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

Thoughts on Google Glass

daringfireball.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 48 posts

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#31

Post by beambot »

acgourley wrote: post #13
cargo8 wrote: post #8

> It is ugly and clunky and ridiculously expensive for what it does. To me, that’s everything. Same thing with all existing smartwatches — the problem isn’t the idea, it’s the actual execution. There are no points for being first to market with a bad product. This is just wrong. Google gains massive points in my book for putting something like Glass out there. They get points for showing the world a glimpse of what t…

His point is that no one remembers the Tablet PC and everyone remembers the iPad. But that's a really weak argument to me. The Tablet PC didn't just fail because the form factor was 10 years too early and because the design missed the mark... but because the product was abandoned. If Google keeps up, stays hungry and keeps working through the early issues they can come out as the market leader just as easy as Apple o…

I used my Fujitsu tablet every day for 4+ years. Best laptop I ever had... and the "tablet features" were amazing for note-taking and presentations. Just sayin'... some of us remember.

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#32

Post by magicalist »

reidmain wrote: post #18
vinkelhake wrote: post #5

It’s a cool lab demo that they’re presenting as a finished product. They do? It seems to me that they've been looking for early adopters that can provide feedback. It'll be a finished product once it's available for order on Google Play.

They've said that they are going to release the consumer version in 2014. Sure it could drastically change from what a developer could be receiving in December 2013 but odds are it is going to be stuff like the price that changes the most, not the actual hardware.

Glass uses a TI SoC, and TI doesn't make SoCs anymore, so the odds are actually quite high that the hardware will be making a change before going into mass production. It was actually a surprise when they did a feature bump in October and it was still on an OMAP.

A hardware change makes a lot of sense, besides. It's running slightly older phone hardware, but its still phone hardware. It would be silly to say that "odds are" a new phone coming out a year (or even 6 months) after the last version would be keeping the same hardware; I see no reason to assume that here. As long as you can keep power usage down (or lower) and heat down (or lower), there's no reason why you wouldn't upgrade from what's essentially a phone from 2011.

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#33

Post by MisterBastahrd »

abraham wrote: post #29
MisterBastahrd wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse... being in a social situation with someone who is wearing Glass now means that Google has identified who you are (and the NSA for that matter) and where you are, and from there it probably isn't that difficult to determine what your mood is at the time. It'll be like your own digital stalker out there, times a thousand, given that Google will just use the data to sell ads.

> being in a social situation with someone who is wearing Glass now means that Google has identified who you are (and the NSA for that matter) and where you are What? Glass is not always recording, has no facial recognition and is no more invasive than the smartphones everyone already carries.

Yes, because obviously the originally stated intention for the device is the only use the device will ever have. The difference here is that a phone is usually in your pocket. The Glass is usually on your head, and the camera is pointed at the same thing you're currently looking at.

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#34

Post by laureny »

It's quite entertaining to see Gruber struggle so much with the idea that Google has out innovated Apple. You can tell he really wishes he could say that everything about Google Glass sucks but deep inside, he knows that Google is onto something, so he ends up making a weak, half positive and half negative point about the product.

He knows deep inside that regardless of how Google Glass (and wearable glasses in general) fare in the future that Google has out innovated Apple, and he's really having a hard time coming to terms with that idea.

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#35

Post by laureny »

jwcooper wrote: post #7

I like gadgets and various electronics, but for some reason Glass just rubs me the wrong way. I'm not sure if it's because of the 'creep factor' or what. I guess I'm just not ready for a society always recording everything. I can't even imagine what high school would be like. One embarrassing thing happens, and 30 people have it recorded, uploaded to the internet, and commenting on it in minutes. I guess that could a…

> I guess I'm just not ready for a society always recording everything.

Surely you are aware this society has been existing for close to a decade, right?

> If Glass use does become widespread, I have a feeling many private companies, such as restaurants, and malls will ban its use indoors

People were saying the exact same thing about cell phones ten years ago.

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#36

Post by mgcross »

cargo8 wrote: post #8

> It is ugly and clunky and ridiculously expensive for what it does. To me, that’s everything. Same thing with all existing smartwatches — the problem isn’t the idea, it’s the actual execution. There are no points for being first to market with a bad product. This is just wrong. Google gains massive points in my book for putting something like Glass out there. They get points for showing the world a glimpse of what t…

Agreed, but that's exactly what I've come to expect from Gruber. Rather than use Google's "physically grotesque and glaringly obtrusive" device, he's waiting on Apple's "elegant, beautiful, graceful" execution.

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#37

Post by acgourley »

throwawaykf03 wrote: post #30
51Cards wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no such thing as being "too early" to market. That is how you cut your teeth, learn and get ahead. You fail when you give up on the idea (or are proven that it will never catch on... either way). However if you create a product that eventually takes off, and if you continue to iterate it and not abandon it, you can't be too early. And, if nothing else, it is 100x less risky to be too early, than too late.

History is littered with counterexamples. If you look at people or companies that have been refered to as "ahead of their time", it is frequently in the context of why they ultimately failed. Tablet PCs are a case in point -- Microsoft or HP had not abandoned the tablet market. They were iterating and releasing tablets even after the iPad was released. They just didn't make the leap that Apple did to create a tablet…

I guess I see "being early" and "building the right product" as orthogonal. Microsoft / HP built the wrong product for the wrong market, but that's not necessarily because they were too early!

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#38

Post by abraham »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #33
abraham wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> being in a social situation with someone who is wearing Glass now means that Google has identified who you are (and the NSA for that matter) and where you are What? Glass is not always recording, has no facial recognition and is no more invasive than the smartphones everyone already carries.

Yes, because obviously the originally stated intention for the device is the only use the device will ever have. The difference here is that a phone is usually in your pocket. The Glass is usually on your head, and the camera is pointed at the same thing you're currently looking at.

I can 100% guarantee the current hardware iteration will never support always on recording. It would kill the battery in 45-60 minutes. That added to the fact that almost everyone has a phone on them that can already be geolocated makes using Glass unnecessary for tracking. You could argue that Glass would be useful in taking a photo snapshot every minute but with the growth of security cameras it's estimated that in some areas people are caught on camera as many as 300 times/day. That makes Glass not all that useful.

Re: Thoughts on Google Glass

#39

Post by mgcross »

jwcooper wrote: post #7

I like gadgets and various electronics, but for some reason Glass just rubs me the wrong way. I'm not sure if it's because of the 'creep factor' or what. I guess I'm just not ready for a society always recording everything. I can't even imagine what high school would be like. One embarrassing thing happens, and 30 people have it recorded, uploaded to the internet, and commenting on it in minutes. I guess that could a…

I've never seen Glass on someone, so I can't say for sure how I'd feel, but I assume that when I'm in public, I could be recorded or photographed at any given time. I'm more worried about someone drifting into my lane on a two lane highway while they're reading a text or email (with a false sense of security provided by hands-free use).
Post reply on HN