If there are any Googlers around here: I'm a medical researcher from Australia and we had really encouraging preliminary results with Glass in operating theatres. We'd love to continue the work but need to be able to buy/acquire about a dozen units. We've tried reaching out to Google via their Glass for Work page, but didn't get a reply.
If anyone from the Glass team happens to read this:
A very good friend of mine has an uncorrectable problem that basically gives him double vision all the time. I got Glass for him as a gift, and it changed his life. Emails, text messages, directions, all over a single eye so it was clear. Thanks for pushing a much needed update so he can start using them again.
Yeah, I always got annoyed when the media kept referring to Glass as "AR", when in reality it was mostly just a quick way to get notifications and such without pulling your phone out of your pocket. If Glass counts as AR, so does my smartwatch.
When I tried it I found the main problem was the voice recognition was just awful. Think 90s awful. Very surprising considering Android's voice recognition is now near flawless, even when I mumble.
I mean it was pretty clear before trying them that they would be more annoying to wear than their worth, but if the voice recognition was good I could see at least some people using them.
I tried Glass but returned it after a few weeks. It failed for me because it didn't provide enough value for the hassle it added. The main pain points for me were that it wasn't particularly comfortable, had poor battery life, didn't offer enough useful features (at the time at least), and that a large amount of people I met in a day wanted thought they should ask about it, want to try it, etc.
> The blurry screen was always kind of off to the side and annoying when wearing it.
That sounds better than the alternative, actually—I can only imagine how distracting it would be if there was text that was clear and crisp floating in my field of vision even when I was trying to look at something else.
I tried GG when I was working for Google at some event where the team came to your building and let interested people try it. I was quite enthusiastic about it before trying it, but actually using it for 5 minutes really turned me off. I think that this might be because I don't normally wear glasses. I found looking slightly askew to focus on the presented info was awkward for me (eg, maybe it was natural to somebody who wears bifocals). I also found the weight a bit unnatural.
To me, Android Wear was a much better fit for what I wanted from GG. Eg, notifications, navigations, music controls, email/text without having to pull out (and unlock) my phone. (and I hadn't worn a watch for 15-20 years before getting my first Android Wear device).
GG would become so much more popular if it would aim at certain niches first, like security, technicians, doctors and public servants (partially the way Segway did) - it should invest in showcase apps that cater for those niches and build up market from there.
A classic argument about which is better, consumer or enterprise. I struggle with this one myself. I naturally gravitate to finding enterprise niches and targeting specific use cases. But that comes at the expense of being perpetually in "accidental stealth mode" because the tech press generally cares only about consumer applications. Google traditionally is better at large scale consumer apps (and getting the PR that goes with it). So it was not a surprise that they didn't target the enterprise first with Glass. They like making flashy large-scale "bets". Which makes sense since they're an ad company and are constantly looking for ways to expand that platform in the biggest way possible.
Last month a few eviction notices were served in my building. The guy who was delivering them was wearing GG, presumably to legally document that the notices were served.
Yet none of those same people have an issue with taking their phone out of their pocket constantly and glancing at it which has... a camera on the front! But I could see the issue of never knowing whether or not the glass camera is recording and whether that recording is going to wind up on youtube.
The last two responses in this thread - industry applications (operating theatre) and medical use (double vision) - are the things Google should have focused on all along.
A tiny floating screen in the corner of your eye is most useful when:
1. You can't readily access the screens that are in your pocket or desk.
2. You need to look at a screen and the world around you at the same time. The screen may possibly overlay on the world around you.
Nice! I really like Google Glass, the only issue I have with it is the reduced battery life. I wish there were a supported way to replace the battery. Or is there?
I actually commented in the previous discussion about this update. (This post is technically a dupe.)
But my assumption is that someone at Google still uses their Explorer Edition, and fixed some pet peeves of their own to support newer Android phones better, maybe they added the keyboard input because they needed it, etc. And then just decided to go ahead and get it released to everyone because the work was already done anyways.
It's been used in medical fields for quite some time. Technology exists outside of the consumer space but I guess the popular press likes to ignore that.
A bit of historical context. Glass unofficially supported Bluetooth keyboards up to version XE11 (that is, November 2013). Version XE12 contained one major bug which, while it didn't break keyboards themselves, did break most of the non-Glass Android apps you'd want to use a keyboard to control. Version XE16 was a four-month rewrite, which replaced the Bluetooth stack with one that couldn't handle keyboards (and bricked a lot of devices and broke a lot of other things.) At that point something went very very wrong with Google's internal politics, and despite there being both internal and external demand, work to repair keyboard support was blocked in favor of fixing crash-bugs. Combined with Glass being closed-source, an overly-aggressive auto-updater that made it hard to stay on XE11 or XE12, increased memory usage that exceeded what the existing units had, and poor communications from Google, this caused the Glass community to turn on Google and become hostile.
Three years later, version XE23 adds support for Bluetooth keyboards, and makes it more official (so you don't need an awkward procedure involving sideloading parts of cell-phone Android).
So I interpret this a sort of three-years-later apology. For which, thank you, it's overdue but is a nice gesture. Source code would also be nice, as would a public post-mortem of what the whole mess looked like from Google's end.
I'll have to dust off my glasses and install this. I never got the hang of it because the screen is about 1/2 cm too high for me so I have to uncomfortably force my eye to look straight up. No matter how I tried to position it on my head I always had that issue...
There was also the whole thing about people thinking you're an ass for wearing one. And they are very rare in New Hampshire where I am so they stick out like a sore thumb.
Yeah, mine suddenly started working again. It got stuck in a weird loop a few months ago. I don't think I have an update but I think they fixed an oauth bug.
No one is forcing you to buy or use one and if someone uses one out on the street, then by definition you have no privacy in a public setting. Just because it's stupid doesn't mean it's subject to different rules than rest of people filming in public.
[+] [-] thomasfedb|8 years ago|reply
Our pilot study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26992465
[+] [-] thomasfedb|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ktta|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sizzle|8 years ago|reply
Mixed reality in surgical environments https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3053273
[+] [-] supercoder|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] dsl|8 years ago|reply
A very good friend of mine has an uncorrectable problem that basically gives him double vision all the time. I got Glass for him as a gift, and it changed his life. Emails, text messages, directions, all over a single eye so it was clear. Thanks for pushing a much needed update so he can start using them again.
[+] [-] rullelito|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 8note|8 years ago|reply
You can also do some practice with 3d pictures to build up better control. I made a thing for that that uses red/cyan 3d glasses. http://web.uvic.ca/~jhedin/Other%20Work/tranaglyphs/
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] WhatIsDukkha|8 years ago|reply
I'm loving (and developing in) VR, and interested in actual AR. Glass was a deadend as soon as I actually put one on.
I found it to be pretty much as if you were holding up a smartwatch beside one eye, that you could turn your eye and look at in focus.
There is no overlay of the real world. You are either looking at watch beside your eye or the real world.
The blurry screen was always kind of off to the side and annoying when wearing it.
Just as if holding a wristwatch up to the side of your head would be.
If that sounds bad to you, yes that's why it failed.
[+] [-] Ajedi32|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] IshKebab|8 years ago|reply
I mean it was pretty clear before trying them that they would be more annoying to wear than their worth, but if the voice recognition was good I could see at least some people using them.
[+] [-] abritinthebay|8 years ago|reply
It was clever, but it was basically the worst possible experience at everything it did for most people.
I don't doubt the utility of it for niche tasks or users but as a general consumer product it was never going to take off
[+] [-] bobf|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] derefr|8 years ago|reply
That sounds better than the alternative, actually—I can only imagine how distracting it would be if there was text that was clear and crisp floating in my field of vision even when I was trying to look at something else.
[+] [-] geon|8 years ago|reply
I can see it being perfect for some people like mechanics who need their hands free, but could also use a screen for documentation.
[+] [-] drewg123|8 years ago|reply
To me, Android Wear was a much better fit for what I wanted from GG. Eg, notifications, navigations, music controls, email/text without having to pull out (and unlock) my phone. (and I hadn't worn a watch for 15-20 years before getting my first Android Wear device).
[+] [-] Warvick|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hugs|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Eric_WVGG|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Pellepelle3|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] digi_owl|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] majewsky|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] k__|8 years ago|reply
The whole thing would probably be awesome in its own with just display, GPS and compass.
Many people feared for their privacy and the people using the Glass were considered douches because of this issue.
[+] [-] knorker|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] beachbum8029|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] L_Rahman|8 years ago|reply
A tiny floating screen in the corner of your eye is most useful when:
1. You can't readily access the screens that are in your pocket or desk.
2. You need to look at a screen and the world around you at the same time. The screen may possibly overlay on the world around you.
[+] [-] snarkyturtle|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hammock|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bitmapbrother|8 years ago|reply
https://developers.google.com/glass/distribute/glass-at-work
[+] [-] QittyQat|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] javindo|8 years ago|reply
Seems very odd for a seemingly minor iterative update to pop up out of nowhere after such a long time otherwise.
* The update, not Google Glass itself
[+] [-] ocdtrekkie|8 years ago|reply
But my assumption is that someone at Google still uses their Explorer Edition, and fixed some pet peeves of their own to support newer Android phones better, maybe they added the keyboard input because they needed it, etc. And then just decided to go ahead and get it released to everyone because the work was already done anyways.
[+] [-] hkmurakami|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jimrandomh|8 years ago|reply
Three years later, version XE23 adds support for Bluetooth keyboards, and makes it more official (so you don't need an awkward procedure involving sideloading parts of cell-phone Android).
So I interpret this a sort of three-years-later apology. For which, thank you, it's overdue but is a nice gesture. Source code would also be nice, as would a public post-mortem of what the whole mess looked like from Google's end.
[+] [-] throwaway2016a|8 years ago|reply
There was also the whole thing about people thinking you're an ass for wearing one. And they are very rare in New Hampshire where I am so they stick out like a sore thumb.
[+] [-] falcolas|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] digi_owl|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] falcolas|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] knorker|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] superhubbabubba|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] superhubbabubba|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] superhubbabubba|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] nextlevelwizard|8 years ago|reply
No one is forcing you to buy or use one and if someone uses one out on the street, then by definition you have no privacy in a public setting. Just because it's stupid doesn't mean it's subject to different rules than rest of people filming in public.