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Why I'm Returning Google Glass

internetevolution.com

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Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#61

Post by ericd »

aetherson wrote: post #56
guelo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glass is not an augmented reality device.

Totally. I kind of want to start every comment on every thread on HN with "Glass is not an augmented reality device." I've worn one (very briefly) now, and let me be very clear: you can not superimpose labels or images on anything you see in daily life with Glass. This is a physical limitation of the hardware, and it is absolute. This hardware will never, ever, ever be able to do that. And it's unclear to me if the h…

Not really true, I have one that I wear regularly, and it could be used as one in limited fashion.

There's also a little Easter Egg in it that lets you see the entire Glass team, and look around at them, up, down, etc. and it's pretty engrossing, so you can use it as limited VR as well.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#63

Post by psbp »

alxbrun wrote: post #41

I think the biggest problem is this swiping thing. Imagine Apple had released the first iPhone with a mouse plugged to it. It's a pure betrayal of the original Glass vision, where all user => machine communication goes through voice.

I really want to see glass interact with your phone so that you can perform minute actions like pinching and zooming or turning on certain camera features with your phone still in your pocket.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#65

Post by PebblesRox »

acuozzo wrote: post #33
uptown wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tablets may be a dominant form for quite a while, but how can you possibly think tablets are all there will ever be?

The UI in the NCC-1701-D is basically thousands upon thousands of mounted iPads with a really, really advanced version Siri installed. I'd be OK with that kind of future.

Yeah but don't forget what else was in that future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT-wfcujaNE Wouldn't you at least want to try it out?

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#66

Post by brandynwhite »

ChikkaChiChi wrote: post #40
brandynwhite wrote: post #25

I've been wearing glass for a while now and am active in development (see http://openglass.us ), there are a few select groups of people I'd recommend it to at this point: developers (it's a fun/simple/exciting platform to write for), researchers (just like with the kinect, it makes it much easier to reproduce experiments), people who are constantly running around town while being in contact with others (business/sal…

Your point about notifications is an issue that's been on my mind. Notification convergence and awareness of your current context is something that I've been trying to figure out for some time. We have all these things and yet none of them seem to be able to each other (and/or without serious battery consumption) where I am, what I am doing, and how best to let me know a thing has happened.

We are working on something related for OpenGlass, using your location, images, and sensor info to better understand your context. We'll be posting a new video this weekend with details. The new motorola phone is moving that way too (knows when you are driving, etc). Also related is https://ifttt.com/.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#67

Post by robg »

psbp wrote: post #60
robg wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call it a professional environment and I think that's where we will see the first true impact of wearable computing. Your examples are two good ones. And of course people have mentioned hospitals. Just consider every profession where a desk jockey is not the norm. That's police, firemen, first responders, military, teachers, etc. Heck, why not cashiers and even bar tenders? Then again, I'm biased. We're building and…

I think it even has potential for a desk job. Having your workflow preserved as what you actually see instead of what you happen to save would be a huge time saver for forgetful people like me. Especially for artists, designers, and maybe even engineers. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to see what I was doing when I started to screw something up.

Definitely utility there, but I assume there's always room for bigger and conformable screens, gestural UIs, etc.

When you're walking around all the time, not having to hold something is a pretty huge selling point.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#68

Post by at-fates-hands »

Navarr wrote: post #7
pkfrank wrote: post #2

>It feels very prototype-ish and I can't help but feel that it's the precursor to something better Google might even be working on now as we try these. ^^ This is totally the point of this run of Google Glass. While this is a fair and worthwhile personal essay, I don't think it's a particularly impactful statement about the potential of the product. He's basically saying that, for $1500, he wants to be blown away now…

I'm trying to understand why or how he got it. Was he an #ifihadglass winner? Was he just a lucky individual at Google IO that decided to plop down the cash for what was definitely a developer-device? I can understand that he doesn't think it's worth the price - because for a normal consumer it isn't. But I don't understand why he would have gotten it in the first place when it was so clearly limited in scope.

>>>>>I can understand that he doesn't think it's worth the price - because for a normal consumer it isn't. But I don't understand why he would have gotten it in the first place when it was so clearly limited in scope.

Also keep in mind more and more places are banning them over privacy concerns. How bad would that suck you drop $1500 and you can't even use it most of the time since so many places are banning them?

http://www.fastcompany.com/3009432/tech-forecast/tracking-th...

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#69

Post by alxbrun »

robg wrote: post #52
alxbrun wrote: post #41

I think the biggest problem is this swiping thing. Imagine Apple had released the first iPhone with a mouse plugged to it. It's a pure betrayal of the original Glass vision, where all user => machine communication goes through voice.

Voice-only is the hardest HCI problem left. Just consider the challenge as an English speaker, with 18 years of experience, of traveling from Alabama to New York to London and Wales and Scotland and Ireland to Mumbai and Kerala to Cairns and Sidney and Auckland.

True, but in the case of Glass the speaker is always the same (it's the owner) so you can learn and adapt the acoustic model over time. I'm wondering btw if Google doesn't do that already for Android's built-in speech recognition, which accuracy is amazing.

The other problem is that apps cannot (at least for now) change the language model, so Glass will always be in either "search" or "dictation" mode.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#70

Post by jojanos »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #38
mikeevans wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like he was an #ifihadglass winner: http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=1047&...

And it was a "whim" and his idea was to write a journal (which presumably gets page views) and so he gets one, and now he's publicly returning it, and getting lots of page views and his money back. All in all, the cynic in me thinks things are going as planned. He is effectively out no money, and yet he's picked up a bunch of traffic. Internet win.

This guy actually does that for a living. He is currently testing a new product called Helpouts that allows you to charge for support using Hangouts in G+. Looks mildly interesting and more useful then Glass.
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