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"It's becoming a connection, especially in the media, that Glass = Asshole and I think it's because much of the early community refers to themselves as "Glassholes"."

I think you've got the causation backwards: people do not perceive Glass users to be assholes because Glass users refer to themselves as such; Glass users refer to themselves as assholes to try to pre-empt the insult.

It's the same visceral social need that drives people to make a joke out of their own awkward behaviors. If you can get people to laugh with you, they aren't laughing at you.

Penny Arcade was the first step in that behavior; they injected at least a blush of humor into the notion of a "glasshole" early on. They may have even coined the phrase.

There are a lot of people in the world who see every action that others take as some kind of personal statement on the world, instead of just seeing those choices as people doing things for themselves out of natural interest.

You eat meat? You're an asshole, because you must think we should all be carnivores. You studied computer science and got a good job? You're an asshole because your lifestyle is implying liberal arts is worthless, and that I am worthless because I studied liberal arts. You became a wall street trader? You're an asshole because you're telling me money is everything. You wear Google Glass? You're an asshole because you're saying I should wear technology on my face and I don't want to.

It's incredibly naive and self-centered. To think this way, you have to believe the world revolves around you, because you think everyone else's actions are conscious decisions directed at you or people like you. The idea that some people might actually like Glass in a personal sort of way as a cool technology is beyond them. You're making a statement about them - judging them, by wearing glass. So you're an asshole. It's stupid.

I bought glass and wore it for a week. I felt like an asshole while doing so because 1) I was making people uncomfortable and violating social norms (basically keeping a camera pointed at anywhere I looked) for my own convenience, and 2) it signaled I could blow $1700 on a mostly useless device (like having an expensive watch).

I didn't stop using glass because I felt like an asshole though, I stopped because it was just another device to charge with minimal utility.

It's almost entirely #1 that makes a Glass wearer an asshole, I can assure you of that.

Going around with a instant recording device is an ultimate manifestation of a lack of common tact. People just do NOT like to be recorded. Period. And the fact that you think it's OK, that's what rubs everyone else the wrong way. Not that you could get that shiny gadget and that they couldn't.

Maybe just me, but I kind of feel the 'glasshole' stems from the type of person who wears a bluetooth headset at all times.

I was a bank teller in college right at the height of that technology and nothing irked me more than someone walking up to my window chatting on a bluetooth. I almost preferred they at least have their phone up to their ear if they were going to be rudely belittling me and expecting me to read their minds if I had a question about their transaction. I remember very well countless times someone in the middle of a conversation acting mortified that I would dare interrupt them to clarify something with them. THE HORROR!

Guessing it just has to do with the types of people who have that 'always on' mentality with technology. Put it down and interact with the rest of society

>> Do people without Glass have an opinion on this?

Yeah, I don't like having cameras pointed at me constantly, I don't like the idea that the person I'm talking to might be recording the whole conversation. And that's if the device itself is trustworthy and not reporting all sorts of stuff straight back to Google and whichever government agencies have decided to take an interest.

Basically it feels like crowd-sourced surveillance. Not positive, hence glasshole.

It's seen as a status symbol, of youngish successful tech people with disposable income. It's conspicuous, so people see it as typical conspicuous consumption, with the feelings that come with that. I think that's it, though I'm not entirely certain.

my reaction when people look at me while wearing google glass is, "please get that camera out of my face." i find it unnerving and sorta creepy to have a camera pointed at my face, and to me, while the glass is not just that, it is still a camera.

A DSLR from many metres away can capture a far higher quality image of you than a Google Glass camera could, even at close range.

If someone is using good DSLR to capture you on your dinner, you're probably a celebrity and used to such things.

The idea that the person across the table have a recording device, and every second of our conversation can be scrutinized later or posted on some social network is very unnerving and mood-killing. I don't dinner with people with smartphone turned on to capture every spoken word for exactly same reason.

With Glass they would have to be staring at you in order to do that. Your criticism doesn't match the product. If someone wants to record you in the way you describe, they will probably use a hidden camera rather than something as obvious as Glass.

So? With a camera they also have to sort of point it at you. Your second point, the problem is: if someone is wearing glass and talking to you, they can record me in the same way. So Glass will force me to be suspicious of everyone wearing it, and this sucks. Imagine if you were talking with someone and they were holding a camera to your face, but, you know, they said "don't worry, I'm not recording", yet they kept pointing it in your direction. It's pretty unconfortable.

You are captured thousands of times a day on CCTV, even if you have done nothing wrong these images can be stored. Data protection means nothing if you never know about it!

This resistance comes 'mostly' from the older generation, look at generation X, your kids. They give information freely, its a natural part of life their life, daily!

When I can walk out of my door and thousands people are feeding information 2 miles away about traffic on route to my work, or predictions of flu outbreaks are spotted before then happen saving hundreds of lives. This is a world where closed minded people don't guard information like there are special. A would where people give information to help others! The world is currently like China, closed minded and guarded. Role on generation X!

Yes, you are missing the hostility that wearing Glass engenders in other people.

I've heard from a couple of different sources that the word "Glasshole" was invented on the Google campus, to refer to the early prototype wearers who were strutting around on campus...

As someone without Glass and currently unused to see it, my feeling is not "You make me feel poor". If it was the case, I imagine I will just be jealous, it will be a good point for the Glass (as if you have an expensive car or a gold watch).

My first impression is more something like "I can not see your eyes" (as if you were wearing sun glass) mixed with a "You are not focus when I speak to you" (as if you were looking your phone during a meal). But my opinion may be not relevant since I will not insult you for wearing Glass.

Personally, I don't think wearing Google Glass makes you an asshole. I think it makes you look ridiculous (when I first saw someone wearing them I burst out laughing, I couldn't help myself).

Why this is, I don't know, but when nerds get famous (not rich; famous) they suddenly begin thinking they have a fashion sense ;)

The reaction to the early adopters of cell phones were similar. They were perceived as yuppies who though themselves as way to important to talk to the people they were actually with at the moment.

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It doesn't record unless you explicitly tell it to, and even then, it does it in short bursts. So the vast majority of the time, it's not. Having a camera mounted on your head doesn't make you an asshole, recording can.

How do you know? Take Android for example, I turn off WIFI and it comes back on whenever the phone wants WIFI. One reason I stopped using Android, there's 100s of settings buried in countless menus, maybe half of them are set as default to spy, report back to the manufacturer, report to the carrier, report to Google, the app developer, etc. But cleverly worded to sound cool and harmless. Well of course you want voice search. So we need to listen to you 24/7, duh! Don't worry, we only record your calls and cache everything you say to improve response times and the relevance of the ads. It's getting ridiculous.

Take Android for example, I turn off WIFI and it comes back on whenever the phone wants WIFI.

What? How so? I've never seen that behavior.

I know because it heats up like hell when it's recording (not hot against the skin, but you can feel it radiating). I suppose it could be taking snapshots, but at this point it needs to sleep as aggressively as it can to stretch that tiny battery.

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Yep, you can see the video on the person's screen. It's small, but very bright, and pretty obvious. If you look closely, you can see it in progress.

Everything you're doing while in public is being logged in people's brains, very poorly. I would take a video over witness testimony any day.

Videos aren't inherently evil. It's how they get used that's evil, and that's the part that you should fight. We should put strict governmental limits on access to personal video, for example.

http://bit.ly/1giuaG6

Robert Scoble is references in the article. I actually believe this picture helps counteract the "asshole" meme. He really does not come through as a person who takes himself too seriously here.

It does nothing to counteract the the dweeb meme though.