Google’s Goggles: Internet Glasses
Google has confirmed that it is developing some kind of eyewear that would weave the real world with the on-line digital one. On its Google+ social network a video was recently posted on the Project Glass page that gave people a first look at its Internet glasses.
Members of the project team from Google X (Labs) shared in the post their belief that technology should work for the people be there when needed and out of the way when it is not, verifying that they started Project Glass to help people explore and share their world.
Shades of Mission Impossible’
The images in the video showed people wearing stylish silver-framed eyeglasses with tiny cameras and on-lens displays that highlighted walking directions, weather forecasts, or even messages from friends. Built-in microphones allowed them to speak and command the Internet-linked eyewear.
Google remarked that they took a few design photos to show what the technology looked like and created the video to demonstrate what it might enable people to do. They also stressed that the project was still a concept far from being commercially-viable.
Sharing for the build
“We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input.”
The project team invited people to express their ideas for the eyeglasses at the Google+ page.
Google’s X Labs is best known for its work on a self-driving car. A video was posted on YouTube of a legally-blind Steve Mahan driving a Google car in his California neighborhood, which has been viewed more than 1.2 million times since its March 27 uploading.
Reactions
James Temple, a San Francisco Chronicle columnist, wrote in his Dot.commentary that despite the Minority Report’-like technical achievement, he finds it debatable …whether this solves a real problem in our lives – and whether people really want the Internet, much as they may love it, continually suspended before their eyeballs. He questions its everyday life value, if instantly getting the information is so critical that people would accept a continuous stream of information they don’t need along the way.
Blogger Joe Stracci made reference to George Orwell’s Big Brother notion, saying …it doesn’t help you to explore your world at all. It helps Google to explore your world.”
Adam Gazzaley, director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center at UCSF, is concerned about putting more distractions in people’s field of view all the time. He adds that the growing pervasiveness of social media, e-mail, texts, and chatting is driving people to distraction, pulling their attention in so many directions that it is more difficult to sustain focus, accomplish tasks, and remember things. He also notes that such glasses could present real safety risks.
Finally, blogger Nikki Montgomery writes, Think about the constant flow of messages your cell phone receives between e-mails, Facebook messages, texts and more. Do you think having all this information literally flash before your eyes would be too much?
These glasses, if become available in the future will not be cheap. Plus it will need internet connection so cheap high speed internet service could be something we could use with these high-tech glasses in the future.
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