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Google Glass is Ridiculous
- ph33r 14y ago"Other than practical folks like Gruber ... " I stopped reading after that sentence.
- bergie 14y agoBesides, Gruber will rationalise why wearable screens are the next iPhone whenever iGlass comes out :-)
- ocean12 14y agoThen you missed a cogent argument: "If you have a phone in your pocket, why wear this? And it doesn’t seem to replace the need to carry a phone."
- bergie 14y agoYou may want to ask the 70,000 people who put money into the Pebble smartwatch Kickstarter... http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper... Here are the arguments Tog makes for an "iWatch": http://asktog.com/atc/apple-iwatch/ http://asktog.com/atc/apple-iwatch/
- ocean12 14y agoI thought we were discussing Google Glass. (for what its worth, Gruber backed the Pebble on Kickstarter: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/04/23/pebble-watch http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/04/23/pebble-watch )
- bergie 14y agoThe line "If you have a phone in your pocket, why wear this? And it doesn’t seem to replace the need to carry a phone." applies to both Glass and smart watches equally. Both are wearable screens augmenting your phone, though the Glass has additional features, like voice commands and a camera
- boundlessdreamz 14y ago"If you have a phone in your pocket, why wear this? And it doesn’t seem to replace the need to carry a phone." is not a valid argument against google glass is what he is implying. The same can be said about pebble.
- SquareWheel 14y agoWhy carry a phone when you are wearing Google Glasses? ;)
- boundlessdreamz 14y agoI know it is supposed to be funny but actually you need a phone for the data connection :)
- bergie 14y ago...at least until the technology becomes small enough. Though I'm not sure it would be good to keep a GPS/GSM/3G/LTE antenna blaring next to your skull the whole day.
- nooneelse 14y agoSeems like it will be quite possible with Glass to ditch the full phone and go with a mobile hotspot. By doing calls over that we can push the carriers into what they should be (according to so many geeks these days), dumb pipes. Heck, keep the hotspot in a bag or make a wearable, unobtrusive hotspot belt or anklet, then the battery size & life can be increased while still having no gadgets in one's pockets. One could put a widrive on the belt/anklet too, so Glass becomes useful even without constant access to the cloud.
- mistercow 14y ago>Google has never had a successful product that people pay for. Pretty sure people pay for AdWords.
- estel 14y agoAnd despite their supply problems, the Nexus 4/7 are top quality products.
- bergie 14y agoThe supply problems seem to be solved now, BTW. I've been able to order several Nexus devices in the last couple of weeks, each arriving within two-three days of the order. Except the one DHL broke on the way, of course...
- ocean12 14y agoNo, the 4 suffers from horrendous battery life and it's camera is very 2010.
- pook1e 14y agoWeird, I must be imagining the 16+ hours of battery life I've been getting nearly daily for the past 3 and a half months. I know different people have different usage patterns, but the Nexus 4 battery is far from "horrendous", especially when compared to other flagship devices.
- ihuman 14y agoAnd android, but people pay for it indirectly.
- unwind 14y agoYeah, that was my thought as well. First, I explained it with "the author means a hardware product", but then he immediately said that Apps where almost a product that people pay for. So, uh, I guess the ad network just doesn't count, since it's "only ads", or something. It seems to work fantastically well though, both practically and of course economically for Google, and of course it must be seen as being a product at his point. So, I guess at the end it's just a rant. :)
- weego 14y agoCan you imagine having a conversation with someone that's wearing this thing You mean like someone with, well, glasses?
- pinko 14y agoNo. The implication of the quote is that, unlike traditional glasses, Google Glass will distract the wearer.
- weego 14y agoSo his point is he is blaming the product for people not being attentive? That would mean the car is at fault for driving without due care and attention, and yet I'm supposed to buy that that is a valuable insight?
- jiggy2011 14y agoI think the point is that when someone has a private always-on HUD right in front of their eyes you can't necessarily tell how much attention they are paying to you. Are they look at me and smiling because they like me, or have they superimposed a cartoon on top of my face?
- king_jester 14y agoIf anything Glass will make it really apparent which of your friends are douche buckets.
- zb 14y agoThat would mean the car is at fault for driving without due care and attention If the car has a TV screen directly in front of the driver, then the design of the car would certainly be at fault for driving without due care and attention. Is that really that controversial?
- ocean12 14y agoThe Verge had an article in its forums that it promoted to the front page that discussed the privacy implications. The article concluded that many places are likely to ban them from their property. http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/23/4022040/google-glass-and-the-real-issue-of-perceived-privacy http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/23/4022040/google-glass-and-t...
- keyboardP 14y agoI'm not that excited about the product itself but the technology behind it and the opportunities it creates for future tech. I'm sure I'm not the only one looking at it from that angle.
- darxius 14y agoThis just sounds like someone whining over tech for no reason other than to whine. I'll pass.
- calinet6 14y agoThis needed to be said. The social implications of this device are indeed ridiculous. Most insightful: "Can you imagine having a conversation with someone that's wearing this thing? I'd feel like they aren't even paying attention." I already detest people wearing bluetooth headsets. They give off the wrong social cues, they were never really accepted as fashion, and other than government-mandated hands-free use in cars, they appear to be dropping out of popularity (thank god). How is Glass any different, on a social interaction level? How is it any better? How does it solve the problems that bluetooth headsets had? It doesn't. It just requires you to talk to the aether even more. Which brings us to the other insightful quote: "I can only imagine my morning commute on the bus, with 15 different people talking to the screen on their head just trying to check email." If they don't solve this, that could be a real problem. If anyone using one of these things has even a moment of self-awareness they wouldn't be able to stop laughing. This is a really prescient article. It brings up exactly the right UI points, and the right problems. These are problems that Google should have started with, because that's how you design good human interactions. Instead they put a computer on glasses with a HUD screen and are screaming "LOOK ISN'T IT COOL" everywhere. No, it's not. It's not human. And the reason is common among all Google products, to the extent it's almost pathological in the company: they are engineers first. They really aren't set up for human-focused design. It's just not in their DNA. Do they make cool stuff? Of course. But none of them fit together in the right ways. They always seem to be using rivets when they should have been sculpting from clay.
- weego 14y agoMaking eye contact is the most important part of in-person social interaction, it gives a number of passive and active clues as to the persons intent and emotions. As neither of us have had any interaction with someone wearing Glass we are both hypothesising, yet I would suggest the number 1 goal was to allow maintaining eye contact when wearing it, and then there were probably some constraints that lead the rest of this initial version, which seems to have been managed. Whether someone is attentive or not when using it is not the definition of a product. Also, you're entire post really just boils down to hand waving and saying it's all bad.
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- jedc 14y agoI love how he formed such strong opinions without ever experiencing it or anything like it. And then says "Puke" about an article from someone that actually DID use it. Not to mention that he clearly didn't read the article that closely if he thinks that the only way to interact with Glass is to talk to it.
- kcbanner 14y agoI agree, this was poorly written and comes across as immature.
- hu_me 14y agoevery new technology goes through the hype cycle[1]. generally with new services we are at the peak just before the product launches and that's where we appear to be before I/O. But the op comes across as very harsh against a product that he hasnt tested and at most has been used by very few people. I think it may generally be bash against the hype of the product rather than anything it offers. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle
- kevinconroy 14y agoPeople said the same thing about the huge, bulky cell phones that came out in the 1980s. Who would want to carry around a phone with them all the time? And one that large? It'll never catch on! Some folks said the same thing about the iPad. Who needs a tablet when I've got a laptop and a smartphone? What strikes me is that this person is lambasting a product that he hasn't tried first hand. He hasn't lived with it for a week to see how it benefits or hinders his life. It's fine if you don't want one (I don't have a smartphone by choice), but realize that just because you don't want the latest new fangled gadget doesn't mean that it won't have mass market appeal.
- blowski 14y agoYep, post could be summarised as: "I currently don't want one. Therefore, nobody will ever want one. Anybody that says they do want one is a fanboy."
- canttestthis 14y agoAgreed. Much of the post is subjective or flat out untrue. "Puke. I find Glass to be ugly, impractical and completely ridiculous." And I find Glass to be elegant, useful, and futuristic. So where does that leave us? And then this: "they simply don't know what it means to make products that make people happy." Are you serious?
- joonix 14y ago"My opinion is fact!"
- netcan 14y agoCertainty in the reverse direction (Google Glass will change the world!) is just as silly, though maybe a little less curmudgeony. Reality is that our first impression of a new technology is pretty much a coolness measure. Some things look cool and everyone who sees it wants it but are not ultimately useful or impactful (eg segway). Its really hard to tell how important some new technology is.
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- thomasjoulin 14y agoDisruptive products always come with harsh criticism, mockery. I have no idea if this product will gain any traction, maybe the next one, or maybe it will turn like the Segway. But the arguments in this article are exactly like the arguments thrown at Apple when they lauched the iPhone : it's too expensive, there is no keyboard... > Puke. I find Glass to be ugly, impractical and completely ridiculous. It's pretty good for a first version. Get used to it, of course nothing looked like this before > Let's look at the facts. Google has never had a successful product that people pay for Never say never (again, remember Apple). Also, who says Google is in it for the money (from the sold device) ?
- bwah 14y agoBut has Glass seen much criticism and mockery? The majority of early reviews and press I have seen have been gushing.
- senthilnayagam 14y agoanyways the pre-release is subsidised cost, they can very well make it 499$ or better 199$ no they want to price it 1500$ .
- Skiptar 14y agoPeople seem to assume that the Hoogle glass is going to be stapled to people's heads. Obviously they are not going to be suitable in every situation, would I wear it while driving? No. Would I wear it if I was having a conversation with someone? No. However I wouldn't have my phone out while doing these things either. I can see Google glass filling a function. I'd love to be able to watch Youtube while I'm stuck in a waiting room or record business meetings for later review. I have no idea if it will do end up doing what I hope, however I'm not going to jump to a conclusion like this article without even touching one.
- thejerz 14y agoThe key phrase here is: "Although I haven't used one"
- Jabbles 14y agocertainly all their hardware has been a complete failure in the marketplace Nexus 7 sale estimates are 4.6 million. Fine, so they haven't ousted Apple yet, but it's by no means a "complete failure". I like mine :) That seems to be the only "argument" in the article. The others seem to be arguments from personal incredulity. http://news.yahoo.com/nexus-7-sales-soared-2012-still-fell-short-225058966.html http://news.yahoo.com/nexus-7-sales-soared-2012-still-fell-s... http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Argument_from_incredulity#Personal_incredulity http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Argument_from_incredulity#Perso...
- kcbanner 14y agoThe author seems to think he is going to forced to get one. If you don't want it , don't buy it.
- bergie 14y agoWell, eventually the author may have to get one if this succeeds. There is quite a strong social pressure for people to get mobile phones, Facebook, whatever. Just imagine the conversation starting with we do our company staff meetings daily using Hangouts on Glass, and everybody is expected to join...
- corresation 14y agoIt's worse than that. They fear that other people will want to get one. As with the hysterical reaction to the Galaxy Note (people desperately falling over themselves to tell everyone that it is a compensation for penis size), this is someone who decided to be anti-Google, and from that their every "judgment" is predictable.
- gavinh 14y ago'Other than practical folks like Gruber...' The rest of the article is easily predicted.
- vxNsr 14y agoHe comes off as over the top jealous, and a little bitter....
- pyre 14y agoPlease refrain from ad hominem...
- admiralpumpkin 14y agoBluetooth headsets are effectively a punchline. Google Glass—in its current form—is even worse. Until that enormous blob hanging out in front of the wearer can completely fade into the frame this will be nothing more than a geek curiosity. I think Google has excellent engineers, and very poor self-restraint. This product is at least 2 generations away from what it needs to be, but instead of working on it in the labs quietly and diligently until its ready, they trot it out proudly. Beta obsessed indeed.
- ocean12 14y agoI've never understood the argument against bluetooth headsets. I live in a major city and see them all the time. I wouldn't wear one while sitting at a meal with someone, but neither do I see the sense in holding a phone to my head while walking or working with my hands when I can just as easily use a headset.
- corresation 14y agoBluetooth headsets are effectively a punchline They're a tool used by people who favor function over form. I have never met anyone yet who has a coherent argument against them that doesn't boil down to "I am jealous and must try to change the world to believe that those people deserve mockery". It is a rather sad form of bullying. And for what it's worth, I don't and have never used a bluetooth headset simply because I don't like talking on the phone. But if I did talk on the phone a lot, I wouldn't be so desperately concerned what random nobodies think about it.
- speedyrev 14y agoDo we really want strangers in the crowd constantly pointing cameras at us? Stalkers should love it!
- 6cxs2hd6 14y ago> I can only imagine my morning commute on the bus, with 15 different people talking to the screen on their head just trying to check email. I much prefer taking out my phone and pointing to my email. Of course. But -- envision a Kinnect-like motion sensor on the front. Watching your hands. Screen privacy is a big win, for me. Not want "so, whatcha doing?" snoops.
- melling 14y agoSo what. In 5 years we may look back and say it was a dumb idea. Live and learn. I am positive that whatever happens some aspect of the technology will morph into something useful and even better.
- qdpb 14y ago> Puke. I find Glass to be ugly, impractical and completely ridiculous. Well, that settles it then. If only in the past we had examples of innovations that were previously considered impossible.
- jschuur 14y agoSweeping generalizations are ridiculous. Always.
- seivan 14y agoEngineering is 90%. Is the guy an MBA? "I'm deeply passionate about product, UX, customer experience and nearly any topic that involves startups" Snakeoil salesman.
- tsahyt 14y agoI love how "MBA" is thrown like a cuss word around here. Makes me feel at home. I thought along the same lines by the way. He does have a point that customer experience is a part of making a successful product. After all, customers don't want to make an effort to do something. They paid for it after all. The engineering though is the gateway to everything else and hence the most important part of actually making a product. If you can't do that, you don't even have a product to sell.
- superasn 14y agoAlthough I haven't used one, I can easily tell you why I'll never buy Glass Wow. This line should be on the top of the article (not bottom).
- eliben 14y ago"... Google has never had a successful product that people pay for ..." plonk I hope the crowd here is old enough to remember what this means in newsgroups/irc ;-)
- voidr 14y ago> certainly all their hardware has been a complete failure in the marketplace; from Nexus all the way through likely the biggest failure to date, Google TV. "Reception of the Nexus 4 has been very positive overall. Reviewers were consistently impressed with the Nexus 4's affordable price and impressive specifications." ... "On the day of release, the entire Nexus 4 stock on the Play Store sold out in under 30 minutes." source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_4 To me it seems that in fact Google does make stuff that people actually pay for. Also Google glass is a prototype, the author is basically speculating about it's future without any insight, he has no way of knowing what will happen to Google Glass, unless he has a time machine or a crystal ball, sure the current Glass is not trendy but the next version may become a lot nicer and less geeky.
- ocean12 14y agoOverall, LG did a good job designing and manufacturing the Nexus 4.
- anttipoi 14y agoProducts that make their users look like dorks seldom succeed.
- melvinmt 14y agoThe main problem with voice control is that you don't know who people are talking to when they talk in the air. That's why bluetooth headsets are considered awkward while holding a cellphone to your ear is not. Glass would need a simple social cue, like touching the side of it to enter voice commands.
- mattquiros 14y agoThere's too many assumptions and subjectivity in this article to even warrant a good discussion. What if voice wasn't the only way to control glass, e.g., gestures? What if the Glass that we see now isn't the same design as the one that goes public? And about people wearing Glass who probably aren't listening--can't the same be said for people who own a smartphone? If you don't like it, don't buy it. This article is ridiculous.
- mikerg87 14y agoIs there any photos or information out on how Google Glass is going to work for people who already need to wear glasses?
- eloisant 14y agohttps://plus.google.com/110625673290805573805/posts/Nmc8LuwFw5M https://plus.google.com/110625673290805573805/posts/Nmc8LuwF...
- kayoone 14y agoMany accidents happen when people are distracted by their mobile phones. In Germany its not allowed to talk on the phone while operating a car for example. I can only see this getting worse with something like Glass that basically constantly inteferes with your vision and concentration.
- davycro 14y agoJust the potential medical applications of Google Glass are enough for me to believe the hype. Doctors could use glass to: collect patient data (by photographing injuries, surgeries, symptoms, or lesions); automatically recall patient information (bar codes on patient charts could be scanned by glass and then used to lookup a patients history); automatically scan patients for visual symptoms (such as measuring mole size and looking for melanoma); or display a patients vitals in real time. I concede, however, that they may interfere with the relationship between a patient and a doctor by making it difficult for a patient to make eye contact, or by continually distracting the doctor. I do agree with the author that Google Glass is a ridiculous consumer product. I wouldn't want to spend time with someone who wore them in a social setting, such as a bar or restaurant.
- tomasien 14y agoI've realized that I'm in a weird time in my life where I've been a few years out of college, am not an early adopter (more second wave adopter), and therefore no longer have an innate sense for what is about to take off. But I do not believe in voice recognition technology as a primary use case. I don't use it when it's available, and even the people I know who advocate its use only, and I mean ONLY, ever use it when they're 100% alone. So that's my 2 cents.
- jre 14y agoThis immediatly reminded of about Ballmer's reaction to the first iPhone [1] : he started laughing explaining it's too expensive, doesn't have a physical keyboard. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U
- SquareWheel 14y agoThough to be fair, you can't expect a competitor to gush about how great it is.
- hawleyal 14y agoCliche-heavy writing.
- mratzloff 14y agoI'd say the set of responses in this thread are pretty expected. I think most miss the point. His point is that the media are falling all over themselves to praise Google Glass and there is no journalistic skepticism whatsoever. Indeed, many in this thread have no issue with that because they like the technology. The issues he raises with Glass are reasonable points for non-engineers. (Engineers put up with more than average people do.) The most pressing concern for most consumers will be, simply: "Do I feel stupid using this in public?" I feel stupid using Siri in public. If that were the main product it would have flopped. I feel stupid using my Bluetooth headset in public, and wouldn't own one if it weren't illegal to talk and drive without one. That's not to say that it doesn't have value, just that social pressure is a powerful force. I do think the media will turn on Glass once it's released. There's nothing they like more than setting something up for a fall. I'm not saying anyone in the press consciously does this; it's just what happens when unmoderated enthusiasm meets reality.
- boundlessdreamz 14y agoTech media being positive on Glass is because they are techies. That is a valid point. But it is not what the author says. "They are competing to see who can do the most over-the-top, overwhelmingly positive review, in hopes of making people at Google happy"
- mratzloff 14y agoThat's a fair point. He identifies a problem but misattributes the cause.
- rikkipitt 14y agoSee, I thought this recent demonstration of Google Glass was of a prototype. I heard it was going to be fully refined and released by the end of 2013. There's a lot of work left to do in my opinion to make it sexier and more usable. Will they ever manage it?
- ebbv 14y agoThere's no question in my mind Glass is a gimmick which will never see mainstream adoption. As I Tweeted a couple of days ago, it's the Bluetooth headset times a billion. Something that might be legitimately useful to a small percentage of the population, but wearing it in public makes you look like a tool.
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- pgcosta 14y agoI don't know what is more ridiculous: the article or the fact that it is on the first page.
- Mahn 14y agoIt's true Google has yet to sell a hardware consumer product that is wildly successful, but that's also why this is exciting: unlike with nexus tablets or phones, the possibily of becoming the "iPhone" of a new product category exists here, thus from this point of view it might well be the most important thing Google does in the next few years and they (probably) know it, hence they'll (probably) invest more time and resources than they've ever done with a consumer product before. (I'm not saying it will actually become an "iPhone", just that it's strictly speaking possible)
- gushie 14y agoRegarding Google losing interest once it's gone to Engineering. Perhaps that's the idea? Google just wants the advertising revenue from the searches. They will probably be more than happy for Asus/Samsung/HTC to come along and do Glass (or whatever) better/cheaper, just hoping they'll stick with Google as the engine. I think Google's aim with the Nexus and other products is just to keep some competition out there so folk don't all flock to Apple/Siri.
- driverdan 14y agoThe author isn't very imaginative. He can't think of how he'd use it so the product must be shit. I ride a motorcycle. Having a HUD for navigation, weather alerts, and phone notifications would be awesome and make my life so much easier. I'm terrible with names. If Glass could do facial recognition of people I've met and tell me who they are it would greatly improve my interactions. Using it to augment lifting weights would be sweet. It could time my sets and cooldowns so I get a better workout. Doing so with a phone or a watch is much harder and you can't actively look at them. This list is just a start. I'm sure I could come up with plenty of other uses.
- QuantumGood 14y agoA killer app scenario seems to the most likely path to widespread adoption for Glass—something that would promote widespread adoption. Meaning a key use case or feature that makes it popular. Think email, and then the internet for personal computers. It's hard to make new kinds of products that a lot of people want. Disruptive products (by the original definition) start out as something almost no one wants, and create new markets for themselves or die. And they aren't "disruptive" until they iterate features to take them into markets that are mainstream for their category. Basically, they are more innovation than invention, more evolution than revolution. Google glass is one of those products people get excited about from time to time that tries to jump right to the end game, skipping the evolutionary stages. Often they are simply ahead of their time, for various reasons. Think tablets before the iPad, for example, or video chat phones decades before computers and mobile phones. So without a killer app, Glass seems like one of those products that needs a LOT of real-world evolution and iteration before it could become at all mainstream. Thus a strategy could be to make Glass appealing to developers to better optimize for the possibility of popular features or use cases to be found.
- S_A_P 14y agoI suppose these could be made into a fashionable or trendy item, and that augmented reality is an inevitability. My problem with it is that I hate how everyone is so distracted in public now. Walking through the tunnels in downtown Houston is a maze of phone zombies. Maybe Google glass could help this because they can at least look forward. Im a terrible multitasker, and I think that using this (or any augmented reality device) may make me worse at everything. I may be a curmudgeon here, but my father was nearly killed by a texting driver. I wish people could just focus on doing one thing at a time, and google glass seems contrary to that aim.
- VikingCoder 14y ago> In addition, I've yet to see one thing Glass can do better than any other product. I've read that "the best camera is the one you have on you." If Glass is always on you, it will be the best camera you will likely ever own. All of those moments that last for just a few seconds are out of reach of even your ever-present cell-phone. Here, try this - click here: http://www.timer-tab.com/ http://www.timer-tab.com/ Once you click there, try to take a picture with your cell phone as quickly as you can, and then stop the timer. I hope you didn't cheat - if your phone was in your pocket, you counted the time to get it out, if you have a PIN on your phone, you had to enter it. I got about 11 seconds the first try, and 6 the second. Can you seriously not imagine that Glass would be better at capturing those random moments?
- dmak 14y agoI think people won't buy it because it's not fashionable. 1) People already opt out of glasses in favor of contacts. 2) People already wearing glasess will just look awkward.
- AdrianRossouw 14y agoI'd have no problem with somebody wearing this while I am in conversation with them. I would probably find it better than trying to speak to someone who is glued to their phone.