7 ms·

I don't understand why Google hasn't hired Steve Mann yet, at least as a consultant on the project. Seems like hubris to me: this guy has been testing wearable

by jwr 14y ago

I don't understand why Google hasn't hired Steve Mann yet, at least as a consultant on the project. Seems like hubris to me: this guy has been testing wearable systems for 20 years or so and knows more about the experience than anyone on the planet.

mmahemoff 14y ago
How do you know they haven't hired him, or that they approached him but couldn't come to terms? I'd say Google has been most un-hubristic with Glass, by revealing it early on to build acceptance and gain feedback.
- nicholassmith 14y ago
  I'd say based off a few things ("not made here") in the article that either they didn't approach him, or there's some other story.
  - codeulike 14y ago
    Perhaps the potential for headlines like "Google hire worlds first cyborg to help them develop Glass" put them off?
    - nicholassmith 14y ago
      Maybe, but honestly it's Google and that sort of thing wouldn't sway them. They have a product called Android after all.
nirvana 14y ago
Because Steve Mann is into wearable computers and google glass is not a wearable computer project. Your wondering this is understandable because google has mislead you. But glass has no CPU, there's not enough power or space for one. The intelligence lives on google servers where the speach recognition is done, and everything else, and glass is useless without a net connection (So you have to be in an area with wifi or have a smartphone handy to tether to.) Steve Mann has been working on head mounted displays, true, but he's been focusing on local horsepower wearable computers. Ultimately, I don't think google glass is anything more than a PR project to remove the stigma of google as ripoff artists and to make it look like they're innovative. Given current technology, glass on wifi should have about 20 minutes of battery life, maybe an hour. Which makes them pretty useless. There's really quite a difference between a wearable computer (what Mann works on) and a bluetooth headset with integrated display (what glass is.)
- buro9 14y ago
  I agree with your post in it's entirety, except for the bit on battery life as I spoke to an engineer using Glass a few weeks ago and 5-6 hours with real world use was the toted number (for a mix of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth use). I still feel that is very poor though, for Glass to really be useful it should last a long working day, and ideally all of your average waking hours. It remains a bluetooth headset with integrated display and camera. The phone and some remote servers do the real work.
  - enraged_camel 14y ago
    If 5-6 hours is the toted number, the real number is most likely close to 4 hours.
    - buro9 14y ago
      7 hours was the toted number, 5-6 hours was what he said he got in real-world usage.
  - steeve 14y ago
    I got to try Glass last week, and the engineer told me it was close to 15 hours, not 5.
- jessriedel 14y ago
  I like your comment, but would it really be so difficult to for the next generation of Glass to tether to a smart phone in your pocket that did all the computing and only used Google's cloud services for supplemental input when available? I.e. the voice recognition gets better when you've got a good data connection. The phone could be larger than average because you'd rarely need to pull it out of your pocket. I don't see why you think there's such a large difference between local horsepower and cloud computing. They compliment each other, and the ultimate technology will be a mixture of both. User interaction is the much more interesting and difficult problem. (And your battery life comment is misplaced.)
  - 14y ago
archangel_one 14y ago
Maybe because the biggest hurdle Google is trying to overcome with Glass is the the "fashion" side of it, which Steve Mann has not cracked in those 20 years and isn't going to if he has 20 years more. Also - does he really have so much experience with that tech? There seems to be some controversy around how much self-promotion he's doing via Wikipedia.
- rasur 14y ago
  You should read his book "Intelligent Image Processing" for a bit more information on what he's been doing in the area.
- rdl 14y ago
  I was an undergrad research assistant for him for a while in the mid-1990s. He's both self-promotional and has legitimately done all of the stuff he's promoting.
- jessriedel 14y ago
  Academics have been driven largely by hubris since time immemorial. It's a mistake to think that this conflicts in principle with a passion for the subject (all though in can in practice, of course). If you get rid of all the academics who made you nauseous with self-promotion, you'd pretty much just be left with Erdős and some teachers. Incidentally, for those who haven't read it, pg's analysis of the incredible technology of the Segway being completely trumped by human fashion is great: http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html
  - archangel_one 14y ago
    I'm not saying that self-promotion is entirely and absolutely bad. Just that the post I replied to seemed to think that Mann was the be-all and end-all of the field, and I'm not sure how much that was based off his own propaganda.
  - javert 14y ago
    As a graduate student, I can tell you, what you are saying is just plain untrue. Surprisingly many professors I know seem to be genuinely motivated by what they see as a service to society. Typically, more through teaching than research. Yes, there are a few big jerks who are clearly driven by wanting to show off.
amelim 14y ago
Google has been working with one of Steve Mann's previous collaborators[1], Thad Starner[2]. Thad's actually the Tech Lead on the Glass project. As far as I know, he's been wearing AR systems for just as long and does the majority of his research in this domain. I must admit, I'm extremely jealous when I see Thad walking around campus with his Glass. [1] http://www.wearcam.org/computing.html/ http://www.wearcam.org/computing.html/ [2] http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/ http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/
- mempko 14y ago
  don't be jealous, just steal if from his head.
- picto84 14y ago
  I'm not surprised at all to find out Thad's been working on Glass, considering I never saw him on campus without his personal creation. Also, taking a special topics mobile/embedded computing course he taught when I was there was definitely worth it.
cf 14y ago
Well they have Thad Starner http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/ http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/ who has been doing wearable computing nearly as long.
srlake 14y ago
The biggest reason, I hear, is that Steve is more than a little bit loony.

by jwr 14y ago

mmahemoff 14y ago

How do you know they haven't hired him, or that they approached him but couldn't come to terms? I'd say Google has been most un-hubristic with Glass, by revealing it early on to build acceptance and gain feedback.

nicholassmith 14y ago
I'd say based off a few things ("not made here") in the article that either they didn't approach him, or there's some other story.
- codeulike 14y ago
  Perhaps the potential for headlines like "Google hire worlds first cyborg to help them develop Glass" put them off?
  - nicholassmith 14y ago
    Maybe, but honestly it's Google and that sort of thing wouldn't sway them. They have a product called Android after all.

nirvana 14y ago

Because Steve Mann is into wearable computers and google glass is not a wearable computer project. Your wondering this is understandable because google has mislead you. But glass has no CPU, there's not enough power or space for one. The intelligence lives on google servers where the speach recognition is done, and everything else, and glass is useless without a net connection (So you have to be in an area with wifi or have a smartphone handy to tether to.) Steve Mann has been working on head mounted displays, true, but he's been focusing on local horsepower wearable computers. Ultimately, I don't think google glass is anything more than a PR project to remove the stigma of google as ripoff artists and to make it look like they're innovative. Given current technology, glass on wifi should have about 20 minutes of battery life, maybe an hour. Which makes them pretty useless. There's really quite a difference between a wearable computer (what Mann works on) and a bluetooth headset with integrated display (what glass is.)

buro9 14y ago
I agree with your post in it's entirety, except for the bit on battery life as I spoke to an engineer using Glass a few weeks ago and 5-6 hours with real world use was the toted number (for a mix of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth use). I still feel that is very poor though, for Glass to really be useful it should last a long working day, and ideally all of your average waking hours. It remains a bluetooth headset with integrated display and camera. The phone and some remote servers do the real work.
- enraged_camel 14y ago
  If 5-6 hours is the toted number, the real number is most likely close to 4 hours.
  - buro9 14y ago
    7 hours was the toted number, 5-6 hours was what he said he got in real-world usage.
- steeve 14y ago
  I got to try Glass last week, and the engineer told me it was close to 15 hours, not 5.
jessriedel 14y ago
I like your comment, but would it really be so difficult to for the next generation of Glass to tether to a smart phone in your pocket that did all the computing and only used Google's cloud services for supplemental input when available? I.e. the voice recognition gets better when you've got a good data connection. The phone could be larger than average because you'd rarely need to pull it out of your pocket. I don't see why you think there's such a large difference between local horsepower and cloud computing. They compliment each other, and the ultimate technology will be a mixture of both. User interaction is the much more interesting and difficult problem. (And your battery life comment is misplaced.)
- 14y ago

archangel_one 14y ago

Maybe because the biggest hurdle Google is trying to overcome with Glass is the the "fashion" side of it, which Steve Mann has not cracked in those 20 years and isn't going to if he has 20 years more. Also - does he really have so much experience with that tech? There seems to be some controversy around how much self-promotion he's doing via Wikipedia.

rasur 14y ago
You should read his book "Intelligent Image Processing" for a bit more information on what he's been doing in the area.
rdl 14y ago
I was an undergrad research assistant for him for a while in the mid-1990s. He's both self-promotional and has legitimately done all of the stuff he's promoting.
jessriedel 14y ago
Academics have been driven largely by hubris since time immemorial. It's a mistake to think that this conflicts in principle with a passion for the subject (all though in can in practice, of course). If you get rid of all the academics who made you nauseous with self-promotion, you'd pretty much just be left with Erdős and some teachers. Incidentally, for those who haven't read it, pg's analysis of the incredible technology of the Segway being completely trumped by human fashion is great: http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html
- archangel_one 14y ago
  I'm not saying that self-promotion is entirely and absolutely bad. Just that the post I replied to seemed to think that Mann was the be-all and end-all of the field, and I'm not sure how much that was based off his own propaganda.
- javert 14y ago
  As a graduate student, I can tell you, what you are saying is just plain untrue. Surprisingly many professors I know seem to be genuinely motivated by what they see as a service to society. Typically, more through teaching than research. Yes, there are a few big jerks who are clearly driven by wanting to show off.

amelim 14y ago

Google has been working with one of Steve Mann's previous collaborators[1], Thad Starner[2]. Thad's actually the Tech Lead on the Glass project. As far as I know, he's been wearing AR systems for just as long and does the majority of his research in this domain. I must admit, I'm extremely jealous when I see Thad walking around campus with his Glass. [1] http://www.wearcam.org/computing.html/ http://www.wearcam.org/computing.html/ [2] http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/ http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/

mempko 14y ago
don't be jealous, just steal if from his head.
picto84 14y ago
I'm not surprised at all to find out Thad's been working on Glass, considering I never saw him on campus without his personal creation. Also, taking a special topics mobile/embedded computing course he taught when I was there was definitely worth it.

cf 14y ago

Well they have Thad Starner http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/ http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/ who has been doing wearable computing nearly as long.

srlake 14y ago

The biggest reason, I hear, is that Steve is more than a little bit loony.