So, Google Glass, then.

[the_antithesis]

I'm interested in the new Google Glass when that eventually comes out. But I'm not interested in any of the shit they talk about in the advertizing. I don't care if I can take a picture just by saying "Take a picture." I never take pictures. Anything they talk about you can already do from a smart phone, so I don't give a shit.

What I am interested in is the screen. How does that work. Can you even see it? If I hold my finger in about the same position as the Glass screen, it gets all blurry because it's way too fucking close to my eyeball. So, how does this work? Well, I found this oversize picture.



Supposedly the display is like "equivalent of a 25 inch high definition screen from eight feet." This interests me because i think the next real breakthrough will be in breaking the tyranny of the screen. Mobile computing has been a revolution, but you're stuck with this tiny screen on your smartphone. It may look nifty, but it's still rather tiny. Sure, most of them allow you to zoom in these days, but wouldn't it be better if you didn't need to zoom in the first place? Wouldn't it be great if when you did zoom, you weren't still stuck with a tiny display and can't see all that much of the zoomed image?

This Google Glass thing appears to do that. The Wikipedia page links to virtual retinal display which refers to how the Glass projects the image directly onto your retina.

I have to wonder if that's for real or just so much hype. All images you see are projected onto your retina, first of all. Second, none of them are "directly" projected there. They are all, including Glass, filtered through the lens of your eye. If Glass projected directly onto your retina, that would require an implant that is inside your eye, which the Glass is not.

I would like to try on a pair to see if this display is as nice as they say. If so, this could have more applications than being something stupid trendy that Google invented.

[Johan]

My hunch is that in 10 years, nearly all smart phones will be in a google glass type form factor. My further hunch is that in about 30 years, the number of brain tumors seen annually will spike dramatically.

[SGOS]

My hunch is that Google Glass won't turn out to be a great as expected.

[SGOS]

I remember being interested in these glasses which would serve as a computer screen.  They claimed it was the equivalent of looking at 10 foot by 20 foot screen (I can't remember the exact dimensions).  I though it sounded cool:  "Put them on and you are in a sort of virtual world."  But no one I knew bought them, so I figured the ad was making suggestions that in reality, wouldn't be quite the same.

Google is a pretty sharp company.  Maybe they can take this 20 year old idea and make it work.  We will have to see, but at this point, it sounds like mostly hype to me.

[aitm]

My hunch is that hundreds will be run over by vehicles as they watch the latest episode of "Big Moomoo" (or whatever they call that thing)

[SGOS]

My hunch is that hundreds will be run over by vehicles as they watch the latest episode of "Big Moomoo" (or whatever they call that thing)

Mostly they will be run over by drivers watching Big Moomoo with their Google Glasses.

[Weltfrieden]

I would much rather wait for them to finish improving, working out the kinks and such with this then buy into Google Glass.

http://embed.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_ ... sense.html

[Johan]

Google is a pretty sharp company.  Maybe they can take this 20 year old idea and make it work.  We will have to see, but at this point, it sounds like mostly hype to me.

I've assumed all along that Google was doing the glass project for sort of the same reason they were doing the self-driving car thing. I figured its not that they want to sell glass or self-driving cars. Its that they want to develop the technology, get it out in the world, see what other companies will do with it and then capitalize on the market which evolves as a result. IOW, Google doesn't want to make the glass smart phones, they want to make the software for glass smart phones which are manufactured by other companies. But they can't do that until someone steps up to the plate and shows the world that glass smart phones are viable so they're priming the pump as it were.

[SGOS]

Google is a pretty sharp company.  Maybe they can take this 20 year old idea and make it work.  We will have to see, but at this point, it sounds like mostly hype to me.

I've assumed all along that Google was doing the glass project for sort of the same reason they were doing the self-driving car thing. I figured its not that they want to sell glass or self-driving cars. Its that they want to develop the technology, get it out in the world, see what other companies will do with it and then capitalize on the market which evolves as a result. IOW, Google doesn't want to make the glass smart phones, they want to make the software for glass smart phones which are manufactured by other companies. But they can't do that until someone steps up to the plate and shows the world that glass smart phones are viable so they're priming the pump as it were.

Yeah, that's kind of the way I understood it.

[Jelly Penutbutter]

It sounds like they're going to be more trouble for the consumer than they are worth...

[the_antithesis]

I would much rather wait for them to finish improving, working out the kinks and such with this then buy into Google Glass.

http://embed.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_ ... sense.html

Oh christ, not that terrible fucking thing again.

[the_antithesis]

It sounds like they're going to be more trouble for the consumer than they are worth...

Well, yeah.

I should reiterate that I everything, and I mean everything about Google Glass does not interest me. I'm only interested in the display technology.

I'm curious how it works and if it indeed makes a virtual screen appear to hover several feet in front of you if it can be used to make actual, true three dimensional displays.

Stereoscopic 3D has problems with accommodation and convergence that make it uncomfortable for most and it just doesn't work right.

The display in Glass may not have this problem if the user focuses on the image of the screen at the distance it appears to be.

Looking at it now, I'm pretty sure it uses a form of the Pepper's Ghost. The projector projects the image and the prism, rather than "focusing the image onto the retina" which is stupid because prisms don't focus anything, is actually an angled reflective surface that allows the image to appear in space.



("Pepper's Ghost" The green square is a pane of glass that through careful lighting will reflect the "ghost" in the room on the left in the room on the right. The red square is where the viewer is meant to see.)

Christ almighty. It's just Pepper's Ghost, isn't it? A hokum stage show that has been used for over a century. They're really working this thing. They use it in stage performances and "virtual" meeting things. Now this. Jeez.

[Jason78]

I can imagine loads of ways of using that gadget.  I would rather that it were less intrusive, and that it was in 3D, but you can't have everything.

I like the idea of hands free computing.  Having a virtual assistant when I'm working on electronics would be a huge boon.  Being able to see schematics without having to look away from what I'm doing, or being able to record what I'm doing step by step so that when I take something apart, I've got a record of how to put it back together.

[Brian37]

How many people will get run over in big cities wearing that shit and walking at the same time? I bet that happens even with cell phones.

[Plu]

How many people will get run over in big cities wearing that shit and walking at the same time? I bet that happens even with cell phones.

Add it to the list of pros.
- Speeding up natural selection.

I can imagine loads of ways of using that gadget.

As with most gadgets, you only realise their full potential when you open them up so that everyone can tinker with them. If this takes off, I'm betting there'll be loads of applications that nobody right now would be able to come up with.