This looks something like the TEDx Sixth Sense by Pranav Mistry.
http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potenti...
Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
281–290 of 305 posts
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple creates bombs all the time: the G4 Cube, iPod Socks, iPod Hi-Fi, iAds. They create enough other things that don't bomb to make up for it. But you're right that Apple's way is only one way, and it's non-obvious how to go about replicating their processes even if you wanted to. If anything should be learned from Apple, it's every aspect of the experience should be considered part of the product, including anticip…
I think Apple's hype machine however can also lead to problems, because it can raise expectations so high that nothing they release can match it. You're already starting to see some of that. With both the iPad and iPhone, Apple is mostly just doing refinements now: change the radio, bump the screen res, bump the CPU clock. It's not disruptive or revolutionary anymore, it's just evolution. You're already starting to s…
This seems like a perfect example of overhype. Without tangible details about the device and it's actual capabilities, we are left to wonder what is possible, and many of us will be let down since you can't pack a thousand features into the glasses.
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think Apple's hype machine however can also lead to problems, because it can raise expectations so high that nothing they release can match it. You're already starting to see some of that. With both the iPad and iPhone, Apple is mostly just doing refinements now: change the radio, bump the screen res, bump the CPU clock. It's not disruptive or revolutionary anymore, it's just evolution. You're already starting to s…
This seems like a perfect example of overhype. Without tangible details about the device and it's actual capabilities, we are left to wonder what is possible, and many of us will be let down since you can't pack a thousand features into the glasses.
I highly doubt they will "pack features into the glasses". If I were to guess, they will pack them into a smartphone platform which communicates with the glasses over bluetooth. That is, the glasses will be a peripheral of the smartphone.
Also, nothing they showed was very exotic. Google already has walking navigation. Google already has Hangouts, Screen Sharing. Google already has Goggles image recognition. The only 'sci fi' element was the always-on microphone handling Siri-like queries. They could have showed a lot more crazy stuff: face detection, augmented reality tracking, augmented reality games. They didn't show anything that isn't technically possibly to achieve. It's rather mundane if you think about the features they showed as applications on your phone instead of displayed on your eye glasses. The only thing different is the input/output device.
Apple announced the iPhone 6 months before you could buy it. The initial version didn't do much beside fixed functions and Web browsing. It wasn't until the App Economy that it's potential was unlocked. People speculated for months about app development only to be told much much later that there was none. People speculated over flash. Over Java support. MMS messaging. In fact, I have an old post from 2007 exactly discussing all of this naysaying due to speculation: http://cromwellian.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html
I think Google has actually put forward a very pragmatic concept video that is fully realizable, albeit with latencies and delays and voice recognition accuracies that don't quite match up to the real world (but even Apple commercials show apps serving up answers faster than they do in reality)
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
From a marketing perspective, it's a greater blunder still: asking people to think about what they'd want Glass to do it will quickly set expectations well beyond what's technologically feasible for an initial product. That and the wishful concept video almost guarantee the initial product will be a disappointment. And that's a damn shame, because given Google's talent, it'll nevertheless be a engineering feat of epi…
"And that's a damn shame, because given Google's talent, it'll nevertheless be a engineering feat of epic proportion." You know, I have respect for the people Google employs - they are certainly a very talented bunch. But what has Google ever engineered, at least physically, that has set your expectations so high?
I wonder if Google will end up going the same route as Philips.
I'm from the home-town of Philips, the company that became big selling light-bulbs but then expanded into a myriad of great technical innovations.
We were always joking however about how they were able to make the greatest products, but were never able to sell them.
There are so many examples of absolutely great products/innovations which were eventually canned or, if they weren't IP protected, were successfully released to market several years later by a competitor.
I really hope Google doesn't fall into this trap, because the even the greatest still need to be sold...
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#285A big question is how soon these can function as a standalone device, or whether they would be tethered to a phone in your pocket first.
Otherwise, are they much more than a head mount display accessory for Android?
Head mount displays for mobile computers have been in industrial use for some time - e.g. http://www.stereo3d.com/hmd.htm
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#286Why would the largest advertising company in the world want to place a screen between my eyeballs and reality?
I think that big media corporations (owning dozens of TV and radio stations, newspapers and magaiznes) are still largest advertising companies in the world. Whether you count it by money flow, reach or anything else.
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#287Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why government regulation can be healthy. Ideally, ad replacement like what you described would be illegal. In a purely capitalist world it would be encouraged. Apologies for getting political. But you paint an all-too-possible picture that's worryingly dystopic.
Wrong. In a purely capitalist world, you can choose to avoid the product or use a competing product, or pay more for a premium service without ads. Thinking that government regulation can be healthy is a horribly naive and extremely dangerous idea.
> Thinking that government regulation can be healthy is a horribly naive and extremely dangerous idea.
I assume you don't mean for this to apply to others areas, like food and drug inspection, vehicle safety standards, etc.
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe Google has higher ambitions than selling advertising for the next 3 decades. They didn't buy Motorola just for patents, and to me they seem to be increasingly more interested in the physical world. I don't think it's a stretch to think that they want to make and sell physical products.
Yeah, the more I think about these glasses the more the Motorola acquisition makes sense. If you look at some of the products Motorola makes, eg: http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and... You can see it is a fairly short leap to producing all manner of interesting hardware, including AR glasses. I think Google is starting to realise that so many of their ventures are getting stymied by depending…
I think this Motorola product is even more relevant:
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#289But wouldnt this make people wearing it, more prone to accident... you are driving and someone pings you on Google+, the message appears on google glasses and you appear next to God !! :)
Re: Google Begins Testing Its Augmented Reality Glasses
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple creates bombs all the time: the G4 Cube, iPod Socks, iPod Hi-Fi, iAds. They create enough other things that don't bomb to make up for it. But you're right that Apple's way is only one way, and it's non-obvious how to go about replicating their processes even if you wanted to. If anything should be learned from Apple, it's every aspect of the experience should be considered part of the product, including anticip…
I think Apple's hype machine however can also lead to problems, because it can raise expectations so high that nothing they release can match it. You're already starting to see some of that. With both the iPad and iPhone, Apple is mostly just doing refinements now: change the radio, bump the screen res, bump the CPU clock. It's not disruptive or revolutionary anymore, it's just evolution. You're already starting to s…
Apple has no hype machine. The machine is created and operated by media, pundits and so-called experts and analysts. This probably helps Apple more than hurts, but the company gets some bad press just because someone dreamt up what will Cupertino release and then feel cheated when cancer-curing-iPhone-GazillionS does not show up.
And you are right about refinements. There is a nice piece just about that: http://tidbits.com/article/12856