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Two thoughts: 1) Google is obviously terrified that being seen wearing Glasses will brand you as terribly nerdy. (Compare the 'gargoyle' stigma in /Snow Crash/

by leoc 14y ago

Two thoughts: 1) Google is obviously terrified that being seen wearing Glasses will brand you as terribly nerdy. (Compare the 'gargoyle' stigma in /Snow Crash/.) So to control the early perceptions they're doing a heavily-publicised early release to some carefully-selected mobile-phone-company-commercial beautiful people. The ideal candidate will be taking photos for /National Geographic/ while cave-diving for her Rhodes Scholarship. She will also be rather attractive, and not a wearer of prescription glasses. (Compare http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/05/08/the-sophie-choice http://www.stevenlevy.com/index.php/05/08/the-sophie-choice . Courting Steven Levy seems to have turned out pretty poorly for Google, eh?) 2) Glasses looks very promising, but isn't it a bit of a stretch to call what it does Augmented Reality? AR more or less implies a HUD, or some other means of superimposing CGI on what you see of the real world. But the http://www.google.com/glass/start/how-it-feels/ http://www.google.com/glass/start/how-it-feels/ video seems to suggest that instead Glasses takes a "picture-in-picture" approach, and the screen's transparency seems to serve mainly to make it feel less oppressive, and to minimise the amount it obstructs your vision when the whole screen is not in use. Goggles http://www.google.ie/mobile/goggles/ http://www.google.ie/mobile/goggles/ is more of a true AR system. (I'm not suggesting this is a bad decision: in light of the current problems with head-tracking http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/raster-scan-displays-more-than-meets-the-eye/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/raster-scan-displays-m... and precise geolocation it seems like a good one.)

leoc 14y ago
UPDATE: Actually, I've just come across this Steven Levy article in Wired that illustrates the perception challenge nicely. http://www.wired.com/business/2012/04/epicenter-google-glass-ar/ http://www.wired.com/business/2012/04/epicenter-google-glass... On the LEFT: how Google wants you to think of Glasses. On the RIGHT: how you think of Glasses. And again: this was a Wired article, by Steven Levy.
- Kylekramer 14y ago
  If the market is only people who think it'd be cool to look like a Star Trek character, that is still a pretty big market.
jgh 14y ago
I disagree that people will be branded as 'nerdy' or like 'gargoyle's in snow-crash. I think they'll be seen more like the people who always have a bluetooth headset on their ear (i.e. douchey).
- leoc 14y ago
  I'm convinced that perceived nerdiness is a hazard for Google. I will accept that perceived douchiness is another one. I'm sure that the marketers are standing by to reject any application that even faintly suggests that you might use the Glasses to photoblog your dinner.
  - acoyfellow 14y ago
    I think I disagree.. The rise of the "brogrammer" is proof that nerd culture is not only on the rise, but actually revered as the new "cool". Look at television for example.. Asthon Kutcher is the highest paid actor on TV, and he basically stars as himself on Two and a Half men. Ashton is a product evangelist + angel investor. He makes nerds look awesome Another example from (popular culture/TV) is Big Bang Theory. "Toward the end of its run, Friends was topping out around 20 million viewers, meaning Big Bang is now standing shoulder-to-shoulder with one of network TV's biggest and longest comedy successes."[1] Movies like The Social Network + jOBS will further push the perceived nerdiness for Google into a good thing, not a negative thing. Our culture is shifting. [1]- http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/01/big-bang-theory-ratings/60625/ http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/01/big-ban...
    - leoc 14y ago
      The new "nerd chic" is real enough, but there's still a line most people are not comfortable crossing, and not respectful of others crossing, and I think Google is in danger of finding Glasses to be on the other side of that line. Even if that isn't actually the case, I think it's fairly clear that Google fears it could be, and the company is trying its best to prevent that.
    - zwily 14y ago
saraid216 14y ago
> AR more or less implies a HUD, or some other means of superimposing CGI on what you see of the real world. I realize that not having grown up on Snow Crash makes me a bit of an outsider to this, but... yeah, I have no idea what makes you think this is a requirement. My conception of AR actually looks more like Tony Stark's holographic interactable blueprints in Avengers, rather than his inside-the-suit HUD which I just consider... a HUD, and not very interesting.
primitur 14y ago
So, the AR happens in the picture-in-picture instead of the main screen. I think that still counts as AR?
product50 14y ago
So the first thought which came to your mind after going through the Glass site is how Google is terrified about the appearance of people in those glasses! You said nothing about the tremendous opportunity this brings in terms of making your lives easier by providing you with the right information at the right time, by recording the key moments of your life easily, by augmenting your vision/view of the world with tons of fact based data etc. And what you saw was how bad this looks. Some people are hard to satisfy..
- mcrittenden 14y ago
  The benefits aren't worth it if I can't wear it without feeling like a tool.
  - product50 14y ago
    This is the first iteration for god's sake. I am sure there will be multiple models of this and you can choose which one to pick and use. edit: grammar
    - rimantas 14y ago
      thera are multiple models of bluetooth headests. Doesn't help the slighttest. For Google glasses it will be 1000x so.
zephjc 14y ago
Add a chat/texting app and give it to teenagers and it will be instantly considered "cool".
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
teejae 14y ago
In Korea and Japan, people wear glasses to look cool, and they are cheap. People who don't need glasses either just wear glasses with either no-prescription or no lenses. It's not nerdy. It's cool. Think jewelry. Not utility.

by leoc 14y ago

leoc 14y ago

UPDATE: Actually, I've just come across this Steven Levy article in Wired that illustrates the perception challenge nicely. http://www.wired.com/business/2012/04/epicenter-google-glass-ar/ http://www.wired.com/business/2012/04/epicenter-google-glass... On the LEFT: how Google wants you to think of Glasses. On the RIGHT: how you think of Glasses. And again: this was a Wired article, by Steven Levy.

Kylekramer 14y ago
If the market is only people who think it'd be cool to look like a Star Trek character, that is still a pretty big market.

jgh 14y ago

I disagree that people will be branded as 'nerdy' or like 'gargoyle's in snow-crash. I think they'll be seen more like the people who always have a bluetooth headset on their ear (i.e. douchey).

leoc 14y ago
I'm convinced that perceived nerdiness is a hazard for Google. I will accept that perceived douchiness is another one. I'm sure that the marketers are standing by to reject any application that even faintly suggests that you might use the Glasses to photoblog your dinner.
- acoyfellow 14y ago
  I think I disagree.. The rise of the "brogrammer" is proof that nerd culture is not only on the rise, but actually revered as the new "cool". Look at television for example.. Asthon Kutcher is the highest paid actor on TV, and he basically stars as himself on Two and a Half men. Ashton is a product evangelist + angel investor. He makes nerds look awesome Another example from (popular culture/TV) is Big Bang Theory. "Toward the end of its run, Friends was topping out around 20 million viewers, meaning Big Bang is now standing shoulder-to-shoulder with one of network TV's biggest and longest comedy successes."[1] Movies like The Social Network + jOBS will further push the perceived nerdiness for Google into a good thing, not a negative thing. Our culture is shifting. [1]- http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/01/big-bang-theory-ratings/60625/ http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/01/big-ban...
  - leoc 14y ago
    The new "nerd chic" is real enough, but there's still a line most people are not comfortable crossing, and not respectful of others crossing, and I think Google is in danger of finding Glasses to be on the other side of that line. Even if that isn't actually the case, I think it's fairly clear that Google fears it could be, and the company is trying its best to prevent that.
  - zwily 14y ago

saraid216 14y ago

> AR more or less implies a HUD, or some other means of superimposing CGI on what you see of the real world. I realize that not having grown up on Snow Crash makes me a bit of an outsider to this, but... yeah, I have no idea what makes you think this is a requirement. My conception of AR actually looks more like Tony Stark's holographic interactable blueprints in Avengers, rather than his inside-the-suit HUD which I just consider... a HUD, and not very interesting.

primitur 14y ago

So, the AR happens in the picture-in-picture instead of the main screen. I think that still counts as AR?

product50 14y ago

So the first thought which came to your mind after going through the Glass site is how Google is terrified about the appearance of people in those glasses! You said nothing about the tremendous opportunity this brings in terms of making your lives easier by providing you with the right information at the right time, by recording the key moments of your life easily, by augmenting your vision/view of the world with tons of fact based data etc. And what you saw was how bad this looks. Some people are hard to satisfy..

mcrittenden 14y ago
The benefits aren't worth it if I can't wear it without feeling like a tool.
- product50 14y ago
  This is the first iteration for god's sake. I am sure there will be multiple models of this and you can choose which one to pick and use. edit: grammar
  - rimantas 14y ago
    thera are multiple models of bluetooth headests. Doesn't help the slighttest. For Google glasses it will be 1000x so.

zephjc 14y ago

Add a chat/texting app and give it to teenagers and it will be instantly considered "cool".

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

teejae 14y ago

In Korea and Japan, people wear glasses to look cool, and they are cheap. People who don't need glasses either just wear glasses with either no-prescription or no lenses. It's not nerdy. It's cool. Think jewelry. Not utility.