they work in "IT".
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I fail to see the rationality of driving a segway at around 12.5 mph.. when a car can cruise at five times that speed.
Not to mention the car is more energy-efficient. (remember morons. power is proportional to the square of velocity)
As a person who wears a bum bag (or fanny pack as they call it in the US) and a bluetooth headset, I hope are and will forever remain nerdy.
The worst thing that can happen to any useful piece of technology is that it becomes the opposite of nerdy - a fashion item. Suddenly looks become more important that functionality. And because there are so many more fashion tragic's than nerds, the capitalist economy responds by making things that are barely useful.
Take mobile phones. Yes, mobile phones were bricks, or candy bars, or whatever. But they lasted for a week or so on a single charge. Then they became a fashion item. Fashion means slim, apparently. Modern smart phones could easily last a day with heavy usage (the sort of use I put them to when I am in a foreign city using them for navigation, information and communication) - if they weren't so bloody slim. The battery contributes less than 25% of the device volume, so adding a mm or two and re-arranging everything to suit would would more than double battery life. This just translates into making them as thick as the old candy bar phones. Yes, you can get bigger batteries - but then it doesn't fit into all the accessories - like the car cradle. I've taken to carrying around a spare battery.
Having made them slim, they next went to wall to wall glass. And then the iPhone put glass on the rear. The older phones were so robust they have fallout out of my pocket while on my push bike at 30km/hr, skidded across the asphalt, hit the gutter and exploded into it's constituent bits (covers, battery, ...). I picked it up, put it back together again and was fine. A modern smartphone on the other hand has been made so delicate, everybody puts it in a rubber case - hiding the very thing that is supposed to be making the fashion statement. And that makes sense how?
Next some of them have gone to non-removeable batteries, thus killing the "take a spare battery" backup plan. It also means if it doesn't get broken or otherwise get its delicate little brain smashed, the component rated to last the shortest amount of time can't be replaced.
Now laptops are going down the same route. By laptop, I don't mean netbooks - I mean the machines we buy now instead of desktops. The machines we plug several monitors into and a wired network. Oh wait - apparently they are supposed to make a fashion statement too, so now an RJ45 socket is too big. Seriously? On a device with a 17" display so large it is going to spend it's entire life on a desk, we have to remove the RJ45 socket because looking good is more important than having a reliable 1Gb/s network connection?
To be fair, it didn't start with Apple. I recall the first time somebody proudly showed me their new desktop box - and it glowed. Apparently LED's on bezel and inside the power supply were all the rage. WTF? A desktop box is supposed to be a powerhouse sitting quietly under the desk doing it's job for years without complaint, and without chewing too much power. It's major design constraints are form factor, air flow, and accessibility to the internal components so you could replace / upgrade them. LED's don't help any of them, and hinder a few. I guess that prepared me for laptop's going down the same path - wasting their precious battery power on looking like a glow in the dark alien monster.
I could go on - but suffices that I very much hope the article is right, and HUD devices remain too nerdy for the fashionistas. The day form starts dominating function is the day I'll start cursing them and their designers.
two words - conspicuous consumption. The glasses are actually cool looking - and best of all... other people will see you are wearing them! Now, where are those algorithms that will make them have x-ray vision?
That's basically how a lot of people see it already. It's like the golden ticket to personal voyeur videos, as much as you like to record in fact. Sure, you could use your cellphone but it's not as discrete. I think the simple solution to Glass is to make a statement to those that do wear them. Take them off in public.
"Nobody wants to wear glasses" ... really?
I think Polaroid and a few other companies will have a word about that.
Are you insane?
Having a camera integrated into my bike goggles, brilliant idea. HUD for MTB sounds very useful indeed.
Same with sailing, and many other sports. Navigating the airport or middle of some foreign city on a business trip.
Everyone will have google glass, very soon, but it will be just built-in to the sunglasses that you wear normally anyway.
No one wants to be filmed, but everyone wants to record "just in case" and have HUD access to all manner of shit.
"Everyone wants to wear glasses" - FTFU...
No. The reason why people don't use Bluetooth all time is because it kills your battery and because you have to pair it and people are lazy so they only pair it when they know they'll use it for a long time. To Listen to music for instance. As a counter example. I'm used to see people of all ages with big headphones on the bus or metro. More so. Big smartphones were considered to be stuff for geeks. Not anymore. If there is a compelling reason to use a device society In time adapts to the change and what once seamed awkward becomes normal behavior.
They're nerdy now but when they get stylized by Gucci and others they won't be. They'll just be more expensive and trendy. People will get over the nerdiness anyway; a large number of people will use anything if it gives them an advantage.
I have no idea if the mainstream might be interested, but sporters would give an arm for one of them (figuratively).
Just imagine being able to see your pace, mileage, time, heart rate, route, weather information, etc right in front of you, constantly displayed without the need for looking at your wrist.
I actually am still planning on duct-taping the "watch" part of my Nike+ wristwatch to the brim of a running cap to get constant pace and mileage information.
I do hate running with a smartphone, but on longer trail runs I have to wear a "camel" type back pack anyway with a water bladder and if I could have the info that a device like the Google Glass provides I would be glad to have to live with the annoying weight of a smarthpone... and this without considering the possibility of a smart watch connected via bluetooth to the Glass...
Mates, I'm salivating!!!
But maybe it's true that I am too nerdy, LOL
-- 29A the number of the Beast
Last time I checked, the price of a Segway was about the same as for a fairly decent used car. I'll get a whole lot more out of that car than I'll ever get out of the Segway.
Like me? I happened to be the first on the West Coast and have had it almost three weeks. The fault with articles like this are that they operate from ignorance. You know what I've found? Nobody notices I'm wearing Glass, other than people who see me on a daily basis. Strangers don't notice at all.
Kind of disappointing, I like talking about it and showing people how it works but don't get the chance.
Like I said, it's subcultural - guess white neckbeards really do wish they were gangstas. Life imitates Office Space.
Now if you had said white people you could of got a +5 insightful
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
wrong spot sorry
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
The first mobile phones were the size of bricks, but they got better and smaller. If Google Glass doesn't succeed, it will be because Google or someone else makes a better version. At any rate, this idea can't be uninvented.
The day Google Glass will be out on the market, I will probably cue in front of the shop to get them. The potential applications are endless, especially if Google will be clever enough to release a development tool-kit, that enables you to develop your own applications.
I have to comment on this line from the article, "...Because Segways are lame. They’re too rational. They fail to acknowledge all the irrational reasons people love their cars..."
Rational compared to what? What exactly does a Segway do better than any current form of transportation out there?
Can it replace the bicycle? No, since the Segway can run out of power where it cannot be recharged. Plus the bicycle has had over 100 years of innovation to make it work with the rider. I've ridden a Segway, it's not as fantastic a ride as a bicycle.
Can it replace the automobile? Not if you need to go over 5 mph (for beginners). Or uphill. Or more than 25 miles. Or if it rains. Or if you have to go grocery shopping. In terms of city driving, the scooter is a much more sensible vehicle.
The Segway "failed" because it's a niche device. It was a device created without a market, and it had to manufacture its own. It's perfect for zipping around a campus, but not much else. And let's face it, can you image a city full of people riding these things? Accidents galore, without the benefit of safety harnesses and crumple zones.
And Google Glass isn't going to "fail" because you might look like a dork (need I mention current fashions that do the same thing yet a good portion of the population still loves them?), it's going to "fail" because of all the privacy issues associated with the product.
Google should do the same. Manipulating popular taste is possible.