Google Glass Teardown

saccade.com writes "Ever wonder how Google packed all of the Google Glass functionality into a slender eyeglass frame? Find out by checking out this teardown by Scott Torborg and Star Simpson. Goodies found inside include proximity, light and inertial sensors, sound transducers, a TI OMAP CPU, flash, RAM, camera and tiny projection display."

Comments

Missing part?

[sjwt]

What, no government mind control device? I am shocked!

Re:Missing part?

[flyingfsck]

Mind control - obviously that is what the proximity sensor is for - it senses your brain activity and the projector closes the loop through the optical nerve...

Re:Missing part?

[maroberts]

What, no government mind control device? I am shocked!

Google are planning to release a special version of Glass for people such as you. It is called Google Glass: Tin Foil Hat version :-)

Re:Missing part?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, there was this one chip they couldn't identify with the id PRISM666 etched into it.

Re:Missing part?

[Anonymous Coward]

The only chip I could identify was the one on his shoulder

Re:Missing part?

[Razgorov Prikazka]

There was!
On the right hand sight there is a magic coin that is used for mind control. It must be used for mind control!
Cause I dont believe it is there for scale, people generally have an idea how big glasses are...

Re:Missing part?

[KGIII]

What makes you assume that it isn't embedded in one of the other parts? Just because it says one thing on the box doesn't mean that that is all that it does. ;)

Re:Missing part?

[ebno-10db]

What, no government mind control device?

According to their legal dept. it's strictly a Google mind control device with no direct government access.

Re:Missing part?

[ArcadeMan]

Well, I thought I knew how big a console controller is until the Xbox came along.

Re:Missing part?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, believe me, it's in there. You have to wrap the earpiece in tinfoil. That should block the signals.

It's obvious really

[OhANameWhatName]

Ever wonder how Google packed all of the Google Glass functionality into a slender eyeglass frame?

They're evil.

Re:It's obvious really

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

They got help from the NSA's spy-gadget development labs.

Re:It's obvious really

[AHuxley]

With Government Glass you too can help fight terror as you consume.
Download our new app today and get reassuring feedback that the person you have just walked past was detected by our network.
People using complex glasses, makeup, hair styles or clothing to avoid our software will result in a beep.
Find a police officer or private security official via the domestic counterterrorism tab, show your coeducational affiliate badge and play back your footage.
If in a mall for example the person can be questioned at an exit and positively identified.
Let's See Where They Tried to Hide.

Re:It's obvious really

[crutchy]

Scott Torborg and Star Simpson

how trekkie

Re:It's obvious really

[KGIII]

I could see people actually installing that app.

I could see people fighting to install that app if there were something like a $5 Dunkin Donuts gift certificate for every month (five hours per day) of use.

I could see people killing to get into the beta program if it meant you got a shot at appearing on random_popular_reality_show if you found x_amount of wanted people over a year long process.

I just want you to know that I am NOT kidding nor am I amused by this. I just see it as a plausible result if said application were made available. Given the results of the various polls that concern privacy, I'd not be in the least bit surprised. Those of us who see the problem want so very much to blame the government, and rightly so - they should know better, but so much of the blame rightly belongs with you and me (the populace).

Re:It's obvious really

[ebno-10db]

I could see people actually installing that app.

So could I. With the way people come to rely on technology instead of thinking, I could also see somebody with that app failing to notice the guy sitting next to them with a bomb in one hand, an AK-47 in the other, and a headband that read "Death to the Great Satan" (or whatever the terrorist slogan du jour is).

That's also a "more truth is said in jest" thought. With all the government electronic sniffing up everybody's butt the 4th Amendment doesn't apply to terrorism crap, let's not forget some recent low-tech history. The biggest before-the-fact clue to 9/11 was a flight instructor who was concerned that a couple of his students didn't care about learning to takeoff or land, and weren't interested in job opportunities. The local FBI office took and interest, but headquarters ignored it. The attempted Times Square bombing was foiled by a couple of street vendors who noticed smoke coming from a car. Etc., etc., etc.

Re:It's obvious really

[Anonymous Coward]

It shouldn't be a surprise to people that many put different values on different rights (although it is around here sometimes). A lot of the time, such people would be aware of what they are giving up, but don't care. You could try explaining to such a person what the importance of privacy, etc. is, but would be wasting your time, as the issue is not that they don't understand, but that they have different priorities and don't agree with you. And this isn't specific to just privacy, there are plenty of other rights that people would give up for a price. Even normally outgoing rights defenders will agree to be take money to not say something depending on the topic and amount of money.

Re:It's obvious really

[ebno-10db]

It shouldn't be a surprise to people that many put different values on different rights

Of course it's not, and people who feel that the 4th Amendment is a bad tradeoff are free to push for its repeal.

the issue is not that they don't understand, but that they have different priorities

Different priorities and take the government's word for it that wholesale electronic spying does something to reduce terrorism, despite a complete lack of any evidence that it does.

Re:It's obvious really

[Anonymous Coward]

Download our new app today and get reassuring feedback that the person you have just walked past was detected by our network.

Download our new app today and see if that person who just walked by was on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Crowdsourced manhunts. 100% legal, no implications for the Fourth. If you're really worried about the legal implications, make the app not automatically phone home on detection, and use the fig leaf of "cutting down on the rate of false positives"... "Person X detected. Send image to America's Most Wanted for further analysis?"

Re:It's obvious really

[mcalchera]

Where's the +1 Scary mod option?

Re:It's obvious really

[Anonymous Coward]

“And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. ”
  Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

Re:It's obvious really

[PastTense]

Actually there could be a large market from people who recognize faces as familiar--but can't remember the name and other associated information.

Re:It's obvious really

[thunderclap]

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” Turns out Orwell was wrong. There was no one single Big brother. We are Big Brother. And we are only just now discovering this: “Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know what no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”
We are the party. WE elected twice the man who knew virtually nothing about government practice and hung out with revolutionaries. He isn't to blame. He was a means to do it to ourselves.

Re:It's obvious really

[thunderclap]

It will be used. And don't laugh about the 'Death of the Great satan'. here it will be 'Death to the mark of the beast; whose the beast? Who ever is responsible for implementing the next banking system to help us be more convenient.

The coin ...

[cristiroma]

What's the purpose of the coin?

Re:The coin ...

[MichaelSmith]

Scale? Is not the price.

Re:The coin ...

[Intropy]

It can be exchanged for goods and services.

Re:The coin ...

[gaudior]

Valar Morghulis
/Valar Doheris

Re:The coin ...

[thunderclap]

For those who haven't read George R. R. Martins 'a song of Ice and Fire' (otherwise known as 'A game of Thrones' on HBO) The first phrase means 'all men must die' in High Valyrian. The second is spoken in reply to the first. 'All men must serve.'

I know that guy

[Anonymous Coward]

I happen to be friends with Scott Torborg, and this is the second time I've seen him on Slashdot. The last time was regarding his programmable disco floor:
http://www.scotttorborg.com/disco-dance-floor/

Re:I know that guy

[KGIII]

Do you feel elevated now by living the high life of fame vicariously through him? ;) (Only poking at you.)

I, too, got a little excited when my small (like 350 people in the winter) town was main-page news on Fark and the story was three houses up from mine. I am not sure what causes it, I'm sure it wouldn't be the same if I lived in a giant impersonal city, but I'm sure there's some sort of name for it and reasoning behind it.

Re:I know that guy

[mrchaotica]

I'm sure it wouldn't be the same if I lived in a giant impersonal city

It's the same, but it only applies when the story is about your specific neighborhood.

By the way, is 350 people even enough to be called a "town?" That's not just small, it's tiny -- like a village or a hamlet or something. If I lived in an area that rural, I'd get excited at a mention of anything in the entire county!

Re:I know that guy

[KGIII]

It's a legal thing, I understand, and we can even be a "city" if we wanted I suppose. We're an incorporated town, meaning a real town (we even have a post office but no stores) by definition. We swell to 550 (maybe even 1000) during summer and hunting season. We have a town government, we have a voting public, and we have property taxes that pay for it. (Property taxes in unincorporated areas go to the State.) So, yeah, we're a town by definition as I understand it.

We do get excited by little things. Our volunteer fire department is pretty good and the whole town seems to go to the various fires and accidents and stuff. I don't partake in that aspect, I'm an import but I'm fairly well respected and liked though it has taken some time and some goodwill (read expensive) actions on my part. For instance, I own a lot of land and purposefully decided that I'd keep it open to the public and have even had signage indicating the openness and what is expected from those who partake. I have paid for, in whole or in part, a variety of things to improve the town and am generous. That wasn't enough, no - one can't buy acceptance here but it certainly helps, so I've done more. The decision to keep the land open was, I think, one of the best choices I've made in my life. My thinking was, these people have used this land for generations (quite literally) and my ownership doesn't actually give me the right to take away their heritage or health. (My land, it is a lot - seriously, a lot to the point where I'd be a bit embarrassed to say how much - is some of the best hunting land around and the pond and streams all contain fish. People here literally depend on the meat from hunting, and probably fishing, to feed themselves.)

In case you're curious, I'm nestled into the mountains of North Western Maine. We actually do get decent DSL here though I'm responsible for about a half mile of utility poles (which insurance does cover though I had to pay for installation) and the town is not in financial distress actually. The finances are managed frugally, for the most part, though the fire department did opt to get a brand new ladder truck some years ago. I find that a bit mind boggling. The ladder truck is good for either 90' or 110' (I can't recall which but it's absurd given the following) but the tallest structure is just three stories. The kids keep moving away so I don't know how much longer the town will survive. It seems that they move back eventually, well some do, but I think there's still a negative population effect going on. It is a trivial seeming impact, I think the census data from 2000 has us with four more people than we had in 1990 and there are six fewer people in 2010. By the same token there are more hunting and fishing camps than there were so taxes have improved but those people don't count as residents. There was a jump between 1980 and 1990 (according to the census) as they moved from 220 to 350 people. It has been fairly stable since, the numbers are approximates as I don't recall the actual numbers but they're very close. They may be off by a factor of 15.

We have a Union Hall (which is where they host plays and sales and silly stuff). We have a Town Hall though there is only someone working there a few days a month, the town clerk is available in their home most days. We have a huge post office, they closed the old one and built a new one - we don't know why. We have a Grange Hall, the old people go there and knit, grow stuff, and show it off at county fairs. They also host a bean supper on the first Saturday of the month. We have a fairly large Fire Station with three trucks, with mutual aid they respond to any requests for help in a reasonable area (and some not reasonable areas). Attached to the Fire Station is a Community Center/Meeting building. Smaller things are held there and that's where we go to vote now. Town Meetings are still held at the Town Hall however. Some fairly well-to-do folk have moved in, they commute to their jobs in the city. They have children who ride for 45 minutes to a

Become a NSA agent today!

[Anonymous Coward]

You're our eyes...

Re:Become a NSA agent today!

[MichaelSmith]

Join the Central Intelligence Corporation, become a gargoyle.

Re:Become a NSA agent today!

[AHuxley]

Driving your approved mini van, drinking from a government sized beverage container looking around with your Stasi Specs on.

Re:Become a NSA agent today!

[Anonymous Coward]

If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes.

OK, break 'em down.

[Anonymous Coward]

The markings aren't completely burned off that touchpad board chip (or is that just adhesive?), and this laser etched code (and the QR code in the other image I can't be bothered to link to) are interesting.

What do yours look like, you lucky GG testers?

TI OMAP?

[Anonymous Coward]

I though TI was killing its OMAP division, Qualcomm, Samsung and Nvidia seem to have a huge market share compare to TI. But maybe I'm very wrong here.

I know Blackberry's Z10's have something similar to 4460 but clocked higher? 4730 or something like that.

I've got a Pandaboard ES with a OMAP 4460 sitting around, Glass has something similar, its cool to see a large PCB packed in like that.

Re:TI OMAP?

[ebno-10db]

I though TI was killing its OMAP division

It is, after Nokia and some others switched to parts from other companies. They may keep making some OMAP parts for a while though (typically how reliable semi companies do things). Going forward Google can obviously switch to another mfg or something like TI's da Vinci line. I never did understand why TI had both the OMAP and da Vinci lines anyway.

Re:TI OMAP?

[tlhIngan]

It is, after Nokia and some others switched to parts from other companies. They may keep making some OMAP parts for a while though (typically how reliable semi companies do things). Going forward Google can obviously switch to another mfg or something like TI's da Vinci line. I never did understand why TI had both the OMAP and da Vinci lines anyway.

Different focus. The TI OMAP was designed for the smartphone market - the DSP to be used for the radio part. Da Vinci was designed for media players - the DSP used to accelerate video and audio en/decode.

OMAP is shutting down because the smartphone ASIC market is saturated - you've got contenders from Freescale, Broadcom, Marvell and dozens of other Asian fabless firms making application processors and such and cutting margins down (TI OMAPs have never been cheap).

Though, I think they're refocusing on automotive infotainment systems instead - which are more interesting in that you have very long support times (10+ years). Since ASIC manufacturers haven't saturated that market, it's a good opportunity.

Re:TI OMAP?

[ebno-10db]

Different focus. The TI OMAP was designed for the smartphone market - the DSP to be used for the radio part. Da Vinci was designed for media players - the DSP used to accelerate video and audio en/decode.

That's what the TI reps always told me. I don't buy it - sounds like a marketing dept line where they talk about "applications areas" rather than what the chips do. Drives me nuts. When you look at the detailed guts of OMAP vs. da Vinci there is amazingly little difference. Where there are different specialized peripherals, they could easily adapt da Vinci to OMAP style uses. In fact one of the last "OMAP" parts to be released come from the da Vinci line but was branded an OMAP.

I have a bad feeling about this

[Anonymous Coward]

After the PRISM leaks I can't imagine wearing something like this. I hope Google Glass gets banned in all public spaces and commercial spaces. Your company is competing against Booz Allen Hamilton or it's corporate parent The Caryle Group, would you be comfortable knowing employees of those companies are apparently using the NSA as their personal search engine? I wouldn't.

Re:I have a bad feeling about this

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes that douchebag move used to work earlier - make fun of the people who accuse the government of secretly monitoring communications and call them 'silly'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2115871/The-CIA-wants-spy-TV-Agency-director-says-net-connected-gadgets-transform-surveillance.html

Re:I have a bad feeling about this

[dido]

I suppose if you have full root access with a known trusted open source firmware it would not be so nefarious. At least then you could be reasonably sure it doesn't phone home to Google, the NSA, or anyone.

Would have been great...

[wbr1]

....if they had recorded the teardown of Google glass, with another Google glass.

Re:Would have been great...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, we don't want them to catch on too quickly. That's why Skynet decided it had to kill all the humans.

Re:Would have been great...

[wisnoskij]

Except decent video quality is nice to have.

Re:Would have been great...

[ArcadeMan]

Since when does Skynet has a shiny metal ass?

Move along; Nothing to see here...

[Cramer]

No, no I haven't... because I've seen the insides of a cellphone and tablet. I'm surprised it's not smaller!

[*] 90% of a cellphone is it's battery; even more for a tablet. If there were no need for a screen or keypad, the whole thing would be the size of a sugar packet.

Cyanogen

[Sussurros]

Just imagine one of these beauties with Cyanogen! I want one of those for sure!

Re:Cyanogen

[Anonymous Coward]

So it can do nothing?
Google Glass is awful. It isn't meant for doing much besides informational services.

You'd be better off for waiting for a not-crap set of glasses.
Google seriously dropped the ball in the design of this, it looks painful.
It could have been such a better design, and symmetrical, instead of this awful crap.
Not to mention the symmetry could have allowed for a simpler internal design and more battery life, and possibly even more features.

Re:Cyanogen

[wonkey_monkey]

I hope you mean CyanogenMod.

[Cyanogen] is a colorless, toxic gas with a pungent odor.

Re: Cyanogen

[chill]

That works, too. Either way, fun for all involved.

Miniaturize even further

[SpaghettiPattern]

Fascinating how they cram so much in so little space. I say miniaturize even further so that the device would blend in inconspicuously with my shiny polished toecap.

(To those with a limited sense of humor: This is a joke. Admittedly a very mediocre one at best.)

Re:Miniaturize even further

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you want to look up girl's skirts?

Re:Miniaturize even further

[Chrisq]

Fascinating how they cram so much in so little space

That's what the judge said about the Muslim pedo gang rapists

I don't know whether this should be moded sick, informative, or funny. Possibly all three

On this episode of Where are they Now?

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Bet she won't be wearing those into an airport anytime soon!

See no evil

[Anonymous Coward]

"In a rare public filing in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the Justice Department today urged continued secrecy for a 2011 FISC opinion that found the National Security Agency's surveillance under the FISA Amendments Act to be unconstitutional. "

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/government-says-secret-court-opinion-law-underlying-prism-program-needs-stay

Did Google cooperate with a spying program, already found to be illegal by the FISC court?

Re:See no evil

[KGIII]

To be fair, how would they know until recently that the program was illegal? When the Three Letter Agencies show up with legal documentation that says to do something and to not reveal it to anyone, I don't care who you are, you do it. You may wish to pretend you wouldn't but, frankly, we know better. Everyone complies.

Fits on spectacles

[Sockatume]

I was quite pleased to see that the tech and the frame are held together by just a torx screw, and you can screw it onto ordinary glasses. It doesn't work very well that way, but at least it means that spectacle users are a small step away from being supported.

Ha ha, who am I kidding, I'm never going to own one of those.

Glass?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is see no obvious glass. The lenses look to be plastic to me. Maybe it should be called Google Plastic. That sounds naff and has no aliteration. How about Google Glastic?

That's odd..

[mianne]

They found a dime inside when they tore it down?

Re:That's odd..

[Anonymous Coward]

The dime goes in your eye to pay the ferryman to cross the river styx.

still doesn't ....

[Anonymous Coward]

....make me lust for one, despite some interesting technology. Frankly, what's the point?

I can't wait

[Anonymous Coward]

To see all the hipster/yuppster assholes walking around New York City with these things on trying to look cool. Too bad it won't work with their trendy iPhones. God I'm sick of technology made for the sake of technology. Who needs this crap? Yet Google products that I actually USE are being phased out. I seriously wish there was technology to travel to another planet to get away from all this stupidity.

Re:I can't wait

[ArcadeMan]

I seriously wish there was technology to travel to another planet to get away from all this stupidity.

A.K.A. I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

Camera

[markdavis]

>"Goodies found inside include proximity, light and inertial sensors, sound transducers, a TI OMAP CPU, flash, RAM, camera and tiny projection display."

You forgot the camera- the part that makes it such a rude and privacy killing and controversial device. If it really were missing, it would probably fare much better...

Re:Camera

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait, the sentence that includes the word "camera" is, according to you, forgetting the camera?

I don't think Google Glass can help some people, they just might be too dumb for anything to help them.

Re:Camera

[ebno-10db]

"Goodies found inside include proximity, light and inertial sensors, sound transducers, a TI OMAP CPU, flash, RAM, camera and tiny projection display."

Re:Camera

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you realize it mentions "camera"in the line you yourself quoted? /facepalm

Re:Camera

[ebno-10db]

Ok folks, enough. I think the OP now understands that he made a (*gasp*) mistake.

Re:Camera

[Anonymous Coward]

also a SIRF GSD4e GPS chip inside

http://www.catwig.com/google-glass-teardown/teardown/mainboard-google-x.jpg

Re:Camera

[markdavis]

>"Goodies found inside include proximity, light and inertial sensors, sound transducers, a TI OMAP CPU, flash, RAM, camera and tiny projection display."

OK, I obviously need to take reading comprehension class :) Sorry about that. Damn I wish there were a "delete" function...

You really are butthurt about this.

[Anonymous Coward]

One reason why there's a law against murder is because despite it being patently obvious that murder is a bad thing, people will still insist on doing it.

Likewise, when people insist on buying a 100oz bucket of syrupwater despite knowing that it'll lead to cardial malfunction later on which will be hellaciously expensive to fix, and meaning zero productive output from the lardass in question for many months either side of this fix, then there will be a law against it.

The cinemas are told they can't sell you guns as well as not sell you stupidly sized buckets of drink you don't need when you're spending 2 hours sitting on your ass.

But to you, this is buttfuckingly painful to you because "Der Gubment Iv telin me whut to du!!!".

They also tell you not to fuck little kids. But you don't mind that, do you.

Re:You really are butthurt about this.

[Anonymous Coward]

The government should ban everything that's unhealthy and enforce curfews so that the serfs get enough sleep! Protect me from myself Lord Obama!

Re: You really are butthurt about this.

[Anonymous Coward]

You conflated drinking large sodas with murder and molestation.

Re: You really are butthurt about this.

[ComputerInsultant]

You conflated drinking large sodas with murder and molestation. Congratulations!
FTFY

It's not really informative.

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless of the diseased brain that typed it out, but we're better off not knowing what's going on inside that brainpan.

Re:It's not really informative.

[Anonymous Coward]

Understanding the root of the problem is necessary to finding the solution.

Commercial spying legal

[Anonymous Coward]

The 2007 immunity meant they were immune from prosecution as long as they were *told* it was legal. They didn't push back, because GOOGLE DIDN'T CARE, to them it made no difference if they handed their customer data over, because the promise that it was legal was good enough to give them immunity.

Also one of the complaints in Europe about the US spying laws is they permit commercial spying, even spying for political leverage. So it could well have been politically expedient to do so.

But ultimately I come back to a simple thing, they decided to hand their customer data over to a program that was clearly a reach-around US law. That was a choice they made. All those Google guys that must have been involved in the hardware, and software on that project, said nothing.

The Borg

[2phar]

They need to make a transparent case version and get Jeri Ryan to model it.

Re:The Borg

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you seen her recently? Be careful what you wish for.

all that functionality

[shadowrat]

Ever wonder how Google packed all of the Google Glass functionality into a slender eyeglass frame?

I honestly don't know what all that functionality is. what exactly it's good at has so far been a lot of hype and conjecture. AFIK it's really just a secondary display for your cellphone.

accomplishment unlocked!

[Anonymous Coward]

successful troll.

Re:accomplishment unlocked!

[ebno-10db]

successful troll.

If you're saying that last correction was a troll (perhaps for laughs) then don't bother on Slashdot. People here are so anal that they will correct the smallest thing 27 times, or not realize when a correction is a joke. Ok, I fell for it this time, but yesterday I made a "correction" about mean vs. median and forgot the <irony> tag. Umpteen posters said the correction wasn't significant. No kidding, that was the joke! I "corrected" the correctors by becoming even more absurdly anal. They still didn't get it. Finally I posted that it was a joke, and still no effect.

On Slashdot there are some things you can't parody, because it's indistinguishable from the usual threads.

Re:accomplishment unlocked!

[yoshi_mon]

I get that when someone gets overly pedantic it is annoying. However I would argue that it is a result of the fact that we are constantly being bombarded by half truths and or outright lies from every direction. I'm not so naive to suggest that this is a new phenomenon but with the amount of information we are ingesting (and of course outputting) there is bound to be a level of rebellion.

All the more so for those of us who have to work with/within systems that require our output to be correct. Missing a bracket, a bang where you wanted just an equals, or a lower case when it had to be caps? You came up with that value for how much the beam needed to support instead of the correct one? You prescribed drug X instead of drug Y?

And then when your day job of making sure everything was at the five 9's that is expected of you, you have to disseminate bullshit that comes from all sides. That or just unplug which is not very satisfying if you want to feel connected to the society that you are trying to make better.

So I'd say cut those who are sometimes overly anal some slack. They likely are just blowing of some steam.

Re:accomplishment unlocked!

[ebno-10db]

I get that when someone gets overly pedantic it is annoying. However ...

You're being pedantic about being pedantic :)

with the amount of information we are ingesting (and of course outputting) there is bound to be a level of rebellion. All the more so for those of us who have to work with/within systems that require our output to be correct. Missing a bracket

Technical people can actually think and communicate in a way that's precise and meaningful. Everybody else is an idiot. At least that's the way I look at it.

Really encouraging

[bill_mcgonigle]

I'm surprised it's not smaller!

Yeah, me too - but that's really encouraging. Look at that Synaptics board - it's freaking huge for what it needs to be. It could be instantly half the height, as-is, but it's made to be the same height as the Sandisk flash chip.

That this thing looks like a prototype is great, though. The 'real' versions should be able to easily fit inside 50's nerd / 00's hipster-thickness black plastic frames, which many people find to be actually comfortable to wear.

for GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

The glass use a SIRF GPS4e chip - see
http://www.catwig.com/google-glass-teardown/teardown/mainboard-google-x.jpg

Overdesigned

[cachimaster]

That huge CPU coupled with the memory and flash disk has to consume arround 200mw, no way it can last more than 1 hour on that tiny battery.
IMHO cramming a 500 MB Linux distro into something that is basically a proxy for google services is a complete waste of resources.

Government can subpoena Google Glass images?

[Anonymous Coward]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the government can request Google to send and SFTP archive of what you saw and did with your Google Glass now, no?

No, thank you! captcha: condom

ST:TNG : Episode: "The Game"

[Anonymous Coward]

i wonder how long it will be before this episode becomes reality.

Smartphones, Pencams have same risks as Glass

[billstewart]

I know you're mostly just trolling, but smartphones and pencams have the same risks to public privacy as Google Glass, in terms of being a small portable camera with a radio-based internet connection. (They're actually more risky, because they have better battery life.) What Glass does is give you a display and somewhere to head-mount the camera instead of having to clip it onto your pocket or whatever, plus make it much more obvious that you're using it.

The more important question is...

[Anonymous Coward]

will it blend?