5 ms·

Google's Project Glass - it's not for the young

21 points by MaysonL 14y ago

ok_craig 14y ago
Imagine an advanced alien civilization many light years from Earth, where awesome and exciting technologies are everywhere. Many of them take the form of personal devices. Maybe there's one that teleports you to another physical location. Maybe there's another for projecting interactive 3D images right in front of your eyes. Maybe there's one for opening a personal wormhole to another dimension. Some of these personal devices take the form of little square boxes you carry around. Maybe others you can wear, like a pair of gloves, or sneakers, or glasses. If you were taken on a quick visit to this awesome place, can you imagine looking at any of these devices and thinking, "Omg, that alien looks ridiculous. Its telebox is 7 inches instead of 4 or 10." Or, "Omg, that alien's glasses have a box thingy on the side. It looks aweful." No, you would not do this. Not in a million years. The thought would not even cross your mind. You would be so impressed and awed by the simple fact that the technology exists that it really wouldn't matter what form it took. And you would be dumbfounded by anyone letting those details get in the way of shaping their opinions about these amazing technologies. If you were on this vacation, and you overheard one alien make fun of another because of the way one of his devices looks, you probably wouldn't even understand what was going on. Why do they care about those specifics? The technology is just so obviously cool that picking on the details seems... below their intelligence. But we, here, on Earth, do this. We have the future in our fingertips, and now on our heads, and people actually take the time to criticize it for the way it looks. "Glasses look stupid." "Phablets are disgusting." Etc. As if not looking ridiculous is of higher value than anything new technologies can provide. I think that way of thinking is a little sad. If you don't want to embrace new technology because you think it'll make you look silly, then don't. Why on Earth would you take the time to criticize those who don't give a fuck, who are willing to embrace new technologies because of what they do, and not how they look? As a 26 year old, I can't wait to get my hands on a pair.
- olliesaunders 14y ago
  http://xkcd.com/1065/ http://xkcd.com/1065/
- spindritf 14y ago
  > Imagine an advanced alien civilization many light years from Earth, where awesome and exciting technologies are everywhere. Many of them take the form of personal devices. Maybe your aliens evolved in a different environment, maybe their species was not shaped by millennia of sexual selection. But ours was, so until we change our very natures, "looking cool" and all other kinds of signalling will trump quite a lot of real benefits.
tluyben2 14y ago
Are people really vain enough to not wear these kind of things because it makes them look geeky/bad? Maybe you remember how you all looked to 'normal' people sitting with laptops or even mobile phones (I remember the time when it was very geeky to have one). Wall street guys with this brick-with-antenna looking busy and such? How does it look better for a group of teenage girls with parents sitting around the dinner table in a high class, $200/person meal restaurant all staring in their SIII's, glow of Facebook on their faces than them wearing these classes and having at least the appearance of them caring about the food/ambiance? How does it look worse for the suave business guy with the chiseled cheekbones, reeking of male oils, lotions and other useless crap crashing with his iPad HARD into a lamppost (it moved!)? (saw this a number of times; I bet if you live in a big city you see this daily) Let's not talk about the, normally vain people, who want to 'experience their music' and thus wear HUGE headphones on the street for high-end sound on their Dark Side of the Moon. I don't see how these glasses make you look worse than that? Newsflash; you already look like a moron anyway with the electronics you use NOW! What does this do to make it worse? If anything it improves (a few) of the above use cases if executes well (which does not seem to be the idea Google has with it, but luckily we have hackers and I guess they trust them to make it work).
- jakeonthemove 14y ago
  Yeah, they are: I'm still amazed how people comment on the ugliness of my smartphone (the first Droid) - yeah, it's bulky, get over it. Some take a look at my laptop (Elitebook 8530, quad core) and ask if it's from like, "1999 LOL". Not to mention the looks I get while walking around with my Bluetooth headphones (over-the-ear Nokia BH503) - I'm almost embarrased... almost. But they can all fk off altogether, because at the end of the day, I care about function, not style... Google's Glass looks GREAT - I hope it doesn't go the way of Bluetooth headsets (which are for douchebags, you see) for the general populace...
  - taligent 14y ago
    Bluetooth headsets used outside of the office/car says to people that my phone calls are so important that at any time I am likely to ignore any social protocol (train, toilet, bank, whatever) and take this call. Google glasses say to people that at any time I am recording every move that person makes and potentially (a) putting it on Youtube, (b) laughing about it with my friends, (c) handing it over to the police etc. It is unquestionably for douchebags.
Tichy 14y ago
The poor models who I suppose would rather strip naked in some beer ad or roll around in beds half naked holding fancy smartphones. It really must be awful to do ads for some glasses. Lucky that most other advertising tends to be dignified.
- tluyben2 14y ago
  Well I know that models are afraid of glasses in general; I don't know why. A well known model in my country was a good friend (long time ago) and she wore glasses in school; outside she would never wear them (this was long before digital cameras/phones, I think in this day/age she would just not at all wear them) because she thought they sucked. I thought she looked way better in them. But maybe that's just my fetish :)
  - Tichy 14y ago
    Makes sense that if you are forced to wear glasses and don't like it, modeling with them is nor your favorite thing in the world. I just thought about it: maybe because glasses aren't really optional like other clothes (because you can't see without them), they feel more annoying, even though objectively they look fine.
- jrockway 14y ago
  He's just trolling.
angryasian 14y ago
i totally disagree. Kids these days are all about being hipsters, trend setters that share everything. Seamlessly live stream their lives with a retro/futuristic monocle, I think they'll be all over it.
- intended 14y ago
  Generalizing over kids is rife with traps anyway. For example - different age groups (and sub cultures) have different role models to follow/copy/emulate If the 20 somethings find it useful for example - it could trigger the cool factor for adolescents and hence other kids down the chain. Peer pressure, conformity, being cool and fitting in are huge factors for teens, and if their role models use them then they will be open to them too. Heck people can wrap their heads around wearing their underwear visibly, I think cyborg glasses could be an easy sell. (Alternatively If younger kids start using it (perhaps unlikely) then the older kids may even say "that's for kids" and stay clear.) If the peer group approves, then the product will be fine. edited for clarity.

21 points by MaysonL 14y ago

Imagine an advanced alien civilization many light years from Earth, where awesome and exciting technologies are everywhere. Many of them take the form of personal devices. Maybe there's one that teleports you to another physical location. Maybe there's another for projecting interactive 3D images right in front of your eyes. Maybe there's one for opening a personal wormhole to another dimension. Some of these personal devices take the form of little square boxes you carry around. Maybe others you can wear, like a pair of gloves, or sneakers, or glasses. If you were taken on a quick visit to this awesome place, can you imagine looking at any of these devices and thinking, "Omg, that alien looks ridiculous. Its telebox is 7 inches instead of 4 or 10." Or, "Omg, that alien's glasses have a box thingy on the side. It looks aweful." No, you would not do this. Not in a million years. The thought would not even cross your mind. You would be so impressed and awed by the simple fact that the technology exists that it really wouldn't matter what form it took. And you would be dumbfounded by anyone letting those details get in the way of shaping their opinions about these amazing technologies. If you were on this vacation, and you overheard one alien make fun of another because of the way one of his devices looks, you probably wouldn't even understand what was going on. Why do they care about those specifics? The technology is just so obviously cool that picking on the details seems... below their intelligence. But we, here, on Earth, do this. We have the future in our fingertips, and now on our heads, and people actually take the time to criticize it for the way it looks. "Glasses look stupid." "Phablets are disgusting." Etc. As if not looking ridiculous is of higher value than anything new technologies can provide. I think that way of thinking is a little sad. If you don't want to embrace new technology because you think it'll make you look silly, then don't. Why on Earth would you take the time to criticize those who don't give a fuck, who are willing to embrace new technologies because of what they do, and not how they look? As a 26 year old, I can't wait to get my hands on a pair.

olliesaunders 14y ago
http://xkcd.com/1065/ http://xkcd.com/1065/
spindritf 14y ago
> Imagine an advanced alien civilization many light years from Earth, where awesome and exciting technologies are everywhere. Many of them take the form of personal devices. Maybe your aliens evolved in a different environment, maybe their species was not shaped by millennia of sexual selection. But ours was, so until we change our very natures, "looking cool" and all other kinds of signalling will trump quite a lot of real benefits.

tluyben2 14y ago

Are people really vain enough to not wear these kind of things because it makes them look geeky/bad? Maybe you remember how you all looked to 'normal' people sitting with laptops or even mobile phones (I remember the time when it was very geeky to have one). Wall street guys with this brick-with-antenna looking busy and such? How does it look better for a group of teenage girls with parents sitting around the dinner table in a high class, $200/person meal restaurant all staring in their SIII's, glow of Facebook on their faces than them wearing these classes and having at least the appearance of them caring about the food/ambiance? How does it look worse for the suave business guy with the chiseled cheekbones, reeking of male oils, lotions and other useless crap crashing with his iPad HARD into a lamppost (it moved!)? (saw this a number of times; I bet if you live in a big city you see this daily) Let's not talk about the, normally vain people, who want to 'experience their music' and thus wear HUGE headphones on the street for high-end sound on their Dark Side of the Moon. I don't see how these glasses make you look worse than that? Newsflash; you already look like a moron anyway with the electronics you use NOW! What does this do to make it worse? If anything it improves (a few) of the above use cases if executes well (which does not seem to be the idea Google has with it, but luckily we have hackers and I guess they trust them to make it work).

jakeonthemove 14y ago
Yeah, they are: I'm still amazed how people comment on the ugliness of my smartphone (the first Droid) - yeah, it's bulky, get over it. Some take a look at my laptop (Elitebook 8530, quad core) and ask if it's from like, "1999 LOL". Not to mention the looks I get while walking around with my Bluetooth headphones (over-the-ear Nokia BH503) - I'm almost embarrased... almost. But they can all fk off altogether, because at the end of the day, I care about function, not style... Google's Glass looks GREAT - I hope it doesn't go the way of Bluetooth headsets (which are for douchebags, you see) for the general populace...
- taligent 14y ago
  Bluetooth headsets used outside of the office/car says to people that my phone calls are so important that at any time I am likely to ignore any social protocol (train, toilet, bank, whatever) and take this call. Google glasses say to people that at any time I am recording every move that person makes and potentially (a) putting it on Youtube, (b) laughing about it with my friends, (c) handing it over to the police etc. It is unquestionably for douchebags.

Tichy 14y ago

The poor models who I suppose would rather strip naked in some beer ad or roll around in beds half naked holding fancy smartphones. It really must be awful to do ads for some glasses. Lucky that most other advertising tends to be dignified.

tluyben2 14y ago
Well I know that models are afraid of glasses in general; I don't know why. A well known model in my country was a good friend (long time ago) and she wore glasses in school; outside she would never wear them (this was long before digital cameras/phones, I think in this day/age she would just not at all wear them) because she thought they sucked. I thought she looked way better in them. But maybe that's just my fetish :)
- Tichy 14y ago
  Makes sense that if you are forced to wear glasses and don't like it, modeling with them is nor your favorite thing in the world. I just thought about it: maybe because glasses aren't really optional like other clothes (because you can't see without them), they feel more annoying, even though objectively they look fine.
jrockway 14y ago
He's just trolling.

angryasian 14y ago

i totally disagree. Kids these days are all about being hipsters, trend setters that share everything. Seamlessly live stream their lives with a retro/futuristic monocle, I think they'll be all over it.

intended 14y ago
Generalizing over kids is rife with traps anyway. For example - different age groups (and sub cultures) have different role models to follow/copy/emulate If the 20 somethings find it useful for example - it could trigger the cool factor for adolescents and hence other kids down the chain. Peer pressure, conformity, being cool and fitting in are huge factors for teens, and if their role models use them then they will be open to them too. Heck people can wrap their heads around wearing their underwear visibly, I think cyborg glasses could be an easy sell. (Alternatively If younger kids start using it (perhaps unlikely) then the older kids may even say "that's for kids" and stay clear.) If the peer group approves, then the product will be fine. edited for clarity.