3 ms·

did I offend you, or am I not allowed to dislike how an electronic device looks like?

by zalew 14y ago

dannyr 14y ago
No. But it's different when you resort to name-calling just because of something a person wears or what a person looks like. Call people douchebag for their actions.
- pifflesnort 14y ago
  > Call people douchebag for their actions. Like choosing to wear a stupid-looking $1,500 distraction-generator?
  - dannyr 14y ago
    Have you used it? How are you sure it's a distraction-generator?
- gfodor 14y ago
  This isn't how fashion, or people in general, work. There is a reason they call it a "fashion statement." It's an action that doesn't require actual action. Basically Glass requires that Google release a product that is fashionable out of the gate. There really isn't going to be second chances with something like this. Google isn't exactly known for being a company that has good intuitive fashion sense. I'm sure they're A/B testing the damn colors for gods sake.
  - dannyr 14y ago
    Personally, I don't view Google Glass a fashion statement. It's a tool for me. Like my computer or camera. Same with my phone.
    - gfodor 14y ago
      You don't get to decide how people view something you wear on your face, they do. And I predict anyone non-technical (and many who are) will view it based upon how it makes the wearer look, not by what it can do. It remains to be seen if Glass is going to be considered cool. The blatant use of beautiful people wearing it doing fun and exciting things leads me to believe they understand they have a uphill battle on this front and basically need to convince the public that it is cool. This is a bad sign. Similar to how a kid when told by their parents to not do something subsequently do it, things our corporate masters make a blatant effort to tell us are cool usually are viewed as lame. The iPhone became cool on its own and was sold by a geek wearing a black turtleneck on a stage talking about a revolutionary communication device, not by a blonde celebrity going skydiving. Ask yourself: if you shut Glass off and just wear it will it change the way people perceive it? (Right or wrong.) If not, then it doesn't really matter what it does, its success or failure will be based upon how it makes people feel when wearing it.
      - yew 14y ago
        I don't get to decide how people view my actual glasses either, but that doesn't mean I'm going to walk around blind. The usefulness of a thing as a tool is incidental to its value as a fashion statement. If Glass is actually revolutionary in the usefulness department I suspect we'll see the same sort of behavior we see with smartphones - many people owning and using them and a small number of people complaining about them alienating everyone from society. If it turns out to be just a gimmick, I agree it probably won't catch on. Though there are some pretty odd ideas about mainstream fashion in this thread, too. See the above post by someone who thinks that watches and expensive cars are unfashionable. I trust HN for a lot of things, but views on fashion (and on what's likely to become fashionable) isn't one of them.
        gfodor 14y ago
        Fortunately you can buy glasses that look good and that people like. If you couldn't, we'd all be wearing contacts. There is also a huge difference between something that lets you see and something that affords you the convenience of not having to reach into your pocket to read Twitter. The last device that made you look smug, started off extremely expensive with the goal of getting cheaper with volume when the public inevitably scooped them up, and provided a convenience viewed as overt laziness because a cheaper more widely acceptable alternative existed was called the Segway. Glass already checks off two out of three (it's expensive, and is for people "too lazy" to take out their phone.) It remains to be seen if it hits the trifecta of also just plain looking doofy. I've only seen it on nerds and celebrities so it's hard to guess just how far on the doofus totem pole your average Glass wearer is going to be knocked.

did I offend you, or am I not allowed to dislike how an electronic device looks like?

by zalew 14y ago

did I offend you, or am I not allowed to dislike how an electronic device looks like?

No. But it's different when you resort to name-calling just because of something a person wears or what a person looks like. Call people douchebag for their actions.

pifflesnort 14y ago
> Call people douchebag for their actions. Like choosing to wear a stupid-looking $1,500 distraction-generator?
- dannyr 14y ago
  Have you used it? How are you sure it's a distraction-generator?
gfodor 14y ago
This isn't how fashion, or people in general, work. There is a reason they call it a "fashion statement." It's an action that doesn't require actual action. Basically Glass requires that Google release a product that is fashionable out of the gate. There really isn't going to be second chances with something like this. Google isn't exactly known for being a company that has good intuitive fashion sense. I'm sure they're A/B testing the damn colors for gods sake.
- dannyr 14y ago
  Personally, I don't view Google Glass a fashion statement. It's a tool for me. Like my computer or camera. Same with my phone.
  - gfodor 14y ago
    You don't get to decide how people view something you wear on your face, they do. And I predict anyone non-technical (and many who are) will view it based upon how it makes the wearer look, not by what it can do. It remains to be seen if Glass is going to be considered cool. The blatant use of beautiful people wearing it doing fun and exciting things leads me to believe they understand they have a uphill battle on this front and basically need to convince the public that it is cool. This is a bad sign. Similar to how a kid when told by their parents to not do something subsequently do it, things our corporate masters make a blatant effort to tell us are cool usually are viewed as lame. The iPhone became cool on its own and was sold by a geek wearing a black turtleneck on a stage talking about a revolutionary communication device, not by a blonde celebrity going skydiving. Ask yourself: if you shut Glass off and just wear it will it change the way people perceive it? (Right or wrong.) If not, then it doesn't really matter what it does, its success or failure will be based upon how it makes people feel when wearing it.
    - yew 14y ago
      I don't get to decide how people view my actual glasses either, but that doesn't mean I'm going to walk around blind. The usefulness of a thing as a tool is incidental to its value as a fashion statement. If Glass is actually revolutionary in the usefulness department I suspect we'll see the same sort of behavior we see with smartphones - many people owning and using them and a small number of people complaining about them alienating everyone from society. If it turns out to be just a gimmick, I agree it probably won't catch on. Though there are some pretty odd ideas about mainstream fashion in this thread, too. See the above post by someone who thinks that watches and expensive cars are unfashionable. I trust HN for a lot of things, but views on fashion (and on what's likely to become fashionable) isn't one of them.
      - gfodor 14y ago
        Fortunately you can buy glasses that look good and that people like. If you couldn't, we'd all be wearing contacts. There is also a huge difference between something that lets you see and something that affords you the convenience of not having to reach into your pocket to read Twitter. The last device that made you look smug, started off extremely expensive with the goal of getting cheaper with volume when the public inevitably scooped them up, and provided a convenience viewed as overt laziness because a cheaper more widely acceptable alternative existed was called the Segway. Glass already checks off two out of three (it's expensive, and is for people "too lazy" to take out their phone.) It remains to be seen if it hits the trifecta of also just plain looking doofy. I've only seen it on nerds and celebrities so it's hard to guess just how far on the doofus totem pole your average Glass wearer is going to be knocked.