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> Similarly I could see Glass being adopted wholeheartedly by military, security and police personnel, especially as replacement for military helmet cams.

As I mentioned in the TC comments, I'm wondering why protesters don't rig up their own low-tech version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zcidJN69NY

This would give an opportunity for those with disabilities to take part in protests as a part of the action on the ground. (They could be like Barbara Gordon as Oracle in comic books.) Since the user-side hardware is inexpensive and disposable, much of the implementation challenge would be on the software side -- enabling the device deal gracefully with low and intermittent bandwidth conditions and offloading data to a local backup carried by another protester.

The moment anything happens during protests, millions of camera phones come out and point at it. It's far more imposing than any glasses.

Bluetooth is the PAN implementation of the hour usually and is used to shift stuff around.

The moment anything happens during protests, millions of camera phones come out and point at it. It's far more imposing than any glasses.

Yes, but a human-level intelligence anticipating what will happen, monitoring media coverage, and coordinating intel from other sources on the ground could be a very powerful resource.

The press are pretty good at doing that already!

Yes, but they aren't trying to do that. A group with the right resources could do an even better job.

I'm wondering why protesters don't rig up their own low-tech version:

For personal security, monitoring illegal police acts, sure. As a means for letting people who can't come be part of the action? That would get annoying real quick unless the wearer stared in one direction all the time, or only occasionally moved their head. Otherwise it's just shaky cam which lots of quick cuts as the wearer looks up/down/left/right/etc.

For personal security, monitoring illegal police acts, sure. As a means for letting people who can't come be part of the action? That would get annoying real quick unless the wearer stared in one direction all the time

You'd want to treat the "controller" end (as opposed to the "ground agent" end) as augmented reality.

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/725013/hands-on-with-o...

The "controller" would inhabit a 3D virtual reality, moving smoothly along with "ground agent" with a "window" displaying the video. The "controller" would have to turn his point of view to see the window too.

The "controller" wouldn't be just a passive observer, but would be providing intel to the "ground agent."

It'd be interesting if it was a larger view and the parts that the wearer isn't currently looking at is merely blurred out. That way you'd just have the in-focus viewport changing and updating while still having a larger sense of what was previously looked at.

Not sure how that'd work for the camera-wearer actually moving around... but yeah.

As rough as the police can be with smashing people's faces into the ground while they arrest them for non-violence, I think your $1500 investment would not go far.

Then again, protesting is quickly becoming illegal so it probably doesn't matter anyway.

You're not reading carefully enough. The ground-side equipment cost would probably be under $200, with the option of having the smartphone protected in a case. The DIY version of the glasses are pretty cheap. (Under $40)

I'm going to assume that military , security , police will have their own contractor make something similar rather than use google's. After all they don't want to accidentally start uploading raw footage from a battle to a google+ hangout!

As much as I love Google, I would bet that they lose money on this endeavor, unless they have a really long-term plan where these glasses are just a stepping stone.

I just can't imagine that many people using these.

The specific form factor won't fly for the general public. Other form factors might. Specific occupations might not care. (Construction workers are already wearing helmets and often goggles, for example.)

These ones? No. These are ridiculous, (really) ugly, and pretty limited.

But make no mistake, this is absolutely the future.

Less space than a Nomad. No Wireless. Lame.

The iPod was something ordinary people loved and geeks hated.

These glasses are the opposite.

I don't know what you're talking about. I dreamed of these glasses since I was in high-school.

Guess I'm not a geek.

taligent is implying that geeks love the glasses, and non-geeks people hate them.

The iPod was actually a product at that point. That’s the big step that still has to be taken with Glasses. And it ain’t an easy one, probably the hardest thing about Glasses.

It’s cool tech. No more. Certainly not a product. We’ll see how this works out.

"But make no mistake, this is absolutely the future."

Outside of niche uses already mentioned, I think this is a mistake to believe.

Didn't they say that about the iPad? http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tr-out-loud/why-the-ipad-wi...

Or the iPhone? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/23/iphone_will_fail/

Or the Internet? http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/1995/02/26/the-interne...

All those technologies had all the basic pieces in place. A use case, a way to interact with them, an actual demonstration of the technology. I admit that it took me several weeks to realise the potential of the iPad though.

Brin has been seen wearing these for a while now. Why can't we see some basic software and interaction? There a lots of potential uses for wearable computers, especially one with a HUD. Even if all we can do is use it as another form of input/output for your phone or other devices.

As far as I can tell and google, all we saw today was a few stunts with people wearing little cameras. We'll have to wait until they start releasing the dev kits to see if there's actually anything to this particular attempt. Hopefully they will also have a product at the same time.

Really? Why?

Imagine these in contact form that perform the same things. But also replaces your cell phone. You now see your messages when you want and can respond just by thinking (once we can essentially read your mind, if that happens).

Anything you want could be displayed there without having to check your phone or anything else. Obviously talking to it sucks but if it ever gets to the point where you can think something then this would be killer, for anyone.

Iono, seems to clearly be where things are heading. I don't want to type things to a person everytime I want to communicate with them, what is that? I just want to seamlessly send them a message I have on my mind and get back to real life. And this is the first step and whats possible now. But im sure they expect more.

I expect and want technology to get to the point where its not even noticeable. And these are what it is doing.

I think some big money needs to go into subvocal recognition (if it isn't being heavily invested in already). Devices like these will be a lot more attractive if they can be used without speaking out aloud.

I recommend reading Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End) for a few insights on how this and similar technologies effectively change the way we interact with "computers". As is brought out in the book, I expect a lot of early adoption for gaming.

The biggest mistake anyone who thinks 'these look ugly' makes is assuming that this first draft is the end all be all.

This is most definitely the clunker of a stepping stone a lot of revolutionary devices start out as.

Eventually it's going to be on contact lenses anyway.. (or maybe brain implants.)

Maybe I'm in a minority but since I don't wear glasses nor contacts I feel reluctant to insert anything into my eyes unless absolutely needed (i.e. for eyesight).

However, other than that I agree with you. I'll just be sticking to the glasses form factor (when it's indistinguishable from normal glasses).

Well... but it isn't really the first draft of the technology, is it? Steve Mann was doing basically the same thing 15 years ago with equipment that wasn't really a whole lot more clunky. In fact, that's really the reason I can't get behind Glass as the Next Big Thing: I've wanted something like this for the better part of two decades and the display technology continues to suck.

Edit to add: Look here: http://wearcam.org/netcam.html That webpage hasn't been edited for a decade (a decade, that's 10 years), and it has a better-looking display unit (see the picture captioned "late 90's").

I really like this glass project. I have never lined up for a electronic device, but I guess this time I will.

>>I just can't imagine that many people using these.

You are in good company. "There is a world market for about five computers." was what the IBM chairman was able to imagine in the 1940s.

Certainly journalists will be a huge adopter of this technology as well.

Absolutely.

My dad's a builder, has been for 35 years, when on site he tethers his iPad to his smartphone to download spec sheets for fixtures and fittings. He used to have to wait weeks for this info to be posted from suppliers.

Anything that makes it easier to access, share and collaborate on information will make peoples lives easier.

What do you mean? Its much better for those of us who use glasses: just order one with your prescription.

I am a glasses wearer that drives a lot (25k miles per year), cycles a decent amount (around 1,000 miles per year), plays sports and practices a martial art - I am constantly dealing with blind spots caused by bridges, nose-pad temples, as well as reflections off the lenses. Unless Glass becomes significantly smaller (it will get smaller over time, but I'm talking a few cubic mm) it becomes one more blind spot.

Certainly for me it would become enough of a hassle that I couldn't imagine wearing it around all the time, which means having to dig it out for the times when I do want to use it (which means remembering to bring, etc) - at that point, why not just use my cellphone?

I suspect I'm not alone, but we'll find out over the coming years.

Slightly off-topic but I always liked this concept: http://www.coroflot.com/billymay/Nike-Hindsight There's plenty of room for Google to innovate in glasses design if they're willing to throw away people's expectations of glasses-as-fashion.

Very interesting concept, you should submit that as it's own HN story.

OK :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4168896

Just spitballing here, but maybe they could embed a side-camera in the device and display a real-time image to cover up your blind spot.

My brain edits that sort of stuff out. In fact my current pair of glasses is frameless; there are some nuts holding the node-bridge to the lenses that I saw ALL THE TIME in the first few weeks of having them, but now never really see at all unless I'm explicitly thinking about them. Like now.

I would LOVE to be able to do things like summon up maps displays without having to look down at my phone.

YMMV, of course.

I imagine Glass will handily compete, collaborate or compliment the GoPro market.

GoPro are in a lot of major retail outlets on and offline. Glass would be perfect right next to a GoPro.

Not only that, but I'm sure they will get more lightweight and portable - maybe even to the point of seamlessly clipping to your normal glasses or integrated right into frames as an add-on. I wear glasses too and I would love having this technology as accessible as simply putting my glasses on every day.

The connectivity to the web, ability to email with your eyes & voice, make calls, and more...could replace cell phones for some people.

They said during the key note that they are lighter than many sunglasses. Many of the team were wearing them when taking orders as well. So they are trying to show off they are natural and easy to wear.

Brin also said they do a lot more than share and view video feeds, but it is tough to show. I imagine they at least replace your mobile phone and headset, at the minimum. Consumers gave up cameras for their new smarter phones, and this can be positioned as just an even smarter phone doing more.

Maybe it could have potential as a gimmicky child's toy in which you can take care of/play/see your virtual pet while you're wearing the glasses?