4 ms·

It's hard to believe that in the late smartphone era there are people who think they're not online enough already, and want smart glasses so they can be even mo

by gdulli 3mo ago

It's hard to believe that in the late smartphone era there are people who think they're not online enough already, and want smart glasses so they can be even more online.

wolvoleo 3mo ago
Well, I kinda wouldn't mind glasses that could show important notifications or maps. It could be handy for lots of things, like a heads up display. Not to watch the social feeds but to find my way or read a message from a friend saying they're late. When I use my phone or watch to navigate it's a bit more dangerous. Thinking specifically of one time when I fell badly doing just that. I absolutely wouldn't want them to incorporate a camera though. They should not have one at all. And I would want them with open firmware from a respectable company or organisation. So these ones are a non starter obviously.
- Nursie 3mo ago
  The problem I see is you're going to want a camera built-in for vision reasons for your amazing reality-overlay, and at that point, well, you've got a camera built-in.
  - wolvoleo 3mo ago
    I'm sure you could do that without one. Gyro, accelerometer, compass, GPS, step counter, altimeter. Should be accurate enough for basic navigation. Especially with some smart dead reckoning algorithm that calibrates itself at known map points like when you turn a corner. Showing notifications shouldn't need any kind of AR awareness at all. You could just show them above the normal field of vision just like the Google glass did. Again there the problem was not the display, it was the camera. And Google glass didn't even use it for any tracking purpose. I don't think the issue is that it can't be done without the camera. I think the issue is that the whole product exists to get those cameras out there. Data is the new gold, those vision AIs need to be trained. So they've never even tried without one.
    - Nursie 3mo ago
      Yeah you could definitely have a go. Where is the exact line - i.e. can you use Lidar? Infrared depth-sensing? Or do these provide too much data such that the scene could be recreated? (I'm exploring this as a thought experiment, in general I agree that people shouldn't be carrying hidden cameras on their faces, and if those cameras are at all connected to Meta then it's much worse!)
      - wolvoleo 3mo ago
        Well lidar in that form factor would end up just being an 8x8 laser DoF sensor like some smartphones have. There's no space or power budget for a real lidar. That would be ok I guess. That's not enough to capture much of anything even with a continuous feed.
- ElProlactin 3mo ago
  > Not to watch the social feeds but to find my way or read a message from a friend saying they're late. Do you really need this for that?
  - wolvoleo 3mo ago
    No but it would be handy. I don't really need my smartwatch to read notifications either but it's super handy when I'm out and I have my hands full. This would be even better (and replace my smartwatch I'm sure).
  - Barbing 3mo ago
    There are all kinds of products that we need to reject not because the fundamentals aren't awesome for some proportion of people, but because the implementation is as obviously corrupt as the business owners pushing it. The dumb speaker that OpenAI is hoping you stick in your home to spy on you is not some preposterously worthless piece of crap from beginning to end without exception. It's just a creepy mess that's nowhere near worth it for anybody who cares about themselves or anyone who ever visits their domicile. That doesn't mean that it isn't pretty nice to have your hands full of grease and be able to get a small piece of information using your voice. All about the details. You want to ethically produce something private at reasonable cost without excessive energy usage to serve useful functions, sign me up. Just no cloud, no privacy invasion, an entire impossible wishlist for companies not as cool as e.g. Framework.
    - wolvoleo 3mo ago
      I kinda have that though. I use a home assistant voice preview speaker, connected to a locally hosted whisper instance backed by Qwen 3.6. All local and fairly energy-reasonable :) Just saying it's not impossible to have your cake and eat it.
      - Barbing 3mo ago
        Under a hundred bucks?! Ooooh! https://www.home-assistant.io/voice-pe/ https://www.home-assistant.io/voice-pe/
- all2 3mo ago
  I would take a camera with AR integration. I'm imagining some mashup of scrap book note keeping in digital space and technical work like car repairs or utility work. Imagine seeing where the studs are in the walls, or finding a now you left yourself in the engine bay of your car...
  - spaqin 3mo ago
    Certainly I'd like to have my expensive, fragile tech glasses while fixing a car, with all the potential debris about to fling.
    - wolvoleo 3mo ago
      Well the hololens did come with an optional shield/hardhat cover just for that kind of scenario. It's not unprecedented.
Gigachad 3mo ago
What if I could watch Instagram reels at all moments all day. Streamed right in to my eyeballs.
- ElProlactin 3mo ago
  > What if I could watch Instagram reels at all moments all day. Streamed right in to my eyeballs. You'd be Mark Zuckerberg's idea of an ideal person.
  - aembleton 3mo ago
    Only if you consume the ads too
    - ElProlactin 3mo ago
      Much of the content on social media is "advertising" of some form, even when the "creators" aren't paying to boost it. Someone is trying to sell you something/"influence" you. Facebook benefits directly and indirectly from all the "creators" who think its platforms are critical distribution channels for their crap "content".
ge96 3mo ago
The concept of constantly taking images and storing metadata so you can remember where your keys are seems nuts but at the same time I could see it being normal.
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
paul7986 3mo ago
If you do one of the following now... - Wear sunglasses or glasses now - Take pics or videos with your phone Smart glasses are very handy and when traveling especially solo asking about what your seeing in front of you is handy/informative. I can see when AI becomes 100% reliable with smart glasses we all are almost know it alls. Everything and anything we need to know will be presented in front of us. Ok all the above sounds crazy to most, but ive enjoyed using my Metas since Oct 2023 (had to buy another paid April 2025) though Meta glasses are sh!t in terms of durability. So i can recommend smart glasses but not really Metas especially if you like to buy technology that lasts!
- Barbing 3mo ago
  > when AI becomes 100% reliable with smart glasses we all are almost know it alls Keep going with that line of imagination and it's easy to understand how even someone burned on the Metaverse could be excited about the kinds of pitches Zuckerberg must give for his future visions. (Legitimately exciting thoughts, w/optimist hat on) Have you ever unintentionally recorded a stranger?
  - paul7986 3mo ago
    Have you ever took a photo or video while your in a crowd and other people you don't know appearred in either? Did you care about them and look for them to ask if it was ok that they were in the background of the media you took? Pardon but I don't understand your question cause if you think of it all humans have done the above since the day cameras or video cameras existed. Further, im pretty sure smart glasses to AI devices are the next big thing. Meta probably will not win the smart glass race as many hate them due to privacy reasons. Apple a privacy focused company could add tech to blur out and or anonymize faces of those in the background to calm peoples fears.
    - elmomle 3mo ago
      There is a world of difference between (1) a random individual collecting a few people's faces and voices and (2) a huge corporation nonconsensually collecting that information at a mass scale (and with location!) in an age when identity resolution is automated.

by gdulli 3mo ago

It's hard to believe that in the late smartphone era there are people who think they're not online enough already, and want smart glasses so they can be even more online.

wolvoleo 3mo ago

Well, I kinda wouldn't mind glasses that could show important notifications or maps. It could be handy for lots of things, like a heads up display. Not to watch the social feeds but to find my way or read a message from a friend saying they're late. When I use my phone or watch to navigate it's a bit more dangerous. Thinking specifically of one time when I fell badly doing just that. I absolutely wouldn't want them to incorporate a camera though. They should not have one at all. And I would want them with open firmware from a respectable company or organisation. So these ones are a non starter obviously.

Nursie 3mo ago
The problem I see is you're going to want a camera built-in for vision reasons for your amazing reality-overlay, and at that point, well, you've got a camera built-in.
- wolvoleo 3mo ago
  I'm sure you could do that without one. Gyro, accelerometer, compass, GPS, step counter, altimeter. Should be accurate enough for basic navigation. Especially with some smart dead reckoning algorithm that calibrates itself at known map points like when you turn a corner. Showing notifications shouldn't need any kind of AR awareness at all. You could just show them above the normal field of vision just like the Google glass did. Again there the problem was not the display, it was the camera. And Google glass didn't even use it for any tracking purpose. I don't think the issue is that it can't be done without the camera. I think the issue is that the whole product exists to get those cameras out there. Data is the new gold, those vision AIs need to be trained. So they've never even tried without one.
  - Nursie 3mo ago
    Yeah you could definitely have a go. Where is the exact line - i.e. can you use Lidar? Infrared depth-sensing? Or do these provide too much data such that the scene could be recreated? (I'm exploring this as a thought experiment, in general I agree that people shouldn't be carrying hidden cameras on their faces, and if those cameras are at all connected to Meta then it's much worse!)
    - wolvoleo 3mo ago
      Well lidar in that form factor would end up just being an 8x8 laser DoF sensor like some smartphones have. There's no space or power budget for a real lidar. That would be ok I guess. That's not enough to capture much of anything even with a continuous feed.
ElProlactin 3mo ago
> Not to watch the social feeds but to find my way or read a message from a friend saying they're late. Do you really need this for that?
- wolvoleo 3mo ago
  No but it would be handy. I don't really need my smartwatch to read notifications either but it's super handy when I'm out and I have my hands full. This would be even better (and replace my smartwatch I'm sure).
- Barbing 3mo ago
  There are all kinds of products that we need to reject not because the fundamentals aren't awesome for some proportion of people, but because the implementation is as obviously corrupt as the business owners pushing it. The dumb speaker that OpenAI is hoping you stick in your home to spy on you is not some preposterously worthless piece of crap from beginning to end without exception. It's just a creepy mess that's nowhere near worth it for anybody who cares about themselves or anyone who ever visits their domicile. That doesn't mean that it isn't pretty nice to have your hands full of grease and be able to get a small piece of information using your voice. All about the details. You want to ethically produce something private at reasonable cost without excessive energy usage to serve useful functions, sign me up. Just no cloud, no privacy invasion, an entire impossible wishlist for companies not as cool as e.g. Framework.
  - wolvoleo 3mo ago
    I kinda have that though. I use a home assistant voice preview speaker, connected to a locally hosted whisper instance backed by Qwen 3.6. All local and fairly energy-reasonable :) Just saying it's not impossible to have your cake and eat it.
    - Barbing 3mo ago
      Under a hundred bucks?! Ooooh! https://www.home-assistant.io/voice-pe/ https://www.home-assistant.io/voice-pe/
all2 3mo ago
I would take a camera with AR integration. I'm imagining some mashup of scrap book note keeping in digital space and technical work like car repairs or utility work. Imagine seeing where the studs are in the walls, or finding a now you left yourself in the engine bay of your car...
- spaqin 3mo ago
  Certainly I'd like to have my expensive, fragile tech glasses while fixing a car, with all the potential debris about to fling.
  - wolvoleo 3mo ago
    Well the hololens did come with an optional shield/hardhat cover just for that kind of scenario. It's not unprecedented.

Gigachad 3mo ago

What if I could watch Instagram reels at all moments all day. Streamed right in to my eyeballs.

ElProlactin 3mo ago
> What if I could watch Instagram reels at all moments all day. Streamed right in to my eyeballs. You'd be Mark Zuckerberg's idea of an ideal person.
- aembleton 3mo ago
  Only if you consume the ads too
  - ElProlactin 3mo ago
    Much of the content on social media is "advertising" of some form, even when the "creators" aren't paying to boost it. Someone is trying to sell you something/"influence" you. Facebook benefits directly and indirectly from all the "creators" who think its platforms are critical distribution channels for their crap "content".

ge96 3mo ago

The concept of constantly taking images and storing metadata so you can remember where your keys are seems nuts but at the same time I could see it being normal.

deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]

paul7986 3mo ago

If you do one of the following now... - Wear sunglasses or glasses now - Take pics or videos with your phone Smart glasses are very handy and when traveling especially solo asking about what your seeing in front of you is handy/informative. I can see when AI becomes 100% reliable with smart glasses we all are almost know it alls. Everything and anything we need to know will be presented in front of us. Ok all the above sounds crazy to most, but ive enjoyed using my Metas since Oct 2023 (had to buy another paid April 2025) though Meta glasses are sh!t in terms of durability. So i can recommend smart glasses but not really Metas especially if you like to buy technology that lasts!

Barbing 3mo ago
> when AI becomes 100% reliable with smart glasses we all are almost know it alls Keep going with that line of imagination and it's easy to understand how even someone burned on the Metaverse could be excited about the kinds of pitches Zuckerberg must give for his future visions. (Legitimately exciting thoughts, w/optimist hat on) Have you ever unintentionally recorded a stranger?
- paul7986 3mo ago
  Have you ever took a photo or video while your in a crowd and other people you don't know appearred in either? Did you care about them and look for them to ask if it was ok that they were in the background of the media you took? Pardon but I don't understand your question cause if you think of it all humans have done the above since the day cameras or video cameras existed. Further, im pretty sure smart glasses to AI devices are the next big thing. Meta probably will not win the smart glass race as many hate them due to privacy reasons. Apple a privacy focused company could add tech to blur out and or anonymize faces of those in the background to calm peoples fears.
  - elmomle 3mo ago
    There is a world of difference between (1) a random individual collecting a few people's faces and voices and (2) a huge corporation nonconsensually collecting that information at a mass scale (and with location!) in an age when identity resolution is automated.