Massively popular with the masses even a year or so before worldwide release...Google GLASS has problems, the same problems all VR AR hmds face, they need real world applications, they need a use ... they need to be of use... they need developers...
Currently there are more Scanners on this planet than actual GLASS users ... Hence Google`s #ifIhadglass campaign, in which would be owners first humiliate themselves on Google+ and then pay $1500 for a prototype unit that they have to pick up from a limited number of venues ..all in the USA ! So Google has it's potential GLASS users jumping through flaming hoops and risking life and limb for the privilege .. is this some form of weird nerd vengeance? The more crazy or insane your idea the more likely you are to please the Google Gods into gifting you ( for $1500 ) the device... Shouldn't South Park have done a Cartman's fat GLASS episode by now along the lines of Cartman's quest for his Wii???
Prepare to be JackGLASSed!
It seems Google are counting on everyone being active when using their $1500 device .. and the videos like the one below show this activity .. which I dub JackGLASSing ... an augmented reality activity I mentally prepared my self for by sitting in deep meditation to contemplate considering pondering the idea of joining every extreme sport and activity known to man and animal kind. I am currently preparing for the day I don my first Google Glass(es) by mentally running around jumping from planes and standing on horses jumping over flaming bails of hay. I may also run away with the local Romany travelling circus just so I can get my tiger taming and trapeze leaping skills up to scratch... I have time since this year at least only US JackGLASSers are getting the developer kit....
Whatever happened to .. hi I would like to develop or test out your device please could you send me one ... you know like Windows 8, Oculus Rift, Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED head trackers, LEAP Motion, iOS, Linux,Unreal sdk and a million other pieces of tech and code we are occupying ourselves testing and developing for right now.?
In trying to do no evil has Google become too good for us?
Immediate thoughts : safety : how is Google testing for safety ?
Glasses of any kind and extreme sports do no mix , playing any form of contact sport is asking to risk injury and as for non contact sports
These things are going to fall off , come off and cause serious disorientation issues .. you can just see the headline now ..tourist falls down manhole whilst attempting to cross the street wearing Google GLASS...first person video of his progress along the sewage system allows him to share the experience (sans smell) with his Google+ chums...
There are many questions and problems Google need to address and solve re hmds that no other hmd developer has managed to date.And if Google is relying on the extreme sports or fashion world to answer them then GLASS is doomed.
ergonomics , fitting and optics ...
How is GLASS tailored to different head shapes, temple sizes, and each individuals eyes ?.. if you are involved in extreme sport activity where is the camera shake in the videos and how will you maintain focus when spinning around , is this therefore just a strap on first person view camera ..if so why not just use your $200 phone or a hd micro web cam with wifi or bluteooth attached to your helmet?
You know why I use the Cinemizer OLED hmd more than others I have .. because of it's ergonomics, optics and fitting ..any device you wear and look into or through has to have these three things down.. But existing hmds are fitted to be used in non extreme physical activity .. GLASS is aiming for actual physical activity .. or riding the subway ...
In this age of 3D printing could Google not tailor each GLASS headset for each individuals measurements and for their comfort?
It's like voice activation...but not !
there is no way Google GLASS is going to pick up voice commands in a screaming crowd , with the wind rushing past you on a ski slope or when you are free falling from several thousand feet or whilst being propelled down the local sewer , there is no way you are going to shout loud commands in public ..what happens when everyone else does too?
the true use of GLASS will be at home as an AR adjunct to your existing PCs , Macs and tablets .
GLASS then could be considered as an accelerator of all existing Google services .. But it's actual modal use will only become apparent when it releases to the masses. A major use of GLASS will be at home as an AR adjunct to your existing PCs, Macs and tablets at least at first. Videos of normal people sitting around checking the progress of their Pizza delivery on Google Maps or in a cafe engorging lattes in 24 hour Starcraft sessions are not going to glam up GLASS's image the way Google wants to ..is seemingly desperate to ..
GLASS is going to be in even greater vogue with every dodgy form of video maker known to mankind... how Google disassociates it's product from that crowd ...the wrong crowd for a mainstream consumer product is going to be a major issue for a company who have the motto of doing no evil at their core... What happens when these videos filmed with Google GLASS start dominating Youtube?
Cost vs Usefulness
Google GLASS is one definite step in the right direction but costing more than the average person's monthly wage in these austere times (in triple dip depression austerity riddled Europe and the USA at least) may prove a hindrance.
I believe the high price and the limited and highly controlled release of the developer version of Google Glass is designed to deter the more undesirable Google Glass user... may also hinder development for it and of it. In today's tech world, developers are you and me, sought after through kickstarter runs or direct contact, so we the people get to test and develop the coolest of devices like the Oculus Rift, LEAP Motion or the Zeiss headtracker and other hmds I have been messing with .. When a company does not listen you get a device like the Sony HMZT1!
As a user of hmds for nearly two years now, I have seen them transform from the movie viewing HMZT1 to the transparent AR capable smd ST1080 to the truly portable Cinemizer OLED with head tracking to the one everyone is waiting for the Oculus Rift. Exciting times ..
GLASS offers something unique that I cannot wait to test out, but that cost is going to be a limiting factor, here's hoping that when they release it, it will have a retail price in the range of a Nexus 7 (or two ) and not an iPad (or two)..
More importantly though the developers have to listen to what people want to do with GLASS , the success of this device is going to be dependent on user feedback. Limiting your users with $1500 price points is not a good way go nor is glamming it up by using the extreme sports or extreme fashion crowds.. The majority of GLASS users are if we are getting real here , barely going to leave the comfort of their nerd nest...let alone their sofa or chair..
Kinect could not even get people off a sofa so how then will a $1500 AR device that requires a $400 phone too and a penchant for jumping out of planes or riding roller coasters manage to cause a paradigm shift in tech users who will find it $1500 cheaper to just look at their phone?
#ifIhadglass.. or #whenIhaveglass I would:
1.Combine VR and AR Control methods with current Google Glass input methods : I would combine the hand tracking of LEAP motion with Google Glass . LEAP Motion is a stage where gesture recognition ,finger and object recognition works incredibly well and is developing to the point where we can have virtual keyboards , easily select virtual screen taps and presses ,do swipes etc . Now combine the development of this with Google Glass and you never need to reach for a button or even speak. This is essential for people who either cannot speak or need to use Google glass in a quiet environment . This additional form of control would allow me to draw a virtual box around something I want to take a picture of , currently you ask Google Glass to take a picture where you are looking , with hand recog you could point to it ,do a virtual tap , frame it , or zoom in on it and then take the picture , even edit it in thin air before you share it! Take the tiger sculptor segment of the Google Glass video , the artist pulls up a 2D image of a tiger head to sculpt a real world 3D tigers head . With the addition of hand tracking we could spin the image around to see it in 3D , zoom in to look for details , and with hand tracking either create a virtual 3D sculpture (which we 3D print ) or a more accurate real world sculpture by overlaying the 3D VR image over the ice underneath!...and we could do it an a class full of artists or the noisiest of environments without disturbing anyone..
With voice activation alone what for instance happens in a crowd of GLASS users all screaming commands at their devices? This may be why individual cat walking super models were wearing GLASS but the gaggle of fashion journos were not ...
2. Trip The Cloud Fantastic: Asymmetric Cloud gaming and work are two of my favourite pass times :GLASS provides an AR interface with Google services , but what I need to do as soon as I get hold of it is stream my desktop Windows 8 and therefore every Steam game I own. Fire up a browser and I can be asymmetrically playing onlive,GAIKAI and Splashtop...Right now I am typing this blog entry using an iPad streaming Windows 8 from my laptop 3 floors away . What I can't wait to try out is using GLASS to do the same any time anywhere. Key to this will be how Google optimize and develop the device to expolit cloud streaming and not just cloud storage.Looking at current cloud apps that Google offers , you see them mostly geared to using the cloud as a storage option. What GOOGLE needs to do is move to a streaming model too. At that point GLASS becomes an invaluable device not just to link to your Google services but to link asymmetrically to far more powerful computing devices be they your gaming rig or Cray cluster Folding away at college.
The head mounted display has yet to make it past a niche luxury tech item , Google needs to move these to developers ASAP or at least release sdks. or it will be outpaced by competition.
The "Beta" program is at present too restrictive, the glamorous demos are not real world usage scenarios for 99% of the public and the current cost is prohibitive. The first batch of GLASS will be bought up by people who seldom move from their desks let alone leap through plane doors or hurtle down ski slopes ... will the core tech user therefore actually have any use for GLASS or will it be confined to being used by reality TV stars like the Kardashians or Honey BooBoo post endorsement by Jimmy Fallon and the bearded fellow from The Verge?
hmds are the next big thing, but serious amounts of testing needs to be done in real world scenarios and not just the glamorous kind...
What GLASS needs is massive user led and directed app development or it's zenith may be as an expensive piece of bling adorning an expensive fashion models cat walk...
Google Apps alone do not sell Android phones nor can they therefore sell GLASS. Google need to focus on massive app generation that makes the device more than a cool in house tech project.
They will also need to focus on individual tailoring of optics, ergonomics and fitting. In today's world of 3D printing, why can we not have a device like GLASS tailored to fit our individual head shapes, temple sizes and facial/eye measurements bypassing all the ergonomic problems that plague current gen hmds...
And this may take 2 or 3 generational iterations of the device , wifi , the abilty to stream from desktops or the cloud without going through your phone..better power sources and control and UI.
Most of all though Google need to release the device at a loss and at a cost which makes GLASS irresistible , just like that wonderful Nexus 7 price point . If it launches with a $1500 price point having reached out to only niche users and in a years time too, globally , the hmd and AR scene will have passed it by....
Of course I will happily state how wrong I was when and if I get to try GLASS out and all my cynicism is assuaged..
oh and if you need one now and truly want to feel like a jackGLASS there's one listed on ebay for $16000...
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