Why not open source the hardware design, BOM, software and dump it on GitHub?
Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
51–60 of 259 posts
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#52Somewhat related, a question for HN people: Is there a product — perhaps some kind of goggles — that I can wear on my face which will simulate the experience of watching a big television? I don't want virtual reality or augmented reality or anything like that. I just want to be able to sit on a long-haul flight and isolate my eyes and ears in such a way that it feels like I'm sitting alone in a dark room watching a m…
How would having the feeling of watching a movie alone in a dark room while actually sitting on an airplane not be a form of virtual reality?
I've seen many of these clever VR headsets do extra stuff that I don't care about, like allow you to look around a virtual cinema or see other virtual people who might want to virtually watch a movie with me or some nonsense.
I don't want any of that. As the adjacent commenter surmised, I just want a television strapped to my head. I don't want other tourists in my peripheral vision, or screaming babies in my ears.
Also ideally I'd like to be able to watch a movie with my head at any angle. As I understand it, some (most?) VR headsets will keep the movie screen in the same place, so if you recline your seat and your eyes are pointed more towards the ceiling, the headset allows you to look at the ceiling of the virtual room you're in. I don't want this.
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#53At this point, I think issue is not about products Google build, it is about how Google put their incentives in place. - Build new shiny thing -> promoted - Support shiny thing -> it's not difficult, everyone can do it This type of culture is influencing future direction of Google products, they put together awesome team, solve problem and get from 0 to 1, then team moves on, others don't have incentive to make 1 to…
> Support shiny thing -> it's not difficult, everyone can do it Sometimes people say those things, but I can't understand for whom it rings true. What's especially hard about new things? Maintenance on the other hand, can be much more tricky. Especially when taking backwards compatibility in mind you really have to think about every step going forward. It's much easier to build a brand new highway than repairing an e…
You're right, support is difficult. But there's no "glory" in support. there's glory in making something new, everyone being amazed, world-is-changed-forever.
Of course that is pretty much 1% of the journey. Turning that light-bulb moment into an actual product, getting mass market adoption, finding the killer app, that's hard. And anonymous. Keeping customers happy is hard. But again, anonymous.
Are you more impressed with a CV that says "invented iphone" or one that says "worked on iphone 2 to make it better than iphone 1"? Or worse yet "accumulated customer feedback to improve iphone 1, worked with team developing iphone 2"?
So it's not just google (although magnified there.) It's everywhere. You remember who _invented_ the light-bulb, but you've no idea of the people who developed that into a product, with manufacturing, distribution, sales and developed bulb-connector-standards and so on.
In our business it's the same. Here's a new wizz-bang feature. 100% glory. Maintaining feature for the next 20 years, adapting to ever-changing world requirements, keeping customers happy, and using it - anyone can do that. (and nobody wants to - it's too much like hard work.)
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#54[flagged]
Anyone else remember that apple used this same angle to anti promote google glass.
I guess either it has basis in truth or people just repeat rhetoric.
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#55Why not open source the hardware design, BOM, software and dump it on GitHub?
Because it's not a self-contained thing. Any cloud-device is integrated to back-end servers. Which at google means linked and locked into all kinds of internal things which are not open.
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#56I wish they had spun it off so it wouldn't just have died within Google. It seems that any project that isn't wildly popular is just starved of talent inside Google. Outside Google with a little bit of money and a dedicated team, I don't see why this couldn't have been a success. What I would really like was a product that was developed to be affordable, fairly open so you can easily integrate it into your own system…
Check out apprentice.io
The founder initially fell in love with Google Glass and went on to build an AR/VR startup around it.
They are life sciences focused, but I see no reason it couldn't fit your use case.
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#57Somewhat related, a question for HN people: Is there a product — perhaps some kind of goggles — that I can wear on my face which will simulate the experience of watching a big television? I don't want virtual reality or augmented reality or anything like that. I just want to be able to sit on a long-haul flight and isolate my eyes and ears in such a way that it feels like I'm sitting alone in a dark room watching a m…
Nreal Air is one. Others are launching too. Without the AR parts it is lighter. Works well as plain monitor without any support software. Only slight problem I have with this is it heats up a bit.
I've seen a few adverts for the Nreal Air, and it does look interesting. For $380 though I'd like to try them once before buying (and I don't trust the impartiality of any YouTube review people). Do you know if it's possible to try them anywhere?
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
How would having the feeling of watching a movie alone in a dark room while actually sitting on an airplane not be a form of virtual reality?
I've seen many of these clever VR headsets do extra stuff that I don't care about, like allow you to look around a virtual cinema or see other virtual people who might want to virtually watch a movie with me or some nonsense. I don't want any of that. As the adjacent commenter surmised, I just want a television strapped to my head. I don't want other tourists in my peripheral vision, or screaming babies in my ears. A…
> I've seen many of these clever VR headsets do extra stuff that I don't care about, like allow you to look around a virtual cinema or see other virtual people who might want to virtually watch a movie with me or some nonsense.
That's kind of the selling point of a VR headset, yes. That's the sort of functionality that got most people interested in it.
> I don't want any of that. As the adjacent commenter surmised, I just want a television strapped to my head.
This product category has existed for decades, eg:
https://www.amazon.com/I-O-Display-iTheaterN-I-Theater-Displ...
It should be possible to find an HDMI version somewhere.
I don't think they ever got any traction, because this particular use case is so limited, but I'm sure they can still be found somewhere (try ebay, or look for cheap chinese brands taking advantage of interest in VR)
That said, IMO the best solution available is the Quest 2. I don't think you'll just find another headset that's going to be affordable and have a good image quality. The hardware in it is excellent.
It does all the VR stuff you don't want, but all you seem to need is a video playback app that will make sure to keep the image in front of your face regardless of head position.
You won't have company if you don't want it to, the included app simulates an empty cinema except for yourself in it.
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#59Google Glass, Google Car, Google Plus...
Its always the same pattern. A lot of pre-release advertisment, followed by a release of a beta version and another press release declaring the end of the product.
At this point, I wouldn't adopt any Google offering because I sort of expect by default it will go away in 6 months or 12.
Re: Google discontinues Google Glass for enterprise
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google Glass wasn't really AR, more like a smart watch taped to your face, so I can imagine there being little business adoption. HoloLens seems much more promising, but development still seems to be slow. I'd love to see AR succeed but with the current price I doubt it'll gain popularity in the near future.
Microsoft has laid off entire HoloLens team. It's dead.
Sad to hear it, but not too surprising with how little advancements Microsoft seems to have made in the space since the first release of HoloLens.
I'm sure AR will be back eventually, maybe all the factors align next time.