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A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

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Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#71

Post by d23 »

r0s wrote: post #64
resu_nimda wrote: post #44

I am actually pretty shocked at the responses here on HN, of all places. Not because, as technologists we should all automatically love any new technology, but because, as technologists we should have perspective on its inexorable march. How many times have we laughed at definitive statements, pontificating on this or that newfangled thing, that were proven to be wildly off-the-mark only a few years later? How many t…

Just look around at people wearing headphones right now. Have attitudes really changed? As a technologist, do you see someone with headphones and think "progressive"? Of course not, you meerly ignore it unless there's a practical reason to care. Someone on the bus with headphones is likely ignoring everyone else. Someone crossing the street with headphones is likely not paying enough attention to traffic. Is glass di…

> Let's not ignore the elephant in the room here though, glass is far more similar to bluetooth headsets. How are those aging? Do the kids think it's cool?

No, because they have no use for them. There's nothing inherently goofy about them other than that society hasn't made them the norm. It certainly could be said that staring glazed-face at a glowing rectangle in front of you looks dorky as well. But smart phones have become a damn useful device, and that's why no one thinks twice.

Only time will tell with Glass.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#72

Post by d23 »

3pt14159 wrote: post #62
resu_nimda wrote: post #44

I am actually pretty shocked at the responses here on HN, of all places. Not because, as technologists we should all automatically love any new technology, but because, as technologists we should have perspective on its inexorable march. How many times have we laughed at definitive statements, pontificating on this or that newfangled thing, that were proven to be wildly off-the-mark only a few years later? How many t…

It isn't the invasiveness of glass that is the trouble. It's the minimum focal length of the eye and the speed of focusing. I want an overlay that is in focus, not to read email while I'm walking my buddy's dog. Once glass is directly on the optic nerve things will be better.

> Once glass is directly on the optic nerve things will be better.

I really hope we get to see biological interfaces in our lifetimes. If there's a singularity, I'm guessing that's where it'll begin to take off.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#73

Post by mwfunk »

massysett wrote: post #50
ozten wrote: post #25

I think looking at Bluetooth headset adoption would more informative.

I said "Bluetooth, that will never catch on, who wants to go around with a thing in your ear with a flashing blue light? Makes you look like Borg." Now people wear them all day. And I never thought I would see people walking down the street staring at a phone. "That would be dorky." Now people nearly collide with me on sidewalks because they're looking down and, what's more, they eat meals in public places with the p…

They most definitely do not wear Bluetooth earpieces all day. There was a brief period years ago when it was (relatively) a lot more common, but the richly-deserved backlash appears to have mostly eliminated the practice. I can't even think of the last time I encountered someone who just kept it on all the time. Purely anecdotal, but I think I've actually seen people using phone holsters more recently than I've seen anyone walk around with a Bluetooth earpiece when they weren't actively talking on the phone or driving.

Maybe it's regional, I dunno. I'm in the Bay Area FWIW.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#74

Post by username223 »

corresation wrote: post #41
rdl wrote: post #9

Big difference IMO is that the Glass is worn, and even more, is worn on the face, specifically around the eyes. Remember how douchey the bluetooth headset people were? Very small by comparison, and that was mostly hidden if you had long hair, or were viewed directly from the front. The Pebble is about the limit, which is why the wrist-computer thing is so interesting, even though it doesn't provide a huge amount of n…

Remember how douchey the bluetooth headset people were? ... but the kids wearing large, crappy headphones in other environments (e.g. at meals) are kind of pathetic. Isn't this really judgmental? Doesn't this say more about you than about them? I'm completely serious. I do not judge people on the tools they use in their life that is of no consequence to me. The same holds for Google Glass -- it is somewhat perverse,…

> Isn't this really judgmental? Doesn't this say more about you than about them?

Not really. Bluedouches are so self-involved that they don't realize and/or care how annoying it is for them to walk around in public (apparently) loudly talking to themselves. Normally, we only excuse this behavior in schizophrenics.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#75

Post by dhughes »

It was the same with cellphones.

My uncle likes to tell a story of when (sometime before 1985) he had his brick phone and was talking on it in the entrance of a K-Mart.

He was leaning up against a wall back to everyone trying to be discreet with the new fangled invention of a cell phone.

As he was talking an elderly women was lurking behind him, he could hear her looking through her change purse. He said he realized she was waiting for the pay phone she thought he was using.

He left abruptly leaving nothing but the empty space and the wall and shocked the woman who couldn't seem to grasp where the pay phone went.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#76

Post by gfodor »

resu_nimda wrote: post #44

I am actually pretty shocked at the responses here on HN, of all places. Not because, as technologists we should all automatically love any new technology, but because, as technologists we should have perspective on its inexorable march. How many times have we laughed at definitive statements, pontificating on this or that newfangled thing, that were proven to be wildly off-the-mark only a few years later? How many t…

A lot of people who knew the iPhone and iPad were going to be huge also think Glass is doomed for the consumer market.

Sometimes the way you look matters. See: the Segway. It's a threshold. Did headphones really make you look as dorky as the Segway does to your contemporaries? Doubtful. Does Glass? I think it comes close.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#77

Post by wpietri »

dmm wrote: post #10
aresant wrote: post #6

I disagree that people will become comfortable with Google Glass - the primary negative reaction is the voyeuristic-rejection of having a camera always pointed at you (that may or may not be recording). To which the analogy vs. headphones is not relevant. I anticipate, however, that Google (or somebody) will find a way to make this product largely invisible to anybody but the wearer in the near term future. Through m…

I've found that in my own experience that depressed people focus on and recall negative details moreso than the good. This form of selective memory, remember the good things and forgetting the bad, is a primary tool that ordinary people use to stay sane. Something that records everything you do forever has the potential to serious mess with that. Wikipedia calls it the negative triad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memo…

That's interesting!

But at first blush I'm not seeing how it would matter. If I recall rightly, what you remember is partly a function of what you think about. If you're thinking about negative experiences, then you'll retain them. If you think about the positive ones, you'll retain that.

People already have a lot of digital archiving going on in the form of photos, emails, Twitter, Facebook, and the like. Mostly, people just ignore that vast historical trove. I would expect adding more detailed recording not to change the balance much; if people use their archives at all, it will be to seek out the things that they already are inclined to remember.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#78

Post by AngrySkillzz »

[deleted] wrote: post #59
resu_nimda wrote: post #44

I am actually pretty shocked at the responses here on HN, of all places. Not because, as technologists we should all automatically love any new technology, but because, as technologists we should have perspective on its inexorable march. How many times have we laughed at definitive statements, pontificating on this or that newfangled thing, that were proven to be wildly off-the-mark only a few years later? How many t…

[deleted]

You misread.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#79

Post by wpietri »

corresation wrote: post #41
rdl wrote: post #9

Big difference IMO is that the Glass is worn, and even more, is worn on the face, specifically around the eyes. Remember how douchey the bluetooth headset people were? Very small by comparison, and that was mostly hidden if you had long hair, or were viewed directly from the front. The Pebble is about the limit, which is why the wrist-computer thing is so interesting, even though it doesn't provide a huge amount of n…

Remember how douchey the bluetooth headset people were? ... but the kids wearing large, crappy headphones in other environments (e.g. at meals) are kind of pathetic. Isn't this really judgmental? Doesn't this say more about you than about them? I'm completely serious. I do not judge people on the tools they use in their life that is of no consequence to me. The same holds for Google Glass -- it is somewhat perverse,…

The whole point of fashion is to shape how people judge you. If most people weren't affected by it, it wouldn't exist. So if it says something about him, it's only that he's human.

Re: A 33-Year-Old NPR Story Convinced Me Google Glass Will Stop Looking So Dorky

#80

Post by gfodor »

corresation wrote: post #41
rdl wrote: post #9

Big difference IMO is that the Glass is worn, and even more, is worn on the face, specifically around the eyes. Remember how douchey the bluetooth headset people were? Very small by comparison, and that was mostly hidden if you had long hair, or were viewed directly from the front. The Pebble is about the limit, which is why the wrist-computer thing is so interesting, even though it doesn't provide a huge amount of n…

Remember how douchey the bluetooth headset people were? ... but the kids wearing large, crappy headphones in other environments (e.g. at meals) are kind of pathetic. Isn't this really judgmental? Doesn't this say more about you than about them? I'm completely serious. I do not judge people on the tools they use in their life that is of no consequence to me. The same holds for Google Glass -- it is somewhat perverse,…

What's your point? It's irrelevant if thinking someone with a bluetooth headset is douchey is judgmental, the point is if enough people think that's the case, particularly young people, then it's doomed.
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