How Google Glass Is Evolving As It Heads For Release To Developers 140
hypnosec writes "Babak Parviz, the founder and head of Project Glass at Google, has revealed that the feature set of Google Glass and state of apps is still in flux and that there is a lot of testing going on at the moment. In an interview with IEEE Spectrum, Parviz provided insights into Project Glass, the reasons behind having such a gadget and what's there for the project in near future. Parviz said that they are trying out new ideas and ways in which the platform can be used while also trying to make the platform more robust. There is no specific feature set that Google has been talking about and 'It is still in flux.'" My favorite question / answer pair: "IEEE Spectrum: What kind of business model is associated with Google Glass?
Babak Parviz: This is still being worked on, but we are quite interested in providing the hardware."
Borg Glass (Score:1)
You will be assimilated.
If you hated the idea of cameras everywhere, you won't be able to hide at all in a few years except if you are lost in the woods far away from civilization.
There was a sci fi book ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:There was a sci fi book ... (Score:5, Insightful)
The really surreal part is that under the current legal system, transmitting./supplying child porn across the internet is a more serious crime than actually having sex with a child. The point is that seeing something, wearing these, can be more of a crime than doing it and you are going to provide the evidence against yourself...
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Check out what you are talking about. Transmitting pictures of child sex is not covered by mens rea, just like drug possession and several other offences. In the world up to now it was hard to imagine a situation where someone did that by accident but with these you can commit such an offence, and have no legal defence, without meaning to.
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Indeed. Possession of child porn is considered a crime of strict liability. No matter you end up with it, you've broken the law. Even if somebody launched it at you with a catapult. Child porn is effectively a weapon that can ruin somebody's life by attacking them with a placement of it.
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1984 touched on it as well. Granted, the screen/camera setup was in the wall.
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Ambient noise cancellation? You think a for-profit corporation is going to waste money putting an unnecessary component in to a phone for the sake of service to their Illuminati masters?
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what's Project Glass? (Score:5, Informative)
In case, like me, you had never heard of this project:
Project Glass is a research and development program by Google to develop an augmented reality head-mounted display (HMD).[2] Project Glass products would display information in smartphone-like format[3] hands-free and could interact with the Internet via natural language voice commands.[4] The prototype's functionality and minimalist appearance (aluminium strip with 2 nose pads) has been compared to Steve Mann's EyeTap.[5][6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Glass [wikipedia.org]
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You're on slashdot on the 1st of January but you don't know what Project Glass is?
Have you been living in a cave?
Re:what's Project Glass? (Score:4, Insightful)
Go easy on the guy. I'm no stranger to slashdot, but I had to run to google to verify that project glass was the VR glasses and not some other google project brewing in the labs. I had read about it at least twice, but find it so unappealing to me that I don't keep it in my mind for long.
This strikes me as a solution looking for a problem.
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I call it, "you think people running into things while paying attention to their phones is bad, wait until they are checking their twitter feeds in the left eye and facebook in the right...."
one business model: military (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:one business model: military (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sure law enforcement would be happy to have the same tech.
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Re:one business model: military (Score:4, Insightful)
Landwarrior
The army has been developing it since the mid 1990's
Re:one business model: military (Score:4, Insightful)
Until the Army realized that putting a computer on every soldiers back only paints a target on them for any opposing force with even minimal ELINT capabilities with off the shelf gear these days.
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People are still putting soldiers on the ground? That's UAV work right there!
Front lines are so 20th century. The only warriors are going to be those on the airstrip fueling and refurbing UAVs and the pilots controlling them from the airbase near Vegas.
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And ordinary driver would find it useful ... (Score:5, Interesting)
And of course since it is google there will probably be ads from the businesses that you are driving past.
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Self-driving cars don't need drivers.
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Would it keep the driver's eyes on the road, or would their attention be split between the road and whatever the glasses are displaying?
Even when "looking at" a display on the glasses you still have situational awareness regarding what is happening outside the vehicle. Its still an improvement over looking down into the dashboard at gauges.
There are some folks who have relevant experience. Fighter pilots with the helmet based heads up display (HUD) seem to prefer them over the windscreen/gunsight based HUD and over looking down into the cockpit at an instrument panel.
Re:one business model: military (Score:4, Interesting)
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In my experience, if you don't instinctively know what gear you're in all the time, you probably shouldn't be racing and the lap data is most certainly going to be utterly disappointing.
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Motorcyclists, civilian pilots, race car drivers, Police, Firefighters, everyday drivers, mechanics, doctors....
Really the list goes on and on. I know that when riding my motorcycle I would like to see my current speed without taking my eyes off the road. Put a computer controlled zoom macro lens on them for doctors or anyone needing to do close up work. IR imaging for Police and Firefighters,
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The real one business model (Score:1)
Pr0n! Anywhere! Anytime!
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Google decides (Score:4, Funny)
How many ads per hour will be displayed. You thought there wouldn't be ads? haha
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As many as get pushed to my Android phone thru the google apps.... basically none.
Jackass..
Re:Google decides (Score:4, Informative)
Google owns a hardware company that makes negative lots of money.
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Just because it doesn't directly profit doesn't mean it doesn't provide a strategic advantage.
Not all business is sell X, make Y from that. Delta airlines bought a refinery, not to make money from selling Jet-A, but to hedge against price increases (i.e insurance).
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So manufacturing a new shiny widget that makes money might be a step in the right direction, no?
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Does not bode well (Score:4, Interesting)
This does not bode well. You cannot just have a new computing form factor and throw stuff at it to see what sticks. I figured this far in development google would have a very clear direction for the platform. I hate to constantly make comparisons to apple, but if you look at their successful products, you'll see they had a clear focus and vision for it from the software standpoint. One of the main reasons the iPhone was a success (besides the capacitive touch breakthrough) was the software. That's how apple beat Microsoft's Windows Mobile, which even after a decade, never managed to provide a proper 100% touch only (aka no stylus) experience.
It looks to me like Google is treating google glass like a hardware web browser, for which they will have a bunch of "beta" projects and see what works and what doesn't. They'd better be careful, or software-wise a competitor will come along with a focused, unified, well rounded software experience and blow them out of the water.
Re:Does not bode well (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd rather have a pure hardware platform that can do anything, try it at a series of things and see what it's most useful for. That's how actual creativity and innovation happens. A 'targetted' product is a more limited product. I'd like to see things run as open platforms, not appliances.
Re:Does not bode well (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think there is any other way to do it. Hardware and software advance in lockstep (or maybe a 3 legged race?)
Apple's App Store didn't exist for the first year after the iPhone was released. The iTunes store wasn't opened until a year and a half after the iPod launched.
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iTunes was selling apps in the days of the hard drive iPod classics. Simple games
iPhone didn't have a sdk for the first year probably because it wasn't ready
From all the stories I've read it took apple a lot of work just to ship the original product on time and barely stable. There is no way they started on the sdk from scratch and had it ready a year later. It was probably in development but couldn't ship on time and Steve jobs just lied like he always does to throw the competition off
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At initial launch, Apple's message to both developers and consumers was that, with the iPhone, everything should be done via the web. The switch to native apps was a response to how the web-only approach was received.
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So we've been 'TOLD'. You missed the point of the original post. What you're told isn't always the truth. Its unrealistic to think there wasn't an internal SDK and its rather likely they had at least considered releasing a native SDK all along, or that they had the plan from day one but hadn't finished working it out and wanted to throw everyone else off the scent while they finished it.
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They'd better be careful, or software-wise a competitor will come along with a focused, unified, well rounded software experience and blow them out of the water.
But fortunately all the hardware and software patents involved make this impossible!
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I still can't figure out which problem it solves
Mobile phones give you computing power on the go
You can do the same on a laptop but sometimes you want a computer there with you when you're out of the house and about
What does google glass do other than bombard me with data when I'm outside taking a walk to relax?
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" You cannot just have a new computing form factor and throw stuff at it to see what sticks."
No, you're wrong. That is exactly what happened with PC or as we called them back in the day home computers. The same is true with mobile phones and even tablets. The first iPhone didn't even have an app store while Windows Phone, Nokia, and Palm all offered apps of different kinds. Heck even my Samsung a900 had apps like navigation, the Opera browser, and games.
Your remembrance of the iPhone is way off. The origina
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You cannot just have a new computing form factor and throw stuff at it to see what sticks.
That's what the iPad did, and it worked fine. Let the marketplace invent the demand, let the developers sell it for you. I can see a few drive-cam applications being killer apps for these, or a navigation with lane-feedback(since the glasses can tell which lane you are in better than GPS) to let you know which lanes to be in for exits, traffic, and turns. Hopefully not too much drive-porn. Maybe a driver-safety app that measures eye movement per second and eye flick speed to alert when the driver appears
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This does not bode well. You cannot just have a new computing form factor and throw stuff at it to see what sticks.
I vehemently but respectfully disagree. When you are in utterly "new" space, you can not imagine what could be available until the realities of the space you are in impinge upon your consciousness.
It looks to me like Google is treating google glass like a hardware web browser, for which they will have a bunch of "beta" projects and see what works and what doesn't.
I am of the opinion that your view of reality is too restricted to be valuable in undiscovered country. That is not an insult, just an observation. The world needs all types.
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Google supposedly never had a vision. More at 11: https://plus.google.com/112678702228711889851/posts/eVeouesvaVX [google.com]
Good one. (Score:3)
Probably my favorite non-answer answer of 2012.
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My favorite question / answer pair: "IEEE Spectrum: What kind of business model is associated with Google Glass? Babak Parviz: This is still being worked on, but we are quite interested in providing the hardware." Probably my favorite non-answer answer of 2012.
I don't get it. It's a perfectly good answer. He's saying they intend to make money on selling the hardware, but that this is also probably not the only way in which they'll monetize glass. Not ambiguous at all, and considering the development stage at the moment, about where I'd expect them to be.
No he is not saying that. (Score:3)
He's saying they intend to make money on selling the hardware
He totally did NOT say that. As stated, it was a non-answer. There is no way you can get from "we are quite interested in providing the hardware." to "we intend to make money on the hardware". Totally on the table are still things like advertising, carrier subsidy, branding, etc. Basically anything you could imagine a way to make money on with these glasses is possible with the answer Google gave us, selling the hardware at a profit is only on
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Probably my favorite non-answer answer of 2012.
I don't think it's a non-answer. I think it's the truth.
I work for Google, and the attitude expressed in that quote is pretty typical of the way people at Google think. The primary goal is to do something cool and world-changing, and the assumption is that if you do something sufficiently cool and world-changing there will be some way to make money off of it. If you think about it, that's pretty much what happened with Google's first product -- it got widely-used, got funded, moved off of Stanford and sta
Inputs. (Score:2)
Re:Inputs. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Not just Kinect:
https://flutterapp.com/ [flutterapp.com]
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:'Last thirty seconds' (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm going to go right ahead and call this a totalitarian hell. Millions of Mrs. Grundys with always-on recording. Having to justify after-the-fact every action I took that someone in the area took offense to would be a full time job.
There is no polite and law-abiding majority. There are too many laws and too many rules (many conflicting) associated with "polite".
"There is no polite and law-abiding majority." (Score:3)
There quickly will be. Laws and rules and all the other hypocritical bullshit that plagues our society today will be erased. Justice, finally. Until they make you take the device off to enter a Government building.
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Hah hah, yes, right, a surveillance society really erases law and rules and hypocritical bullshit. Tell me again how East Germany disposed of all its laws and rules.
The reality is opposite (Score:2)
Having to justify after-the-fact every action I took that someone in the area took offense to would be a full time job.
If there's video then you shouldn't have to justify anything, right? Because it records the whole interaction.
The whole people who sweat bullets about recordings everywhere are people who cannot control being an asshole in public.
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Having to justify after-the-fact every action I took that someone in the area took offense to would be a full time job.
If there's video then you shouldn't have to justify anything, right? Because it records the whole interaction.
The whole people who sweat bullets about recordings everywhere are people who cannot control being an asshole in public.
Raeally? You , sir, have clearly never heard of "video editing". (nor have you ever watched the movie "Sneakers").
Security! Come here and immediately revoke (with extreme prejudice) his Slashdot login.
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Raeally? You , sir, have clearly never heard of "video editing".
And you would edit your OWN video to make yourself look bad? Because obviously in such a world we are ALL recording video.
Read EARTH and do not return until having done so.
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The proposal was a circular buffer, so by the time I found out a complaint had been made, my own video would be gone and only the accuser's would exist. But even if my video is available as well, it doesn't necessarily exonerate me. Something could have happened that was not visible in either video (either by chance or design). Even grade-school bullies can figure out how to blindside someone and
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There is nothing quite as pathetic as an asshole full of excuses.
Amen. (Score:2)
If Google doesn't deliver it, someone will. Maybe it's better that Google doesn't - you know they'll be targeted directly for "invading privacy!"
One-Eyed folks? (Score:1)
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It would suck to be cheated out of 3d movies...
As someone with binocular vision, I would also like to be cheated out of 3D movies. Please please never let me see that gimmicky crap ever again.
And the glasses can go suck it too...
Sheldon
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The medical term is non-binocular, not monocular, unless you mean you have one eye.
I have two eyes and non-binocular vision, meaning depth perception is a bitch.
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In its current form, Google Glass is not binocular, and not AR. It's a simple HUD screen for one eye, and should work equally well for one eyed people, assuming the screen is on the correct side.
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Still Waiting For Some Skydiving Goggles (Score:5, Interesting)
Recon instruments has some heads up display ski googles and are releasing a modified set for skydiving, I'll give these a try, but it'd be neat if there were more options.
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What about making a simple variometer that gives of a tone depending on the rate of descent?
I guess something crude can be made with a simple atmospheric pressure sensor, and an AVR.
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Yes, you're right that it would be nice.
I used a sonar altimeter, but had to use a helmet otherwise I was never sure that I would hear it, other add a chest-mounted altimeter: cheap and easy to see while tracking, both solutions are not as good as a HUD of course..
Still stupid (Score:2)
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beside the penis thing, I do not see much difference with your average phone.
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Maybe I'm different but I don't feel the need to always have it on me. But I do primarily use it for the internet so I need it to occupy my time on my commute or while taking a dump at work but elsewhere it's not that necessary.
The million dollar question (Score:1)
Google is working to answer This Latin Question (Score:2)
Also:
- There are alternatives [wikipedia.org]
- You can thank me later [youtube.com]
Just Imagine (Score:1)
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say wha?
Where does government spying even come into play at the moment? I'm genuinely confused. Regardless, enabling easier spying goes both ways - it becomes easier to spy on the government too.
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Not really, since the government can (and does) order wiretaps, the google glass now allows the wiretapper
to see what the target sees.
Wiretapping is strictly for governments (well, and criminals).
I think I'd notice the sudden appearance of a pair of glasses on my face, seeing as how I don't wear them.
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I think I'd notice the sudden appearance of a pair of glasses on my face, seeing as how I don't wear them.
Until they are implanted.
It's for your own good. Really.
More informant reports than gov't spying? (Score:5, Insightful)
say wha?
Where does government spying even come into play at the moment? I'm genuinely confused. Regardless, enabling easier spying goes both ways - it becomes easier to spy on the government too.
Where does government spying even come into play at the moment? I'm genuinely confused.
It may not be gov't spying as much as you are constantly surrounded by "informants". In the sci fi book I mentioned in a different post I recall adults, the older the more likely, constantly recording young people to deter vandalism, robberies, muggings, etc. Things devolved to the point where the smallest infraction of a rule led to a video being submitted to the police.
No more yelling "get off my lawn". Instead a video titled "Johnny trespassing on my property" gets emailed to the police.
Re:More informant reports than gov't spying? (Score:5, Funny)
In the sci fi book I mentioned in a different post I recall adults, the older the more likely, constantly recording young people to deter vandalism, robberies, muggings, etc. Things devolved to the point where the smallest infraction of a rule led to a video being submitted to the police.
That's not sci fi, that's Japan.
Accountability. (Score:2)
Sucks.
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Works for the Amish I suppose.
No it doesn't. The Amish have their own government, The Church. And believe, the same shit goes on in the Amish communities, neighbors running to the church to tell on their neighbors all the time. "I saw old man Joseph playing with his tally-whacker!! Sinner!", and then the church comes and whips his mule or something for punishment.
No technology, but still a "Government" watching you. People are big time afraid of the church officials in the Amish communities.
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Hey! What'd his mule do?!
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Anti-Google comments automatically need to be pro-Microsoft. Only on Slashdot.