I used Google Glass • Hacker News Board

Re: I used Google Glass

#151

Post by bsimpson » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 3:00 AM UTC

saalweachter wrote: post #97

bsimpson wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything with an off-switch can be offed. Anything else can have the batter run down. If it's a safety device on another piece of hardware, like a GPS tracker for a bike, they can always destroy the tracker separately from the item.

Yeah, but people aren't stealing a smart phone to power off and display on their mantle, or trade inert as a representational currency, and you can hardly smash the GPS out of it. People are stealing smart phones to use, or to sell to other people to use. Local hardware access is ultimately unbeatable, but it should at least be hard .

It looks like Apple and the NYPD have been collaborating here:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/22/4018190/nypd-apple-squad-f...

The problem with a phone is that you can put it in airplane mode and then factory reset it. Also, it's pocketable, so it's easy to hide, even if someone found the general location of the phone.

Re: I used Google Glass

#152

Post by aggie » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 3:26 AM UTC

dev1n wrote: post #125

molbioguy wrote: post #100

If someone is being photographed, is there any way for that person to know that Google Glass is recording video? I would feel really uncomfortable if a colleague had Google Glass on at a meeting or at lunch or in my office, unless I knew I wasn't being recorded. The privacy concerns on this are enormous in my view.

From a legal context, is someone's right to privacy thrown out the window every time they go outside? If so, then the legal issues with people videotaping other people would be almost zero, which IMO is kind of odd to think about.

>From a legal context, is someone's right to privacy thrown out the window every time they go outside?

Yes. You may be photographed or filmed not only when you are in public, but when you are in view of a photographer who is on public ground. The exception is when you are in a place where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy such as dressing rooms, restrooms, or your home.

Source: http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf

Re: I used Google Glass

#153

Post by drucken » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 4:50 AM UTC

jkn wrote: post #135

huhtenberg wrote: post #30

Google should really make a camera-less version of the Glass. Portable eye-level display is insanely useful. But if it's burdened with something that is viewed by many as a source of privacy concerns, it would just hinder the adoption. It will make the Glass banned from corporate environments, planes and basically every place that has "no cameras" signs. Like supermarkets.

It will make the Glass banned from corporate environments, planes and basically every place that has "no cameras" signs. Like supermarkets. What about mobile phones then?

It is quite obvious when someone is trying to record you with a mobile phone or normal camera as well as it just being plain inconvenient.

Something like Google Glass's eye-level form factor is made to be as convenient, discrete and available as possible.

Re: I used Google Glass

#154

Post by hudell » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 4:51 AM UTC

ryusage wrote: post #61

hudell wrote: post #32

Why do people care so much about how they will look with it? I couldn't care less about that.

Because most people care very much about social relationships, and like it or not, other people just naturally tend to be put off by things that look strange or unattractive. You might decide you genuinely don't care what anyone thinks of you, but realistically speaking that's a somewhat unusual stance.

I get that, but the way people talked about it, I though it was something really horrible. And it turns out it is just a little different. I have used some way more strange stuff in this life of mine.

Re: I used Google Glass

#155

Post by nooneelse » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 5:18 AM UTC

pasbesoin wrote: post #78

liber8 wrote: post #51

I'm not sure why I haven't seen this addressed yet, but doesn't the widespread use of something like Glass portend the dramatic fall of the prevalence of street crime? Widespread use of CCTV cameras are one thing, but millions of eye-level recording devices (presumably automatically beamed to the cloud at some point), would seem to me to be a major deterrent to all sorts of street crime. I can see this effecting not…

If you want a "professional's" speculation on this, read David Brin's "Earth". It's several years old, now, but this type of technology is one of the topics it took in fairly head on fashion, if also somewhat incidental to the main plot.

Or his non-science-fiction speculations on such matters in The Transparent Society. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transparent_Society)

Re: I used Google Glass

#156

Post by tjoff » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 9:01 AM UTC

randallsquared wrote: post #113

oinksoft wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's awful. For ages, we've worried about The Government mounting cameras everywhere until the only private space was one's own home, and away from windows at that. 1984 famously envisioned a world where this surveillance extended to the domicile, but even then it was stationary and had blind spots. Seems that in the near future, there will be little need for any of this, and there will be no coercion; rather, most o…

Most of the evil that was thought to come from universal recording was because of the centralized nature of the recording. Widespread public feeds do not have the same inhibiting effect on desirable behavior, but might well have that inhibiting effect on undesirable behavior (where global society increasingly defines what "undesirable" means). Universal sousveillance is the best of both worlds! David Brin called this…

Just like you really don't have any control over anything related to your smartphone today you won't have control over your glasses...

The only difference is that google will be the central hub, not your government. And rest assured that the government will have access to it as well. So...

Re: I used Google Glass

#157

Post by tjoff » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 9:03 AM UTC

isaacwaller wrote: post #85

oinksoft wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's awful. For ages, we've worried about The Government mounting cameras everywhere until the only private space was one's own home, and away from windows at that. 1984 famously envisioned a world where this surveillance extended to the domicile, but even then it was stationary and had blind spots. Seems that in the near future, there will be little need for any of this, and there will be no coercion; rather, most o…

I disagree that the technology is currently dangerous as very few people would opt to allow the government to view their video feed. It is as you say - something right out of 1984 - and most people would recognize that and not give permission. Unless the video is uploaded without the user's knowledge, I think we do not have to worry about government usage of these cameras.

Opt to allow?! What planet are you from?

Re: I used Google Glass

#158

Post by eavc » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 4:25 PM UTC

rednukleus wrote: post #69

thedufer wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> losing data or experiencing slow data on a phone put the headset into a near-unusable state This makes me think that the voice processing is done server-side. I wouldn't be at all surprised by this; that's how Siri does it, and I would be amazed if they managed to fit good enough voice recognition into even a phone, let alone this tiny thing.

Google voice recognition can be done offline on phones now.

Is there some way to activate this option? Sometimes it seems my voice input is bottlenecked by the connection when I'm driving in a low-coverage area.

Re: I used Google Glass

#159

Post by WickyNilliams » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 6:46 PM UTC

purplelobster wrote: post #130

liber8 wrote: post #51

I'm not sure why I haven't seen this addressed yet, but doesn't the widespread use of something like Glass portend the dramatic fall of the prevalence of street crime? Widespread use of CCTV cameras are one thing, but millions of eye-level recording devices (presumably automatically beamed to the cloud at some point), would seem to me to be a major deterrent to all sorts of street crime. I can see this effecting not…

Watch the 3rd episode in the first season of "Black Mirror" to see some of the downsides of 24/7 video recording.

And to a certain degree the 2nd episode of the second season. Whilst it's not entirely central to the plot, it is touched upon with the pervasive recording via mobile phone.

Re: I used Google Glass

#160

Post by huggah » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 11:58 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #80

huggah wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single person I have talked to who has used glass for more than a few days has found the instant camera to be the most compelling feature of Glass. The author of this article did as well! In that context, I can't see how it makes sense to offer a camera-less version, at least not at launch.

> Every single person I have talked to who has used glass for more than a few days Are you on the project Glass team or something? :) Have these persons commented on the actual display quality? The resolution, the color depth and so on. There's suspiciously ZERO in-use shots of the display as seen by the wearer. Makes you wonder why.

No, but I work at Google, and I'm interested, so I've had lots of chances to play with it and talk with people who are on the team or are in the dogfood.

ETA response to the second question: I'm very happy with the display. That's probably as much as I should say, and I don't know the actual details anyway.