

Thoughts After a Week with Google Glass - pascal07
http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1720

======
steeve
Tried them a few months ago, my impression/fear was that they would:

1- go the Segway route (== dorky)

2- go the bluetooth headset route (== douche)

Sad, maybe, but then again the Segway is so awesome to use!

~~~
kimlelly
Well, the more I think about it, the more see that being a "dork" or a
"douche" is not the problem here:

The problem is that it's a disguised projection of power onto others.

The user is implicitely saying to people around him:

"I can film you and you can't/don't/won't - I can show this to the whole
Internet whenever I feel like it. In other words, I control your behavior."

So, Google basically wants you to suck up to the tag line: "Get more power, at
the cost of the people around you."

In this context, physical aggression kind of begins sounding plausible,
actually...

~~~
Djehngo
All of which were possible with a phone camera, the only difference with glass
is that it's harder to know if the device is recorded.

~~~
hnha
you are not walking around with your handheld camera pointing at everything
you look at.

~~~
randallsquared
Most people have two cameras pointed at everything they look at. The recording
is just very low fidelity right now.

~~~
RivieraKid
But these cameras don't have an "Upload to YouTube" feature.

------
bane
I think glass as a physical product looks cool, and I don't yet have enough
paranoia as part of my day-to-day that I'd feel weird about somebody wearing
it around me. But I can't see wearing one all day, there's simply no use-case
I can think of for me to have one on while sitting at my desk at work.

I like the idea of a head mounted display that doesn't block your vision. It's
too bad it's not a true hud. That's going to limit the applications
tremendously.

I like having a camera on it. I agree with this article's assessment about the
quality of the pictures.

It's great getting directions while hands free, I can _almost_ get those today
on my phone with a pair of headphones. Once I set the destination, it becomes
hands free. I can even listen to music/podcast at the same time and even have
my phone record my distance with an exercise app.

About audio only I can hear, headphones work fine for this and it doesn't feel
like a brain worm is burrowing in.

It's almost like you can get 90% of the glass experience with your phone in
your pocket, a pair of $10 headphones and a bluetooth google now button on
your wrist (fictional). I'd say add in a clip on display or something for a
hud but there appears to be incredibly few of those around...and the ones that
are out there are bulky enough to by mistaken for a orthodontics headgear...

and I guess that's where glass really is great, I just wish I could repurpose
the display a bit...

it's kind of "meh" right now, but we'll see where the apps take it

~~~
WA
I think they look really lame. Good side is that at some point in the future,
there'll be a better looking product and we can look back at these old photos
from 2013 where people were running around with "bricks" on their glasses and
above the ear.

------
kyro
Can you imagine what Glass can do to medicine? Imagine a doctor wearing Glass,
repeating the patient's symptoms and being given a dynamically updated list of
differential diagnoses with formulary medications and next steps in management
based on the most recent research. It would be the perfect assistant. I get
hot and sweaty just thinking about it.

~~~
threeseed
It sounds dreadful. I would much rather they be using a tablet so they can be
110% sure that the symptoms and diagnoses are clearly articulated. Having them
rushed across a tiny screen or read out sounds like a disaster waiting to
happen.

Devices like Glass should only be used for small, simple problems where a
wrong answer isn't going to result in someone dying.

~~~
waterlesscloud
I'm doing the PGM class on Coursera, and Prof. Koller mentioned that one
reason the expert diagnosis systems never took off in the 90s was that it was
hard to integrate them into the doctor's workflow.

She also mentioned that situation was changing with the advent of usable
tablets, so maybe we'll see some progress here.

------
hoi
Locker rooms will never be the same with Google Glass. Peeping at ATMs when
someone is using it... I can already see the criminal class thinking up a
multitude of uses for it.

On the plus side, it would make an excellent exercise companion. Heart rate
monitor, current speed, calories burned etc.

~~~
Drakim
I don't understand. The glasses are in front of your eyes, so anything you
record you would also be seeing naturally with your eyes. If you can record
somebody's ATM button presses with the classes, you can simply see the presses
with your own eyes.

~~~
threeseed
We don't yet know what the specifications of the consumer Glass will be. It
could have digital/optical zoom in the camera. Also a program could be written
to recognise a person's fingers and make statistical assumptions about the
keys they would be most likely to press.

But I think the ATM argument is moot anyway. Far easier to skim the card or
simply rob them.

~~~
silverbax88
You think it's easier to physically overpower and rob someone than to shoulder
surf? The stealing of the pin is part of the card skimming.

------
gushie
I've seen several comments around the web from privacy advocates along the
lines of "I'll punch anyone I see wearing glass" or "I'll rip it right off
your face" etc.

Have there been any reports of this happening yet?

~~~
treerock
[http://eyetap.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/physical-assault-by-
mcd...](http://eyetap.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/physical-assault-by-mcdonalds-
for.html)

Not Google Glass, but similar.

~~~
kimlelly
I overheard a guy at the supermarket checkout, he was saying to what seemed to
be his GF that he would actually kick people with a Glass from behind because
that way he wouldn't be recorded... not very happy thoughts, I have to admit.

What's true though is that we're taking a very dangerous road here:

1\. Google Glass means total and permanent surveillance

2\. Total and permanent surveillance means people will be afraid to use their
right to freedom of expression (out of fear of blowback)

3\. Suppressed freedom of expression means: Democracy is dead and a police
state becomes very realistic.

Who in their right mind wants that?

~~~
rohansingh
I'm not sure punching people in the face or kicking them in the back counts as
"freedom of expression".

~~~
hnha
no one said that. you are mixing physical violence in. could you elaborate
what you mean?

------
wodow
> Where to voice control: while the voice recognition is great, there are few
> places you actually can make use of it. At the office and in public talking
> out loud to your glasses is not an option.

Yet!

In 2002 I clearly remember being shocked by a cyclist screaming in to his
bluetooth headset whilst careering down the road. That's an extreme example,
but talking "to yourself" whilst walking is already common in some cities.

------
wodow
Amazing that they were allowed on the casino floor. I would have expected
different from a Vegas operation.

~~~
waterlesscloud
I'm pretty sure they fall under existing bans. Casino personnel probably just
don't recognize them for what they are yet.

~~~
wodow
I would have expected that their highly paid, highly resourced security teams
(watching via the CCTV, all the time) don't have up-to-the-day information on
possible spy camera tech available to consumers.

~~~
wodow
I meant "DO have"!

