Okay, so some time has gone by again. As far as Google Glass is concerned it is back in design at Google. That's a good thing! The press has really given them a hard time (even calling them Glassholes) and the Apple watch wasn't even released yet. I'm proud to be a glasshole!
I'm proud to be a part of the beginning of something that changes computing as much as head-worn-mobile-augmented-reality devices like glass will. As much as possibly the mouse did... I still believe that after everyone gets bored with their cool new Apple smart watch some will embrace the smart what? Smart Glasses. Yes that's it, they are smart glasses!
The key here is vision, when you look at your watch, I no longer wear one. Or you look at your phone, you want to know something, some information, it becomes a habit, you are looking for information, you want that information, you have to have that information. You see it's an endless loop. An addiction to information is being enforced here.
What if you didn't have to look, it was just there! The information was just there. But not so much of it, that it distracts you, like our cell phones do, but that it informs you instead. No ads please, we see enough of those damn things every day!
NEXT QUESTIONS: What kind of information? Who decides? And how often? Will it be contextual or not? All of these questions Google was actually beginning to think about, but they didn't really have the answers just yet. Glass was a prototype pure and simple.
To make glass successful, a number of things must occur. Here is what I think those things are.
1. The Apple Watch has to be somewhat successful. People have to start wearing technology big time.
2. Smart Clothing has to become known, if not common. Ads can be worn, they already are on many t-shirts.
3. The design of the smart glasses have to become sleeker, to the point that they are not so conspicuous. You shouldn't be able to notice someone is wearing smart glasses, unless you look really close.
4.
Steve Mann's idea of Sousveillance must be embraced. In the age of post Snowden disclose, this must occur. Be part of the Qualified Self movement, Transhumanism, a Cyborg!
5. More people have to start making videos of themselves, instead of a shit-load of selfies. And not just the teenagers, everyone. And they should be meaningful too, or people will find them boring as well. If you can't take a video of yourself, consider taking a video of what you are seeing and narrating it with your thoughts. Vlogging that is...
6. Battery, that's the big one. Having enough battery to power the thing throughout the day. That's a big one, did I already say that? I guess that is the same problem drones will have, but they could learn how to dock-charge themselves eventually. Improvements to the hardware design will eventually alleviate some of this.
7. Interface redesign, gesture recognition. Some form of hand swiping, eye blinking and voice command is necessary. I kept looking for a mouse pointer interface with Glass and they didn't provide any thing as flexible or even as intuitive. This needs a lot of work. Did I say a lot of work? Get your best UI/UX people to work with the hardware guys upfront! Solve the problem before your next release.
