Another sign of the times?

[ffutures]

Saw my first pair of Google Glasses today... in the window of a CEX shop priced at an eye-watering £800

Which presumably means that someone paid considerably more than that and got so fed up that they sold them, since CEX are actually fairly careful not to buy stolen goods etc.

There are definitely people around with more money than sense.

I'd go say £100 for something like that, but even that's pushing it for something that's going to be a LOT more limited than any tablet.

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I suspect Google are onto a loser with these glasses. I just can't see why anybody would want them, and any functionality they might have is about to be trumped by smart-watches.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

A client of mine has a pair and I've had a go. They are incredibly fiddly to use - unresponsive touch controls and difficult to set up to your own eyesight. Felt like a prototype, not a finished consumer product.

[uk-sef.livejournal.com]

*I* (and possibly a few other people) would want them for a very specific purpose - which wouldn't be enough to justify the current cost.

They would be an excellent way to keep track of dance routines when you have too many to remember (or simply have a rubbish memory!). Whereas the audience at a pantomime or karaoke singers in a bar are relatively static and hence can have a good view of a display of song lyrics, dancers whirl around and can't realistically hold onto a sheet of instructions or have it pinned to the person opposite. If the glasses interfaced with some sort of sound system, it should also be possible to dial up the correct bit of music from anywhere without dashing on and off the floor.

Actors already have a bunch of tricks with prompts and prompters to help them.

A smart watch wouldn't help a dancer because it would almost never be in view!

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

It would be fair to say then that their appeal is very specialised? And that in general it lacks any killer-apps?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I can see uses for a heads-up display, but it's illegal to wear them while driving (so no satnav etc.) which is the main time people have both hands busy.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Count me as not surprised.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I think the core market right now is people doing ARGs and other things where they want data, images etc. superimposed on the real world, and they're really WAY too expensive for most of that market.

[uk-sef.livejournal.com]

"... it lacks any killer-apps?"

Yes, murder on the dance-floor is generally over-stated. ;-)

I doubt my specialism is the only one which could benefit from them though. But it would have to be something where people need to be simultaneously active and requiring access to a lot of data fast.

Glasses like that might be a useful emergency back-up in aeroplanes for when the pilot keels over. Or for trauma surgery / first-aid wherever you could conceivably keep a medical kit but not guarantee having a relevantly qualified doctor. Ditto bomb disposal perhaps. And obviously any Mission Impossible or James Bond spy-type work at all.

It would also be good map-wise for search-parties of various kinds (police, fire etc), people working in sewers, following cables and pipes. I can see it being useful for archaeologists, architects and builders / plumbers / electricians etc to have hands-free overlays of plans or surveys of the areas on which they are working. Gamers playing tetris with sky-scrapers or hunting imaginary monsters in a LARP dungeon is trivial in comparison.

[blankbadge.livejournal.com]

I know far too many people who have stated they're going to punch anyone they see with google glasses on. They seem to take offence to the idea that they could be being filmed at any moment by people wearing them.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Or by anyone using a phone, carrying a camera, etc.

I get where they're coming from, but the next gen version will probably be almost impossible to spot, so I suspect this isn't a good long-term strategy. I'd personally go with WiFi jammers if this worried me.