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Focals by North

bynorth.com

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Re: Focals by North

#91

Post by lanewinfield »

core-questions wrote: post #86
iends wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running with nothing is great except if you want to make data driven decisions to optimize your training. Even basic speed work requires a timer and a track. (Or just a smartwatch).

This is overkill for 99.999% of people who aren't at the top tier of competitive running where it makes a difference. For the rest of us, just pushing a bit harder and a bit longer will have all the effect of whatever you would have done with all this data, for far less cost and effort.

Unless the idea of tracking and data analysis is... part of the fun and motivation to continue doing it.

Re: Focals by North

#92

Post by jfim »

biztos wrote: post #52
fermienrico wrote: post #47

Am I the only one who doesn't want - Digital Glasses, Google Glass - Smart assistants - IOT devices - Smart door locks - Internet enabled washing machines, refrigerators, ovens, etc. - Push to order dash buttons - Smart watch - Smart cameras/webcams These devices are solutions looking for a problem. The value proposition is overshadowed by loss of privacy, interruptions by social media, potential for security flaws,…

I don't want a lot of those things, but I really want a couple of them in a different form than currently available: - Smart driving (sun|eye)glasses. - Smart plant waterers for when I'm out of town. - Something that does what Apple Watch does without displacing my real watch. It seems I'm unlikely to see the second two -- AFAICT plant watering is stuck in DIY mode, and it looks like the Apple Watch business is boomi…

> Smart plant waterers for when I'm out of town.

A low tech way to do it is to use an upside down water bottle with a small hole in the cap. You can also buy spike shaped things that screw into the cap thread and are a little bit more stable.

Re: Focals by North

#93

Post by iends »

core-questions wrote: post #86
iends wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running with nothing is great except if you want to make data driven decisions to optimize your training. Even basic speed work requires a timer and a track. (Or just a smartwatch).

This is overkill for 99.999% of people who aren't at the top tier of competitive running where it makes a difference. For the rest of us, just pushing a bit harder and a bit longer will have all the effect of whatever you would have done with all this data, for far less cost and effort.

I'm sure it's my bubble, but all the runners I know run with watches at least. Almost all of them use some form of GPS watches. It's nice to be able to go outside and just run, and not worry about routes when you want to do anything more than a few miles.

Re: Focals by North

#94

Post by iends »

lanewinfield wrote: post #91
core-questions wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is overkill for 99.999% of people who aren't at the top tier of competitive running where it makes a difference. For the rest of us, just pushing a bit harder and a bit longer will have all the effect of whatever you would have done with all this data, for far less cost and effort.

Unless the idea of tracking and data analysis is... part of the fun and motivation to continue doing it.

Even amateur's can use the data to make better workout decisions that lead to better outcomes, too. My workouts and quality of life are objectively better by using a smartwatch, and I'm a bit surprised by the luddites here on hacker news of all places.

Oh well, the markets have clearly spoken about the objective benefits of smartwatches.

Re: Focals by North

#95

Post by toast0 »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #45

Apparently these will have a $1k pricetag. Unfortunately, this product has already failed out of the gate just like Google Glass did: it was never the hokey backwards bulky design of the glasses that mattered... it was the price. Charge me, say, $200 to add this to frames that aren't thick plastic "hipster" glasses, then I'd buy it.

The price isn't that important in the first round. $1k is not too much for some people to buy them and see if they're useful.

If they're useful, the design will get reworked and the price could come down. It's not very reasonable to expect this to work with any pair of glasses, it's apparently projecting onto the lenses so geometry is important. $200 is probably a stretch for the non-glasses part of the deal too.

Google glasses were expensive, a strange design, not very useful, and fairly creepy. But most of the software became Android Wear.

Re: Focals by North

#96

Post by taneq »

andyidsinga wrote: post #76
fermienrico wrote: post #47

Am I the only one who doesn't want - Digital Glasses, Google Glass - Smart assistants - IOT devices - Smart door locks - Internet enabled washing machines, refrigerators, ovens, etc. - Push to order dash buttons - Smart watch - Smart cameras/webcams These devices are solutions looking for a problem. The value proposition is overshadowed by loss of privacy, interruptions by social media, potential for security flaws,…

> what happens when Focal goes bankrupt... I'm not being flip when I say : the same thing that happens when other companies go bankrupt. They're products may or may not work anymore, may or may not be serviceable anymore, may decline in value to zero (or not), returns for defects not possible and so on... Different people - early vs late adopters - will have different tolerances for these things. > satisfied without…

> Does your home have a thermostat? Does your car have an engine control system, automatic heating and cooling system? Does your lawn-mower have a mechanical throttle governor?

Does your nearly-new thermostat suddenly stop working when Nest cancels the product line? Does your 5-year-old car suddenly become scrap because the manufacturer pushes a bad OTA update? Does your lawn-mower brick itself because someone let a DNS lease lapse? Does your smartwatch stop working one day because the manufacturer was acquired by another company?

There's a ridiculous amount of stuff these days which is deeply coupled with ephemeral online services when it has no need or right to be.

Re: Focals by North

#97

Post by nine_k »

fudged71 wrote: post #74
nine_k wrote: post #23

These may be great. I see a number of immediate uses for these, if I had them. Reading books or emails while on a train, without having to hold anything in my hands. Maybe even watching videos that I never have time to watch. Walking with a map in my FOV, without having to consult a phone. Taking phone calls, since it has a mic. It has a remote control, though a limited one, it seemingly allows for operation without…

Besides video, all of your use cases are already functional with an audio interface with AirPods for example.

Do airpods put a screen before my eyes? Can they show a text, or line art?

Re: Focals by North

#98

Post by mijoharas »

wlesieutre wrote: post #2

If the Thalmic Labs name doesn't ring a bell, they're the former makers of the Myo gesture control armband (which was just discontinued). By all customer accounts I've seen it was an expensive gadget that never worked reliably enough to be useful for anything, so hopefully they do better with glasses.

So I saw a reference to Myo on the page, but I don't see any reference to thalmic labs. Looks like they renamed the company.

Re: Focals by North

#99

Post by agravier »

jfim wrote: post #92
biztos wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want a lot of those things, but I really want a couple of them in a different form than currently available: - Smart driving (sun|eye)glasses. - Smart plant waterers for when I'm out of town. - Something that does what Apple Watch does without displacing my real watch. It seems I'm unlikely to see the second two -- AFAICT plant watering is stuck in DIY mode, and it looks like the Apple Watch business is boomi…

> Smart plant waterers for when I'm out of town. A low tech way to do it is to use an upside down water bottle with a small hole in the cap. You can also buy spike shaped things that screw into the cap thread and are a little bit more stable.

I've never managed to get those to drip at the right flow.

Re: Focals by North

#100

Post by dsnuh »

eljimmy wrote: post #71

I don't wear glasses or contacts, so can't see myself ever buying these. I really like that finger ring controller though, pretty innovative. Slightly-off topic: Does anyone know what percentage of the population has vision that is impaired to the point where they require aids such as contacts or glasses?

About 75% according to this: https://www.essilorusa.com/newsroom/vision-impact-institute-...
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