Google Glass - Innovating A Social Failure

http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2013/04/google_glass_-_innova.php

by scholia • 13 years ago

22 63 13 years ago

lukifer4• 13 years ago

The tech behind Glass is amazing, and I'll probably end up owning one, or something like it. But Google is showing how completely disconnected they are from social reality outside of Silicon Valley: most people are still just getting comfortable with smartphones, and resenting their capacity for distracting their friends. Add in the fact that you never know if you're being recorded, and that the source of distraction is on the person's face, all the time and you've got a recipe for the worst brand awareness campaign ever.

I think the product is likely to find successful niches among hardcore nerds, security personnel, the military, maybe even medicine. It's cool and probably useful for all sorts of things. But most of society is going to draw a sharp line and hate this technology for at least a generation. (I'm probably too out of touch to predict what the kids will think.)

derekp7• 13 years ago

What about when the technology becomes invisible? Imagine a tiny screen that is in the corner of where the earpiece of glasses meet the lens, or by the nose bridge. Then you won't know if someone is wearing it. Also the video camera can become almost hidden also. At that point, people may become suspicious of anyone wearing thick horn-rimmed glasses.

jvrossb2• 13 years ago

We'll cross that bridge when we get there?

Incidentally, a couple days ago I spoke to someone wearing sunglasses. I did not find myself wondering if he was zoning out even though I couldn't see his eyes because there were other indicators that he was engaged. I did not check to see if the iPhone in his pocket was recording, nor did I really focus on his button up shirt to see if there was a tiny camera recording me.

In an essentially pre-Glass world all the technology needed to zone out in social situations while surreptitiously recording audio and video already exists and is accessible, yet I've never really worried about it. I strongly suspect this is a made-up problem. There may be many issues with Glass, but my hunch is this won't be one of them.

VikingCoder2• 13 years ago

"Add in the fact that you never know if you're being recorded,"

That's been the case since about 1930. Why anyone treats this differently is beyond me.

lukifer4• 13 years ago

Precisely my point: this reality will be forced to bubble to the surface in public awareness when the recording device is literally in your eye-line while talking to someone wearing Glass.

dannyr3• 13 years ago

Having been part of a User Study since last year, what you think of Glass is very different from mine having used the product.

It was never a distraction at all but more of an assistive device.

Smartphone for me is way more distracting.

jvrossb2• 13 years ago

It's pretty obvious if you are not paying attention to your surroundings while using Glass, your eyes shift up (you have to to see the screen) and it's clear you've zoned out.

"what is the user looking at on their screen, are they present, or distracted? Are they here and paying attention? Are they publishing this online right now? Or later?" is a made up problem. The other issues brought up may be entirely valid, but this one isn't.

twoodfin• 13 years ago

Eh. Even folks in my own social circle don't think twice about "checking in" on Facebook with tags on all of their friends, and then posting photos of the event as it's happening to Instagram. A not insignificant fraction can't be relied upon not to completely check out of reality for extended messaging sessions. And that's a generation (yikes) past where all the real innovative group sharing stuff is happening (high school).

I'm not saying Google Glass, or something like it, will succeed, or that it won't face social obstacles of the kind the author describes. But I'm not at all convinced those obstacles are insurmountable if it provides value.

potatolicious3• 13 years ago

Eh. And the iPad was destined to be a failure as "just a big iPhone".

I'm unwilling to predict the success of Glass, but I'm also unwilling to predict its demise. The jury hasn't even yet convened, much less come close to making a verdict.

For one thing, there seems to be a misunderstanding about the product. If the device is recording, a green light illuminates on the device - there's no missing it. Like jvrossb said also, the device doesn't cover your whole eye - if you're reading something on its screen you're very visibly looking up and to the side.

The "this will fail social norms" card has been played many times, and it has come to pass, but it hasn't been the core of a product failure. We went through growing pains when people friended everyone on Facebook and then realized what a bad idea it was to post pictures from their wild night out where their boss can see it.

We've almost entirely solved that problem now, and Facebook continues to see high engagement and picture sharing.

We also suffered through a few years of people staring into their phones at the dinner table. Social etiquette changed and now it's taboo.

In almost all cases social norms have shifted in response to new technology - our sense of what is appropriate socially is not a stationary target. If Glass can offer something people want, we will work around its social problems. The real trick is if Glass will actually offer something substantial people want.

hugs• 13 years ago

The first live Glass demo wasn't a bunch of people at a cocktail party. It was skydivers, skateboarders, and bicyclists. Glass is going to be very popular as a sports accessory. I can see Google inking a deal with the NFL to equip every player with Glass for an "in the helmet" view of every tackle.

eksith2• 13 years ago

Ditto. The NFL will in particular would be a prime candidate since sports fans are already dying to be in the athlete's shoes (though not have athlete's feet).

The one hiccup in this would be safety. In the off chance a ball or another player's hand (they're not supposed to grab the shield or helmet, but it happens) crushes the device or worse, drives it into the player's eyes. They would need some sort of built-in thing if that's the case and I'm sure that the NFL will have rules against putting cameras on the back of the helmet so the player can keep an eye there.

Samuel_Michon8• 13 years ago

Google Glass has a 5MP sensor, which can capture video at 720p, but given its size, the quality probably isn’t stellar.

In the use cases you mentioned, GoPro is the better choice. The most expensive model costs one third of Google Glass and captures 1440p at 48fps. It takes photos at 12MP and has advanced stabilization features built in. The GoPro is already the go-to sports accessory, I don’t see how Google is going to disrupt this market given its price and lackluster camera specs.

threeseed• 13 years ago

Do you actually think the NFL is going to place a sharp-edged cube of perspex 1 inch from a player's eye ? Because that sounds far-fetched to say the least.

Likewise I can't imagine anyone seriously using the fragile, expensive Glass instead of something a bit more rugged.

rdl2• 13 years ago

I could see cameras going on these helmets, but not the displays. It's not too hard to build a small-sensor mostly-solid-state ruggedized camera and transmitter into a helmet; and there's no need for a local display. The hard thing would be batteries (2-3h of transmit?)

Don't they have "quarterback cams" already? I don't watch sportsball myself.

tuxidomasx• 13 years ago

"If the device is recording, a green light illuminates on the device - there's no missing it."

The old trick of covering (or disabling) the recording light indicator of a camera to conceal the act of recording could easily be applied to Glass.

jamesaguilar5• 13 years ago

And yet somehow people are chill with camera phones.

ditojim2• 13 years ago

yea..there is no green light. i have glass.

potatolicious3• 13 years ago

Indeed, as is the old trick of surreptitiously taking upskirt photos with a cameraphone. There are an infinite number of ways by which a bad actor can use Glass for nefarious ends - as is the case with almost any technology.

And that's the point I'm making - not that Glass is an infallible technology with no social downsides, but rather that its success isn't hinged on it. If it offers something valuable to its users and their friends, society as a whole will work around it - either by evolving the technology or evolving our notion of propriety. More likely, a bit of both.

We worked around security cameras (part of which involved new legislation regarding privacy effects thereof), we worked around Google Street View, and we'll work around this.

dotBen• 13 years ago

(IMHO) if anything in the voice/text feature phone days, using your phone at the dinner table was considered rude - but the use of a smartphone seems to have become more socially accepted, depending on various contexts.

Samuel_Michon8• 13 years ago

Using a smartphone or tablet in presence of company might be semi-acceptable, taking pictures or videos of people without their permission isn’t (and shouldn't be, IMHO).

sudoscience• 13 years ago

    The "this will fail social norms" card has been played many times, and it 
    has come to pass, but it hasn't been the core of a product failure.

Yes it has. The first cell phones, the first PDAs certainly fell into this category and only later when they became less obtrusive did the gain any real traction. Outright failures are less memorable because they tend to not get very far: people realize they are a mistake before they get to market. But a couple examples I can think of off-hand:

WebTv: Not socially ok at all to treat your TV like a computer. Still not, really.

Delorean: Weird car with its gull wing doors, too different, can't be seen in that.

baddox• 13 years ago

It would be socially unacceptable to be perpetually reachable via phone or email as well.

graeme• 13 years ago

>"Be here right now" will be a new (renewed) mantra.

I completely agree with this, and am trying to be more mindful and in the present. I don't want Google Glass. That said....

>I am absolutely certain it won't be socially acceptable to >be video or audio recording people around you without their >permission

We've come to accept a LOT in the past few years. Pre-Facebook, people found it very weird to look for people online. A campus directory (it had first and last names, and email addresses) was called 'The Stalker'.

From Surveillance Cameras, to handing over data to corporations, to warrantless wiretapping, we've adapted very quickly to losses of privacy.

The one thing that might make google glass different is that it's very personal, while the other privacy violations are abstract and don't intrude on social interactions.

But all it takes is a few people in a group for recordings to seem 'normal'. Most of us aren't leaders. We look to see what other people find acceptable, and base our opinions on the perception of the group consensus.

To be clear, I don't like the idea of pervasive interpersonal video recording without consent. But I think the idea will gain acceptance more easily than this author admits.

Kylekramer• 13 years ago

Here's my question: surreptitious recording is not a new invention. People are already constantly connected to the internet to the point of distraction. Richard Nixon is a testament to the former. The dinner game where the first person to touch their phone pays is testament to the latter. The only real difference I can see between Glass and current recording devices and smartphones is that Glass is conspicuous.

So, why is Glass scaring so many people? The conspicuous part? The Google factor where a big company is gathering the data? I'd honestly love to know why it causes such a visceral reaction.

tunesmith• 13 years ago

What if it were a google glass with the eye projection, but without the camera? I mean, if you want to take a picture, just pull the phone out of your pocket.

ditojim2• 13 years ago

the camera is a killer feature for glass. it wouldn't make sense without it. and having used it myself and taken photos, i can tell you i prefer the experience "hands down" over a mobile device or point-and-shoot for activities such as hiking, running, and biking.

methodin• 13 years ago

If we had less posturing and more failure, less blog posts and more action, our lives would be better. It isn't known that Google couldn't be the company 10 years from now iterating on the failed concept...

orangethirty• 13 years ago

The only issue glass has is google's inability to launch a status product. Lets see if they get it right this time.

kingkawn• 13 years ago

I'm waiting to see how glass is received by law enforcement. On the one hand it would provide them with full capability to record all evidence and interactions an officer would have, in addition to potentially retrieving an individual's criminal record on the spot. On the other hand it would shed light on the unofficial pressuring and intimidation tactics used in day-to-day interactions with the poor.

stevewilhelm• 13 years ago

Wearable video cameras already available to law enforcement. http://watchguardvideo.com/copvu/overview Google 'copvu police departments' to see which departments are using Copvu

michaelpinto• 13 years ago

The thing is that I can see this as a must have feature in an automobile, but the idea of walking into a party with the glasses could kill the party (or imagine if someone wears them into the bathroom?).

eksith2• 13 years ago

The first paragraph describes verbatim a lot of the same objections toward smartphones with cameras and internet capability. We got over it (for better or worse... probably worse).

The funny thing about technology is that pioneering and groundbreaking technology -- and I don't think Glass is either (see Steve Mann) -- don't always mean a successful product. Adoption is weird. People hang on to some things and make them popular in the same way people make otherwise arguably "better" things fall by the way side. And that may be for reasons you didn't even remotely envision when you first saw the technology (Betamax).

ChuckMcM3• 13 years ago

"Google Glass a product designed by engineers that clearly don't understand interpersonal interactions."

I have very bad news for this author, this is classic projection. The author will be uncomfortable around people who are wearing Google Glass, so they predict failure. They make that prediction because if Glass is successful then it means the author will feel compelled to retreat from society and nobody will be "present" for them.

I won't call it one way or another but I can spot technology rubbing someone the wrong way from a mile away. I get it, the lack of privacy, the need to trust either the people you are with or to be 'on guard' to avoid something that can come back to haunt you.

Perhaps the Google engineers were envisioning a future where there was absolute silence around the office water cooler because nobody wanted to go on record as a gossip.

I don't think that the engineers on Glass don't understand the challenges though.

Samuel_Michon8• 13 years ago

Try to get within 2 feet of a stranger with a video camera that has its ‘recording light’ on. You’ll get questions soon enough, probably of a not-so positive nature. Glass’ saving grace at first is that people won’t recognize it as a video capture device, but if it ever gains traction, expect a backlash.

BoyWizard• 13 years ago

Try to get within 2 feet of a stranger while pointing your smartphone at them. Expect a backlash.

ChuckMcM3• 13 years ago

I'm not saying their won't be a negative reaction, I'm just saying that there are folks who are perfectly ok with people walking around with recording devices.

If enough of those people embrace the technology it will be a 'success' and people who do object may become disconnected like people who shun Facebook for its lack of privacy as well. Fashion is a powerful thing, even stupid fashion.

pud• 13 years ago

One day when the technology is able to overlay an image on top of your vision (as opposed to a little screen next to your right eye that you have to look at), it will be amazing.

Opening a car hood and seeing yellow arrows with instructions telling you what to do.

Surgeons seeing information overlaid on top of patients.

GPS just being arrows in front of you.

Being able to see what your room looks like with different paint, and just being able to look around.

Chilling at home watching a giant TV, without having a giant TV.

There are a million uses for how that technology will be awesome. I don't think it's there yet in v1, but it can't be too far off and I'm glad Google's working on it.

rdouble• 13 years ago

One day when the technology is able to overlay an image on top of your vision

The old crufty cyborg "eye tap" style rigs that the Media Lab guys had in 1995 did just that, but it was more like an emacs buffer floating in front of your face. Thad Starmer works on Glass, so it will probably happen someday.

WildUtah• 13 years ago

Flashing Flash-based ads in your peripheral vision all day, even when your eyes are closed.

Location based nags you can't turn off demanding that you visit the commercial sponsors of your device as you travel through the city.

Bugs that block your vision randomly and can't be turned off because you carrier is taking two years to approve the bug-fix upgrade to Android 11.3 and your equipment is locked down with an encrypted bootloader.

Crashing into walls because some cracker has added your glass to a botnet mining for bitcoins and the device is lagging and leaving artifacts in your sight lines.

krapp• 13 years ago

Well, to be fair any form of this that takes off is going to have to be able to be turned off somehow. People won't accept it otherwise if they have a choice, they'll all rush to the competing model with the off switch.

gavinlynch• 13 years ago

Regarding the "socially acceptable" aspect: This is gen 1. I'm not going to say I guarantee this, but wouldn't you all be very, very surprised if this thing doesn't get a little more sleek? I mean, eventually, couldn't Glass (or a Glass-like product) just streamline itself into regular old glasses? It might be a few more years away, and it might be a little bulkier than current glasses, but I just see this as inevitable. And when a product like Glass looks very similar to something we have been wearing for centuries.. I don't think there will be much social stigma, or at least it will dissipate relatively quickly.

jessesutherland• 13 years ago

Why make any sort of prediction for its success based on your own tastes or issues with privacy? By those standards Facebook should have failed massively already because a lot of people don't like it (I for one) and its obviously handled privacy poorly in a number of well publicized instances.

Google Glass is a tool that augments existing tools and for a lot of people that will probably be fine - and they'll use it occasionally while on vacation or at a party or what have you. For some it'll be a game changer, and those people will use it all the time; but those people already use their cameras, smartphones etc constantly and Glass will just help them create a better workflow.

Some people will like it, some won't; beyond that I don't see how anyone here can make sweeping declarations about how 'society' - whatever / wherever that means - is going to take it.

Finally, why is assumed that everyone who uses it will be recording surreptitiously on a constant basis??? I don't do that with any of the many recording devices I've owned, and I don't know anyone else who does either.

Just because it'll be easier doesn't mean this garish anti-privacy vision will come to pass. And just a heads up: any time you're in public, you're in public - you're not in private and you're likely recorded, looked at, or noticed by someone, or something in any modern society. Get over it.

Google Glass - Innovating A Social Failure

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