back to article Google's Glasses: The tech with specs appeal?

I don't like wearing a wristwatch because it's uncomfortable. As the prime minister always says when being evasive or unintelligible, let’s be clear about this: I wear a wristwatch on most days but I find that doing so is uncomfortable. I would never wear a watch at home. I strap it on when I set off to a customer site and take …

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  1. Andrew Moore
    Thumb Up

    Ghost In The Shell...

    Dabbsie as Bateau? I'm slightly terrified by this concept.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ghost In The Shell...

      Could be worse. Perhaps you could try envisaging him in some tight leather. Molly Millions, anyone?

      1. Andrew Moore

        Re: Ghost In The Shell...

        :) we need to photoshop some mirrored eyeballs into Alistairs profile pic...

    2. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

      Re: Ghost In The Shell...

      But I don't think Bateau's visual overlays are provided by his cybernetic eyes. I think that they are directly injected through his cyberbrain. Otherwise Aramaki and Togusa would not get what they 'see' either.

    3. Alistair Dabbs

      Re: Ghost In The Shell...

      Actually, I cosplayed Batou at MCM Expo a year ago and have the photos to prove it. Shame I can't post them here in the forum.

      1. J. Cook Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: Ghost In The Shell...

        Heh- I have a number of pictures like that in my non-work archive from the various conventions I've attended.

  2. TheProf
    Unhappy

    Below par

    Oh come on Dabbs. You can do better than 'I don't like wearing things.'

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Below par

      Jeez, some people - you'll be asking for a tech angle next. It's friday afternoon after a few pints, I'll take it as it is thanks.

  3. Neil Alexander

    Expected an intelligent article.

    Disappointed.

    1. Alistair Dabbs

      Re: Expected an intelligent article.

      Why?

  4. John Robson Silver badge

    They need to be available

    for most existing frames.

    That's the issue with them. I'd happily have a discreet clip on my glasses (which I wear anyway) to provide useful information in a convenient location.

    Of course a couple of coloured LEDs would be sufficient to tell me about emails/sms/missed calls/incoming calls etc. Not sure I need much more most of the time. Either I'm using my hands (driving, cycling, whatever) or I can hold a phone/tablet for the detailed info.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge
      Terminator

      Re: They need to be available

      >Of course a couple of coloured LEDs would be sufficient to tell me about emails/sms/missed calls/incoming calls etc

      many phones do that with just one composite light- different colours / flashing patterns for different alerts.

      And just three LEDs would allow the thing to act as a compass or GPS guide.

      Still, I ain't getting one til it outlines motorcycles and jackets, informing me if they are my size > see icon.

    2. Swarthy
      Go

      Re: They need to be available

      Either make them compatible with existent frames, or make them available with a prescription.

      preferably the latter, as adding things to glasses alters the balance and sends 'em sliding or they cut in at the ears.

  5. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. Andy Scott

    I wear glasses and don't wear another pair when I see 3d movies, I bought a clip on for my glasses, I think they were £3 or something like that

  7. theopriestley

    Missing the point

    Missing the point, it has far more application outside of the consumer market than inside !

    Medical, emergency services, customer service, engineering, advertising.....

    http://successfulworkplace.com/2013/01/30/google-glass-will-change-the-face-of-the-enterprise/

    Plus BMW were looking at AR for their technicians way back in 2007 (link in the article to a YouTube vid)

    If Google manage this right with quality control over the application of it then it could fly. Vuzix are another company launching this to market.

    1. AdamT

      Re: Missing the point

      c.f. Rule 34 by Charles Stross where he has come up with VR system for the police, "CopSpace"...

      1. Andrew Moore
        Coat

        Re: Missing the point

        >Rule 34 by Charles Stross where he has come up with VR system for the police, "CopSpace"...

        "My god, it's full of stairs..."

        sorry

  8. AdamT

    "You are all individuals!"

    "Yes! We're all individuals!"

    (I'm not)

    1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      Re: "You are all individuals!"

      Shh!

  9. The FunkeyGibbon
    Thumb Down

    Do we *need* to be this connected?

    I love gadgets and will always be interested in them. But the more I see stuff like this the more I think "Are we not just over-connected?" how much info is *too* much info?

    1. tuxtester
      Meh

      Re: Do we *need* to be this connected?

      I reckon this stuff will be pretty useless until Google figure out a way of ensuring Internet connectivity if FREELY available to us all, anywhere and everywhere.

      If you think freely-available Internet connectivity is a stupid idea then I have another one for you, I'm going to call it Global Positioning.

  10. frank ly

    What's needed is ......

    ... for headbands to become fashionable. Women would generally have not much of a problem with that but men would, I suspect. With a headband, they could fit lots more tech into it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What's needed is ......

      That's not a headband - it's a bandana!

      1980s action hero approved.

  11. annodomini2
    Devil

    Key question you haven't answered

    Yes you don't wear a watch, but do you wear sunglasses?

    I think this is where the distinction will be made, as long as they don't feel like you have a bowling ball strapped to your head, or give you significant eye strain as a result, I think this will be an interesting concept.

    The glasses situation is a good point, will people requiring vision correction be required to wear contact lenses to use this?

    The key to it's success as with most products will depend on it's benefit to cost ratio. If they try and pull the marketing must have and charge 3x price of a top end smartphone, I think it'll go the way of the early touchscreen devices, nice idea, but too expensive. Comparable to a top end SP or less (please, please, please! ;) ) and you may stand a chance of hitting the ground running.

  12. M.D.
    Boffin

    Bah!

    I don't care what you say AD, or how much sense you usually make; your wrong about this one.

    I wear glasses.

    I don't like jewellery.

    or wristwatches.

    or wearing anything (except, reluctantly) other than my glasses - so I don't.*

    I can't wait to get hold of one of these. I really can't. I want to step into my personal vision of the 'future' and if Google is obliging enough to provide it for me, well, TA Very Much!

    So, if your only reasoning against 'em is "you don't like wearing stuff" I have a suggestion:

    Don't wear a wristwatch, it seems you only do so as a fashion-accessory anyway (after all, I'm sure your phone has the time on it. Somewhere).

    *other than clothes. Clearly. After all, I generally try to avoid getting arrested.

  13. DF118

    Shooz

    It's the same with shoes: as soon as I arrive at work, I have to take off my Oxfords as soon as possible. This nearly always goes unnoticed as long I wear very black socks. If I wear coloured-tipped socks, however, it gets a bit like that scene in Blake Edwards’ movie Skin Deep.

    When this happens, I am forced to endure stupid remarks from stupid people, often in stupidly senior management positions for which stupidity is evidently mandatory in order to achieve their stupid promotion. Stupid.

    Testify.

    The most annoyingly stupid one I get is: "eew, smelly feet!" ... Er, I had my shoes on for about an hour this morning on my way in to work. You, on the other hand, have had yours strapped on for the last six hours. And you accuse me of having smelly feet?

    Mind you, I now make a point of wearing the most lurid socks possible simply to noise these fuckers up, so I shouldn't complain.

  14. Paul Smith
    FAIL

    Has your mother never told you...

    ...that the single most boring thing it is possible to listen to is someone talking about their personal dislikes. The only reason anybody tolerates it at all is if it gives them the chance to respond in kind.

    Lets by honest, can you name one single person who gives a flying f*ck about whether or not you find wearing a watch irritates your wrist?

    1. DF118

      Re: Has your mother never told you...

      Sorry what were you saying? Tuned out there for a moment while I decided which of my personal dislikes I was going to furnish you with in return for you moaning about one of yours.

    2. Khaptain Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Has your mother never told you...

      @Paul

      As the prosecutor said to the Judge.

      "Your honour I am rather embarresed to inform you but the Plaintiff is actually guilty of the same crime as the Defendant"

    3. Alistair Dabbs

      Re: Has your mother never told you...

      Voted up.

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: Has your mother never told you...

        Alistair

        I get where your coming from, it must be the age......Next time I am in GB, I should pay you a visit and buy you a pint....

  15. TJ McVickers esq.
    Mushroom

    Jeeez!

    What's your point?

    You're getting old and you're enjoying telling everyone about it? You can feel the comfortable blanket of elderly neo-luddite..ism.. being gently rested on your shoulders....

    School report = Could do better.

  16. defiler

    Notification lamp

    I don't wear glasses, but I can see the day coming... However, I would really consider it a feature to have an LED in the frame at one side, shining sideways into the lens, with a refractive prism ground into the lens to direct the light to your eye. Then you'd have an unobtrusive status lamp for (as John Robson says) email, SMS, voicemail, phone ringing, whatever. It'd be a USP for glasses over contacts, keeping you informed without being information overload.

    1. t.est
      WTF?

      Re: Notification lamp

      I already hate the blinking of PC hardware especially blue ones (as human eye don't adjust as well to blue light as to the others). Macs have few leds at all for status one reason I so love the Apple design.

      Same goes for the car, I had an Audi V8, you could turn of all instrumental lightning oh I loved that so much, The last to go off when turning the dimmer was the speedometer and rev. The last to come on when you turned it up was the lights between the benches.

      A status light for each email I get straight into my eyes would be worse torture than the Chinese model of dripping cold water on you head one drop at a time, for a very long time.

      You maybe dream about it, you maybe want it now, but I tell you when you get that blinker thing in your hand, it wont be long before you join a competition in how far your hand can throw away that blinker.

      I see the benefit of being able to read a document while looking elsewhere too, but how often is that. As bad as you multi-task it would anyway be forbidden in traffic.

    2. Ancientbr IT

      Re: Notification lamp

      Didn't we already go down this path in the early 90s? Whatever happened to Private Eye, and the MIT thing that scan low-power microlasers across your retina (which sounds horrendous), and a bunch of other products that supposedly heralded freedom from a monitor?

  17. Atonnis
    Meh

    Hmm?

    Not really much of a post, this one. It doesn't really say much more than 'I don't like wearing irritating stuff'.

    Personally, I agree, but then I don't think Glass is intended to be worn around all day. It would seem pretty daft for that to be the idea behind it.

    As someone else noted, I'd imagine that it's real use would be in situations. Medical personnel needing scans, pictures (which could be advanced to A&E ahead of them) or access to assistance on-the-spot whilst keeping hands free. Of course, this only works if it is capable of bringing up suitable amounts of information on the display without obscuring your view.

    I agree I couldn't envision putting on anything like this all day. In the same way I don't hold up my Lumia 920 all day and walk around with Nokia City Lens on. I don't need it.

    However, I'm a weirdo, I never feel a need to jump and pull out my phone the moment a text message or email arrives, and I don't always feel I HAVE to answer a ringing phone. The amount of friends and acquaintances over the years who've looked at me in absolute horror because I saw a message arrive and didn't respond to it, or didn't answer the phone because I was in the middle of a conversation, is pretty high. Imagine this thing being on all day and the expectation to leap to action every time someone sent you a message... It'd drive me nuts.

    Anyway, I digress...the one question I have is - other than making me into a jump-to-it slave-boy, what is this thing actually for?

    1. J. Cook Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Hmm?

      "...the one question I have is - other than making me into a jump-to-it slave-boy, what is this thing actually for?"

      After one gets past the novelty factor, having the ability to have a heads up display might be useful in a number of situations, and you did mention earlier:

      "As someone else noted, I'd imagine that it's real use would be in situations. Medical personnel needing scans, pictures (which could be advanced to A&E ahead of them) or access to assistance on-the-spot whilst keeping hands free."

      Another use I can think of would be as a way of having repair manuals and other technical documentation handy when one either doesn't have the space for a bulky chunk of dead tree, or where said dead tree would get damaged by grease, oils, chemicals, etc. Having the ability to hold up a part, have the camera on the device take a picture of it and apply some sort of image matching algorithm to pull up specs or information might be useful as well.

      1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
        Meh

        Re: Hmm?

        Oddly enough all those applications have been looked at by the makers of "wearable computers."

        Their size and weight may be new.

        The concept is definitely not.

  18. Longrod_von_Hugendong
    Devil

    To sum the article...

    1) Wants to be the naked office rambler

    2) oh, there is no other content really.

    3) Five minutes of my life i would like back.

    Still its friday, so might find time for some fermented vegetable products.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: To sum the article...

      'Still its friday, so might find time for some fermented vegetable products.'

      Is it my turn to buy the sauerkraut already?

    2. Alistair Dabbs

      Re: To sum the article...

      Oh dear, one of the "I'll never get that five minutes of my life back" brigade. If your life that much, you'd be climbing mountains or shagging lingerie models, not sitting in front of The Register on a Friday afternoon.

      1. PhilBuk
        Happy

        Re: To sum the article...

        AD - you're getting a good catch this afternoon. Best thing is - they don't realise it!

        Phil.

  19. a pressbutton
    Gimp

    hmmm

    I thought you were at Keele.

    1. Alistair Dabbs

      Re: hmmm

      Keele *was* the smallest Uni in Britain at the time. Since then, all the old Polytechnics and FE colleges began calling themselves universities too.

  20. mmeier

    Who needs to wear two sets of glasses for this one

    From the looks of the GGs I can simply get prescription glasses in the frame and use ONE set. Since I switch glasses depending on what I do anyway (I.e an untinted one for painting, a self-coloring/tinting one for driving etc) I see little to no problem with that.

    And as one wrote: Having such a kit to super-impose Calendar/Mail etc. in my field of vision would be nice. If done properly this thing would finally allow me to do away with the smartphone, linking to the tablet-pc I carry around even when it is closed/lying on the co-driver seat/packed in a attache case, giving me back the classic "lasts 14 days between recharges" featurephone.

  21. John 137
    Headmaster

    want to clear up a few things

    I got to wear a pair for a bit back in the summer. First, they're extremely light. They sat lightly on the bridge of my nose, much like my regular glasses, and the electronics+battery package was sufficiently well-balanced that it didn't bother me or feel in danger of slipping off.

    Second point, it doesn't really "superimpose" anything on your vision. It's more like if you look at the appropriate place, there's a screen there. Unobtrusive but convenient.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Disappointing. The article read like something parodied on The Sunday Format.

  23. Laurent_Z
    Thumb Down

    "vibration-alert digital lightning rod rammed up your arse"

    You know what ? I think you have found a nice market there ...

    Does it also serve as a personal transportation device ?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IT_%28South_Park;_The_Entity%29.jpeg

    (Ok, so you dislike wearing watches... I enjoy posting offensive South Park memes. How do I become a regular ElReg contributor and get paid to speak about it ?)

  24. Eric Pedersen
    Stop

    Too right mate.

    That is all.

  25. Spoddyhalfwit

    How about for all the other naked rambler types who seem to want to go around with it all swinging in the wind...

    ... A smart policemans helmet. Can be positioned over genitalia, and flashes an LED when said rambler gets an email.

  26. Sloppy Crapmonster
    FAIL

    If it was anybody but google, they'd sell me the glasses and keep the fuck out of my brain (maybe; can't be too sure anymore). Because it's google, they're going to charge me somewhere between $100-$500 for the hardware, tie what I'm looking at to the google+ account I'm obliged to have at work, and then pump ads I don't want straight into my eyeballs. No thanks.

  27. Shao

    The specs will be refined over time and won't be so cumbersome.

    There was some research at Harvard where a student demonstrated using a camera projected a screen from his head and his hands could be used to move content around the screen and do signals (in much the same way sign language has developed) to bring up things like camera and zoom.

    What they finally realised was that even with the most powerful projector in the world you can't go up against sunlight and hence the technology was useless.

    Google glasses seem like a gimmick at the moment and they are. As is Siri from Apple.

    However, one future generation of the smart device involves being able to see things within your vision not limited by phone form factor and being able to speak to your phone sort of like what Siri does today albeit much more advanced.

    In the future, combining all these devices will allow a smart device to be hands free, voice activated and vision not limited by current form factors. You won't be looking down on your phone when using your car as you can see everything as an overlay through your glasses. You'll be able to talk to them like Siri to activate voice calls.

    The last generation of smart phones used styluses. The current ones have touch and Siri-like.

    The future ones will change things further.

    If there is anything to be learnt, its to keep applications written for mobile devices small - otherwise rewrites for the next generation will be an even bigger chore!

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    Pah

    20 menthol cools and a buffer will get you nice shiny shiny peepers..

    Gotta kill a few peeps though, then end up in a no daylight slam......

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "I am forced to endure stupid remarks from stupid people, often in stupidly senior management positions for which stupidity is evidently mandatory in order to achieve their stupid promotion. Stupid."

    Whenever I say that I'm told that I'm negative (or a twat by my friends).

  30. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

    Or, perhaps, not so much like you

    It's yet one more uncomfortable thing to stick on my body that I'm going to hate wearing. Naturally, like you, I am intrigued by the idea, if not fooled by the outrageously fake concept videos.

    "Naturally"? "like you"?

    I don't see what's "naturally" appealing about this latest burst of gadget idiocy. (Yes, there are plausible beneficial AR applications in specific industries. That's not what we're talking about.)

    I'm perfectly happy to wear glasses, wristwatch, necktie (indeed I think it's a shame I so rarely have an occasion to dig into my tie collection), and so on. But I wouldn't use Google Glass if you paid me to. Wearable displays like this have been kicking around at least since the first SIGGRAPH I attended, circa 1990, and I've never seen any non-industry-specific application for them that I thought was even slightly interesting.

    Certainly many folks seem to be trembling in anticipation. Fine - they're welcome to whatever entertainment distracts them from the real world they seem to find so tiresome. But not everyone thinks this nonsense is exciting.

    I'll agree that the concept videos are outrageously fake, though.

  31. ahectic

    technology breeds trends

    Your main argument is an aversion to 'accessorising' ?

    How on earth would you have dealt with the birth of mobile phones.

    "This concept/product is lame because they're too big for my pocket..."

    Seeing as the tech hasn't even remotely come close to being commercialised; how could you expect their first revision to be something stylish, comfortable and seamlessly fit into a myriad of lifestyles? Do you think that apple would've had such an easy time if there hadn't been years and years of mobile phone growth and development? Not to mention the variance of companies who have contributed to the evolution and design.

    Personally; Its way to early to criticize google glass considering the lack of exposure/impact that society has had to shape it. Once the idea is floated in a market; imagine the possibilities when other companies become involved in everything from the shape, design, size, weight and even style. Android is a perfect example of this symbiotic ideal, and shows what an idea can become.

    In regards to cybernetics; how is technology to progress without stepping stones to make their way?

    If we don't evolve and nurture ideas, they'll never develop and blossom to the point where they become part of life.

    Besides that, how could you consider eye implants to be less invasive than a pair of glasses?

  32. simon_brooke

    Oh, for heaven's sake!

    I was at the opticians yesterday, having my eyes tested. I didn't order new frames. Instead, I ordered new lenses to my prescription both for my existing titanium 'frameless' frames and for the Oakley M-Frames I wear when cycling. Next year, if I do the same thing (and I probably will), I'll order new lenses to my prescription for my Google Glass frames.

    Nobody (except the sort of mindless, blinkered hack who writes for el Reg) imagines that you will wear Google Glass on top of, or as well as, or interchangeably with your prescription spectacles. Your Google Glass spectacles will be your prescription glasses, and you'll wear them all the time. Anything else would be simply stupid, and whatever Google are, they're not stupid...

    ... unlike all too many el Reg journalists, these days. Met any climate change deniers lately?

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