13 ms·

Google Explains How Not To Be A Glasshole

simonsarris 13y ago
The article doesn't mention it, but here's the Penny Arcade[1] comic (from back in May) titled "Glasshole", which illustrates why many people are uncomfortable about Google Glass users: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/06/14 http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/06/14 I don't think this list (never mind the tech-crunch article, the real list from Google is here[2]) really mitigates this fundamental issue. > Be patient and explain that Glass has a lot of the same features as a mobile phone (camera, maps, email, etc.) The problem remains that a person who holds a mobile phone up to their face (potentially recording what's straight ahead) is just called an asshole. I imagine the majority of people think it is rude to hold up a video camera all of the time while in public/starbucks/supermarket, even if the camera is off (Importantly: It does not matter if the camera is on or cannot possibly be on. As if the median person could tell or know). People are uncomfortable being potentially recorded in their daily interactions. Nobody wants to feel stared down by a camera or recorded. So I think "don't be rude" (from Google's list) isn't a very helpful tip. Wearing Google Glass in public is rude. ~~~ [1] Gabe from Penny Arcade recounts his experience: > As I was walking in today I heard the front door open and I quickly slid my Glass down off my head and slung it around my neck. A woman passed me by and I gave her a polite smile. As I got inside the building I moved the Glass back up to my head but I realised the reason I took it off was because I didn’t want to be rude. > I was not embarrassed or worried she would think I was a dork. I AM a dork! What I was worried about was being rude. I feel like walking around with a camera pointed at people even if it’s not recording is just not polite. It’s a very strange feeling that I’m only just now trying to get my head around. I think the technology is incredibly cool but I wonder if socially we are ready for Glass. I’m starting to think the Google Glass Explorer program might be less about testing hardware, and more about testing people. from: http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2013/06/12/google-glass1 http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2013/06/12/google-glas... [2] https://sites.google.com/site/glasscomms/glass-explorers https://sites.google.com/site/glasscomms/glass-explorers
- saurabh_math 13y ago
  If video thing is so uncomfortable/confusing, a simple solution could be to add a simple LED indicating if camera is on or off. Apart from that I don't think there is anything else major that would annoy people around you.
  - XorNot 13y ago
    The problem is culturally people treat a camera lens like an eye, and studies show that merely seeing a picture of an eye or a camera causes people to act like they're being surveilled (signs with eyes on them and a message are obeyed more often). So you're always going to have a problem pointing a lens at someone, no matter what indicators are there. I suspect the innovation needed here is mechanical - Google should try adding a mechanically driven shutter to the camera, so when it's off, the lens is covered. I would bet strongly that that would solve 95% of people's problem with Google Glass.
  - herokusaki 13y ago
    I wonder if Google not equipping Glass with an indicator LED to tell whether it's recording was an omission on their part or a deliberate design choice they made for some reason (which then misfired).
    - blueskin_ 13y ago
      Probably on the behalf of the NSA wanting remote access to them.
  - blueskin_ 13y ago
    Because glassholes really couldn't tape over that, right?
- nilkn 13y ago
  > Wearing Google Glass in public is rude I don't think this is universally true. For instance, if someone was a tourist on vacation and they were using Glass to take a POV video of a moment of their trip, I wouldn't find that rude, as long as this was happening in a well-known public area where people are likely already recording videos with smartphones. Basically, if you're doing something really unique in your life, and you want to capture a video of it for memories and sharing, I couldn't blame people for wearing Glass. Actually, it'd be superior to a smartphone for this purpose, as it inhibits interaction much less than holding a phone up in front of your face. But in the majority of cases in normal life, yeah, I'd be bothered if I went out with a buddy and he was wearing Glass all night. I think that Glass will reach an equilibrium where everyone around you assumes that if you're wearing it then you are actively using it for something. If they can deduce what your purpose is (e.g., tourist), then I don't think they'll be bothered. But if it's unclear why you're using Glass, I think it'll make people uncomfortable.
threeseed 13y ago
The problem Google has is that there a significant overlap between those willing to wear those glasses and those with poor social skills. For me personally companies like Apple and Pebble are going to be infinitely more successful with smart watches.
greenyoda 13y ago
From Google's list: "If you’re worried about someone interrupting that romantic dinner at a nice restaurant with a question about Glass, just take it off and put it around the back of your neck or in your bag." You should probably be more worried about you interrupting your own dinner. Wearing a display on your face that can distract you at inopportune moments is probably not something you want to do if you're having a romantic dinner (just as you wouldn't want to be constantly playing with a phone on the table). Your dinner partner might find it to be rude or annoying.
- faddotio 13y ago
  Too late, it's already a disaster. People already set their iPhones conspicuously on the table _between_ themselves and their conversation partner. And then they check the phone compulsively.
  - smacktoward 13y ago
    At least it's a quick way to discover you're having dinner with somebody you really don't want to be having dinner with. Used to be it took hours of conversation to suss that out!
    - wavefunction 13y ago
      Indeed! I had one lady answer a text between the drinks and appetizers. I paid the check and left. An expensive snack but a priceless look on her face ;)
      - faddotio 13y ago
        Haha, I wish I could've been a fly on the wall for that. You should've recorded it with your cell phone. ;)
Sanctor 13y ago
The person in the video is wildly unpresentable. I could not keep watching past one minute or so. As for Google Glass, I can't expect people to familiarize themselves with and accept the behaviour of a camera being pointed at themselves at all times. I don't think this kind of thing should ever be acceptable. Privacy is compromised as it is, without people wearing cameras on their faces.
UweSchmidt 13y ago
Politeness does not help much. Glass and similar gadgets must be set up that by default so that the data is sent to a private webspace owned or rented by the user so that legally no 3rd party can run their queries against it. Users can then buy the terminator app that tells them what shoe and pant size people have - but the actual data must by default be private, everything else is simply crazy. However confronting people and asking them to take off their beloved new toy, maybe one that has prescription glasses built in that they need in this situation, is incredibly difficult in most social situations. Glass-wearing Saruman could laugh at your face, and ask "what do we have to fear?" Only thing Gandalf can do is to throw a blanket over their head and state that the usage of the data is unaccounted for and we don't know who's watching. Awkward imo.
- blueskin_ 13y ago
  I'm sure they carry a pair of non-spying glasses too. After all, what happens if someone steals their spy ones off their face one day? They'd need a backup to be able to see to get home.
fvrghl 13y ago
If the friction point of using a product is polite society, then maybe it's time to rethink it. If Glass wasn't as visible on the user, would that make it more ok to use, or less ok?
ejain 13y ago
I wonder if Google is regretting making the camera a fixed, non-detachable part of Google Glass?
fit2rule 13y ago
I recently encountered a few Glassholes in my environment, and let me tell you - the fervor with which these guys defended their right to use their Google Glass device to intrude upon my life is, frankly, terrifying. This generation may not think its rude to intrude - but what will the next generation think is acceptable? When this technology becomes ubiquitous and available to teens, I fear for the world. Too much lawn-guarding for this old codger? Perhaps .. but I have to say that the idea of having people doing Google's work for them all the while having 'convenient' features marketed to them is heinous. But I realize I'm generalizing without content, so with that off my chest, let me explain what I think is so wrong about the Google Glass religious experience: what is the real issue I have with this? Its simply this: Google Glass gets in the way of two human beings, for the sake of providing one human being some 'convenience', and a corporation with Yet More Data To Rule The World with .. As soon as you've got that thing on, and you're pointing it at someone, you have put a physical barrier between your eyes, and theirs. Your mind, and theirs, is no longer connected in a human fashion - the Glassholes' mind is connected to Google, first and foremost. So whenever I have the misfortune to be dealing with a Glasshole, I know that I'm not actually talking to the person, themselves, as a unit - but rather someone who has willingly usurped their own individual free will, and is renting it out to Google for the price of 'having cool technology'. In all honesty, todays Google Glass toter is yesterdays' E-meter "free stress-test" booth dweller. Both classes of individual are proving they'd rather play with toys than deal with people.
PhasmaFelis 13y ago
Here's a much simpler list: 1) Don't be an asshole. 2) Avoid the kind of assholes who go into paroxysms of judgement over head-mounted phones.
blueskin_ 13y ago
>How not to be a glasshole Don't wear google glasses. Seems simple enough to me.
lutusp 13y ago
No one seems to have thought of this, so I'll just put it out there. Someone, sometime in the near future, is going to design a pair of glasses that have all the features of Google Glass, but be undetectable, be indistinguishable from a normal pair of glasses or sunglasses. Call them "Stealth Glasses". Then dozens of vendors will pick up on the idea. When that happens, this entire conversation will change. People will begin to wonder whether anyone they meet wearing glasses is surreptitiously recording their interaction in HDTV and stereo sound. At that point, people will long for the good old days when Google Glass was the only technology in this class, and how simple everything was.
- blueskin_ 13y ago
  At some point in the future, someone is going to design a pair of glasses that detect google glasses etc. and direct a laser into their camera. I'd buy a pair.
- sireat 13y ago
  There was a guy on HN recently commenting, who had a startup (with a functional product) making very convincing fashion glasses with a recording function. Unless you knew the brand(I forget what it was), it would be a hard to notice the recording.
billpg 13y ago
I never saw this sort of reaction against CCTV cameras. Is a video camera on a wall really so much different than a video camera on a person's head?
- sentenza 13y ago
  Probably depends on where you are. Here in Germany, there is lots of resistance against CCTV cameras. In the UK, on the other hand, I'd be surprised if people cared about Glass in public spaces, since CCTV is ubiquitous there.

The article doesn't mention it, but here's the Penny Arcade[1] comic (from back in May) titled "Glasshole", which illustrates why many people are uncomfortable about Google Glass users: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/06/14 http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/06/14 I don't think this list (never mind the tech-crunch article, the real list from Google is here[2]) really mitigates this fundamental issue. > Be patient and explain that Glass has a lot of the same features as a mobile phone (camera, maps, email, etc.) The problem remains that a person who holds a mobile phone up to their face (potentially recording what's straight ahead) is just called an asshole. I imagine the majority of people think it is rude to hold up a video camera all of the time while in public/starbucks/supermarket, even if the camera is off (Importantly: It does not matter if the camera is on or cannot possibly be on. As if the median person could tell or know). People are uncomfortable being potentially recorded in their daily interactions. Nobody wants to feel stared down by a camera or recorded. So I think "don't be rude" (from Google's list) isn't a very helpful tip. Wearing Google Glass in public is rude. ~~~ [1] Gabe from Penny Arcade recounts his experience: > As I was walking in today I heard the front door open and I quickly slid my Glass down off my head and slung it around my neck. A woman passed me by and I gave her a polite smile. As I got inside the building I moved the Glass back up to my head but I realised the reason I took it off was because I didn’t want to be rude. > I was not embarrassed or worried she would think I was a dork. I AM a dork! What I was worried about was being rude. I feel like walking around with a camera pointed at people even if it’s not recording is just not polite. It’s a very strange feeling that I’m only just now trying to get my head around. I think the technology is incredibly cool but I wonder if socially we are ready for Glass. I’m starting to think the Google Glass Explorer program might be less about testing hardware, and more about testing people. from: http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2013/06/12/google-glass1 http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2013/06/12/google-glas... [2] https://sites.google.com/site/glasscomms/glass-explorers https://sites.google.com/site/glasscomms/glass-explorers

saurabh_math 13y ago
If video thing is so uncomfortable/confusing, a simple solution could be to add a simple LED indicating if camera is on or off. Apart from that I don't think there is anything else major that would annoy people around you.
- XorNot 13y ago
  The problem is culturally people treat a camera lens like an eye, and studies show that merely seeing a picture of an eye or a camera causes people to act like they're being surveilled (signs with eyes on them and a message are obeyed more often). So you're always going to have a problem pointing a lens at someone, no matter what indicators are there. I suspect the innovation needed here is mechanical - Google should try adding a mechanically driven shutter to the camera, so when it's off, the lens is covered. I would bet strongly that that would solve 95% of people's problem with Google Glass.
- herokusaki 13y ago
  I wonder if Google not equipping Glass with an indicator LED to tell whether it's recording was an omission on their part or a deliberate design choice they made for some reason (which then misfired).
  - blueskin_ 13y ago
    Probably on the behalf of the NSA wanting remote access to them.
- blueskin_ 13y ago
  Because glassholes really couldn't tape over that, right?
nilkn 13y ago
> Wearing Google Glass in public is rude I don't think this is universally true. For instance, if someone was a tourist on vacation and they were using Glass to take a POV video of a moment of their trip, I wouldn't find that rude, as long as this was happening in a well-known public area where people are likely already recording videos with smartphones. Basically, if you're doing something really unique in your life, and you want to capture a video of it for memories and sharing, I couldn't blame people for wearing Glass. Actually, it'd be superior to a smartphone for this purpose, as it inhibits interaction much less than holding a phone up in front of your face. But in the majority of cases in normal life, yeah, I'd be bothered if I went out with a buddy and he was wearing Glass all night. I think that Glass will reach an equilibrium where everyone around you assumes that if you're wearing it then you are actively using it for something. If they can deduce what your purpose is (e.g., tourist), then I don't think they'll be bothered. But if it's unclear why you're using Glass, I think it'll make people uncomfortable.

threeseed 13y ago

The problem Google has is that there a significant overlap between those willing to wear those glasses and those with poor social skills. For me personally companies like Apple and Pebble are going to be infinitely more successful with smart watches.

greenyoda 13y ago

From Google's list: "If you’re worried about someone interrupting that romantic dinner at a nice restaurant with a question about Glass, just take it off and put it around the back of your neck or in your bag." You should probably be more worried about you interrupting your own dinner. Wearing a display on your face that can distract you at inopportune moments is probably not something you want to do if you're having a romantic dinner (just as you wouldn't want to be constantly playing with a phone on the table). Your dinner partner might find it to be rude or annoying.

faddotio 13y ago
Too late, it's already a disaster. People already set their iPhones conspicuously on the table _between_ themselves and their conversation partner. And then they check the phone compulsively.
- smacktoward 13y ago
  At least it's a quick way to discover you're having dinner with somebody you really don't want to be having dinner with. Used to be it took hours of conversation to suss that out!
  - wavefunction 13y ago
    Indeed! I had one lady answer a text between the drinks and appetizers. I paid the check and left. An expensive snack but a priceless look on her face ;)
    - faddotio 13y ago
      Haha, I wish I could've been a fly on the wall for that. You should've recorded it with your cell phone. ;)

Sanctor 13y ago

The person in the video is wildly unpresentable. I could not keep watching past one minute or so. As for Google Glass, I can't expect people to familiarize themselves with and accept the behaviour of a camera being pointed at themselves at all times. I don't think this kind of thing should ever be acceptable. Privacy is compromised as it is, without people wearing cameras on their faces.

UweSchmidt 13y ago

Politeness does not help much. Glass and similar gadgets must be set up that by default so that the data is sent to a private webspace owned or rented by the user so that legally no 3rd party can run their queries against it. Users can then buy the terminator app that tells them what shoe and pant size people have - but the actual data must by default be private, everything else is simply crazy. However confronting people and asking them to take off their beloved new toy, maybe one that has prescription glasses built in that they need in this situation, is incredibly difficult in most social situations. Glass-wearing Saruman could laugh at your face, and ask "what do we have to fear?" Only thing Gandalf can do is to throw a blanket over their head and state that the usage of the data is unaccounted for and we don't know who's watching. Awkward imo.

blueskin_ 13y ago
I'm sure they carry a pair of non-spying glasses too. After all, what happens if someone steals their spy ones off their face one day? They'd need a backup to be able to see to get home.

fvrghl 13y ago

If the friction point of using a product is polite society, then maybe it's time to rethink it. If Glass wasn't as visible on the user, would that make it more ok to use, or less ok?

ejain 13y ago

I wonder if Google is regretting making the camera a fixed, non-detachable part of Google Glass?

fit2rule 13y ago

I recently encountered a few Glassholes in my environment, and let me tell you - the fervor with which these guys defended their right to use their Google Glass device to intrude upon my life is, frankly, terrifying. This generation may not think its rude to intrude - but what will the next generation think is acceptable? When this technology becomes ubiquitous and available to teens, I fear for the world. Too much lawn-guarding for this old codger? Perhaps .. but I have to say that the idea of having people doing Google's work for them all the while having 'convenient' features marketed to them is heinous. But I realize I'm generalizing without content, so with that off my chest, let me explain what I think is so wrong about the Google Glass religious experience: what is the real issue I have with this? Its simply this: Google Glass gets in the way of two human beings, for the sake of providing one human being some 'convenience', and a corporation with Yet More Data To Rule The World with .. As soon as you've got that thing on, and you're pointing it at someone, you have put a physical barrier between your eyes, and theirs. Your mind, and theirs, is no longer connected in a human fashion - the Glassholes' mind is connected to Google, first and foremost. So whenever I have the misfortune to be dealing with a Glasshole, I know that I'm not actually talking to the person, themselves, as a unit - but rather someone who has willingly usurped their own individual free will, and is renting it out to Google for the price of 'having cool technology'. In all honesty, todays Google Glass toter is yesterdays' E-meter "free stress-test" booth dweller. Both classes of individual are proving they'd rather play with toys than deal with people.

PhasmaFelis 13y ago

Here's a much simpler list: 1) Don't be an asshole. 2) Avoid the kind of assholes who go into paroxysms of judgement over head-mounted phones.

blueskin_ 13y ago

>How not to be a glasshole Don't wear google glasses. Seems simple enough to me.

lutusp 13y ago

No one seems to have thought of this, so I'll just put it out there. Someone, sometime in the near future, is going to design a pair of glasses that have all the features of Google Glass, but be undetectable, be indistinguishable from a normal pair of glasses or sunglasses. Call them "Stealth Glasses". Then dozens of vendors will pick up on the idea. When that happens, this entire conversation will change. People will begin to wonder whether anyone they meet wearing glasses is surreptitiously recording their interaction in HDTV and stereo sound. At that point, people will long for the good old days when Google Glass was the only technology in this class, and how simple everything was.

blueskin_ 13y ago
At some point in the future, someone is going to design a pair of glasses that detect google glasses etc. and direct a laser into their camera. I'd buy a pair.
sireat 13y ago
There was a guy on HN recently commenting, who had a startup (with a functional product) making very convincing fashion glasses with a recording function. Unless you knew the brand(I forget what it was), it would be a hard to notice the recording.

billpg 13y ago

I never saw this sort of reaction against CCTV cameras. Is a video camera on a wall really so much different than a video camera on a person's head?

sentenza 13y ago
Probably depends on where you are. Here in Germany, there is lots of resistance against CCTV cameras. In the UK, on the other hand, I'd be surprised if people cared about Glass in public spaces, since CCTV is ubiquitous there.