Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 89 posts

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#31

Post by intoverflow2 »

jpatokal wrote: post #28

> That’s why the first memorable photos of Spectacles weren’t shot by Scoble, but by famous fashion photographer Karl Lagerfeld. How soon we forget: Google Glass actually collaborated with Diane von Furstenberg (a famous fashion designer) and did a launch party at New York Fashion Week. https://www.fastcompany.com/3001142/google-glass-hits-runway... But Google positioned Glass as a platform for apps, meaning they had…

>How soon we forget: Google Glass actually collaborated with Diane von Furstenberg (a famous fashion designer) and did a launch party at New York Fashion Week.

They still courted the tech press massively though, none of us remember that fashion week launch. But we all remember the guy screaming in the shower and Sergey on stage wearing Glass with Crocs.

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#32

Post by intoverflow2 »

drivingmenuts wrote: post #10

Did they fix the privacy issues that arose with Google glasses or is everyone just conveniently forgetting that?

The problem with glass was it tried to hide itself.

Spectacles are big and loud, they're the fashion equivalent of your face chanting "WORLD STAR! WORLD STAR!". You're going to be noticed wearing them and people will know what they're in for.

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#34

Post by ethanbond »

vostok wrote: post #16
dragonwriter wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am somewhat amused by this because I've been a liberal and nerd my whole life, participated extensively in liberal activist circles, and never once encountered this among liberals (the closest to this I've seen would be some segments of the community's reaction to perceived ivory tower intellectuals that are distant from pragmatics, but even that isn't so much an othering as a sometimes white-hot debate about prior…

Even as a liberal I think there's actually something to this idea. You can see it with things like the financial transaction tax proposals that are clearly meant to hurt nerdy HFTs rather than affect banks. I think part of it is that nerdy HFTs aren't eloquent enough to explain what they're doing and how it benefits the world.

I would love to hear an explanation of how beating the next guy by 1ms is helping the world enough to justify obscene payouts.

Go for it.

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#35

Post by alexandersingh »

makapuf wrote: post #29
jpatokal wrote: post #28

> That’s why the first memorable photos of Spectacles weren’t shot by Scoble, but by famous fashion photographer Karl Lagerfeld. How soon we forget: Google Glass actually collaborated with Diane von Furstenberg (a famous fashion designer) and did a launch party at New York Fashion Week. https://www.fastcompany.com/3001142/google-glass-hits-runway... But Google positioned Glass as a platform for apps, meaning they had…

Besides, Karl lagerfeld is a famous fashion designer (couturier) that happens to take photos, not a photographer.

I think he'd disagree with you :P

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#36

Post by forgottenpass »

farright wrote: post #7

>If you want to make something cool, don’t give it to geeks first. Does anyone else get really tired of stuff like this? Why is it that every possible difference is celebrated except within liberal circles, with the exception that nerds are considered objectively bad. In fact the article comes across as body shaming.

It's almost enough to make you question whether "acceptance" as politic was actually about acceptance, or using the language of something agreeable to push a slightly different goal.

I say "almost" glibly, a refusal to see the machinery at work is how political movements lie to themselves.

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#37

Post by hownottowrite »

jknoepfler wrote: post #5

I look forward to a future in which we are all wearing ridiculously walled-garden tech on our faces, and a future in which we've gotten over it. I feel like just as we're slowly recovering the art of making food from the excesses of the early 20th century, our children's children will have to recover the art of being a social human being from the excesses of the early 21st century. I recognize that otherizing an inev…

Why wait? Just read Tokyo Ghost. [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Ghost

"Tokyo Ghost is an ongoing American science fiction comics series written by Rick Remender, drawn by Sean Murphy and colored by Matt Hollingsworth, published since September 2015 by Image Comics.

The series is set in 2089, a time when humanity is addicted to technology and entertainment. It follows the story of constables Debbie Decay and Led Dent, working as peacekeepers in the Isles of Los Angeles. They are given a job that will take them to the last tech-free country on Earth: the garden nation of Tokyo."

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#38

Post by gaius »

forgottenpass wrote: post #36
farright wrote: post #7

>If you want to make something cool, don’t give it to geeks first. Does anyone else get really tired of stuff like this? Why is it that every possible difference is celebrated except within liberal circles, with the exception that nerds are considered objectively bad. In fact the article comes across as body shaming.

It's almost enough to make you question whether "acceptance" as politic was actually about acceptance, or using the language of something agreeable to push a slightly different goal. I say "almost" glibly, a refusal to see the machinery at work is how political movements lie to themselves.

Observe that those who say they want "acceptance", when they get it, complain about being "erased" or their thing "selling out". That has been a common refrain since at least the 60s... and it is even more common today.

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#39

Post by edblarney »

jpatokal wrote: post #28

> That’s why the first memorable photos of Spectacles weren’t shot by Scoble, but by famous fashion photographer Karl Lagerfeld. How soon we forget: Google Glass actually collaborated with Diane von Furstenberg (a famous fashion designer) and did a launch party at New York Fashion Week. https://www.fastcompany.com/3001142/google-glass-hits-runway... But Google positioned Glass as a platform for apps, meaning they had…

Even though G*Glasses were 'in a fashion' show doesn't mean in any way there were positioned in the proper aspirational way.

Though yes, I agree they had to get devs in the loop 'because apps'.

Snapchat is almost proper consumer marketing company.

Google is a tech company - and they had absolutely no idea how to market and position those glasses to consumers.

Re: Why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

#40

Post by edblarney »

neya wrote: post #2

tldr; 1) Artificial Scarcity 2) Geographic Clustering 3) Buying As An Experience 4) Identifying customers Edit: Included 4)

Those are all good points, but the top ones are:

A) The fashionable design of the glasses, which are a cross between 'very contemporary cool design' with a hint of 'tokyo bubble gum plastic irreverence'

B) Aesthetically and functionally perfectly and seamlessly consistent with their brand, and their product experience.

C) When you say 'geographic clustering' - the more important point is where. Santa Monica, Big Sur. 'Cool Kid venues'. No t downtown LA or Orange County.

D) The 'scarcity' ... because there are so very few glasses being sold right now, I don't think it's an economic issue so much, although that applies - right now, the 'popup' store is a brilliant PR move. Every day, there'll be a huge buzz over where it is, and the kids getting them will proudly wear them to school, brag about them, creating all sorts of local buzz.

Snapchat is acting like Nike or Starbucks, and not a tech company, which is very smart of them.

Funny they are in LA - there are almost zero Valley companies outside of apple that know how to do proper consumer marketing.

Post reply on HN