What this will provide for disabled and autistic people is amazing. It's too easy to get caught up in the "social sharing" part of this and forget that something like this can really help change people's lives.
Edit: To expand a bit, take an autistic adult that wants to do something, like go to the movies. It's simple for us, we wash up, get dressed, go outside, go down the straight, hope on the 132 Bus for 3 stops, get off, walk 2 blocks, pay for tickets, and go into theater number 5. For someone with autism, they can struggle with things like this. These glasses provide them with visual cues base upon their location, so when they finally do get to the theater, the glasses can show them what to do next, and give them that visual cue.
Currently working on an app for tablets for this sort of things, but having it work in glasses would be simply amazing. God, what I wouldn't give to be apart of this.
Also face blindness, or people with failing memory. Imagine if this system could automatically detect friends based on their face and summon their names and relevant context (recent calendar appointments, pictures, etc.)
heck, I think that a huge portion of the population would like that. I need to meet a person twice to remember their name, Having a thing that blips up "This is Eric, You met him 3 weeks ago at a workshop" would be worth early adopting.
I'm with you. I can't think of anything more exciting in the tech world today than the potential for AR available to the masses. The potential applications are mind blowing. One example I can think of off the top of my head is developing an internal application for a manufacturer's warehouse staff. The glasses could detect QR codes on boxes making picking and shipping products simple. You might be shocked how much work goes into ensuring that the right parts are picked from a pick-list. That's one small example. I can think of dozens more.
As someone who has terrible vision, I've been waiting for this type of thing for years. I have trouble reading menus at fast food restaurants or street signs. The ability to just pull up context aware information in front of my eyes would be amazing. I looked into doing it myself with some AR goggles, but the cameras in them just were not good enough yet.
I've loved this idea ever since I read about the glasses in Accelerando[1], and I can't wait for a project like this that gets to market, especially if it is open source.
Can you expand a bit more on the autism thing? I admittedly don't know much about autism, but I was under the impression that a big hurdle was the fact that an autistic person is very routine 'dependent'. So, when there is a novel event like go to the movies and it breaks routine, it can be very difficult to cope with the break in routine
Am I just thinking of a different symptom, so to speak, of autism?
So, the first answer is "Yes, for the most part, they are routine dependent." However, this isn't always the case. My son, for example, isn't as routine dependent as others are. He's perfectly fine with a differing routine. So, while routine is a part of autism, this doesn't define autism.
However, this can still be resolved by preparing the autistic person with the routine. So again, they can prepare for the movies by watching the video of walking down the street, and the actual activities involved. Or, let's say, letting them see where they are going before they get there. See the insides, see what's there, what's involved.
Finally, even if it was a big hurdle, it's still a hurdle that needs to be overcome, and the task tool I'm referring to is there to help overcome that. Again, by preparing them, and then prompting them while they are going about their day, it helps to reassure them, and they become more independent.
Trust me, I'm working on it! Need to get a hold of this team. I'm working with someone building an app for Autistic and disabled people, and while a phone is great... this is just... she'll be awestruck.
I have one lead in this area - a former colleague in my robotics institute is clearly working with Sebastian Thrun now judging by the similar photos of bees both of them posted to G+ and FB recently. He also won't tell us which company he works for, so it's a pretty good bet! :-)
I'll see what I can get out of him, but I'm guessing it'll be nothing at all...
This is an awesome market - many of the enabling devices are clunky and terribly expensive - so to come out with something more accessible is wonderful.
I second the parent. This is a use case I, to my embarrassment, would not have thought of.
Regardless of whether or not the Glass team is as oblivious as I am (they're probably not), your passion and drive in this area means you would certainly add value.
Edit: To expand a bit, take an autistic adult that wants to do something, like go to the movies. It's simple for us, we wash up, get dressed, go outside, go down the straight, hope on the 132 Bus for 3 stops, get off, walk 2 blocks, pay for tickets, and go into theater number 5. For someone with autism, they can struggle with things like this. These glasses provide them with visual cues base upon their location, so when they finally do get to the theater, the glasses can show them what to do next, and give them that visual cue.
Currently working on an app for tablets for this sort of things, but having it work in glasses would be simply amazing. God, what I wouldn't give to be apart of this.