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I Became a Robot With Google Glass
Nerval's Lobster writes "Videographer and journalist Boonsri Dickinson took the second generation of Google Glass out for a spin, and came back with some thoughts (and a video) on the hardware (basically unchanged from the first generation) and the new XE12 software upgrade (which includes many new features, such as the 'eye wink' option for snapping photos). New apps in the tiny-but-growing Glass app store include Compass, which allows you to find interesting landmarks; Field Trip, which allows you to walk around and look up local history; Video Voyager, a tool for sharing videos based on your location; and Strava Run, which visualizes your fitness habits. 'Glass has potential to take off as a new platform because it's not a phone,' she writes. 'The hands-free approach could expand its use to venues as diverse as the operating room and kitchen, unlocking new ways of using the data overlays to augment the real world.' Interesting features aside, though, her experience with the device raises the usual privacy questions: 'For the most part, Glass is a good prototype for this new kind of computer: but do we really need it, and are we ready for it?'"
There is huge hype in the media that THIS year will be the year of wearable tech. Until there are better input methods then voice, i dont think it will take off. I hate interacting with my phone through voice, and i feel like Glass would be even worse.
Wearable tech is still a lot of hype by the industry, and I don't know if the consumer is really looking to spend money on it just yet. I feel like we need a breakout tech to really get people on board, and Glass hasn't done that.
-EL
If he became a robot, wouldn't that mean he was kind of a slave to whatever the Glass told him to do? Like someone was texting his eyeballs messages saying "Order a quarter-pounder-with-cheese and a Dr Pepper"
If he wanted to say cyborg I'd buy it, or if he "felt" like an android I guess I could accept it.
But "robot" tends to imply a mechanical device more devoid of free-will or thought than some of the other phrases. Heck, the blurb in which it's used is describing how it's expressing personality.
and without them I'm kind of half-blind, so wearing google glasses really wouldn't be that nice.
Sure, I might get a nice info overlay, but the 'resolution/sharpness' of everything else would really go down too far to be comfortable,...
-> unless these 'tech-glasses' get some near-/far-sight compensation they are nor really that interesting
It would help if they could design that into a form factor that isn't blatantly a pair of google glasses. I would want my wearable tech to be as inconspicuous and non-intrusive as possible, both to my experience and the public around me.
I Became a Robot With Google Glass
Come on, editors (and submitters) - the least you could do is make sure that the headline makes sense within the context of the summary alone, rather than just copy and pasting it without thought for cogency.
The relevant part of the article is this:
The device also takes over as a fashion statement. One friend wrote to me: “I get a strong vibe that you are a robot inside. I’m not sure if that’s a nice thing to say, but in seriousness I think it’s an interesting way of expressing personality.”
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Wifi infrastructure too weak to consider. Mobile data prices too absurd to consider.
Here you go:
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/05/google-glass-prescription-lens-option/
It ain't cheap, but it's there.
Please DO NOT take off your glasses. Those glasses can make a McSoylent burger appear as your favorite food.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
We've spent all our time worrying about the singularity as if the machines would eventually gain insight and perspective beyond the best humanity has to offer. Much more likely will be that human cognition falls below the level of a mere machine.
In short, the big problem is not that machines are thinking like humans, but that humans are thinking like machines.
Utterly poor execution, though. And I sure as hell wouldn't want to wear a device built for an advertising company that has been implicated in spying for the government.
Yes we need it. That shouldn't even be a question. Did we need transistors? Did we need the keyboard, the mouse, the gui, the network, the Internet, modern web browsers, tablets, cell phones?
Are we ready? No. I do not believe so.
We are not ready for google glass on at least two fronts: privacy and self control.
Are you mad about google+ integration? Ok, then do you really think google glass will continue the trend of the ever watching google or will it reverse the trend?
Would you be ok with Google mining your "anonymized" glass data to build a better profile on you? Would you be ok with Google mining someone elses "anonymized" glass data to build a profile on you?
What about when glass data becomes part of what law enforcement / the government can subpoena?
Are you upset when you try to install a flashlight app and it tells you it needs full access to all your contacts, current calls, and the network? Wanna bet that all google glass apps are going to want full access to your current location, your vision, your hearing, what you say, and who you are with?
We aren't ready to deal with that yet, because as a society we still haven't found a current level of privacy and usefulness that strikes a balance. I think that there is a balance, but as users of the devices/services we just don't have enough power or information.
On top of privacy, we just don't have the self control and awareness to not do stupid things online. It will only get worse if we start using always-on, internet connected wearable devices. And I'm not referring to anyone who uses social media and the internet responsibly, I'm referring to the people who aren't informed and aware of the implications of uploading something to social media or posting it online.
How often do we hear about some highschooler suspended/expelled because he/she said or posted something stupid on facebook. Something completely harmless but since it is out of context for all the world to see, there are consequences. Furthermore, revenge porn is now getting into the courts, and its not just an angry ex leaking a sextape that two adults made, there are tons of people that don't realize that chatting naked with a stranger on the internet is a really good way to have that video posted to every shady corner of the web. For ever. Videos and pics of drunk college parties are preventing people from getting jobs upon graduation because they never realized that posting that time you pissed off the balcony at your frat house would show up on some HR person's search of you.
We just haven't caught up yet as a society. That doesn't mean there are completely responsible informed people who would use google glass in positive ways, it means there are a lot of idiots who are going to do something stupid then cry when their life is fucked up because of something stupid they didn't mean to have broadcast to the world.
I don't think that means we shouldn't move forward with google glass, I just don't think we ready as a society to use wearable computing devices responsibly.
It's all in my mind palace.
Imagine. Those glasses could recognize advertising. Then mask it with other advertising that Google thinks you are interested in.
For example, that offensive billboard with a barely clothed female could be replaced by a strapping muscle bound shirtless hunk . . . holding puppies or kittens.
As per Vernor Vinge's story Fast Times at Fairmont High, everyone could tell Google what color and style they want their house to appear to other people wearing Glass. When you see artwork, Glass could replace it with different artwork that you prefer.
Two people wearing glass want to watch a movie together? All they have to do is agree which wall surface will become the "tv".
An underground meeting place could have a plain door, but members of the underground group, or invitees to the party would see a sign on the door, and could recognize one another.
Let your imagination roam.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
"For the most part, Glass is a good prototype for this new kind of computer: but do we really need it, and are we ready for it?'
Wearable computers have been around for decades. I really wish that "journalists" would do some research before they write an article. Prof Steve Mann and Prof Thad Starner (who is the project lead on google glass) have had wearable computers since 1990's and the Aviation and military has used them since the mid 2000's. the only thing that is new is miniaturization and looking stylish.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
A large plate of gagh overlayed on sesame noodles might be fun.
Why would you even do something like that?!
http://i.imgur.com/7J3WTk5.jpg
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
"B" rate Sci Fi movie material at best "THEY" except when you put the glasses on you could see all those Groovey Ghoulies for what they really were.
More POV amateur porn coming. Porn has always been the historical vehicle by which tech as made in-roads into mainstream culture.
Life used to be like Morrowind.
With Google Glass it will be like Skyrim.
The Google glasses kind of look like that. Not to mention that the glasses make anyone look like a grade A dork (Think Screech from Saved by the Bell), someone who's all filled up to the brim with tech gadgets. Imagine that person wearing a camera...looking at you while he isn't talking to you...but perhaps making observational (to someone else who is listening in, belittling) comments about the surrounding he is "Google-eyeballing".
Remember the first cellphone? It looked like a giant brick...which it sort of was... but it made the user look ...uh...so important....I must have a phone with me at all cost at all times. This will AUTOMATICALLY make you an enemy of the common people, because you're no longer one of them, you're ABOVE them (perhaps not in YOUR mind, but in THEIR minds...you are, because you make a spectacle around yourself).
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about gadgets...in fact...I was that "Screech" geek that filled up his pockets with advanced programmable calculators/pocket computers back in the 80's, heck...I even hooked up a Casio PB1000 to a Packet Radio Modem and a Radio Amateur Radio and a battery...all encased in a suitcase, worlds first portable wireless connected computer right there? Don't know...I was around 12 at the time.
The point is, such as it is now, it's just geeky because it's not commonplace. I have no idea if it ever WILL become commonplace either. Remember the "Spoon"?...there is no spoon - only Bluetooth. Rarely anyone uses a Bluetooth headset anymore (maybe when driving), but there was a time when we saw every businessman in town wear one of those on his side...looking like he was online and important all the time. Now...it's literally gone, I dare you to spot one today.
Gets better yet, personally I've even ditched the Smartphone now - because older as I get...I realize that I do NOT need to be connected 24H, when my employer calls me, I usually take a few days to answer (until I've read my mail or so), or if it is all that important...he should have called me on my new "old fashion" dumb phone...that I bought to disconnect myself entirely from the Google Machine and the constant need for synchronizations and endless recharging of a device that sucks so much power it needs a power outlet at least once a day. My new phone, doesn't need recharging before a month has passed, and doesn't know anything else than SMS and Calls. YAY. Freedom.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
heads up displays can be so much more useful in any sports arena or any other place where fast paced information is a serious advantage in saftey. much more so than needing augmented reality for going to get milk at the corner store.
all current offerings are lackluster or prohibitivly expensive.
We need it just like we need calculator watches or the Segway. Products die because they don't fit the way people work. Google glass will do so too.
Privacy issues will never go away. People aren't going to like it, just like no one will like you whipping out tape recorder and setting it on the table during a dinner meal. Crap, I have a bunch of IP cameras that I install only when I am on vacation because I don't want them inside *MY* home. My family hasn't said it, but they wouldn't like it either. I don't blame them if they did say something, but they won't because I already anticipate their reaction.
Someone with Google glass tried to talk to me, I'd punch them in the face and break their glasses. If they sued, I'd punch them again. And I am a staunch geek.
A robot is "a machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command." A cyborg is "a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device." The Terminator is a robot; Robocop is a cyborg. The writer became a cyborg, not a robot.
Any technology that forces you to focus on different things with both eyes is going to be extremely detrimental in the long run. For the typical four-eyed geek without stereoscopic vision it isn't going to have much negative effect, might even force some of them to learn how to use their right eye. For those who had good vision before...
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
As a society, we are not ready for it. Given more than enough time to prepare, I still don't think we'd be ready for it. Sadly, I think this is one of those situations where i just has to be done, and THEN people will get used to it after the fact. I mean, even on Slashdot, a geek-oriented site, there is so much hostility towards glass.
As a cyberpunk who wants a HUD and not a paranoid Luddite who think's I'm important enough for strangers to want to film me, I'm looking forward to it.
I'm holding out for a Google Glass type thing with headsup displays in contact form. Then I'd have Terminator Vision.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
But first I became an obnoxious dork by wearing Google Glass.
I don't care if you're okay with annihilating what little privacy remains in your own life. I'm not okay with you using your headset to remove mine. Go fuck yourself.
Come on, is this really interesting? If I can get a +5 interesting for this crap, I'll just post on every thread.
s/voice interaction/Windows 8/g
s/voice interaction/Google+/g
s/voice interaction/slashdot beta site/g
The list goes on....
Look, I'm still waiting for a killer smartphone app that motivates me well enough to upgrade from my flip phone. Now if someday I walk up to the vending machine at work and it will only accept payments via mobile app, that might do it. On the other hand, the cost/value equation of paying $300 more a year on my cell phone bill just for vending machine access might end up keeping me on a diet. As for Google Glass, perhaps the ability to just look at that Snickers bar and have it fall into my hands might make it worth it. Decisions, decisions.
Um technically that makes you a Cyborg....snarf.
I like Google Glass because I can take photos of people in the street without them taking notice of me, I'm a fine art street photographer and Google Glass would help me a lot with street photography.
We'll need to invent some kind of camera cloak so our faces are not revealed. Maybe some kind of opt-in device that if you have it, the Google Glass must respect it, like with robots.txt files or some shit.
speaking of robots, suppose I wear a tee shirt with 'robots.txt' printed on it and some wildcards below it.
I wonder: will that render me invisible to google glass wearers?
It has been suggested before:
http://stopthecyborgs.org/2013/03/23/robots-txt-for-your-face/ & http://tagmenot.info
The problem is that most people are just looking at what Google has done so far with the glasses and cannot see beyond that. As an instrument, I believe they have potential to be much more than what google has so far been showing us. Imagine an hypothetical situation that could happen in the not too far future. You walk out of your house into your car, which has no instruments, you see every instrument you need in your glasses, no need to look down to see if you are speeding. You drive to your office and you sit in front of a clean desk, no screen, you again use your glasses. You go to a restaurant and before the waiter approaches you, the menu is being displayed in your glasses. You finish eating and you get your bill in your glasses. You go home and your glasses interact with your air conditioning, your heating system, your fridge, your oven, your TV, your alarm system, etc.
At this point in time, the google glasses are for glassholes, but there is an exciting future out there, open your eyes.
Winking is great, but I want the hut hut.