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Project Tango

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Re: Project Tango

#171

Post by psbp »

rl3 wrote: post #99
skywhopper wrote: post #26

I wish I could go back to the time when I thought this kind of thing was awesome. Nowadays, it's just one more aspect of our private lives that'll be stored on Google's (or whomever) servers, sold to advertisers, harvested by the NSA, and abused by law enforcement. Add some object recognition to the 3D scanning, and you can start getting marketing messages about how much better [Featured Brand]'s refrigerator would s…

I suppose the good news is that 3D point cloud data in context of a public setting wouldn't be much more invasive than the already-pervasive video surveillance we have today. The bad news is as you say: having mapping data of your private residence siphoned off by third parties, be it government or private industry. I would say I'm as excited as I am worried about the potential for this technology. That said, I think…

Did HN react to the Kinect or Kinect 2 this way? It seems like there's a lot of burden put on Google to not do stuff that could be creepy even though that's all they do.

Re: Project Tango

#172

Post by esemiss »

ForHackernews wrote: post #153
magicalist wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it won't do it at all? The closest analog would be the Android camera, and it asks if you want to turn on autoupload or whatever. And it doesn't upload at all if the camera is being used by an app, even if you have that turned on, which would be the same case if people build apps to use this device.

> The closest analog would be the Android camera I disagree. The closest analog is the Google location services, which continuously uploads data about your position and local wifi networks to Google, and is not very transparent about what it's doing: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384751,00.asp

That's nothing, they actually track store visits now to monetize ads. And if you opt out then a lot of things including Google Now stop working.

http://digiday.com/platforms/google-tracking/

I find it odd that stories like that don't get much exposure on HN unlike negative stories about Apple, Facebook, Microsoft etc.

Re: Project Tango

#173

Post by JshWright »

Crito wrote: post #136
JshWright wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about a HUD that projects a map onto a firefighter's SCBA facepice? That would be absolutely incredible... Firefighters die every year because they get disoriented and lost in zero-visibility conditions. Even if it didn't have a pre-generated map of the structure loaded... it could build a map as it went, and at least be able to provide a 'retrace my steps' view.

I wonder at what point ITAR kicks in for that sort of firefighter equipment. I know traditional night-vision is covered, and I can certainly see "smoke-vision" having straightforward military applications.

This is an issue with current firefighting technology. Thermal imaging cameras are quite common in the fire service. Most manufacturers limit the frame rate of the camera to 9fps or less, as this falls beneath the 'fast camera' spec for ITAR.

Re: Project Tango

#175

Post by sirkneeland »

I swear you could just write a "HN comment generator" script for these sorts of articles:

input: $new_google_tech

output string: "$new_google_tech will let Google know more about you! I disapprove! Also, NSA."

Repeat. Occasionally sprinkle with insightful comment about the actual technology being introduced.

Re: Project Tango

#176

Post by emehrkay »

esemiss wrote: post #172
ForHackernews wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The closest analog would be the Android camera I disagree. The closest analog is the Google location services, which continuously uploads data about your position and local wifi networks to Google, and is not very transparent about what it's doing: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384751,00.asp

That's nothing, they actually track store visits now to monetize ads. And if you opt out then a lot of things including Google Now stop working. http://digiday.com/platforms/google-tracking/ I find it odd that stories like that don't get much exposure on HN unlike negative stories about Apple, Facebook, Microsoft etc.

See. This is the stuff that I don't like. While Tango is cool, self-driving cars are cool, and Google Fiber is needed, I feel like Google is only doing these things to collect data about me.

Re: Project Tango

#178

Post by [deleted] »

groby_b wrote: post #109
evanlivingston wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the application beyond gaming. The other applications discussed are basically shopping. Essentially this would make it much easier to represent the physical world digitally. But what use cases does a consumer or the average phone user have for digital representations of the physical space around them, particularly given that the user is already aware of the the physical space around them? How can t…

* Mapping the physical world Ever wanted a floor plan for your home? Just wave your phone around. * Visual annotation Add direction overlays, see the plan for a play your team is executing on the helmet HUD, highlight "dangerous"(weaving, too fast, whatnot) drivers on the car HUD. * Integrate sensor data to extend human perception Add an IR overlay. Sample sound across the room, do a volumetric display of noise level…

[deleted]

Re: Project Tango

#179

Post by waterlesscloud »

blhack wrote: post #165
SiVal wrote: post #53

"Imagine measuring your room by just walking around in it." Yes, and imagine transmitting each of those footsteps in real time back to Google, so they can have a map of your room, too, in case they, or other parties, ever need it. I was just having a discussion yesterday with a friend who works at Google about what data they store when you query their search engine. Every single keystroke, including backspaces, is st…

Good god I am so sick of reading comments like this. This view of the world is just lazy . Almost as lazy as "remember, if you're using a service for free, you're not the customer, YOU'RE THE PRODUCT!", which seems to get parroted every single time there is any discussion related to google, facebook, microsoft, instagram, twitter, or any other web company that uses ads as a revenue model. Yes, google can know what yo…

"...ever considered the possibility that the people running google are actually just hackers who got lucky enough to have the resources to pursue projects that they think are cool?"

Given that he said that, yes, he probably has considered it.

You're reacting reflexively here.

There's ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with considering the potential problems along with the benefits. In fact, it's extremely shallow not to.

Re: Project Tango

#180

Post by fudged71 »

deletes wrote: post #154

I understand the idea that you can get the exact positions of the surrounding, if you have an accurate position of the device. But how are they achieving that? I don't know of any such small tech capable of being accurate to 1cm, without external help. I don't see how can they do this without an accurate position of the device. An example when it breaks down without the position information: Pointing the device perpe…

I'm sure tiny gyros and accelerometers have improved in the past couple years. They've probably advanced dead-reckoning using existing sensors. And maybe they can use both front and back cameras for position information.
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