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What Will Google Glass 2.0 Need To Actually Succeed?
Nerval's Lobster writes As previously rumored, Google has discontinued selling Google Glass, its augmented-reality headset... but it could be coming out with something new and (supposedly) improved. The company has placed a relentlessly positive spin on its decision: "Glass was in its infancy, and you took those very first steps and taught us how to walk," reads a posting on the Google+ page for Glass. "Well, we still have some work to do, but now we're ready to put on our big kid shoes and learn how to run." Formerly a project of the Google X research lab, Glass will now be overseen by Tony Fadell, the CEO of Google subsidiary (and Internet of Things darling) Nest; more than a few Glass users are unhappy with Google's decision. If Google's move indeed represents a quiet period before a relaunch, rather than an outright killing of the product, what can it do to ensure that Glass's second iteration proves more of a success? Besides costing less (the original Glass retailed for $1,500 from Google's online storefront), Google might want to focus on the GoPro audience, or simply explain to consumers why they actually need a pair of glasses with an embedded screen. What else could they do to make Glass 2.0 (whatever it looks like) succeed?
The hardest problem I've seen people have with Google Glass is how obvious it is you are wearing the glasses. People in public assume you are recording them and it bothers them.
If you over come that, I think it would be a fantastic barrier to remove.
After that, give me a utility for these glasses that make me want to buy them/wear them/use them that benefits me beyond what I have or can have now.
That will make them much more attractive in many ways.
I've only been around a few people wearing Google Glass, and I had the stress / self-consciousness of constantly wondering if I was being filmed. That was not an enjoyable sensation.
Unless Glass 2.0 can make that issue go away, people are still going to want to punch Glassholes.
It needs a killer app... like one that shoots lasers that kills people.
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Unfortunately, google cannot control the people who use google glass, so there will always be glassholes and google glass won't succeed.
A visible physical shutter that can be moved over the camera lens to prove that one is not recording video. I realize that it does not deal with people not near enough to see the shutter but at least it will put the people at the table at ease. This is not a perfect solution but it might help.
All Google needs to do is remove the camera. That way, it can still be used for notifications, searches of information and other overlays, and nobody needs to be worried about constantly being recorded. This reduces it to a simple HUD, but let's face it, everybody's smartphone is already a camera.
There are a number of markets/professions where the Google Glass would be ideal (a big one that I keep reading about is aircraft maintenance, have drawings and manuals available on command in front of the technician's eyes).
Rather than trying to come up with something that is designed for everybody on the planet, figure out who could get the most advantage out of it in the short term and, working with that demographic, develop the hardware, the UI and database operation and work with the users to understand exactly the human factors issues. A number of people indicated that the camera was the problem, but I suspect that there are much deeper issues that need to be addressed.
Once you have become indispensable in one area, others applications will start becoming obvious and the product will seem less "creepy" and intrusive for other areas.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Less Google, more cowbell. I consider it a win for society that we are not just running out to buy gadgets to wear on our faces. It was an interesting experiment, but it doesn't belong in daily life. I can't rationally justify why it bothers me, but don't ever expect me to be OK with people walking around with those on their faces. I prefer to live in a camera free zone as much as possible and not be confronted with one strapped the the head of some jackass at Starbuck's.
Preferably in black, unstylish eyeglass frames.
I don't want to advertise the fact that I'm wearing this thing. Google geeks may think it's the coolest status symbol ever. I don't. And I don't care. I want to use the map feature, get the weather report.
Yes, I know it can give me automatic Yelp reports, tell me who and what's around, get me dates, show me movies and deliver specs on my computer by looking.
I could care less. I'll use the maps. And the weather. Maybe news, if I'm waiting for a bus. If they want me to buy it, it has to be cheap and boring.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
The cognitive dissonance in the posts today is amazing. (A lot of plain old stupid too).
There are cameras in every bar and restaurant filming you all the time. But nobody will acknowledge this fact. If they did, they would have to a) accept that they are ok with being filmed and that they are being total hypocrites about google glass, b) decide that it is not ok and not go to bars and restaurants any more.
The guy with the Google glass may or may not be filmiing you. The restaurant certainly is, and every person in the the place has a smart phone with a camera. If I hold my phone up at face height am I taking a selfie or filming you?
But we all hate to accept uncomfortable truths about ourselves, so we will deflect our mental stress on someone else. Lets de-humanize them first. They are not a person with smart glasses, they are a "Glasshole", and therefore we can punch them. You guys make me sick sometimes.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
I've already given more data to Google than I would like. I'm not buying Glass unless I can use it as MY device, not theirs. No uploading shit to the cloud. No monitoring my location or what I look at or what apps I use.
I'm not worried about people recording me with Glass. I actually think that could do more good than harm (mainly by recording police). So I'd be recording anything I think interesting (fortunately for you all, I find humans incredibly dull). But those recordings would have to remain MINE, under MY control.
Yeah I would kill for such an app.
My wife was a glass "explorer" and bought one, so I've got to try it some and watched her use it. Problems that I see are:
- Poor battery life
- Slow processor (what people really want to do with this is like augmented reality, and it's not quite got the horsepower)
- Lack of any apps that do something useful to most people that you can't do with a standard android device (just a gimmick at this point).
- Small and low-res screen, can't fit much useful info on it.
- Fragile
Honestly, the dorky looks and people freaking out because of privacy issues weren't an issue that we saw.
Most of the "explorers" are pretty mad that they spent $1500 to be abandoned. Google should at least offer a seriously discounted trade-up to the release model for them, but there is no talk of that. I doubt most explorers will buy it again.
Real programmers use "copy con program.exe"