How Google Glass Is Evolving As It Heads For Release To Developers

hypnosec writes "Babak Parviz, the founder and head of Project Glass at Google, has revealed that the feature set of Google Glass and state of apps is still in flux and that there is a lot of testing going on at the moment. In an interview with IEEE Spectrum, Parviz provided insights into Project Glass, the reasons behind having such a gadget and what's there for the project in near future. Parviz said that they are trying out new ideas and ways in which the platform can be used while also trying to make the platform more robust. There is no specific feature set that Google has been talking about and 'It is still in flux.'" My favorite question / answer pair: "IEEE Spectrum: What kind of business model is associated with Google Glass? Babak Parviz: This is still being worked on, but we are quite interested in providing the hardware."

one business model: military

[ofcourseyouare]

About business models: the only set of people I can think of who use something like Google Glass at the moment are military pilots, who have had head-up displays for decades and are getting helmet-mounted displays at the moment. Why do they find it useful? Because they need information instantly, don't have their hands free, have huge budgets available and don't care if they look like a cyborg. So there's a clue for a target market: the military. I imagine a squad on patrol would find it useful to have information on the area they're walking through sent to them in real time without having to take their hands off their weapons or look down; and their commanders would find it useful to be able to see what the troops are seeing in real time. They could afford a far higher budget than most civilians, and looking like a freakish cyborg from Hell could potentially be a bonus. Only issue: surely DARPA's on this already? But maybe Google could do it better...

Re:one business model: military

[Dr. Zim]

I'm sure law enforcement would be happy to have the same tech.

Re:one business model: military

[alen]

Landwarrior

The army has been developing it since the mid 1990's

Re:Does not bode well

[timeOday]

You cannot just have a new computing form factor and throw stuff at it to see what sticks.

I don't think there is any other way to do it. Hardware and software advance in lockstep (or maybe a 3 legged race?)

I hate to constantly make comparisons to apple, but if you look at their successful products, you'll see they had a clear focus and vision for it from the software standpoint.

Apple's App Store didn't exist for the first year after the iPhone was released. The iTunes store wasn't opened until a year and a half after the iPod launched.

Re:There was a sci fi book ...

[Zemran]

The really surreal part is that under the current legal system, transmitting./supplying child porn across the internet is a more serious crime than actually having sex with a child. The point is that seeing something, wearing these, can be more of a crime than doing it and you are going to provide the evidence against yourself...

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

More informant reports than gov't spying?

[perpenso]

say wha?

Where does government spying even come into play at the moment? I'm genuinely confused. Regardless, enabling easier spying goes both ways - it becomes easier to spy on the government too.

Where does government spying even come into play at the moment? I'm genuinely confused.

It may not be gov't spying as much as you are constantly surrounded by "informants". In the sci fi book I mentioned in a different post I recall adults, the older the more likely, constantly recording young people to deter vandalism, robberies, muggings, etc. Things devolved to the point where the smallest infraction of a rule led to a video being submitted to the police.

No more yelling "get off my lawn". Instead a video titled "Johnny trespassing on my property" gets emailed to the police.

Re:'Last thirty seconds'

[russotto]

I think for me, the killer application would be having such a device record everything I see into a circular buffer, and then if some cockhead does something obnoxious or criminal in the street, it can be kept to either hand timestamped footage to police, or to shame said people on the Internet.

I'm going to go right ahead and call this a totalitarian hell. Millions of Mrs. Grundys with always-on recording. Having to justify after-the-fact every action I took that someone in the area took offense to would be a full time job.

The doomsayers may call it a totalitarian hell, but I think it could yet be a renaissance for the polite and law-abiding majority.

There is no polite and law-abiding majority. There are too many laws and too many rules (many conflicting) associated with "polite".

Re:what's Project Glass?

[stokessd]

Go easy on the guy. I'm no stranger to slashdot, but I had to run to google to verify that project glass was the VR glasses and not some other google project brewing in the labs. I had read about it at least twice, but find it so unappealing to me that I don't keep it in my mind for long.

This strikes me as a solution looking for a problem.

Re:one business model: military

[ducomputergeek]

Until the Army realized that putting a computer on every soldiers back only paints a target on them for any opposing force with even minimal ELINT capabilities with off the shelf gear these days.