Wednesday, July 4, 2012

About Google Glass

I'm starting to think about research again. Not intensely (still traveling!) but that doesn't stop me from collecting articles.

Doubters raise familiar arguments: "It'll be alienating!" "You'll look goofy!" etc. To this I agree with this post, which argues that alienation from technology has already happened, Glass will be less alienating, and looking goofy hasn't stopped technology before. (or rather, looking goofy has, but unconventional and new doesn't necessarily imply goofy.)

Another more interesting argument is: "There aren't any useful applications." Like Microsoft Surface. I guess that remains to be seen, but I for one would be interesting in exploring the application space. Here are a few directions off the top of my head:
- add in face recognition and tell you who you see and when. (tell you, not google! yes, privacy is important.)
- is there a microphone? tell you something about what you say.
- peripheral displays for things you care about peripherally. The time, if you're into that. Progressive levels of alerts; stop you from pulling out your cell phone for each call.
- stuff for improving social interactions! how long you've been making eye contact! hell, an eye contact coach!
- help you take breaks from work.
- tell you about how much your gaze wavers as some kind of proxy for focus.
- let you review a video of your day so you know how long stuff actually takes.