9 ms·

Google to Sell Heads-Up Display Glasses by Year’s End

• wavephorm 15y ago
  Yeah so everything I look at is going to go through Google's servers, and be processed and display Google ads constantly no matter where I'm looking. Yeah right. Google is flat-out lunatic if they think consumers want this level of invasion into their lives. They're taking the Orwellian computing idea, big brother always on everywhere, to the absolute extreme here.
• shalmanese 15y ago
  Have Google figured out a way to solve the accomodation/vergence problems inherent in screen based 3D displays (http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=64028 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=6402...)? Because if not, these things are going to suffer from the same dismal failure that every other 3D display product has over the last 30 years.
  • jfoutz 15y ago
    It's not clear they're going for a 3d experience. My guess is it's just a hud without eye tracking. A camera for labeling the world a'la virtual light would be cool, but still laggy. Does not matter. I would insert the picture of a kitten with the text "want" but this is not reddit.
    • shalmanese 15y ago
      It needs to be 3D to pitch text. Hold a piece of text 3 inches away from your eyeball and try reading it. Then imagine how painful it would be to have that there 8 hours a day.
      • jfoutz 15y ago
        I disagree. Every single consumer 3d tech is a fixed focal length. Neither the 3d tv, nor the movie screen changes distance. there's nothing special in the glasses to change distance, it's simply blocking out images from one eye. I think you mean something like the image needs to appear some distance away from the eye. Yes, i agree with that. There are old solutions to that problem. You could show each eye a different image, and get a depth effect... but that has all of the problems you pointed out.
    • iamgilesbowkett 15y ago
      Upvoted for the 'Virtual Light' reference. Like basically everything else online, William Gibson described this years ago.
• jfoutz 15y ago
  I can't imagine them not looking hideous, but i want them. i've wanted them for pretty much two decades now. I'm sure they will suck. I will happily give google a pile of money for the few weeks of usage i'm guaranteed to get out of them. It's just a bonus if they're actually useful.
• ck2 15y ago
  Even the smallest smartphone chipsets still need big batteries, I suspect it's going to be a pocket device with a wire or bluetooth of some kind going to the glasses. Still an amazingly aggressive technology product.
  • Lewisham 15y ago
    I hadn't considered the battery aspect. Having a wire would kill this in the consumer market. Bluetooth to a central pack... Maybe.
    • dandelany 15y ago
      Unless I've missed a big recent announcement, wireless energy transfer, even over a short distance like pocket-to-glasses, is a long way off from being feasible. My money is on a tiny battery built into the glasses themselves, and a screen/CPU optimized for using miniscule amounts of energy. The problem is that wireless data transfer still requires quite a bit of power, so they will either need to do lots of optimization to only transfer data when absolutely necessary (and turn the transceiver off the rest of the time), or come up with a system in which the glasses talk to a central device in your pocket using a low-energy data transfer scheme, and the central device talks to the network over WiFi/3G. (On second thought, maybe that's what you meant by "bluetooth to a central pack")
      • Lewisham 15y ago
        It was :)
      • egypturnash 15y ago
        > a system in which the glasses talk to a central device in your pocket Most people would call that "your phone".
      • hamburgersushi 15y ago
        Theoretically it doesn't NEED a backlight, and it only needs to display on the (presumably) LED display. Something along the lines of http://croakies.com/ http://croakies.com/ might be reasonable. With no wires, it's going to be a battery that also has glass on the front. What IS the feasible distance for induction? Even the copin displays require 5v.
• granitepail 15y ago
  I definitely checked the date a few times, but this makes an awful lot of sense given Google's position. At this point it's really just hardware to bridge the accessibility gap.
• gfodor 15y ago
  My biggest concern is if this is executed poorly it could undermine future attempts to bring wearable computing to the mainstream. It still feels a bit early for this to work well. Google can pull off the technical challenges, surely, but the usability hurdles here are outside of their comfort zone.
  • dandelany 15y ago
    I don't really see this being an issue... First generation emerging technologies always have big problems, and early adopters know it. Think about pre-iPhone smartphones - they (largely) sucked, but that fact hasn't had any effect on the market for well-engineered smartphones today, as far as I can tell. If anything, Google releasing a product with major deficiencies that early adopters still find valuable will spur further development in the same space by competitors.
    • pyre 15y ago
      You could arguably say that early attempts anchored the industry (into a certain way of thinking about what a smartphone was and how it worked) until Apple came along to pull it out of that rut...
      • teovall 15y ago
        Could Apple have done so many things right had there not been so many examples of how to do things wrong?
        • pyre 15y ago
          That's arguable. I'm pretty sure there are many more ways to 'do it' which are both wrong, and have not been attempted. Granted, I'm not putting Apple up on a pedestal or anything. They just came along at the right time, with the right leadership to combine existing technology into a better (and more useful) configuration.
      • freehunter 15y ago
• SoftwareMaven 15y ago
  I am horrible at remembering names. The day these things can do facial recognition againt my address book, Facebook, and LinkedIn profiles and pop up a little box with the person I'm looking at's name is the day I will never go without glasses again.
  • barefoot 15y ago
    That would be amazing, and really useful at tech conferences. One could imagine something like Klout running in the background and telling you who's important, who has similar interest to you, etc... The social implications are mind blowing.
    • xxbondsxx 15y ago
      That's a big idea... Although I would feel a bit bad bringing the online social hierarchy / totem pole into the real world. We already care _too_ much about Klout and Karma scores, the last thing we need is twitter gods parting the seas at tech conferences.
      • egypturnash 15y ago
        At long last, I can see how much Whuffie people have!
  • cpeterso 15y ago
    Here is a TED 2009 demo of MIT's "Sixth Sense" wearable computer. It's like Minority Report but operates on any wall. It's features include visual overlays of social profiles for the person you're talking with. :) http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.h...
  • richardw 15y ago
    Leading to a whole new level of social awkwardness: "Hi...uh..." puts on glasses "...Bob."
• Steko 15y ago
  Pro: Because it's Android we can hack an awesome DBZ power level widget into the HUD. Con: The glasses hit you up to join G+ every 30 seconds.
  • prawn 15y ago
    And require you to set up a new account if your other one is a Mail for Domains account.
  • moe 15y ago
    Con: Your entire viewport lags by 10-200ms with random jitter.
    • Steko 15y ago
      Pro: Candy eating robot mascots. Con: You show your friend the cool notification bar and they say "looks like they just took it from iOS 5" Achievement Unlocked: Alpha & Omega: have the highest and lowest rated comment in a top rated thread.
    • atjoslin 15y ago
      "10-200ms with random jitter" don't we love Java :-p
• pshc 15y ago
  Not saying this is what they're selling, but: Real-time overlays are still impractical, right? My intuition is--without a really high speed camera and high fidelity environmental cues--the overlay will have a lag and high uncertainty wrt where you're actually looking... or has the state of the art moved on? Or are their labs advancing the state of the art? Any idea how they're making the screen usable at that focal length? Don't VR headsets usually need optics much more bulky than sunglasses for comfortable viewing? Anyway, even if it's smartphone-like functionality in a more convenient form factor, I'm looking forward to being an early adopter.
  • sanswork 15y ago
    You can get away with smaller screens if you're just doing a HUD instead of a full immersive environment.
  • sbierwagen 15y ago
    The Nintendo 3DS does AR overlays with mostly tolerable lag, though I wouldn't want to be looking at the world through it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkbWZiZ01G0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkbWZiZ01G0
    • Ralith 15y ago
      It needs an easily pattern-matched reference point, though.
      • sbierwagen 15y ago
        http://www.willowgarage.com/blog/2012/01/16/capturing-accurate-camera-poses http://www.willowgarage.com/blog/2012/01/16/capturing-accura...
  • adgar 15y ago
    I mean... depending on big the frames are... maybe the state of the art being advanced is designing really, really skinny and long high-end ARM chips down the arms. Only about 20% serious.
  • 15y ago
• BadassFractal 15y ago
  Exciting news! Just yesterday I was watching John Carmack's interview from 2011's QuakeCon and at the end he mentioned that he was going to soon start playing with display glasses to see if anything interesting would come out of it (for id, I imagine). Driverless car, now digital glasses. I'm positively impressed that Google keeps pushing the envelope in all these different fields.
  • ramses0 15y ago
    https://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/status/171625354161700866 https://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1716253541617008... """A HMD without head tracking is counter-productive – the view feels like it swims opposite every tiny head motion.""" This guy knows his pixels. :-) Tweet was just this week, I believe. He's had a few others w.r.t. head tracking, FOV / display issues with fancy new displays. Definitely interesting to see his challenges.
    • BadassFractal 15y ago
      That's awesome, really exciting to know that he actually started experimenting with the tech.
• berntb 15y ago
  How is the reading experience? Can you get 80 chars into it? I hope there isn't a good one hand keyboard interface (chording?) so you can write email/code while bicycling/driving/etc -- with my simultaneous capacity, it would be my death...
• Steko 15y ago
  From the linked previous post about wearables: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/wearing-your-computer-on-your-sleeve/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/wearing-your-comput... "Kids will play virtual games with their friends, where they meet in a park and run around chasing virtual creatures for points." Lucky kids. I suddenly feel like Old Man Luddite because I grew up playing with sticks and crap. Related: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-time/ http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-...
  • cullenking 15y ago
    The funny thing is, kids already do this without special glasses...
    • ajuc 15y ago
      Now poor kids will buy fake virtual glasses to look cool running around.
• rabidsnail 15y ago
  Google to Sell Heads-Up Display Next Time They Start Getting Bad Press
• sbierwagen 15y ago
  Huh, two days ago Gabe Newell was talking about Valve maybe going into the hardware business to do wearable displays: http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/valves-gabe-newell-talks-wearable-computers-rewarding-players-and-whether-w http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/valves-gabe... Well timed.
• dfranke 15y ago
  Relevant: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1994-10-12/ http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1994-10-12/
• mechanical_fish 15y ago
  Great, soon it won't be enough to block browser cookies. I'll have to avoid glancing at actual cookies lest my search results start filling up with Snackwells coupons and special offers from the local gym.
  • alexgartrell 15y ago
    Man, you've been around here for two years longer than I have. You know that there's no value added by blatant sarcasm. If you're actually afraid that Google will use your captured images to serve you unwanted ads (and, btw, revolutionize computer vision in the process), then say exactly that. Crackin' wise about snackwells isn't getting anyone anywhere.
    • MattJ100 15y ago
      That wasn't really sarcasm. It was exaggeration, perhaps. But even then, perhaps it wasn't even that (given enough time).
      • mechanical_fish 15y ago
        Bless you, because it was while trying to figure out if I agreed with you that I looked up "sarcasm" in Wikipedia and found this awesome quote: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, on the other hand, recognized in it a cry of pain: Sarcasm, he said, was "usually the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded." Beautiful. So, based on that: If what I wrote wasn't technically sarcasm, that's not because I wasn't trying. ;) And now I'm afraid I must reiterate my clearly-signalled disinterest in yet another lengthy debate about Google's privacy policies. There are plenty of older threads on HN that cover these things, and this week I have more urgent things to do, like try to make up my mind whether or not my past and future YouTube viewing history is bound up with the privacy of my soul.
    • staringispolite 15y ago
      Is sarcasm always unwanted here? I actually chuckled at the beginning until it turned too serious toward the end. There was a great TEDx talk on the (well-executed) use of humor, and satire in particular, to get points across when they would otherwise be disregarded, or to make bland points more viral: http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_bliss_comedy_is_translation.html http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_bliss_comedy_is_translation.h... I don't see a reason to discourage sarcasm out-of-hand, or any other form of humor. Based on the merits of the individual comment, sure.
• msg 15y ago
  Here are some high-quality sf books you can use to imagine the possibilities of this technology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Light http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Light http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_State http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_State
  • mindcrime 15y ago
    Of those, I've only read Halting State, but it is a really cool novel (although written in something of an odd perspective). I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet, and who generally likes cyberpunk'ish fiction.
  • jfoutz 15y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
    • mattstreet 15y ago
      Are you referring to how awesome the AR seems to be in snow crash, or the horrible brain viruses they were vulnerable to.
  • schiffern 15y ago
    Synthetic Serendipity is free online: http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/synthetic-serendipity http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/synthetic-serend... It's a short story in the same universe as Rainbow's End, and deals extensively with wearable computers.
  • simmons 15y ago
    Yes. _Rainbows End_ and _Halting State_ were the first things that went through my mind when I saw this headline. :) I personally find a lot of inspiration for my work in such stories.
  • bane 15y ago
    Don't forget the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Age_(science_fiction_trilogy) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Age_(science_fiction...
• orofino 15y ago
  I've been waiting for this for a long time. I wear glasses currently and have always felt that some kind of overlay could provide tremendous value. From simple reminders, augmenting my environment with meta data, or giving access to real time updates about almost anything the possibilities are almost endless. Batteries are going to truly be the limiting factor IMO. Forget plastics, the future is batteries. I assume version 1 of the product will require some kind of external battery pack, I'd think it was certainly worth it if the tech is what it should be.
  • downx3 15y ago
    I was thinking as a glasses wearer - that I'd be excluded from the product. Have you tried to wear 3D glasses over your existing pair? I wonder how lightweight they'll be, especially if you factor in batteries.
    • yew 15y ago
      If they're lightweight enough you could have the lenses replaced and just wear the digital pair. That's what I'm planning on looking into, once the technology matures a little.
• mbeswetherick 15y ago
  Google is pretty ballsy. After their Safari tracking system fiasco they announce this: the ultimate form of tracking. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Google would make this considering the rest of their products. I love Google and their products, but I feel this takes it over the line. At what point will Google be satisfied with the amount of information they're able to collect? Maybe the world will become some strange Utopia where products like these glasses are acceptable and Google made the right call, but Google should take a step back and realize they're making technology for humans, not robots. If this trend continues I bet we'll see Google Children roaming our street. Ok, that's pretty hyperbolic but you get my point.
  • coopdog 15y ago
    Opt out? They're just giving you more choice, not less ala apple
• sopooneo 15y ago
  Is this article implying the glasses will work like a HUD, with the image displayed on a transparent surface that you can also see through? Or is it an opaque screen off to the side? Or it couldn't possibly be an opaque screen over your eyes that redisplays what you would have seen behind it?
• tehdanish 15y ago
  The article implies they are a completely separate Android device. Why not just interface with Android / iOS devices?
• staringispolite 15y ago
  And Google Goggles is already taken. WHY?!
• hesdeadjim 15y ago
  All I have to say is: please, please, please let this actually happen and work even 50% as well as my imagination wants it to.
• derrida 15y ago
  How do I opt out of all face recognition? I have a right that my personal life not be exploited for advertising by a large company.
  • staringispolite 15y ago
    I think Google is usually pretty forward about their privacy policies and letting you customize what data they store. (See those recent "this stuff is important" popups on virtually every Google property) Here's hoping they thought of issues like: Guy wears his new "Google Goggles" to a racy late-night sales meeting, and Gmail serves how wife ads for divorce papers.
  • dredmorbius 15y ago
    There's always the paper bag solution. Most scanners to date have been moderately vulnerable to blocking devices. Say, a backscatter laser of some sort. And if personal identifiers are based on you carrying a broadcast device (e.g.: an info-leaking phone), one simple solution is ... don't do that. I suspect that both the technology and its countermeasures will first be utilized by government (and corporate) "security forces". Hrm ... related query: is it possible to build a simple device which would short out RFID scanners? If it becomes trivial enough to destroy the readers, then ubiquitous, obnoxious uses might at least become more expensive.
    • derrida 15y ago
      I don't think you are getting rid of RFID, they are too cheap and low-tech to get rid of. I hear Aluminium foil does the trick.
      • dredmorbius 15y ago
        RFID has its uses. It's also got its abuses. The tags are cheap. The scanners somewhat less so (especially when you add the labor cost of repair/replacement). I'm not talking about killing in-store scanners and the like. However if I was aware of privacy-stealing roaming scanners in places they had no business to be in ... well. Raising the cost of data acquisition might be an entertaining hobby.
• rkaplan 15y ago
  Does anyone see this actually catching on in the next five years and becoming something more than a gimmick? I'm as excited about the prospect of viewing the world through a HUD as the next guy, but I can't imagine these glasses looking sleek in the slightest, and they will likely be rather bulky. But beyond ugliness, it seems to me that someone would rather pull out their smartphone than put on a pair of HUD glasses for any given use case for this product. Augmented reality is "cool" but I've never used an AR app more than two days after I downloaded it. I think for it to catch on, this technology would have to be baked into glasses that are designed to be worn all the time, not just put on when needed. People aren't going to carry around AR glasses in their back pocket with their phones and wallets. So a place to start might be enhancing the glasses used by people with vision trouble, rather than creating a whole new glasses product.
  • city41 15y ago
    I can think of two markets that this may do well in: motorcyclists and runners. Motorcycle HUDs have existed for quite some time now, but more competition especially from someone as big as Google will inject some much needed innovation. I can also see this being popular with running enthusiasts. During my races I wear a paper band around my wrist with my ideal times for each mile, and then have my GPS watch set to show instantaneous pace. A race involves constantly looking between watch, paper printout and your surroundings. If I had a HUD, I might even enjoy the race a bit :) (that was slightly sarcastic)
• joshontheweb 15y ago
  But can they look good? Those oakleys linked to are awful. If they look stupid then I doubt they will work... Until apple steps in and does it right, that is ;)
• jobu 15y ago
  If anyone hasn't read Daemon & FreedomTM by Daniel Suarez I highly suggest it. His use of tech like this in the novels was pretty well thought out. Can't wait until Google uses these to integrate a MMORPG with RL.
• mrbill 15y ago
  The first thing that came to mind is Manfred Macx in _Accelerando_, and how hopelessly lost he is without his AR goggles.
• bootload 15y ago
  "... One Google employee said the glasses would tap into a number of Google software products that are currently available and in use today, but will display the information in an augmented reality view ..." wonder how many Steve Mann patents they are using? ~ http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~mann/ http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~mann/
• notatoad 15y ago
  i find this very hard to believe. it seems obvious to me that smartphones and tablets have completely filled the niche invented by the HUD glasses of yesteryear's science fiction. they will never be popular, because they are too invasive. people like to be able to put the internet in their pocket and take it out again when they need it. i wouldn't be surprised if google has a bunch of engineers working on the technology that could be used in HUD glasses, but i would be very, very surprised to see anything ever come to market. google will not enter the hardware market with such a risky product.
  • sebastianavina 15y ago
    i thought the same of hands free cell phones... and I found people all day long with headphones, sometimes listening music, sometimes just in case the phione rings. On a second thought. Some people already use glasses all day long. It would be great for most of them to have a little display with the current time, mail status, incoming calls, and along... At least, for me sounds nice.
  • jhickner 15y ago
    They'll never be popular? I think the main impediment to wearable computing has been how socially awkward it is. If someone actually came up with a discrete, well-designed glasses-based computer, I think it would be immensely popular. AR won't really come into it's own until such a platform exists. Holding a phone in front of your face is just too awkward. - read any language - never forget names - navigational aids (obviously) - identify any bird, plant, etc. - a whole raft of products just geared around augmenting the museum experience - look at a printed equation and see it solved - look at a printed question and see it answered (within certain constraints obviously) - look at binary, hexidecimal, etc. and see it converted to decimal - look at a color and see pantone and hex color codes - read existing printed books, but with access to immediate dictionary lookup, references, etc. I could go on and on... if this ever hits, the ramifications will be extraordinary.
    • jim-greer 15y ago
      Plus, birth control!
• reader5000 15y ago
  This is potentially awesome for two reasons: 1. I can lay in bed and read an ebook without having to hold a device. 2. Google can parse any situation I may be in and recommend the optimal action based on its data of every single other human on earth.
  • groby_b 15y ago
    In combination, it will recommend that you finally get out of bed and do something productive ;)
    • rudiger 15y ago
      i saved this, becuase thw imagry of a man sitting jyst his boxrs and a virtyal realitu device, contraposed by your commebt of a man not doing anything but sittinf on the bed!
      • buu700 15y ago
        Are you high, perchance?
        • natrius 15y ago
          No, he's just having difficulties typing from his glasses.
• ctdonath 15y ago
  William Gibson, "Virtual Light". 'nuff said.
• theBobMcCormick 15y ago
  Sounds like a more generalized, urban version of the Mod Live ski goggles (http://www.reconinstruments.com/products/mod http://www.reconinstruments.com/products/mod). The Mod Live googles look amazing, but pretty bulky (plus, I don't ski). If the Google glasses end up being half as cool I'd definitely be interested.
• jakeonthemove 15y ago
  If this is true and if the display is good enough to let you browse websites, then it's awesome!
• TechNewb 15y ago
  Will they be prescription glasses? They should team with Warby Parker.
• deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
• rasur 15y ago
  Cue the inevitable "what happened to Steve Mann's EyeTap glasses" comment. Now there was an opportunity 'missed'.
• JabavuAdams 15y ago
  I wonder what the field of view is? That's been my main problem with HMDs in the past. Maybe now I'll finally be able to build my wearable computer from COTS components. Exercise: taking the hardware as a given, what would you do with it, what software do you need? Steve Mann: 20 years ahead of the curve.
• lucian1900 15y ago
  I think it should just use my Android phone. Why yet another Android device on me?
• robin_reala 15y ago
  I”m really surprised that no-one’s talking up the accessibility benefits of something like this. Imagine a version for blind users that dumped the screen in favour of a headset and mic. A little voice recognition and your glasses could tell you where you are, what you’re facing, and even do basic hazard avoidance. That sounds invaluable. Actually, it sounds like the 90s kids show Knightmare :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciIfcYwI6Ps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciIfcYwI6Ps
• libraryatnight 15y ago
  I wonder if this will eventually intersect with the gamification trends. This article had me imagining a crude augmented reality MMO, routine tasks are assigned point values and so are items for purchase. Walking through the store you could see that Sara Lee white bread nets you 100xp, paying your mortgage on time, Bank of America has awarded you 1000xp. A look at someone and the HUD displays their level and point value along with their various badges. Of course check-ins will be automatic. I doubt this iteration will be very advanced, but the article definitely made me think.
  • radarsat1 15y ago
    This guy has something to say about that kind of thing: http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schell_when_games_invade_real_life.html http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schell_when_games_invade_real... Worth listening to, it gets kind of scary toward the end.
• neworbit 15y ago
  I am definitely going to write a "THEY LIVE" plugin