

Ask HN: Are you planning on getting Google Glass? - bsbechtel

If so, how do you plan on using it? If you plan on developing for it, what applications do you want to target?<p>If you aren't planning on getting it, why?
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jgrahamc
I can see Glass being interesting in some situations, but mostly I don't feel
like it's a vital product for me. And I certainly don't feel the attraction in
the way I did with a smartphone.

I would feel very differently if this were an implant and not something I
wear. I do not want to have something on my face and the advantages I see from
Glass don't outweigh that desire.

For example, I don't see the advantage in being able to photograph things from
my head. Sure, you can imagine a situation where having a camera attached to
your head is really useful and being able to take an instant photograph would
be fantastic, but I'm not ready to pay the price of a thing on my face all the
time for that benefit.

I can imagine having Glass as a display for a GPS as very helpful. I wouldn't
mind driving with something like that especially if it could be part of
sunglasses. There I am concentrating on a task which Glass will enhance. So, I
view Glass as task-enhancing not life-enhancing. A lot of recent news has been
of the gee-whiz it'll change your life variety which is off-putting. It's more
likely to be incredibly useful in some situations.

Lastly, I do not trust Google and so the idea of a device that uploads stuff
in any automatic fashion is not something I want. (It's not just Google, I
don't trust Apple's iCloud etc.). I may be unusual in that. I would actually
prefer that there be a 'home cloud server' which would be where my photos,
emails etc. were stored and processed and that I had total control over.

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tartuffe78
I would like to get one, but I would probably never use it around people.

The main use case for me would be exercising, going for a run with my phone in
my hand, having to unlock it to change music or check my distance is a pain.

I remember when I got my first smart phone I had this cool feeling of living
in "the future". I had the same feeling when I got my first tablet. This would
definitely blow my mind enough that it might be worth the price.

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gyardley
Not at first, because you look like a damn fool when you wear it, and because
I don't have a handle yet on the ways it'll change my behavior.

Should they become more common and more attractive (seems likely, over time)
and should there be a lot more information available about how the Glass-like
genre of products affects its wearers (again, seems likely), I'll take that
information into account and reconsider it.

I'm not making the mistake I made with smartphones again, where I bought one
out of enthusiasm and only stopped to evaluate the cost/benefits _after_ it
had already changed the way I behave. I wouldn't take a medication that hasn't
been thoroughly studied, no matter what the marketing promises - so why would
I adopt a new technology?

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fourmii
I think it's cool technology. Depending on the pricing in the end, I would buy
a pair to use only for recreation. I can't see myself wearing it all the time.

Where I do see a cool application is as a golf GPS. Over the past couple of
years, I've been using an app on my phone for golf GPS that also tracks my
score and other related stats. I think it'd be really cool to use Glass as a
GPS where it shows you the distances overlayed on top of what you're looking
at (eg. distance to the green, bunkers etc). And all this info updates live.

Even though I'm not overly concerned about my data, I can't see using it for
anything more than as a toy.

I can see endless applications like those relating to sports. Watching
baseball with a live scoreboard and stats. Weather related info for sailing.

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_halcyon_
God no. The social implications of walking around with Glass alone prevents me
from considering. Its an amazing piece of technology, but I think the negative
social effects of wearing them, especially during conversations is a deal
breaker.

~~~
api
What, you don't want to upload every word you ever say to advertisers?

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stewie2
If the frame can support prescription lenses (I wear glasses anyway), and if
the price is around 300, I might get one.

I want to start to program for it early (The thing is that I really don't like
android developing experience).

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ameister14
Yeah, I'll probably get one. I'm planning on developing a couple of personal-
use apps but I don't know about making anything big because I don't know how
it would scale or a way to make it sustainable.

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nayefc
I think it's too early to walk around with one.

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dirktheman
I might if they find a way to integrate it with my existing glasses in a not
too obstrusive way...

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api
Probably not.

I love the technology, but the feudal model is completely insane. It's worse
than iOS-- at least iOS devices won't arbitrarily record you and upload it to
a single large company with a EULA agreement authorizing them to do with it
whatever they please. Every Google Glass wearer is a spy that might be
uploading everything they see and hear to be... data mined by advertisers?
shared with governments? stolen by hackers and used for blackmail? It's so
insane the mind reels. I can't believe anyone is even thinking about using
this platform.

Oh, I'm sure Google will "promise" not to do anything "evil" with this
platform. But always remember two things: (1) corporate policies can shift at
the whim of the board and the shareholders, especially if the board's makeup
changes, and (2) governments can _compel_ corporations to cooperate, both by
legal means and extra-legal/para-legal threats and incentives. Finally:
nothing is completely secure against malicious hackers.

It's an alarming trend. Each new form factor that has departed from the PC has
brought with it an order of magnitude ratcheting up of feudal control and
reduction in user control: PDAs, smart phones, tablets, and now this, which is
off-the-charts insane.

I'm astounded that Google is getting away with it, honestly. Microsoft would
_never_ have been permitted to even _contemplate_ something like what Google
and Apple have done without wailing and gnashing of teeth.

I really think we need a term for this stuff: feudal computing. It's a total
180-degree turn away from everything the PC and Internet revolutions stood
for.

I predict that Glass will fail because of this, not the technology, and I
really hope it does. If it succeeds in its present form it's a dangerous
harbinger of things to come. Say goodbye to general purpose computation for
the masses.

~~~
Evbn
You shouldn't make predictions based on an extreme minority opinion. Even RMS
knows how to separate morality from probability.

~~~
api
Perhaps. I'm just astounded it's a minority opinion. It seems like the whole
"freedom" concept that undergirded the PC and Internet revolutions has been
absolutely forgotten.

Again I ask: what would people have said if Microsoft had proposed a new OS
revision that monitored everything you did and uploaded it to MS, permitted
only MS to have administrative rights, and permitted only software approved by
MS to execute?

I'm just amazed at how all you have to do is change the name of the company
and change the form factor of the machine and people don't see it anymore. Are
people that concrete-bound?

I'm not even a FOSS zealot. I don't think everything should be free,
especially not free-as-in-beer. I actually wonder if the free-as-in-beer
mentality is part of why we're seeing this-- there is no other way to make
money since people will not pay for a plain OS or software anymore. Everything
has to be paid for, so things have to be monetized differently... like by
taking away all privacy and control and selling the user to advertisers and
governments.

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qompiler
Maybe ill get one when we developers are allowed to sell apps for it.

