Google Glass: Would you pay a mere $299 to plop one on your brow? A researcher at Taiwan's largest private market research firm is of the considered opinion that when Google Glass goes on sale to the public, it will be sold for the low, low price of $299. At a Taipei seminar on wearable devices, Jason Tsai of the Topology Research Institute told reporters of his estimate, based on the bill …
I can do any of those things with my Smartphone. It's just not on my face.
If you think having these perched on your face is less conspicuous than someone pointing and shooting with a smartphone then fair enough. Personally though I think you'd notice this before you'd notice someone doing the "fake-texting-but-filming" routine.
Microsoft, in their perennial role of one playing catch-up, will surely produce a pair of internet-connected glasses.
I'm already smiling at the travesty they will produce — so heavy and thick to support the drive for Windows 8, with transparent tiles that obscure one's vision, obligatory and unwanted onenote integration and very, very expensive.
I've never really understood the hatred this concept gets around here. If it was all about not giving more data to Google, I could understand, that's a sensible worry, particularly lately. But most of the hatred is for the filming.
Lifelogging is hardly some new concept, its been around as a standard tech in SciFi for years, yet everyone here reacts like its something new and strange. Seriously, have none of you ever forgotten anything in your life? Can't remember where you left something, need to remember what someone said and can't? Just rewind the lifelog and find out. I've got a crap memory, so I'd use that a dozen times a day.
And as for all the stuff about beating up people wearing them...that's called assault and you go to jail for it if they catch you - and the guy you're assaulting will be videoing it for the police, by definition! Morons!
Probably the most weird part is the whole nerd-bashing angle. Really? On the Register? A tech news website where to comment on it all makes you a nerd by definition? Take a look in the mirror, people.
I am willing to bet that a) those complaining about Glass will be in minority when the public gets the chance to buy them. b) It will be popular.
I cite two examples of why (b) will be true and therefore why (a) will also, as a result, become true:
- When mobiles looked like bricks people still bought them. Now they are ubiquitous. I'm sure if we did a Usenet News search we'd find a "Why would anyone want to be seen talking into a brick".
- The public don't care about privacy. They think they do, but they don't. Look at Facebook. Look at Twitter. There may be the occasional concern about data privacy, but Joe Public, at the end of the day, wants convenience. That trumps privacy. Glass is convenience.
As the posting at the top said: "Good luck avoiding this tech". The Reg ("glassholes" - chiildish and doesn't move the debate forward) and some of you can diss this as much as you like, but it's inevitable. I'm not saying I'm a supporter - I'm just being a realist. Sitting in your armchair shouting at the screen won't change the course of things. And if Google stopped this tech, someone else will take over. If you want to stop it then perhaps you should be arguing against ubiquitous wifi - and maybe even the Internet itself.
'- When mobiles looked like bricks people still bought them. Now they are ubiquitous. I'm sure if we did a Usenet News search we'd find a "Why would anyone want to be seen talking into a brick".'
You are right - there was a definite backlash against mobiles when they first arrived - bankers and builders. But that soon disappeared when they got cheap enough so anyone could have one and they proved themselves to be the most convenient way of communicating - something innate to the human condition.
But these glasses are not the same. They go way beyond fulfilling the basic human need of communication. And the extra they provide is not worth looking a twat for. Its like Twitter - it fulfils the need to communicate - but in a way that only celebrities, wanna-be-celebrities and people with over inflated egos feel the need to use.
Until I started reading the comments here, I had no intention of buying Google glasses. But, have seen the unremitting negativity of the commenters here, I think I might have to give them a try. What a bunch of whining trogs you are!
I can see myself using them as a tourist, getting a quick run-down on the building I'm looking at - without needing to stop (blocking the pavement) to consult a guide book, or a guide app.
I can see myself using them to tell me what that constellation is.
I can see myself using them as a pedestrian satnav.
I can see myself using them to get menu/signage translations, on the hoof.
And I can see myself puttin them down, when their use is not appropriate. That's the bit most of you are missing.
I can see myself using them to tell me what that constellation is.
Just like that free app on the phone or, shock, what about using a star atlas?
I can see myself using them as a pedestrian satnav.
Oh dear. The number of walkers (have I spelt that correctly?) using satnav and then coming knocking on the cottage door, lost are far too many for mere co-indicence. Use a map and carry it in your head. Yes, that's it, use some mental effort it works. If sat nav is the answer then it must have been a bloody stupid question.
I can see myself using them to get menu/signage translations, on the hoof.
Yes, like we can't work out what the average road sign means when we're looking at the picture of a man trying to open an umbrella or there's one ahead of a pickpocket and an old man...
If these are justifications for this pointless application then I truly do despair.
-- I can see myself using them as a pedestrian satnav.
Just today it was reported that Mountain Rescue pulled a group of walkers off Snowdon who were using a phone satnav rather than a map.
Good luck with the Glass; at least your next of kin will get a good video clip of a Sea King coming down to collect your corpse.
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