7 ms·

Glass looks interesting, but (presuming the price comes way down, which it surely well) I can't see it having a whole lot of traction in consumer markets. Yeah

Glass looks interesting, but (presuming the price comes way down, which it surely well) I can't see it having a whole lot of traction in consumer markets. Yeah it's small and light, but it's still going to be distracting - I've worn glasses for 30 years That said, I could really see glass taking off in occupations that require field work - for example, a surveyor or construction foreman can use them in the field and managers/architects/engineers can review pictures and video of project progress or problems that might crop up in the field. It could be attractive to certain consumer markets like cyclists, etc. Similarly I could see Glass being adopted wholeheartedly by military, security and police personnel, especially as replacement for military helmet cams. All my opinion of course. We certainly live in interesting times, and kudos for Google for trying to expand our horizons. edit: BTW if the developer preview were available to non-IO attendees, I'd seriously consider getting one. Like I said, it would be extremely useful during field work.

lolilives 14y ago
Maybe it could have potential as a gimmicky child's toy in which you can take care of/play/see your virtual pet while you're wearing the glasses? Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Coil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Coil
swah 14y ago
What do you mean? Its much better for those of us who use glasses: just order one with your prescription.
- Anechoic 14y ago
  I am a glasses wearer that drives a lot (25k miles per year), cycles a decent amount (around 1,000 miles per year), plays sports and practices a martial art - I am constantly dealing with blind spots caused by bridges, nose-pad temples, as well as reflections off the lenses. Unless Glass becomes significantly smaller (it will get smaller over time, but I'm talking a few cubic mm) it becomes one more blind spot. Certainly for me it would become enough of a hassle that I couldn't imagine wearing it around all the time, which means having to dig it out for the times when I do want to use it (which means remembering to bring, etc) - at that point, why not just use my cellphone? I suspect I'm not alone, but we'll find out over the coming years.
  - sp332 14y ago
    Slightly off-topic but I always liked this concept: http://www.coroflot.com/billymay/Nike-Hindsight http://www.coroflot.com/billymay/Nike-Hindsight There's plenty of room for Google to innovate in glasses design if they're willing to throw away people's expectations of glasses-as-fashion.
    - Anechoic 14y ago
      Very interesting concept, you should submit that as it's own HN story.
      - sp332 14y ago
        OK :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4168896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4168896
  - ZitchDog 14y ago
    Just spitballing here, but maybe they could embed a side-camera in the device and display a real-time image to cover up your blind spot.
  - egypturnash 14y ago
    My brain edits that sort of stuff out. In fact my current pair of glasses is frameless; there are some nuts holding the node-bridge to the lenses that I saw ALL THE TIME in the first few weeks of having them, but now never really see at all unless I'm explicitly thinking about them. Like now. I would LOVE to be able to do things like summon up maps displays without having to look down at my phone. YMMV, of course.
fragsworth 14y ago
As much as I love Google, I would bet that they lose money on this endeavor, unless they have a really long-term plan where these glasses are just a stepping stone. I just can't imagine that many people using these.
- stcredzero 14y ago
  The specific form factor won't fly for the general public. Other form factors might. Specific occupations might not care. (Construction workers are already wearing helmets and often goggles, for example.)
- barclay 14y ago
  These ones? No. These are ridiculous, (really) ugly, and pretty limited. But make no mistake, this is absolutely the future.
  - rmc 14y ago
    Less space than a Nomad. No Wireless. Lame.
    - taligent 14y ago
      The iPod was something ordinary people loved and geeks hated. These glasses are the opposite.
      - bad_user 14y ago
        I don't know what you're talking about. I dreamed of these glasses since I was in high-school. Guess I'm not a geek.
        dbaupp 14y ago
        taligent is implying that geeks love the glasses, and non-geeks people hate them.
    - 14y ago
stcredzero 14y ago
> Similarly I could see Glass being adopted wholeheartedly by military, security and police personnel, especially as replacement for military helmet cams. As I mentioned in the TC comments, I'm wondering why protesters don't rig up their own low-tech version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zcidJN69NY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zcidJN69NY This would give an opportunity for those with disabilities to take part in protests as a part of the action on the ground. (They could be like Barbara Gordon as Oracle in comic books.) Since the user-side hardware is inexpensive and disposable, much of the implementation challenge would be on the software side -- enabling the device deal gracefully with low and intermittent bandwidth conditions and offloading data to a local backup carried by another protester.
- gouranga 14y ago
  The moment anything happens during protests, millions of camera phones come out and point at it. It's far more imposing than any glasses. Bluetooth is the PAN implementation of the hour usually and is used to shift stuff around.
  - stcredzero 14y ago
    The moment anything happens during protests, millions of camera phones come out and point at it. It's far more imposing than any glasses. Yes, but a human-level intelligence anticipating what will happen, monitoring media coverage, and coordinating intel from other sources on the ground could be a very powerful resource.
    - gouranga 14y ago
      The press are pretty good at doing that already!
      - stcredzero 14y ago
        Yes, but they aren't trying to do that. A group with the right resources could do an even better job.
smithian 14y ago
Certainly journalists will be a huge adopter of this technology as well.
jiggy2011 14y ago
I'm going to assume that military , security , police will have their own contractor make something similar rather than use google's. After all they don't want to accidentally start uploading raw footage from a battle to a google+ hangout!
jameszol 14y ago
I imagine Glass will handily compete, collaborate or compliment the GoPro market. GoPro are in a lot of major retail outlets on and offline. Glass would be perfect right next to a GoPro. Not only that, but I'm sure they will get more lightweight and portable - maybe even to the point of seamlessly clipping to your normal glasses or integrated right into frames as an add-on. I wear glasses too and I would love having this technology as accessible as simply putting my glasses on every day. The connectivity to the web, ability to email with your eyes & voice, make calls, and more...could replace cell phones for some people.
lnanek 14y ago
They said during the key note that they are lighter than many sunglasses. Many of the team were wearing them when taking orders as well. So they are trying to show off they are natural and easy to wear. Brin also said they do a lot more than share and view video feeds, but it is tough to show. I imagine they at least replace your mobile phone and headset, at the minimum. Consumers gave up cameras for their new smarter phones, and this can be positioned as just an even smarter phone doing more.
craig552uk 14y ago
Absolutely. My dad's a builder, has been for 35 years, when on site he tethers his iPad to his smartphone to download spec sheets for fixtures and fittings. He used to have to wait weeks for this info to be posted from suppliers. Anything that makes it easier to access, share and collaborate on information will make peoples lives easier.

lolilives 14y ago

Maybe it could have potential as a gimmicky child's toy in which you can take care of/play/see your virtual pet while you're wearing the glasses? Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Coil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Coil

swah 14y ago

What do you mean? Its much better for those of us who use glasses: just order one with your prescription.

Anechoic 14y ago
I am a glasses wearer that drives a lot (25k miles per year), cycles a decent amount (around 1,000 miles per year), plays sports and practices a martial art - I am constantly dealing with blind spots caused by bridges, nose-pad temples, as well as reflections off the lenses. Unless Glass becomes significantly smaller (it will get smaller over time, but I'm talking a few cubic mm) it becomes one more blind spot. Certainly for me it would become enough of a hassle that I couldn't imagine wearing it around all the time, which means having to dig it out for the times when I do want to use it (which means remembering to bring, etc) - at that point, why not just use my cellphone? I suspect I'm not alone, but we'll find out over the coming years.
- sp332 14y ago
  Slightly off-topic but I always liked this concept: http://www.coroflot.com/billymay/Nike-Hindsight http://www.coroflot.com/billymay/Nike-Hindsight There's plenty of room for Google to innovate in glasses design if they're willing to throw away people's expectations of glasses-as-fashion.
  - Anechoic 14y ago
    Very interesting concept, you should submit that as it's own HN story.
    - sp332 14y ago
      OK :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4168896 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4168896
- ZitchDog 14y ago
  Just spitballing here, but maybe they could embed a side-camera in the device and display a real-time image to cover up your blind spot.
- egypturnash 14y ago
  My brain edits that sort of stuff out. In fact my current pair of glasses is frameless; there are some nuts holding the node-bridge to the lenses that I saw ALL THE TIME in the first few weeks of having them, but now never really see at all unless I'm explicitly thinking about them. Like now. I would LOVE to be able to do things like summon up maps displays without having to look down at my phone. YMMV, of course.

fragsworth 14y ago

As much as I love Google, I would bet that they lose money on this endeavor, unless they have a really long-term plan where these glasses are just a stepping stone. I just can't imagine that many people using these.

stcredzero 14y ago
The specific form factor won't fly for the general public. Other form factors might. Specific occupations might not care. (Construction workers are already wearing helmets and often goggles, for example.)
barclay 14y ago
These ones? No. These are ridiculous, (really) ugly, and pretty limited. But make no mistake, this is absolutely the future.
- rmc 14y ago
  Less space than a Nomad. No Wireless. Lame.
  - taligent 14y ago
    The iPod was something ordinary people loved and geeks hated. These glasses are the opposite.
    - bad_user 14y ago
      I don't know what you're talking about. I dreamed of these glasses since I was in high-school. Guess I'm not a geek.
      - dbaupp 14y ago
        taligent is implying that geeks love the glasses, and non-geeks people hate them.
  - 14y ago

stcredzero 14y ago

> Similarly I could see Glass being adopted wholeheartedly by military, security and police personnel, especially as replacement for military helmet cams. As I mentioned in the TC comments, I'm wondering why protesters don't rig up their own low-tech version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zcidJN69NY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zcidJN69NY This would give an opportunity for those with disabilities to take part in protests as a part of the action on the ground. (They could be like Barbara Gordon as Oracle in comic books.) Since the user-side hardware is inexpensive and disposable, much of the implementation challenge would be on the software side -- enabling the device deal gracefully with low and intermittent bandwidth conditions and offloading data to a local backup carried by another protester.

gouranga 14y ago
The moment anything happens during protests, millions of camera phones come out and point at it. It's far more imposing than any glasses. Bluetooth is the PAN implementation of the hour usually and is used to shift stuff around.
- stcredzero 14y ago
  The moment anything happens during protests, millions of camera phones come out and point at it. It's far more imposing than any glasses. Yes, but a human-level intelligence anticipating what will happen, monitoring media coverage, and coordinating intel from other sources on the ground could be a very powerful resource.
  - gouranga 14y ago
    The press are pretty good at doing that already!
    - stcredzero 14y ago
      Yes, but they aren't trying to do that. A group with the right resources could do an even better job.

smithian 14y ago

Certainly journalists will be a huge adopter of this technology as well.

jiggy2011 14y ago

I'm going to assume that military , security , police will have their own contractor make something similar rather than use google's. After all they don't want to accidentally start uploading raw footage from a battle to a google+ hangout!

jameszol 14y ago

I imagine Glass will handily compete, collaborate or compliment the GoPro market. GoPro are in a lot of major retail outlets on and offline. Glass would be perfect right next to a GoPro. Not only that, but I'm sure they will get more lightweight and portable - maybe even to the point of seamlessly clipping to your normal glasses or integrated right into frames as an add-on. I wear glasses too and I would love having this technology as accessible as simply putting my glasses on every day. The connectivity to the web, ability to email with your eyes & voice, make calls, and more...could replace cell phones for some people.

lnanek 14y ago

They said during the key note that they are lighter than many sunglasses. Many of the team were wearing them when taking orders as well. So they are trying to show off they are natural and easy to wear. Brin also said they do a lot more than share and view video feeds, but it is tough to show. I imagine they at least replace your mobile phone and headset, at the minimum. Consumers gave up cameras for their new smarter phones, and this can be positioned as just an even smarter phone doing more.

craig552uk 14y ago

Absolutely. My dad's a builder, has been for 35 years, when on site he tethers his iPad to his smartphone to download spec sheets for fixtures and fittings. He used to have to wait weeks for this info to be posted from suppliers. Anything that makes it easier to access, share and collaborate on information will make peoples lives easier.