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September 30, 2013
10 Things I've Learned After 3 months with Google Glass
Constant readers know that I am a card-carrying TechnoDolt©™® — in fact, I invented the word — and therefore the perfect test case for how an average joe would use arguably the most advanced piece of wearable computing technology ever created.
When I went on the Glass Explorers page and expressed my difficulties and vexations, I got flamed so bad even the moderator ever so gently told me perhaps it would be best if I didn't continue to contribute.
I can take a hint.
So I brought my elations and frustrations to a more public forum, Twitter, where I've happily reported on my ups and downs and sidewise turns with Glass for the past three months.
Here then, without further ado:
10 Things I've Learned After 3 Months with Google Glass
1. It is a spectacular technological achievement: breathtaking.
2. It is a thing of exquisite beauty and refinement.
3. Like a Lamborghini, it is extremely tightly strung and finely tuned.
4. It is very delicate and easy to break (I'm on my third one, which was damaged physically but not functionally last Friday such that I'm not going to exchange it for yet a fourth — at least, not as of right now). Moisture, high temperature, humidity — all these will brick the device in a Mountain View yoctosecond.
5. The best thing about it is the camera: the quality of both video and still images astonishes everyone who sees them.
6. It's not simply the quality of the camera but also its availability and accessibility, without having to fumble for your phone and go through all the steps necessary to take a picture or movie
7. It is frustrating and difficult to use to the point it will make you scream: specifically, the voice and gesture and touch interfaces usually work — but sometimes they don't. So you have to do something again and again to make it happen.
8. The operational commands to post and share and delete stuff are buggy and cumbersome and hard to use and the memory management is awful, requiring way too much time and effort to keep clearing space for new video.
9. Wearing it in public now while it's still in beta and before commercial release is as close to being Kanye West or Britney Spears as you'll ever get.
10. I'll be first in line with my money in my hand when the retail version comes out next year.
September 30, 2013 at 08:01 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Well, well, the jury is forming a consensus!
One of the keys to a life well lived is to,
"Separate the wheat from the chaff."
My opinion (LOL) is that the overall information and entertainment
from BOJ easily outweighs the mundane.
Posted by: Joe Peach | Oct 1, 2013 4:57:31 PM
When I'm writing, I edit out, oh, maybe up to 20%. My forays into video recording taught me to cut 95% of my taping. Hours and hours of touring Costa Rica or opening Christmas presents became just a few minutes of "best of" moments saved to DVD. It's the same kind of bonus you get from cropping a picture.
So storage, to me, became insegrevious. More than half an hour is more than enough video. Much more important is the convenience of having the recorder ready to hand--Glass or a smartphone on-site is infinitely more valuable than the fancy camera sitting at home.
"When the shooting stops, the cutting begins." I would add that I found editing to be quite a chore. Easier to just shoot short, sez I.
Looking forward to Bookofjoe TV....
Posted by: PT | Oct 1, 2013 11:02:12 AM
I like that my site is less interesting to look at now that Google Glass is in hand: that's PRECISELY what I'm aiming at.
The future is bookofjoeTV and so migration away from here is not only acceptable, it's something I encourage.
"Less is more" is not just a great trope on design IRL but also a useful guide in virtual life.
Posted by: bookofjoe | Oct 1, 2013 9:27:12 AM
And they have made your site cluttered and less interesting to look at (too much time playing with Google Glass?) since you have had them. So much so that I only look at the site occasionally instead of nearly every day. When technology interferes, instead of enhances, it's value is questionable -- regardless of how amazing it might be.
Posted by: John Rausch | Oct 1, 2013 9:12:06 AM
Have you left number 9 purposely ambiguous? I ask because my first admittedly wise-ass thought was "Sudden onset of an unquenchable penchant for bizarre behavior and tantrums?"
Posted by: Mike Harney | Oct 1, 2013 1:11:12 AM
They have to be more rugged.
When you can wear them throughout an entire run. Climbing, fly fishing & kayaking are a tad demanding...
Those would be my favorite uses: no more "fisherman" fables on the fly, size of tippet, or the size of fish; and, how dodgy was that nut before I red pointed the crux; and, the Eskimo roll face-to-face with a Great White!
Give Google the feedback - light and tough: the Olga Korbut of tech!
Posted by: 6.02*10^23 | Oct 1, 2013 12:48:35 AM
One of the things I've found about photos and videos? I never ever look at them a second time except to show other people. And most of the time, they aren't interested. Its like a memory dump to nowhere.
Until such time as we have the proper AI to classify these things and make them easily searchable by context...I'm good with never seeing them as well as the idea that my media is like yours -- boring and inconsequential.
The minute the privacy freaks get over the idea that someone might know whats going on in your life that isn't you and companies embrace this...maybe we will get somewhere. Fortunately for Glass, Google is the one that seems to lack the ethics to care about the subtly involved in doing it in a way that makes the privacy people happy. Maybe they can go live with the Amish and stop holding back society for the rest of us.
Posted by: clifyt | Sep 30, 2013 11:38:14 PM
Tyler, I could not agree more with you.
I am doubling down!
Posted by: bookofjoe | Sep 30, 2013 8:58:04 PM
Joe,
Since you stated early on that you didn't watch any of the video you shot with glass before you posted it, you might take a look at your videos. You might change your mind about the wonder of glass. Mostly your videos are boring and inconsequential. Take a look.
Posted by: Tyler | Sep 30, 2013 8:48:57 PM
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