Live data from Hacker News

A hacker creates his own version of Google Project Glass

thenextweb.com

1–10 of 50 posts

Re: A hacker creates his own version of Google Project Glass

#3
These glasses do look a bit silly with how far they come off his face and the large microphone hanging down but still, bravo. I love seeing people hack together things like this that large companies are touting about as the next big thing yet don't actually release any real evidence that they work.

Re: A hacker creates his own version of Google Project Glass

#5
One of the professors in my school, Steve Mann[1], is notorious for working on wearable computing devices for three decades now. There's a small group of niche hackers[2] who are into this kind of thing, but it's definitely not a new phenomenon.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann

[2] http://www.wearcam.org/computing.html/

Re: A hacker creates his own version of Google Project Glass

#6

These glasses do look a bit silly with how far they come off his face and the large microphone hanging down but still, bravo. I love seeing people hack together things like this that large companies are touting about as the next big thing yet don't actually release any real evidence that they work.

At least it is accurate and being built in a day, it's more than sufficient. There is really no honest truth as to how well Google's device even works.

That being said, this is a perfect example of how Google entirely screwed up with this. This would have been the ultimate keynote release to Google IO. Not saying that it won't still be, but now other competitors have a great idea to build off of. Google should have just been quiet until this product was at least to a manufacturing stage.

Re: A hacker creates his own version of Google Project Glass

#7
Awesome effort. I'm a bit concerned that the reporter effectively says "to all naysayers, Will says it's true so it must be", and am slightly skeptical as Will hasn't put up information for others to build their own / sourcecode, which I'd expect unless he plans to sell the product himself. That said I think I believe this is genuine, and full kudos to the guy for his efforts if so.

Re: A hacker creates his own version of Google Project Glass

#8
post #5

One of the professors in my school, Steve Mann[1], is notorious for working on wearable computing devices for three decades now. There's a small group of niche hackers[2] who are into this kind of thing, but it's definitely not a new phenomenon. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann [2] http://www.wearcam.org/computing.html/

I've been wanting to build myself an EyeTap for the longest time. It must be vindicating to Steve Mann to see this idea of wearable computing going "mainstream"

Re: A hacker creates his own version of Google Project Glass

#9
I certainly don't want to bad mouth a guy who builds something cool, but there's a significant difference between this and Project Glass. He states in his blog post (http://www.willpowell.co.uk/blog/?p=210) The Vuzix glasses are driven by stereoscopic feeds, which are fed by the HD cameras.

What he's seeing is coming through the cameras. He's not looking at reality with an overlaid display. The glasses he is using are not see-through, they are displays. That's a very different experience from augmented reality and reduces your viewing to HD quality.

That also explains why at the beginning of the video we see him put on the glasses and there's no transition to seeing what he sees through them.

Re: A hacker creates his own version of Google Project Glass

#10
The marvel of what Google is trying to accomplish is in making the product small and consumable, which is a challenge the article doesn't address in its 'David vs. Goliath' language. It takes a lot of effort to keep size, capacity, and power consumption in mind for a product with more mass appeal—not to mention the UX and style elements involved.
Post reply on HN