The tech vision video for project glass was released today. The technology looks interesting, if a bit creepy.
But what hits me is that this isn’t about augmenting your reality. It’s about augmenting google’s documentation of everything you do, so they can mine it to sell to advertisers. The implications of a service actively monitoring and interacting and documenting and monetizing everything I do and say are just mind boggling.
And when did dorky glasses become cool again? I got teased relentlessly as a kid for wearing glasses, and now the hipsters want to swoop in and play their indie-music-ukuleles with their dorky vr goggles? I don’t think so.
Update: even better commentary via Joe Stracci, via daringfireball. Creepy stuff. But shiny, in an awkward impossible-to-implement-and-nobody-would-buy-it kind of way…
I don’t know if I’d be happy about Google collecting that data on me, but what’s the alternative? I love the concept. I’ve included something similar in a couple of my sci-fi novels (usually as a contact lens), where you can look at something, make a particular eye movement and get information about what that object is, what it does, where it comes from, etc.
Unfortunately, there’s no free, open database with that kind of information in it right now, which means that anyone who wants to bring the technology of augmented reality to market in a big way is going to be looking for ways to monetize it, whether that’s simply having certain businesses highlighted on your GPS pop-up map, or some other way (replacing all Pepsi cans in your field of view with Coke cans, maybe?).
Once there’s enough traction in the marketplace from people trying out the “free” version (I assume that there will be a hardware cost), service companies that offer ad-free subscriptions to the database will start to pop up, but it’s a chicken-and-egg kind of problem right now.
I completely agree. Which means that the technology isn’t viable for individuals yet. Unless you’ve got the $billions needed to buy all of the data sources and run your own processing etc… you’re either selling your soul or going without the shiny.
This looks very similar to the project sixth sense of the MIT media lab, couple of years ago.
Check it out at http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/ has a cool TED video