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Comment by cake | Hacker News Reader

Rather amused that when meeting a friend he spent time checking in to the location rather than talking to the dude.

I'm rather creeped out by this project. In almost all the situations presented he could have asked a freaking human instead of his glasses :

  - bookstore : ask the bookseller that's what he's here for,
 he may even give you better recommendations
  - maps in the street : ask somone
  - where is your friend ? call him

Etc etc...

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Every single one of those things is faster and easier if handled automatically.

Ask the bookseller where to find a book? I don't do that now unless I've looked for the book myself and failed to find it, because it makes me feel lazy, and because it's not always easy to find someone without going to the cashier.

Ask someone for directions? People suck at giving directions, and they're slow at giving those bad directions. There's a reason people buy GPS units, and it's not because they're anti-social. It's because they work so much better.

Call your friend just to ask where he is when you expect him to arrive any minute? That comes off as impatient. And it's an inconvenience for your friend who has to answer his phone just to tell you he's almost there.

Here, here!

I think that as the way information is handled transforms and evolves the world will have to adapt.

I suspect getting floor plans of each and every store where these glasses operate wouldn't be feasible so having staff around to point people to specific books may still be useful. But I strongly believe that we shouldn't shun a new technology on the basis that it renders a current job useless. Just think of how many jobs that computers destroyed, and made.

I'm always excited when I think of what the future will look like because so much has changed with the Internet, and so much will continue to change as products like smartphones, tablets and AR systems come into play.

Imagine if someone from the 1800's could visit 2050. He might assume we are all extremely high-functioning schizophrenics.

> Imagine if someone from the 1800's could visit 2050. He might assume we are all extremely high-functioning schizophrenics.

Remember that movie 'Time After Time'? HG Wells and Jack the Ripper both visit the 1980's. Guess who fit in better? :-)

It's probably good for bookstore scenario but for asking people about maps requires that there must be (helpful) people around with good knowledge of the area. And for friend's location, calling requires input from someone else (which makes it slower, costlier, and imagine getting call from your friend asking for your location every x minutes [you can only do that so many times without "crossing the line"])

I'd add:

- where is your friend? just wander around. you'll find him.

Anyway so me too. Once I know I'm gonna be thought weird for asking someone, because most people just use their gadgets to find out, I don't ask, unless I'm not worried about being weird. And I'm just making it worse, of course. Oh dear.

There's a reason why one of the most successful comedy sketches in my country is about some guys giving directions. Not only are they slow and confusing, as - and I don't know if this is a cultural thing - they often actually make stuff up instead of admitting they don't know where it is.

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