Google Glass

[Tyyr]

I' m wondering what everyone's thoughts on Glass. Honestly, I find the furor over the idea of people having cameras on their faces to be hilarious. Given that we've lived in a surviellence society for the last twenty years, you can buy a pinhole camera that records in HD that you can hide in a button, and everyone is walking around with a phone with a camera on it but Glass is going a step too far somehow.

[Teaos]

I would ahve loved to be one of the 8000 people given a free trial run of it.

I think it is the logical next step that I would happily be part of.

So far the only line I draw at technology is having it built into our bodies... and honestly I dont know how long I'll hold that opinion.

[Tyyr]

Ugh, I need to stay away from comment threads about this, my brain hurts from the combination of irony, idiocy, paranoia, and lack of reading comprehension.

[Tsukiyumi]

No, Glass is just one more nail in the coffin of privacy rights. You're correct about that.

The point isn't that people are able to video everything in public (except for the police, of course. Can't have them worried about being exposed when they brutalize citizens), but who has access to that information.

Frankly, Glass and other mobile camera-equipped devices are the least worrisome of the myriad surveillance techniques being (mostly illegally) employed against the populace.

[Tyyr]

I understand where you're coming from with regards to "who" has access. My main concern is well, the Batman problem. The end of Dark Knight where he taps into everyone's cellphone to use it as sonar? Well I'm sure somewhere someone in the NSA or CIA popped a huge boner at that thought and given that you don't even need to do sonar, just remotely activate the camera and microphone well... I'm more concerned about the erosion of our 4th Amendment rights in general.

[Tsukiyumi]

I'm more concerned about the erosion of our 4th Amendment rights in general.

Agreed. My argument essay for college was on whether roving wiretaps, GPS monitoring and surveillance of the sort you're talking about is constitutional. After much research through academic law journals, the short and obvious answer is "no".

[Tyyr]

Anyone familiar with the 4th Amendment at all could tell you that. The problem is that even it's perfectly obvious doesn't mean it won't be done. Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. all had laws that violated the 2nd Amendment blatantly for years and still do to a degree.

My biggest fear coming out of Boston isn't that some other nut will set off a bomb, its that it will be used to justify trying to erode away the 4th Amendment even more. Given the way law enforcement has been acting I don't think it's an unfounded fear. Not when they're bitching right and left about some services making it hard to wire tap people and trying to force ISPs to monitor everything we do and cell carriers to store all our texts, just in case.

[kostmayer]

Not sure how useful these are as a walk round device, but as a HUD for the likes of surgeons I can see real potential. Patients vitals displayed in the top corner, perhaps even an X-ray image or Brain scan overlaid over the patients body.

Blueprints of a building being searched by firefighters or rescue teams, diagrams of an electrical circuit you're trying to repair..

As for everyday use, I can see them being used as a navigation device, overlaying your route over your vision. Perhaps slightly more creepily scanning a face and finding a persons facebook profile, though it would only bring up information somebody has shared anyways.

[Atekimogus]

I think Glass could have potential for certain applications but privacy concerns aside (which I do understand absolutely) I am absolutely not excited about it and view it as basically useless for my needs.


Why? Simply because it runs out of juice WAY to quickly. Now mind you I am the kind of guy who still hasn't switched to iphones, smartphones etc. simply because I don't want to have to plug those POS into my power supply EVERY FUCKING EVENING just because I watched a video on youtube.

And from what I heard those Glasses run out of juice even more quickly. Half an hour if you record HD videos for example. Now I am sure they will enhance that prior to launch but imho it is simply not practical at the moment.

Now my Kindle....that is the kind of thing I like. I can go on a two week vacation, read two hours every evening and still be half charged on my return trip. THAT is practical. (Yeah I know it's probably a bad example because of it's otherwise very limited use, but still...)

Having to charge the batteries every day when I do nothing and once every hour if I make a few pictures and record a view video clips (would be interesting to know how warm the batteries get)......that's a piece of shit imho.

Now different things for different people, I am sure there are tons of people who don't mind that. I find it impractical for now. Maybe the 3rd or 4th generation glasses will have the performance I expect (at least lasting a day with permanent use) but I guess there is a physical limit as to what batteries of a certain weight can do and they probably are already close to the limit............we'll see.

[kostmayer]

Now my Kindle....that is the kind of thing I like. I can go on a two week vacation, read two hours every evening and still be half charged on my return trip. THAT is practical. (Yeah I know it's probably a bad example because of it's otherwise very limited use, but still...)

I use a 7inch tablet as an E-Book reader but and still looking at getting a Kindle, purely because they are so cheap and practical. They might only do one thing, but by limiting itself to one function it manages to di it very well.

[Atekimogus]

Now my Kindle....that is the kind of thing I like. I can go on a two week vacation, read two hours every evening and still be half charged on my return trip. THAT is practical. (Yeah I know it's probably a bad example because of it's otherwise very limited use, but still...)

I use a 7inch tablet as an E-Book reader but and still looking at getting a Kindle, purely because they are so cheap and practical. They might only do one thing, but by limiting itself to one function it manages to di it very well.

Exactly. Nobody needs an e-book reader for browsing internet, making pictures etc. etc. . It is so redundant. That is the reason I still have no smart-phone. What I am looking for in a mobile phone is the ability to make a phone-call and write a textmessage. If I want to browse the internet or do virtually anything else, I rather do it on my computer or laptop, which is never far away and believe it or not, when they are not because I am between home/workplace etc. etc. I manage to be NOT online for a few minutes a day. (I often find it kind of ironic when watching people that those who would call a world of warcraft player a nerd are often those who cannot be without facebook for 5 minutes. Strange world...)

So I rather have one device which does one job really really really well, instead of those mish mash drecks doing everything but only half assed. The Kindle is perfect in that regard imho (and I was a long time sceptical of e-book readers but the ability to pack half your library on a 150g device instead of packing a 10kg suitcase with books when going on vacation - yes I read very much - is quite the argument imho.)

[Tyyr]

Plugging your phone in at night when you're... you know, asleep and not using it is too much of an imposition? Seriously?

Having to charge the batteries every day when I do nothing and once every hour if I make a few pictures and record a view video clips (would be interesting to know how warm the batteries get)......that's a piece of shit imho.

The Kindle has such great battery life because 99.9% of the time it's off. That's the whole point of it's e-ink screen, it doesn't require any charge to retain the image. That's fine, but it's black and white and it's response time is completely unfit for any kind of motion. It works good for books because nothing's moving and you'll leave it on the page for a while.

All that tech is useless for a smartphone. Wireless radios, wifi, color displays with backlighting, etc. Power requirements are greater by more than an order of magnitude. You're not going to see a smartphone or any personal electronic device that's similar have a two week battery life until there's an absolute revolution in energy storage. Anything much more than 16 hours of hard use and the manufacturers will just slim the battery down in order to make the phone smaller and lighter. They have much larger batteries available today that will let you go 72 hours on a charge, but they're $60 and add a lot of heft and bulk to the device.

So I rather have one device which does one job really really really well, instead of those mish mash drecks doing everything but only half assed.

I'd rather have once device that does everything well rather than have to carry five different single use devices. My phone is as good as any MP3 player I've seen, and I can browse for music wirelessly and download it without my home PC. I can also find new songs with my Soundhound app or stream things like Spotify. It's as good as any e-reader because I have my Kindle app. It's better than any point and shoot because I actually have it on me unlike a point and shoot, same for a video camera. It's as good as a GPS system, even better as I don't have to manually update it or pay for those updates. On top of that it makes phone calls as good as any other phone. It's easier to text message on than a flip phone. Sure, surfing the internet is a nicer on a laptop due to the screen real estate as is typing long e-mails and the like, but I actually have my phone on me when I need it versus dragging my laptop around, which I won't do.

[kostmayer]

I must admit, I love my Galaxy Note Smartphone. Its big enough to use as an e-reader when I'm out and about, lets me read and send emails everywhere (which I need for my job), stores more music then I'll ever need, makes a very good Sat-Nav on the few times I use it, gives me live train updates which has saved me a lot of trouble, and is big enough (just about) to read full webpages on. It also lets me make phone calls which is the one thing I rarely use it for.

It'll never be as reliable or long lasting as an old Nokia brick (which I carry anyway for my work phone), but being able to carry all that in one pocket isn't to be sniffed at. People who say nobody needs a smartphone are probably right, but they do make like a whole lot easier at times.

Theres talk that current battery technology can't keep up with improvements in the latest phones. They already have more processing power then a PC of a few years ago, and the same resolution as a full HDTV. Not sure what will happen if they get much more powerful.

[Teaos]

Need is a strange thing, but the shear amount of use I get out of my iPhone. Music, satnav, email, internet, instant weather, games, apps.

[Atekimogus]

Plugging your phone in at night when you're... you know, asleep and not using it is too much of an imposition? Seriously?

Yes of course. It's another thing I am starting my day angry about if I happen to have forgotten about it the previous evening. I am not one who thinks reliegiosly about his phone all day so this is bound to happen sooner than later. OF COURSE for most this is a non-issue, I find it impractical.

More importantly I used it as an exaggerated example as to why I think the GLASS is dreck, because from what I read in some of those first previews was that it runs even FASTER out of juice than a smartphone. Now you just cannot tell me that this seems practical to you that you have to recharge the thing after 30min of recording a video.

stuff about kindle....

I know, that's why I said it's probably a bad example. I just used it because I find it immensely practical.

I'd rather have once device that does everything well rather than have to carry five different single use devices. My phone is as good as any MP3 player I've seen, and I can browse for music wirelessly and download it without my home PC. I can also find new songs with my Soundhound app or stream things like Spotify. It's as good as any e-reader because I have my Kindle app. It's better than any point and shoot because I actually have it on me unlike a point and shoot, same for a video camera. It's as good as a GPS system, even better as I don't have to manually update it or pay for those updates. On top of that it makes phone calls as good as any other phone. It's easier to text message on than a flip phone. Sure, surfing the internet is a nicer on a laptop due to the screen real estate as is typing long e-mails and the like, but I actually have my phone on me when I need it versus dragging my laptop around, which I won't do.

And that is just something I just don't get. I am either at home (with access to all the wonderful interface advantages of my home-pc/laptop), work/school (with all the advantage of a computer there) or I am not at home......somewhere else.....in which case I can exist 99.9% of the time without checking emails, HAVING TO HAVE some song I just thought about etc. etc.

I don't doubt you get tons of use out of it.....I just don't get it.... most if not everything (apart from GPS application I so far also never needed...living in a big city and used to using public transportation, what need do I have of GPS?) you can do on a smartphone I prefer doing on my PC and things are NEVER that pressing to me that I just cannot wait until I am home. (Well, true, I am not a super-important person atm so I get by checking my private emails once or twice a day, maybe that is it.....still....)

And if I am not at home on vacation....I don't fucking want to have my phone with me. I have seen it time and again, people going on vacation having the best weather imaginable and all they are doing is sticking their nose in their smartphones while lying near the most beautiful lake while everybody else goes for a swim. Now I consider myself still young, quite the nerd and even I do not get that. (Since that is with people my age I sometimes feel I skipped a generation and should have been born 20 years earlier....)