Google shows off Project Glass augmented reality specs

Yes please!

I seriously dream of augmented reality vision. My wife thinks it's creepy but I'd seriously go whole hog and have "chipped" vision (c.f. Altered Carbon) with seamless audio and video integration to my perception. Imaging having a built in HUD that could play movies, scroll interesting facts about what you were looking at, highlight the right road to turn into, bring up the names of people you bump into, thus avoiding awkward moments where it becomes clear you've forgotten who they are.

Would seriously alter society though - for example a guy who remembers who everyone is can no longer stand out as a thoughtful and caring chap who knows his secretary's sister has a cat that just went to the vet because for all you know he could just be reading that off his implant. And the importance of learning information would be reduced if it could be called up at will (how do you stop someone cheating in an exam with the capability and, if they'll have the capability in their daily life, is it relevant to devise an exam that doesn't allow it?).

Big problem would be security (hello very irritating spam!) and bugs...

When he went into the bookshop and looked at the book, it missed out the part where an Amazon ad pops up offering it for half the price.

Google Asks "What do I want?"

I answer:

An iron-clad, lawyer- and loop-hole proof guarantee in the usage agreement, local/state law and federal law - up to and possibly including a Constitutional Ammendment - stating that individuals, companies and governments are not allowed to track me or spy on me through these or other similiar devices in any way, shape or form without my prior opt-in consent, as well as an indipendent, sure-fire way of checking on a regular basis to make *sure* they're not, preferably a method I and anyone else can perform at home without outside help.

Also, decent battery life and light weight.

Am thinking of it more as...

basically a close range wireless system which has a screen and battery in glasses frame, which sends all the grunt work to the Android phone in the users pocket which is providing all the processor, connectivity and storage....an add on for the next Nexus maybe and Jelly Bean?

Nausea

I got nauseous just by looking at YT clip.

Worrying ...

Thing is ... Will this make us better humans. I Doubt it. Given time thid would happen.

Our humanity is already being sucked out of us by smartphones.

Just sit on public transport any given day and you'll know what I mean.

I feel depressed for the future.

Short version; I don't like it.

It looks doable, well, there would be a wire running from the glasses to a smartphone, and a wire running from the smartphone to a honking great battery pack, but it's just as doable now as its been for the last decade.

I'm just not sold on the idea though, I think if my input is going to be spoken I'd rather have audio cues, "message from Tom", "turn right at the next junction" etc than have to wear a clunky headset, I suppose I'm more drawn to the idea of a personal PA that doesnt speak until spoken to than the visual shotgun approach demoed here, I'm thinking that even though road signs are enormous great things it still takes a concentrated mental effort to decipher them when I'm speeding down the motorway whereas the voice from a satnav is effortless.

I can imagine groups of people staring into space, grunting their answers to unheard questions, the tippy tap of fingers on buttons and screens replaced with short bursts of random speech, is this progress? Do we do what we must because we can?

But mostly I'm thinking supplying an advertising company with a real time feed of where we are, who we're talking to and what we're looking at seems like a really bad deal even if they paid us to wear them.

I'll believe it when I see it

How many of these concept videos do we see. It's a shame the concept very rarely makes it into reality, and when they do they are usually so far removed from what we expected from the concept video it makes you wonder why they bothered with the concept video in the first place. To put it another way.. I won't hold my breath.

et tu Google

Is it at all possible that the sensory enhancement of beautiful women has not been a recurrent theme in my adult life ? Let me put it another way ... the ugly like 'em dumber than a brick. Thanks Google.

Why stop at glasses?

I'll skip on this for the day interface devices that allows one to interface his/her brain with a computer appears. This not only allows the user to have glassless HUD, but also listen to music without headphones.

Terminator. Because computer-assisted driving using the victim's hands is the next logical step from there.

Perfect output device...

... for the "girls around me" app??

Make mine a trenchcoat.

Explore?

Oh dear. They won't help me explore my world, but they'll certainly help google explore my world.

No thanks

yawn..

can you say virtual light?