6 ms·

Google Glass Now Works With Actual Glasses

56 points by sethbannon 13y ago

tlrobinson 13y ago
And it still looks like a Segway for your face.
- eco 13y ago
  I think they need to move the majority of components to the neck like LG does with their bluetooth headset[1]. The less bulky and attention grabbing the better it will be when they launch for mainstream users that just wants them for their utility (early adopters may prefer them as they are now for conspicuous consumption reasons however). A second benefit is that Glass apparently has abysmal battery life. Bringing them down to the neck would allow for a much larger battery. 1. http://www.amazon.com/LG-Wireless-Bluetooth-Stereo-Headset/dp/B0052YFYFK http://www.amazon.com/LG-Wireless-Bluetooth-Stereo-Headset/d...
  - tlrobinson 13y ago
    I would probably be ok with slightly bulky frames as long as it looked fairly symmetrical. My current frames are 3/8" tall and 3/16" thick on the sides, and I think it could go up to 1/2" x 1/4" without looking strange. Put the battery on one side, the electronics on the other. The only remaining problem is integrating the optics directly into the lens.
mjcohen 13y ago
I wear regular glasses and use sunglasses that cost less than $5 US that slide between my glasses and my face: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00012K3N6/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00012K3N6/ I think these would work with Glass.
alaskamiller 13y ago
I took apart my Glass, added magnets, and have it attached to my eyeglass frame. Thing with mounting this on to frames is that you actually spend a lot of time micro-adjusting Google Glass. This is all the real problem. The real problem is just that Glass is boring. The UI is also really awkward. Voice recognition is pretty decent but saying ok glass ten thousand times a day is annoying. Google still sucks at devices. Though they have the best VR compared to Siri. God, does Apple suck at voice.
- nicholassmith 13y ago
  "God, does Apple suck at voice." I've found Siri getting better recently, for my reasonably strong Northern England accent. Significantly fewer misses than a year ago at least.
  - k-mcgrady 13y ago
    It's pretty accurate for me too with my northern Irish accent. There are only a couple of words it has trouble with (the most common being 'hour' which is annoying when setting timers) and I just adjust my pronunciation slightly when using those words with Siri.
    - nicholassmith 13y ago
      I've found that if I don't change my pronunciation but correct the word when it's underlined blue it gets more accurate, I'd assume Apple does a certain amount of training based on it, but I think most people aren't willing to train it too much. I like using it when I'm cooking though, so it gets a lot of "Add a timer for 25 minutes" "Remind me I need more tomatoes tomorrow" and so on.
- SimHacker 13y ago
  Brilliant! Now your glass is more interesting and enigmagnetic. Instead of explaining to everyone how Glass works, you can explain how magnets work. Much more interesting.
panacea 13y ago
Wouldn't putting, even a fake copy of glass on the other side to make it look symmetric, be more aesthetically acceptable?
- ivanbrussik 13y ago
  that's what is bothering me. could never figure it out from a UX perspective, but that is definitely it.
- hornetblack 13y ago
  A battery pack maybe. But then you would either have to hide a cable in the bridge (An vital area for frames) or have a gaudy cable around the back of your head.
  - SimHacker 13y ago
    Rainbow cable FTW! https://www.modmypi.com/image/cache/data/GPIO/ribbon-cables/raspberry-pi-gpio-cable-rainbow-800x800.JPG https://www.modmypi.com/image/cache/data/GPIO/ribbon-cables/...
- jaysonelliot 13y ago
  I don't feel like that would help the aesthetics much. Mostly what it would do is make it look like you were wearing those Craftsman Illuminator eye lights that they sell in hardware stores. It's the lensless metal bridge across the face that really makes them stand out. I've found that when I snap the sunglass lens into my Glass, even though I look like I'm wearing a pair of particularly douchey sunglasses, I don't get as many people staring. Worn without the lenses in, I feel like a freak show wherever I go thanks to all the gawkers. I've worn Glass in public a mere handful of times—I never use it at all anymore. The conspicuousness-to-usefulness ratio is just not sufficient for me.
- SimHacker 13y ago
  Or go with the asymmetry and get a pirate patch for the other eye.
drpgq 13y ago
How hard is it to get Glass right now?
- uncoder0 13y ago
  Super easy. Anyone who applies is offered an invite now. This policy seems to have changed sometime in mid-late December.
- eitally 13y ago
  Still hard, unless you know someone. One of the reasons it's hard is that invitations aren't transferable. I have one, but am unwilling to spend $1500 for something that will probably just be a novelty (especially when a Recon Jet would make a lot more practical sense for my needs), so the invitation will go unfilled.
  - dag11 13y ago
    Actually, you can give the invitation code (as long as you haven't clicked on it in the email) to anyone else and they can use it.
spiderbro 13y ago
Just wait until this technology can be embedded in contact lenses for the real controversy
- glitchdout 13y ago
  You mean Sight? https://vimeo.com/46304267 https://vimeo.com/46304267 (I have no doubt that one day the real product will be named exactly that.)
nicholassmith 13y ago
One of the things they mention is you get to choose the frames, then mount the Glass on to them, but you can't remove the Glass and use them as normal frames. So the usefulness of the glasses themselves are heavily reduced, as you'll inevitably have situations where you can't wear Glass so you need another frame to swap for. Can't say I'm overly impressed with the idea.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
  >> "One of the things they mention is you get to choose the frames, then mount the Glass on to them, but you can't remove the Glass and use them as normal frames." Why can't you remove it again? I read on another site that it was simply held in place by one screw (which you put in yourself after you get the frames home). If it's a screw I would think you could just unswear it again.
  - travisp 13y ago
    He means that you can't just easily remove Glass when you are doing things like entering public restrooms or a movie theater. Sure, you could bring along the special screwdriver and sit their unscrewing it, but I don't think that's practical in most situations you might want to remove Glass from your head. You can remove your glasses, but many of us who wear glasses can't easily get by without them. So, that if we really want to wear Glass in public attached to our glasses, we have to bring two pairs of glasses with us everywhere.
    - tostitos1979 13y ago
      #FAIL. I am in the explorer program and was initially excited to see these frames. The few times I've taken Glass outside, I try not to behave like a glasshole (I remove it before going to a public restroom, in restaurant/theatres, etc.). My prescription is pretty high so I cannot function without specs. How could they make such a bad product design decision?
      - k-mcgrady 13y ago

56 points by sethbannon 13y ago

tlrobinson 13y ago

And it still looks like a Segway for your face.

eco 13y ago
I think they need to move the majority of components to the neck like LG does with their bluetooth headset[1]. The less bulky and attention grabbing the better it will be when they launch for mainstream users that just wants them for their utility (early adopters may prefer them as they are now for conspicuous consumption reasons however). A second benefit is that Glass apparently has abysmal battery life. Bringing them down to the neck would allow for a much larger battery. 1. http://www.amazon.com/LG-Wireless-Bluetooth-Stereo-Headset/dp/B0052YFYFK http://www.amazon.com/LG-Wireless-Bluetooth-Stereo-Headset/d...
- tlrobinson 13y ago
  I would probably be ok with slightly bulky frames as long as it looked fairly symmetrical. My current frames are 3/8" tall and 3/16" thick on the sides, and I think it could go up to 1/2" x 1/4" without looking strange. Put the battery on one side, the electronics on the other. The only remaining problem is integrating the optics directly into the lens.

mjcohen 13y ago

I wear regular glasses and use sunglasses that cost less than $5 US that slide between my glasses and my face: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00012K3N6/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00012K3N6/ I think these would work with Glass.

alaskamiller 13y ago

I took apart my Glass, added magnets, and have it attached to my eyeglass frame. Thing with mounting this on to frames is that you actually spend a lot of time micro-adjusting Google Glass. This is all the real problem. The real problem is just that Glass is boring. The UI is also really awkward. Voice recognition is pretty decent but saying ok glass ten thousand times a day is annoying. Google still sucks at devices. Though they have the best VR compared to Siri. God, does Apple suck at voice.

nicholassmith 13y ago
"God, does Apple suck at voice." I've found Siri getting better recently, for my reasonably strong Northern England accent. Significantly fewer misses than a year ago at least.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
  It's pretty accurate for me too with my northern Irish accent. There are only a couple of words it has trouble with (the most common being 'hour' which is annoying when setting timers) and I just adjust my pronunciation slightly when using those words with Siri.
  - nicholassmith 13y ago
    I've found that if I don't change my pronunciation but correct the word when it's underlined blue it gets more accurate, I'd assume Apple does a certain amount of training based on it, but I think most people aren't willing to train it too much. I like using it when I'm cooking though, so it gets a lot of "Add a timer for 25 minutes" "Remind me I need more tomatoes tomorrow" and so on.
SimHacker 13y ago
Brilliant! Now your glass is more interesting and enigmagnetic. Instead of explaining to everyone how Glass works, you can explain how magnets work. Much more interesting.

panacea 13y ago

Wouldn't putting, even a fake copy of glass on the other side to make it look symmetric, be more aesthetically acceptable?

ivanbrussik 13y ago
that's what is bothering me. could never figure it out from a UX perspective, but that is definitely it.
hornetblack 13y ago
A battery pack maybe. But then you would either have to hide a cable in the bridge (An vital area for frames) or have a gaudy cable around the back of your head.
- SimHacker 13y ago
  Rainbow cable FTW! https://www.modmypi.com/image/cache/data/GPIO/ribbon-cables/raspberry-pi-gpio-cable-rainbow-800x800.JPG https://www.modmypi.com/image/cache/data/GPIO/ribbon-cables/...
jaysonelliot 13y ago
I don't feel like that would help the aesthetics much. Mostly what it would do is make it look like you were wearing those Craftsman Illuminator eye lights that they sell in hardware stores. It's the lensless metal bridge across the face that really makes them stand out. I've found that when I snap the sunglass lens into my Glass, even though I look like I'm wearing a pair of particularly douchey sunglasses, I don't get as many people staring. Worn without the lenses in, I feel like a freak show wherever I go thanks to all the gawkers. I've worn Glass in public a mere handful of times—I never use it at all anymore. The conspicuousness-to-usefulness ratio is just not sufficient for me.
SimHacker 13y ago
Or go with the asymmetry and get a pirate patch for the other eye.

drpgq 13y ago

How hard is it to get Glass right now?

uncoder0 13y ago
Super easy. Anyone who applies is offered an invite now. This policy seems to have changed sometime in mid-late December.
eitally 13y ago
Still hard, unless you know someone. One of the reasons it's hard is that invitations aren't transferable. I have one, but am unwilling to spend $1500 for something that will probably just be a novelty (especially when a Recon Jet would make a lot more practical sense for my needs), so the invitation will go unfilled.
- dag11 13y ago
  Actually, you can give the invitation code (as long as you haven't clicked on it in the email) to anyone else and they can use it.

spiderbro 13y ago

Just wait until this technology can be embedded in contact lenses for the real controversy

glitchdout 13y ago
You mean Sight? https://vimeo.com/46304267 https://vimeo.com/46304267 (I have no doubt that one day the real product will be named exactly that.)

nicholassmith 13y ago

One of the things they mention is you get to choose the frames, then mount the Glass on to them, but you can't remove the Glass and use them as normal frames. So the usefulness of the glasses themselves are heavily reduced, as you'll inevitably have situations where you can't wear Glass so you need another frame to swap for. Can't say I'm overly impressed with the idea.

k-mcgrady 13y ago
>> "One of the things they mention is you get to choose the frames, then mount the Glass on to them, but you can't remove the Glass and use them as normal frames." Why can't you remove it again? I read on another site that it was simply held in place by one screw (which you put in yourself after you get the frames home). If it's a screw I would think you could just unswear it again.
- travisp 13y ago
  He means that you can't just easily remove Glass when you are doing things like entering public restrooms or a movie theater. Sure, you could bring along the special screwdriver and sit their unscrewing it, but I don't think that's practical in most situations you might want to remove Glass from your head. You can remove your glasses, but many of us who wear glasses can't easily get by without them. So, that if we really want to wear Glass in public attached to our glasses, we have to bring two pairs of glasses with us everywhere.
  - tostitos1979 13y ago
    #FAIL. I am in the explorer program and was initially excited to see these frames. The few times I've taken Glass outside, I try not to behave like a glasshole (I remove it before going to a public restroom, in restaurant/theatres, etc.). My prescription is pretty high so I cannot function without specs. How could they make such a bad product design decision?
    - k-mcgrady 13y ago