Why 2014 is the 'year of smart glasses'

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244927/Why_2014_is_the_year_of_smart_glasses_

by iamtechaddict • 13 years ago

24 57 13 years ago

Ugh, I really hope not. I can't see any reason people wouldn't use this, though, since it's a lot less likely for someone to care about other people's privacy or convenience than their own.

I can certainly see myself asking people to take them off if they want to talk to me (unless they're the same people that currently browse/text/play on their cell phones during conversations, as that's a conversation you might as well not have anyway).

More cameras, microphones, and sensors all over people, and mostly connected to the internet. What could go wrong? This is obviously a good direction.

csallen6• 13 years ago

I really don't like this mindset because, ultimately, it's a losing one. Technology marches on. It's already possible for people to wear undetectably-small cameras and computers on their bodies, and we're heading toward a world in which these types of devices will not only be feasible, but both affordable and useful. In other words: mainstream.

Given the reality of the situation, it's short-sighted to poke fun at "Glassholes" and complain about smartphone users, as if these technologies are merely obnoxious fashion trends that will disappear in time. Hundreds of years ago there I'm sure there were swordsmen who complained that gunpowder-based warfare was dishonorable. Is that who we want to be?

Yes, things can go wrong.

Yes, technology can empower evil just as well as it can facilitate good.

Yes, 2050 will be different than 2000.

So what? This has been true since the dawn of time. When did it become fashionable for techies to despair at the inevitable advance of technology? When did it become popular to whine incessantly about change? To look at every new development with an attitude of pessimism? To pretend that the world of yesterday was so perfect and pristine? What happened to putting our heads down and working on creative solutions to the problems that face us?

krapp6• 13 years ago

But your assertion seems to be that new technologies should be above criticism by virtue of the inevitable march of technology itself, part of which is driven by consumerism and hype, and not any process which necessarily judges technology on its own merit. It hasn't yet been proven that smart glasses are going to be as transformative as gunpowder, or as revolutionary as the internet, or what have you. Maybe they will be, maybe not. Yes, an attempt by Google and other companies to push the new paradigm onto consumers will inevitably be made, but that's not necessarily the same as those technologies being an evolutionary leap forward.

Some of the criticism is probably knee-jerk discomfort and something new and nostalgia for the simplicity of the past, sure, but pessimism when properly applied is just part of the process of trying to look past the cloud of marketing spin and fannish enthusiasm surrounding an emerging technology and discern its actual relevance.

Silhouette5• 13 years ago

I really don't like this mindset because, ultimately, it's a losing one. Technology marches on.

Of course, but just because we can do something, it does not mean that we should.

I could commit numerous offences in the next half hour, causing substantial harm to many of my neighbours, whether that be damage to their property, injury to their person, harm to their reputation, subjecting them to something that distresses them, or otherwise.

I don't do those things, because I'm not a jerk and I have no interest in upsetting my neighbours. Hopefully most of my fellow human beings would take the same view. Maybe a few people don't do those things, even though they'd like to, because they know it would be illegal and they don't want to accept the punishment they would expect.

Those who really do bad things anyway, we can only try to catch and punish. You can't realistically stop someone from committing most types of crime if they truly don't care about the consequences, and I doubt any of us would enjoy living in a world that did try to physically prevent crime from ever happening.

New technologies will create new potential benefits and potential abuses, but technology is always ethically neutral. What matters is how we use it, and respecting the reasonable wishes of others is the cornerstone of good manners and always has been.

malandrew• 13 years ago

I would imagine that we will transition to being a remarkably more tolerant society than we are today. When these video cameras and microphones are everywhere, every one will be vulnerable. The first victims of this loss of privacy will suffer the most, but hopefully when it starts happening so often that everyone knows someone who has suffered, we'll start changing our perceptions of how bad some taboo statements and actions really are. A lot of people are going to be exposed as a little bit racist, a little bit misogynist, a little bit misandrist, a little bit classist, a little bit sexually deviant, a little bit xenophobic, etc. etc. etc. All these minor transgressions will be blown out of proportion at first, but eventually we'll realized that it's normal to harbor thoughts and act in ways that are more taboo than they should be. Human diversity is a wonderful thing, and this should highlight that what we all have in common are our differences, including in ways that aren't totally socially acceptable today.

I just hope such a transition to toleration happens quickly.

laureny• 13 years ago

I can certainly see myself asking people to take them off if they want to talk to me

I bet that ten years ago, you would ask people to turn their phones off before agreeing to talk with them.

krapp6• 13 years ago

Cellphones weren't meant to have their microphones left turned on, in order to constantly be processing ambient audio for recognizable words, or to process commands, or to match voices to identities. Smart glasses are far more confrontational and intrusive by design.

If I held my phone up and pointed the camera wherever I went, people would be annoyed at it, and not irrationally so.

Silhouette5• 13 years ago

I don't use Facebook, and my friends and family know that and understand that I would prefer not to have them share information about me with Facebook either. As far as I'm aware, everyone I know respects this, and it has caused 0 awkward social moments.

So you'd better believe I would ask someone to turn off recording devices if they're not being used for a sensible reason. I'd be polite about it, of course, the first time. After that, well, anyone who would need asking twice isn't likely to be someone whose opinion of me I care about very much anyway. And I'm willing to bet that any resulting footage of me educating the offending party about privacy and manners right to their Google Glassed face is not going to cause anyone I care about to think less of me either.

derefr• 13 years ago

unless they're the same people that currently browse/text/play on their cell phones during conversations, as that's a conversation you might as well not have anyway

How about people that have a laptop in front of them as they talk to you? Like interviewers, or stenographers?

bsirkia2• 13 years ago

I really think this will be the year of smart watches. Smart glasses look so absurd, I think this year there will be a number of options for glasses in market, but they won't gain popularity 2015-2016.

Smart watches, however, don't look particularly different than normal watches, they aren't obtrusive to other people, etc. like glasses are.

EDIT: Using words better.

kumarm• 13 years ago

I doubt there ever will be a Year of Smart Watches. They are too small (and too far to eyes) to provide a smart screen.

bsirkia2• 13 years ago

My thinking on it is that they'll become popular fast because as we become more connected to our phones, smart watches are a much less obtrusive and disrupting way to look at notifications. Basically, you can add a screening device onto your wrist that you can use when you're in meetings, driving, walking down the street, to quickly decide if it's worth pulling out your phone without making it obvious you're pulling out your phone.

frou_dh• 13 years ago

Moving your arm a bit isn't much of an imposition compared to fishing out, unlocking, and returning a phone.

(fwp acknowledged)

InclinedPlane• 13 years ago

Smart watches like the pebble can be amazingly useful in certain circumstances. For example, if you're very busy and using some sort of messaging system to stay in touch with a team then a smart watch is indespensible. You can keep up with the message flow without digging out and unlocking a phone. It easily replaces radios without many of radio's downsides and with many unique advantages (archived messages that can serve as a reference later).

I don't know how useful they are in the general case though. But they do lower the friction of keeping up with a textual conversation without being in front of a computer.

fjcornell• 13 years ago

I see smart glasses as the next tablet. Initially, no one wanted one, they did poorly, and early manufacturers scrapped their product lines. Now suddenly, they are indispensable.

krapp6• 13 years ago

Tablets had a more rational form factor than I think glasses do, though, in terms of practical ergonomics. I'm not convinced that smart glasses improve on tablets or netbooks or phones as a user experience enough to justify a prediction that they could surpass them in the marketplace. Augmented reality and voice command are nice but are people really looking for that? Is it more useful to have to tell your device everything you want it to do?

The article makes a point of mentioning concerns about privacy then sort of dismissing them. Later it mentions an app (take a picture every time you wink) that I think would send people up the wall. Coupling a device's use with the implicit social issues regarding eye contact and personal space is going to create a bigger problem for adoption than the article implies.

Disclaimer: But no, I haven't ever actually used Google Glass. It costs more than my car did.

gfodor• 13 years ago

You don't wear tablets on your face. Tablets don't make you look like a tool.

I'm not saying it won't happen, but smart glasses are hugely different than any other smart device in how intrusive they are and how visible. If people want them soon everyone will, if not, they will die quickly.

Tyrant505• 13 years ago

I don't understand the desire to isolate each wearable in such ways. We have in our pocket a computer which should always have order of magnitudes of processing power and storage, to which other wearables should be able to take advantage of! Think the old days of logging in to your powerful mainframe, but on the body(glasses watches, clothes bluetooth into your pocket computer.) So a lot less needs to be embedded into each, to make it more style worthy(smaller footprint), and feature rich.

psuter• 13 years ago

That's how Google Glass works. It needs to talk to your cellphone.

hyp0• 13 years ago

This is old news, but: smart glasses solve the problem of making something smaller and more convenient, without the problem of a too-small screen.

While google glass does look stupid, it's not hard to make cool-looking sunglasses.

Privacy concerns will delay adoption, but unfortunately we've already lost privacy. It will just take a while for us to accept it - though I doubt we will by 2014.

vectorpush• 13 years ago

I doubt it. Battery life is still too poor. If it needs to be charged even once during the daytime people will just stop using it after the novelty fades.

bonemachine• 13 years ago

"Year of the Glasshole" would be a better title.

heterogenic• 13 years ago

You mean like 2013 was the year of the smart watch?

jkelsey• 13 years ago

Can't wait for 2015! Year of the smart clothes!

onedev• 13 years ago

2016: Year of smart people.....well at least I can dream :)

adventured• 13 years ago

I consider that I live day to day in a very average technical social scene. I don't know a single person that wants to have to wear smart glasses, myself included.

There isn't a scenario under which a company can convince me to frequently wear glasses. You couldn't pay me to do it, I hate the physical annoyance.

I have an alternative prediction: while the tech people predicting smart glasses or smart watches are the future, the smart phone will simply roll on dominating the 'smart' category, overwhelmingly. Five years from now, smart phones will still dominate, to such a degree it'll be viewed as a joke in hindsight that anybody thought smart watches or smart glasses would replace or even meaningfully compete with smart phones. This will befuddle all the experts, because they don't actually understand the larger consumer market.

I'm not a big Apple fan, but I believe the reason why the best consumer electronics company hasn't been in a rush to dive into smart watches or smart glasses, is because both are borderline irrelevant side markets and will remain so. It would have been like Apple feeling the need to dominate the LCD picture viewing device segment that was temporarily the 'thing' seven or eight years ago.

Another prediction: smart glasses will be useful enough beyond what smart phones offer, in about another decade, to justify some independent category success. In the meantime the failure of the category to catch sustainable consumer traction, is, again, going to astound the 'experts.'

majgr• 13 years ago

Do you need iPhone, if iWatch has the same, or bigger display? (curved sapphire glass). Smartphone solves problem of having a computing device all the time with you, but in order to get that you have to pay with screen size. Smartglasses solves the same problem as smartphone, but without tradeoffs. They can display touch, augmented, or desktop, or tv interfaces. You don't need a tablet, phone, laptop, desktop, tv. You need boxes with small(pocket), medium(backpack), and large(desk) computing power, and glasses that can receive video over the air. (and some input method). If glasses are only for display, they don't need large battery.

rhizome• 13 years ago

"Prediction is hard, especially about the future."

dmak• 13 years ago

I don't think glasses as a wearable tech will catch on. I think it would be socially awkward for everyone to be sitting at a table with Google glass on.

NAFV_P• 13 years ago

I'm myopic with astigmatism, so I am very interested when the ophthalmic version is coming out. When I visit HN using my 15.6 inch screen laptop I have the zoom set to 150% or higher (the text is tiny), with my specs on.

An ophthalmic frame has to endure a fair amount of physical stress during the glazing procedure, especially curved frames. Also my dominant eye is oculus sinister, am I supposed to wear these damn things upside down?

jbeja2• 13 years ago

"year of smart glasses' not in my country :(.

coldtea3• 13 years ago

Yes, because that's just what your country needs, right?

(Whatever it is)

jbeja2• 13 years ago

Delinquents would steal it from the first time i go out with them though :p

coldtea3• 13 years ago

Year of smart glasses?

It's a half assed product, introduced years before it's any good for use, and it's main real utility is that of a smaller Go Pro-style live action camera.

Plus, it didn't even make any dent in the market.

It's not like Google search in 1996 or the iPhone in 2007, products that immediately changed whole markets.

So, no, 2014 would not be the year of "smart glasses".

With the display technology used and the battery life they have, those things are useless, except for showing off.

Except for the "eye level live action camera" part, you can do the same things with your smartphone, better and faster.

krapp6• 13 years ago

Interestingly, a friend of mine who is a professional videographer and who tried Google Glass told me he could think of a few uses for it in his field, but he couldn't come up with any reason why he would use one as a general purpose device.

ams6110• 13 years ago

I predict a moderately successful app that scrolls random 6502 assembly code in your field of vision as you scan your surroundings.

codingdave• 13 years ago

Just for the sake of argument -- We tell software startups to get their MVP out as fast as possible in order gain feedback and improve the product... yet we smack down hardware vendors who have done exactly that?

beggi• 13 years ago

Hardware != software - releasing half assed hardware early is completely different that releasing a half assed web app that can be updated almost constantly. But I think Google is mostly not getting smacked down for releasing Google Glass too soon - the opinion that Glass is ready for prime time is getting smacked down. IMO Glass is obviously not ready for prime time and won't be for a few years at least, but this is all just moot anyway, the article is obvious clickbait. People love a good "Next year is the year of the whatever".

coldtea3• 13 years ago

Just for the sake of argument -- We tell software startups to get their MVP out as fast as possible in order gain feedback and improve the product... yet we smack down hardware vendors who have done exactly that?

Well, something half baked is not always an MVP. Sometimes it's just half baked and should not have been presented in the first place.

Not to mention, software startups products don't cost hundrends of dollars to buy and test. In fact, usually they are free. So, pushing a half-arsed hardware to buyers? Not so wise.

The original iPod was a MVP launch ("no wireless, less space than a nomad, etc"). It took it several years to get large disks, video, wi-fi sync, etc.

Google Glasses? An ill-thought, hastily implemented product, merely combining non-optimally a few pieces of stuff you already have (voice recognition, eye displays, small video cameras etc) as "innovation theatre".

craigyk• 13 years ago

the title alone reeks of future foot in mouth

simonholroyd• 13 years ago

2014 will be the year of the ____________ .

There's got to be some better alternatives. Ideas?

dustinupdyke• 13 years ago

Personally, I think 2014 will be the year of location services because of iBeacons and BT LE.

mistercow• 13 years ago

Is there a better predictor that year X won't be the year of Y, besides tech sites in December of X-1 saying "X will be the year of Y"?

patcon• 13 years ago

Nice. lingual algebra is the new snowclone

jonb• 13 years ago

2014 will be the "internet of things" (Bluetooth LE) and wearables will be a subset of it.

Why 2014 is the 'year of smart glasses'

Related Stories