As Google introduces Google Glass, the Explorer version, there are some serious questions about privacy and distraction possibilities. The first 8000 are going for $1,500 now and the real product will be available to the general public at the end of the year or in early 2014, presumably at a lower price.
The not so trendy eyewear is Android based and can be either WiFi or tethered via Bluetooth to your phone. The small screen displays the web, email, maps, and any other web-based or phone application. It responds to Google voice, can take photos or video, and has GPS.
From most of the comments that I have read so far, the big issue seems to be that of privacy. With video capability, anyone can be captured and the image used in some nefarious way. But, let’s get real for a moment. There are so many phones and surveillance cameras already in place that our privacy in public places has already vanished. The only question is how the images will be used.
My biggest fear is in the distraction aspect of this new method of wasting time. We already have people getting hit by cars, running into lampposts, hitting other people, all while walking on the streets checking texts and maps. But, what will happen with their playlist synced to the car radio, GPS instructions, and reading email on the Google Glass at 60 miles an hour? Sounds like a disaster to me.
Rather than tracking my email and suggesting what I want to buy, and highlighting paid advertisers and anticipating my search criteria, I wish that Google would improve the search algorithm and spend their billions on devices for the handicapped, and open their data to an open source. The trend? There will be no change in corporate policy, no open source, and more “innovative” products.
Of course it will not take long for the Chinese to reverse engineer and offer a knockoff on DealExtreme for $49. There is a link to the Google Glass technology here.
The not so trendy eyewear is Android based and can be either WiFi or tethered via Bluetooth to your phone. The small screen displays the web, email, maps, and any other web-based or phone application. It responds to Google voice, can take photos or video, and has GPS.
From most of the comments that I have read so far, the big issue seems to be that of privacy. With video capability, anyone can be captured and the image used in some nefarious way. But, let’s get real for a moment. There are so many phones and surveillance cameras already in place that our privacy in public places has already vanished. The only question is how the images will be used.
My biggest fear is in the distraction aspect of this new method of wasting time. We already have people getting hit by cars, running into lampposts, hitting other people, all while walking on the streets checking texts and maps. But, what will happen with their playlist synced to the car radio, GPS instructions, and reading email on the Google Glass at 60 miles an hour? Sounds like a disaster to me.
Rather than tracking my email and suggesting what I want to buy, and highlighting paid advertisers and anticipating my search criteria, I wish that Google would improve the search algorithm and spend their billions on devices for the handicapped, and open their data to an open source. The trend? There will be no change in corporate policy, no open source, and more “innovative” products.
Of course it will not take long for the Chinese to reverse engineer and offer a knockoff on DealExtreme for $49. There is a link to the Google Glass technology here.
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