back to article First Cook, now Intel bigwig pokes Google in the eye over Glass

Google Glass, the advertising giant's techno-spectacles that beam information into your eyes, have not impressed Apple boss Tim Cook. The iPhone supremo reckons that while wearable tech is "incredibly interesting", he doesn't think Google's geeky electronic eyewear will catch on. And he's not alone in his criticism: Intel's …

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  1. Shagbag
    FAIL

    "It’s a challenge - a great technical problem I think. Our researchers love the problem"

    Then tell them to get off their arses and do something. They've dragged their feet over a competitor to ARM and it's cost Intel in lost revenue.

    Or is it that x86 simply cannot compete where ARM is appropriate?

    1. Tom 35

      Re: "It’s a challenge - a great technical problem I think. Our researchers love the problem"

      Remember when they fist came out with the "core" chips and only wanted them to be used in laptops. Tried to force everyone to stick to P4 for desktop. Tried to pigeon hole atom too.

      To have Intel go to something ARM like may be too much to ask.

  2. The lone lurker

    Methinks they doth protest too much

    I get the distinct impression that they might be somewhat worried about it in reality.

    It might not be perfect but there is at least a working product in people's hands, and there's lots and lots of attention being paid to it and Google.

  3. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Linux

    Personally...

    I am not waiting for Google Glass. The terms and conditions on them are simply too draconian. Instead I'm really eager to see the Oculus Rift VR Specs coming out (hopefully) before Christmas.

    1. David 164

      Re: Personally...

      Google had a pair or two running at it I/0 and I would take a guest that they may be providing some technical support to the project, they certainly are working together.

  4. Martin 63

    Oddly

    I wasn't interested. Now I want one

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oddly

      Oddly, I wasn't interested, and now .. I still don't want one.

      I like my smartphone. It has an on/off function that is easy to reach. It goes in my pocket when I don't need it. It already has a pathetic battery life, so an online device the size of half a glasses frame is certainly not going to do better.

      What's more, I actually have a life that doesn't depend on having the latest gadget, and this is one I don't just have no interest in, it's one I don't even want to be near when others wear it.

  5. Gob Smacked
    Stop

    Another fail

    Wasn't it Intel that discarded development for the then new iPhone, reasoning "it has no economic promise" ?

    They might never learn...

    1. David 164

      Re: Another fail

      An being British and a supporter of Arm, I hope they never learn.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    As others above have implied, the fact that these high-profile people in Tech feel they need to pour scorn on Google Glasses is rather telling.

    I, for one think they are useless and barmy. However, the future is actually unclear to me.

    What I will say though is that the only company that seems to be doing anything risky and different is Google, in an environment where other companies seem locked into the "safe" and "unimaginative", and I heap praise on them just for that.

    Most of our current tech ultimately sprung from people doing (what seemed like) barmy things. More power to them, I say.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Risky? Surely not

      Where's the risk in opening some research project to a small number of people, who have to pay over the odds just to get a prototype which, really quite soon after a mass-market version is released, will stop being useful because of the newer hardware. Why these people don't understand that they've just parted with $1500 in order to buy a 2014 paperweight is beyond me.

      There's no risk involved on the part of Google however. If the project fails, well, they've collected their data and are moving on. I will give credit for trying something new, and in specific fields I can see this becoming quite big.

      1. David 164

        Re: Risky? Surely not

        They were given to developers, at least most of them were, a few were handed to PR people, and tech influencers to neutralise at least some of the hostility to them in the market.

        And some developers gets new hardware months ahead of their competitors, which means they can developed apps on them months before their competitors.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Risky? Surely not

        > There's no risk involved on the part of Google however.

        The "risk" is spending a ton of money on something that will get you bad press and turn out to make no profit in the future. It's not a risk in the company-threatening sense for Google, but it is a risk that they could be spending the money/human resources on something else that is more successful instead.

    2. Mark 65

      Whilst a HUD might be great this is nothing more than an attempt to get the general public to be google cars gathering data all around them. Lots and lots of privacy invading data.

      1. Robert Helpmann??
        Childcatcher

        Privacy Invading Data

        Whilst a HUD might be great this is nothing more than an attempt to get the general public to be google cars gathering data all around them. Lots and lots of privacy invading data.

        This goes beyond simple privacy issues, though they are significant. This could will be used to gather all sorts of sensitive information (a security threat). They could will be used to pull in data that falls under various legal protections (IP threat). Google Glass might be viewed as the next generation of mobile phone in terms of public usage. Think, then, how safe our roadways have become with the large numbers of damnfools who drive heads-down and texting. Now add to that the pop-up ads that Google is wont to insert into all of their products and we have a physical threat, as well. Though they may claim to mitigate this last somewhat with their driverless car tech, there is no mitigation for encouraging people to act like twits more than they otherwise might.

  7. petur
    FAIL

    Funny

    Seeing Intel comment on graphics performance... maybe they should start criticizing their own crap first?

    1. FireWorks
      WTF?

      Re: Funny

      Intel graphics crap? You've not seen Intel Iris then.

  8. Big_Ted
    FAIL

    Possible future......

    We get used to using these at work then take them out into the world.....

    If you asked these two a couple of years ago if tablets and mobile phones would be heading to the main way to access the net and emails etc they would have laughed at that too....

    Why do I keep seeing Steve Balmer and his opinion of the iphone.........

    1. Don Jefe

      Re: Possible future......

      What about Bluetooth headsets & Segway scooters? Both are now common but the users still look like jackasses.

    2. Lars Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Possible future......

      I must agree on the Steve Balmer part. So, Cook, something Jobs was unable to tell you or think about years ago. Annoying indeed.

  9. ratfox

    The reason it is not see-through

    The way I understood it, the reason it is not see-through is that they wanted to have a general consumer product. It seems to me that while see-through might make you feel like the Terminator, there are simply very few people who actually want to walk around with a see-through device.

    Though this might indeed be due to the fact that a see-through device would have to be way bigger than the "giant goggles sticking out strapped on your head" that is Glass.

    I am not convinced about the graphics arguments, though. Don't jet fighter pilots already have heads-up displays in their helmets that overlay graphics across their vision?

    1. Franklin
      Thumb Up

      Re: The reason it is not see-through

      Overlaying graphics in a fighter aircraft cockpit works well because your eye is already focused on infinity most of the time anyway. It works less well in cars, where you might need to focus on something only a few feet from the front of the car, and I reckon it'd work less well on glasses, where you might be changing from focusing on something a few feet away to something quite a distance away regularly.

      In any event, the Goigle Glass user interface as it exists now feels very primitive. Just as it took a while to get smartphone user interfaces that worked well (anyone remembr the Windows CE Start button?), I think it'll be a while before we see a head-mounted computer UI that's really functional. When that happens, though, this device has incredible potential.

      1. Charles 9

        Re: The reason it is not see-through

        Don't the latest jets already have helmet-mounted displays (HMDs)? These would have similar issues to transparent Glass, wouldn't they?

  10. Justin Pasher

    History will repeat itself

    Although I don't (yet) see exactly how well Glass will pan out, here's my prediction

    1. Google releases Glass

    2. Apple says "that's stupid"

    3. A few years pass

    4. Apple releases a product that's basically the same with a prettier interface and say they have invented a revolutionary new product

    5. Fanbois swoon and flock in droves to buy it.

    For some reason, this all sounds so familiar... just ... can't ... put my finger ... on it...

    1. armster
      FAIL

      Re: History will repeat itself

      I know Apple bashing is en vogue, and I used to be an Apple fan from 1987-2009, so I may be a bit biased. But Apple has produced some very innovative products, they certainly are not a company to criticize for plagiarizing stuff (even if my first MP3 player was not an iPod, the first player that got lots of use was.) Why not criticize Apple for their true failings? Walled gardens, no support for legacy applications, App store on the Mac, moving tablet UI elements to the Mac... the list is definitely there.

      The way I see google glass is just like the first CE smart phones: interesting but useless. If a friend gets one I'll play with it for a few minutes, but I'll never buy one. So the real question is will Google improve Glass over time to a point where it will be useful, or will it be a different company that comes up with a useable headmounted computer?

      So if history repeats itself and a different company comes out as the inventor of the usable headmounted computer I would still give the accolades to them and not to Google for making an innovative but unusable product. My guess is this will be neither Google nor Apple.

  11. westlake
    Pint

    The tech is not the problem.

    Google Glass has a patent on a see-through display.

    Google details how Glass could look like traditional sunglasses using see-through displays

    Early prototypes of Glass were, well, much more in-your-face.

    Google Glass headset with bone-conduction speakers revealed in FCC filing

    The defining image of Google Glass is the dork in the shower who creeps you out. This is the problem.

    Guys Like This Could Kill Google Glass Before It Ever Gets Off the Ground

  12. Morten Bjoernsvik
    Thumb Up

    Just first iteration

    The first generation of a new technology will always have shortcommings. If we see the same advances in head up googles than in mobile phone screens like in the last 10 years. I bet the future is looking so bright you have to wear shades. As long as the initial interest is above the investment threshold, there will be money for inventing the technology further. I bet both Apple and Samsung are putting lots of money into this and just talking the technology down until it matures into consumer quality and pricerange. then it will really take off.

    1. P. Lee
      Happy

      Re: Just first iteration

      Indeed. This is not mobile phone consumer quality. This is release-early, release often hardware, google style.

  13. james 68
    FAIL

    glass... its something new and innovative (thats enough for a stagnant apple to hate it right there) though it does kinda make the user look retarded and i see at best limited uptake in its present form, it will spur further innovation as other companies vie for market share in both final products and components (and yes that will include graphics hardware).

    apple and intel bitching about it? well that sounds like...

    apple trying to downplay a new technology until they can catch up with a competing device - then sue because they were so obviously into it before anyone else

    intel then jumping on the bandwagon and bouncing around Cooks feet like a little lost puppy thats starved for love in the vain hopes that apple will then use their tech (atom processors)

    sour grapes all around

    and even though glass looks like crap atm - lets not forget that what we have seen so far are DEVELOPMENT versions, not final "lets get this shit on store shelves" versions but test units. a lot can (and i bet will) change before final release.

    oh and intel complaining about graphics performance? lol the irony

    1. Don Jefe

      Other than Facebook & Google+ status updates, what exactly is innovative or even remotely new about Glass? Nothing they are currently doing hasn't been done for many years by many different companies & it was always a bigger pain in the ass than it was worth. So seriously, what's the innovation?

      1. james 68
        Facepalm

        the formfactor

        the control interface

        the electronics squeezed into such a small package

        your glossing over the tech innovations and trying to say its just some apps? you dont happen to work in cupertino do you by any chance?

  14. kafantaris2

    That dog won't hunt.

    Tim Cook says: "I wear glasses because I have to. I don't know a lot of people who wear them because they don't have to. The wrist is more interesting."

    Actually Tim, Google Glasses are more interesting and offer the richer experience. The wrist watch does not. In fact it's boring -- and leaves one hand useless.

    Why would we want to do that?

    No, Tim, that dog won't hunt.

    So you'd better get started with Apple Glasses or you'll be on the outside looking in.

  15. Tony Paulazzo
    Alien

    From Google Glasses to...

    Google Contact Lenses and virtual graphics overlaying reality.

    Hey Apple & Intel, that's called Research & Development...

    Or the advancement of the human condition - it's not just about stockpiling cash in Ireland.

  16. Jack Project

    Does anyone called Ratner ever have anything positive to say?

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