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Why I'm Returning Google Glass

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Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#81

Post by dm2 »

guelo wrote: post #47
api wrote: post #29

I actually think industrial applications might be the hidden killer app for augmented reality. Imagine walking around a power plant and seeing your environment annotated: last inspection time for each inspection point, what is flowing through each pipe and its current pressure, etc. Construction sites could be truly amazing.

Glass is not an augmented reality device.

Darn. That's the only reason I would want one...

Why would anyone want to wear glasses to see text-messages instantly?

I use to be a glass enthusiast, but this single limitation is discouraging.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#83

Post by CamperBob2 »

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.

Voice-only is the hardest HCI problem left.

Wouldn't the hardest HCI problem be a direct cortical interface?

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#84

Post by rsl7 »

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…

> 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.

This is an unfinished product and he wants his $ back because the user experience leaves him cold. He's not investing in Google - he's buying an actual product. And clearly he is skeptical that this particular product will ever live up to its potential.

Contrast to the iPhone, yet again (the original). It showed both incredible potential and was an excellent actual product.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#85

Post by maffydub »

driverdan wrote: post #80
maffydub wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? (I'm playing with it as an augmented reality device and have written a calibration library to get the display aligned with the camera - see https://github.com/matt-williams/Optometrist . I've been working on hooking this into OpenCV which I'm hoping to upload in the next few days.) One valid answer to "why not" might be power/heat - if you run it for a long period of time, your battery dies and your hair set…

For one, the positioning of the display and camera. The display is elevated so you don't see it directly in front of you. You have to actively look at it. The camera isn't centered in your face so it doesn't line up with your vision.

I agree the display is only part of your vision. That's suboptimal but I'm not sure it's a showstopper.

The camera not being centered on your face is not insurmountable. (In fact, you'd want it to be centered on your right eye, not your face.) The project I linked to above aligns the camera with your vision. It doesn't currently work for different depths of field, but I'm working on that - this relies on your image recognition being able to determine the depth of the recognized object, e.g. by knowing its physical size.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#86

Post by canvia »

jjindev wrote: post #37
jjindev wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm counting my phone (4.25" diag) as a small tablet. I don't have a bigger one myself, but I see them, especially at parties, in the hands of children. Their ubiquity is growing. I can see room for more devices, fitness bands, etc., but as sensors rather than media. I'm just not seeing them beat the form of the book, magazine, tablet. I mean wrist-watches kind of overloaded their interface after time, date, and dive…

OK, maybe running with a HUD would be fun, current pace, previous pace on course ....

Maybe with a "ghost" feature like from Mario Kart where you can see a representation of your previous runs on the course and compete with them.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#87

Post by maffydub »

Schuback wrote: post #75

I had the unique experience of borrowing a pair of Google Glass for a multi-day hackathon. The very first thing I did was figure out how to develop and install actual Android apps on it, because the "card" system isn't conducive to developing interesting applications. Frankly I'd rather go with a smart watch if cards are all I could do. During my time with Glass I prototyped 3D interactive software where you could lo…

How were you implementing the Canny edge detector? As a GLSL shader or on the CPU?

I implemented a (simple, not quite Canny) edge detector in GLSL and it runs fast enough not to be distracting (https://github.com/matt-williams/Optometrist).

I've tried using OpenCV (which isn't GPU-accelerated on Glass because I think OpenCV is only accelerated on Tegra) - this _was_ too slow.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#88

Post by wpietri »

My personal bet is that Google Glass is the Newton of wearable hardware. It's directionally correct, but way too early for the available hardware and the existing ecosystem, and too expensive as well.

As a happy owner of a Pebble, I definitely get the value of going beyond the phone screen. And as a sci-fi reader, I fully expect that everybody's going to end up spending 99% of their time intimately connected to tech (and the broader world via that tech). But I don't expect head-mounted UIs to be popular outside of tiny niches for 15 years, if ever.

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#89

Post by myko »

ambiate wrote: post #30
lnanek2 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Android SDK works fine with it. Turn on debugging mode on the Glass and code away. Sensors are no problem: http://neatocode.tumblr.com/post/49807659612/secret-sensors-... Google even flat out stated at Google IO that the upcoming GDK will just be the Android SDK plus extra classes you compile against.

OK, now you have got me interested. I really have not heard anything about this. You may have just made my week. I was getting quite depressed about the money I wasted. I can only run APKs on Glass while in USB debug mode? There is no way to actually execute the program again without being in the debugger, correct?

You can install a third party launcher on Glass. Here's one that lets you switch between launching APKs and the standard Glass interface pretty easily:

https://github.com/kaze0/launchy

There's also a Mirror API based Glass app that lets you launch apks, but it's a bit more work setting up. It actually requires you install a couple APKs as well: https://pontedivetro.appspot.com/

Re: Why I'm Returning Google Glass

#90

Post by wpietri »

Zigurd wrote: post #46

"Wearables" in general are going to be a much tougher nut to crack than tablets. Glass is, at least, radical enough to stand a chance. I'd be less sure that a watch is enough of an improvement over taking one's phone out of one's pocket. Also, unlike tablets, which have the obvious business use case of liberating people from the "sit down with your computer" inhibitor to interpersonal interaction, nobody knows whethe…

You know, I bought a Pebble watch so I could help an organization I love (the Long Now) develop a Pebble watch face. I expected to hate it, as I hate most gadgetry.

I've ended up loving it. One of the most annoying things to me about a modern phone is its intrusiveness. Text messages, calendar alerts, phone calls, and other interruptive communications. The Pebble makes all of those notifications a) quiet, and b) subtle. It's fantastic to be in a meeting, see who's calling, and decline the call, all without breaking flow.

I think it will also be good for a variety of special-purpose interfaces. E.g., one person already has built custom software such that when he starts moving on his bike (as triggered by phone-measured movement speed) it switches over to a bike computer display.

And the nice part is that it looks just like a watch. Unlike Glass, people are entirely ok with it.

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