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Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

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11–20 of 342 posts

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#11

> (Spiegel argues that rectangles are an unnecessary vestige of printing photos on sheets of paper.) It's also the shape of nearly all screens in the world. Perhaps I'm not visionary enough, but I don't foresee a circular computer or phone screen really improving the current situation...

How about a very large watch screen, going with the wearable theme...

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#12
Even thought I'm not "inb4" Glass comparisons this really does hit a market that I think is untapped. I used to have a "flipcam". It was before I had a phone with the ability to take HD video and before a GoPro was a choice for me because of cost (I still don't have a GoPro).

The ability to have cheaper, stylish, handsfree video recording of my POV has a lot of potential. How-to videos, the "capturing memories" as noted in the article, even just easily recording benign life experiences (police stops, for instance) seamlessly and without hassle is huge.

I do hope there is a tattletale light or something so that the average user can't surreptitiously record things and otherwise easy privacy controls... and I hope it's not long before someone hacks this or they unlock the product to do more than 10 second clips...

If I were GoPro I'd be nervous.

Edit: Actually a second thought- this would be a lot better than body cams in a lot of situations (or certainly a good companion) because it would capture the officer's line of sight.

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#13

I think this is significantly better than what Google did with Google Glass. It's better because it focuses on the one thing that is really easy to do well. It does not try to do everything at once. It doesn't try to give you apps in your glasses and everything under the sun. This is the right approach to products. Do one thing but do that well. Before you criticize me think back to the original iPhone, it didn't sta…

Of course, Glass took significant heat over the fact that it had a camera that you can record people without them knowing (except that it was quite obvious when Glass was 'on'). This thing appeals to have two cameras, and given that it just does video recording, it might be able to be on significantly longer. I wonder if it has any privacy safeguards, like a red led indicating recording in progress?

I think the privacy safeguard here is that they're nothing but a camera, so if you're interacting with somebody who's wearing them you can assume you're being filmed.

Glass's problem was that it was a device that you were supposed to wear all the time, and a camera.

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#16

> (Spiegel argues that rectangles are an unnecessary vestige of printing photos on sheets of paper.) It's also the shape of nearly all screens in the world. Perhaps I'm not visionary enough, but I don't foresee a circular computer or phone screen really improving the current situation...

Its been done. The first CRTs were circular. Take a look at this one on a PDP-1 from 1959: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-1#/media/File:PDP-1.jpg (yes, that thing next to the typewriter)

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#17

I think this is significantly better than what Google did with Google Glass. It's better because it focuses on the one thing that is really easy to do well. It does not try to do everything at once. It doesn't try to give you apps in your glasses and everything under the sun. This is the right approach to products. Do one thing but do that well. Before you criticize me think back to the original iPhone, it didn't sta…

It also doesn't look nearly as dorky as Google Glass did. Google Glass had the problem where it was trying to be an all-purpose life-enhancing thing that people would wear all the time, so it was trying to be both invisible and distinctive. This doesn't need to pretend to be something that you can forget you're wearing or something that you can pair with any type of outfit -- it has a strong sense of style, and it's…

This is a dead-end product.

People aren't going to wear this, because they don't want to creep out people by having a camera pointed at them all the time.

This was the real problem with Google Glass.

Also, everyone already carries around a camera in their smartphone. They aren't going to add another.

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#18
Snapchat has a huge opportunity in its hand which it has limited to take full advantage of: starting a revenue share program with influencers on the platform. Facebook has yet to do it and Snapchat, which is strapped with VC dollars, can attract a lot more influencers to its platform. I think the companies on the Discover are already in some sort of revenue sharing agreement with Snapchat but brining this to the massive number of young influencers unlocks huge opportunities for Snapchat.

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also doesn't look nearly as dorky as Google Glass did. Google Glass had the problem where it was trying to be an all-purpose life-enhancing thing that people would wear all the time, so it was trying to be both invisible and distinctive. This doesn't need to pretend to be something that you can forget you're wearing or something that you can pair with any type of outfit -- it has a strong sense of style, and it's…

This is a dead-end product. People aren't going to wear this, because they don't want to creep out people by having a camera pointed at them all the time. This was the real problem with Google Glass. Also, everyone already carries around a camera in their smartphone. They aren't going to add another.

Famous last words on this product.

I obviously don't agree with you based on my previous comment but I could be wrong. I will say this though that we all vastly underestimate what people want to do and share with each other. This is the company that spawned the self deleting video. I thought that was the dumbest idea ever. My point is privacy is something they thought of and this isn't as dumb as it looks.

This product could evolve to become more than meets the eye. No pun intended.

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