Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#51

Post by dpezely » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:39 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #37

I can see a great use of this for technical work on hardware that requires huge amounts of documentation (say aircraft maintenance). The glasses the way they're designed are smart, not in between but rather in a fixed spot and only a part of the field of view. I definitely wouldn't want a computer screen between my eyes and 'the real world' in normal day to day life. Believing what my eyes see is important to me and…

Chris Esposito at Boeing in the early 1990's worked on such a project: aircraft maintenance augmented using "VR glasses" concurrently developed at the Human Interface Technology Lab in Seattle.

I suspect that this is his profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/chris-esposito/5/673/785

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#52

Post by gilrain » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:40 PM UTC

sebastianavina wrote: post #36

I just want to lay on the beach this vacations, but my cellphone doesn't stop to ring, I'm attached to my job with my cellphone, and if I turn it off, it's just rude. This glasses are a real nightmare for me.

This is a problem with your job or possibly your work ethic, not your phone.

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#53

Post by saturdaysaint » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:40 PM UTC

I don't know whether to be encouraged or disturbed by the notion of having wearable cameras become socially acceptable. On one hand, I would think this could be a major crime deterrent - the idea of a "witness" could become quaint as any crime could easily be captured with a time/location stamp.

But it could also be a major altering of norms. Are women comfortable with the idea that any guy looking at them on the street can capture their image?

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#54

Post by Androsynth » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:41 PM UTC

nextparadigms wrote: post #34

hswolff wrote: post #25

>“We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input,” the three employees wrote. “Please follow along as we share some of our ideas and stories. We’d love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass?” Why would you ask that? This type of product is so different from what's available on the market that I doubt the Project Glass team woul…

If Google is smart, they would keep this for themselves, and sell the hardware themselves for a nice Apple-like profit. From the way it looks, I'm sure people will be more than happy to pay a bit extra - especially if it takes a few years for others to catch-up, like it happened versus the iPhone. Also, I assume this is going to work with a data plan as well? Well at least this time I really hope Google will not give…

Google and Apple have fundamentally different business models. One sells hardware and one sells advertising. I would imagine Google's goal will be to put these glasses on as many people as they can, as cheaply as they can and then they have a direct advertising connection to a lot of eyeballs.

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#55

Post by jasonlotito » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:43 PM UTC

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.

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#56

Post by andreyf » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:43 PM UTC

hswolff wrote: post #25

>“We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input,” the three employees wrote. “Please follow along as we share some of our ideas and stories. We’d love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass?” Why would you ask that? This type of product is so different from what's available on the market that I doubt the Project Glass team woul…

From a marketing perspective, it's a greater blunder still: asking people to think about what they'd want Glass to do it will quickly set expectations well beyond what's technologically feasible for an initial product. That and the wishful concept video almost guarantee the initial product will be a disappointment. And that's a damn shame, because given Google's talent, it'll nevertheless be a engineering feat of epic proportion.

That said, perhaps Google doesn't care about releasing perfectly marketed hit products a la Apple. If wearable computers catch on that make it easier to check-in to the places you go and +1 the stuff you like, they'll make tons more money from useful targeted ads than units of hardware shipped, just as they do now.

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#57

Post by Symmetry » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:45 PM UTC

teej wrote: post #39

switz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The automated car has driven over 200,000 miles and has never once been in an accident. I don't know many humans that can live up to that.

200k miles is nothing. Over 8 billion vehicle miles are spent per DAY in the US. One person is killed for every 75 million miles driven. 200k miles isn't enough to test every terrain, under every weather condition, in every lighting, etc. There's too many variables in the equation. The Google car won't be truly safe until it has logged 1000x miles.

Its not that Google's automated cars haven't been in an fatal crash, its that they haven't been in a crash at all. The US _crash rate_ is a bit over 5 per million miles traveled, you you would expect about one crash in the 200k miles already covered if it was a human driver. The circumstances probably aren't identical, but what evidence we have suggests that these automated vehicles are at least comparably safe to a human driver.

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#58

Post by jonknee » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:52 PM UTC

switz wrote: post #29

jonknee wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you don't ship when it still kills people. Google launches stuff in betas all the time (arguably too much and for too long), but I'm glad they're not out there letting anyone test self driving cars or augmented reality contacts. Apple's difference isn't that they iterate, it's that they don't talk about their new stuff until it ships.

The automated car has driven over 200,000 miles and has never once been in an accident. I don't know many humans that can live up to that.

In very carefully controlled conditions with carefully controlled equipment. Supervised by experts. That's different than a bunch of people modding their Civics and having them roam the streets.

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#59

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:57 PM UTC

Androsynth wrote: post #54

nextparadigms wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Google is smart, they would keep this for themselves, and sell the hardware themselves for a nice Apple-like profit. From the way it looks, I'm sure people will be more than happy to pay a bit extra - especially if it takes a few years for others to catch-up, like it happened versus the iPhone. Also, I assume this is going to work with a data plan as well? Well at least this time I really hope Google will not give…

Google and Apple have fundamentally different business models. One sells hardware and one sells advertising. I would imagine Google's goal will be to put these glasses on as many people as they can, as cheaply as they can and then they have a direct advertising connection to a lot of eyeballs.

[deleted]

Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses

#60

Post by trothamel » Wed, Apr 04, 2012, 5:57 PM UTC

jasonlotito wrote: post #55

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,…

I suspect that this will be a huge benefit to deaf people as well, once speech recognition works well enough.