Google takes its wearable Glass on the road with new 'Experience Tour'
Google is taking Glass on the road, going across the U.S. to let people get their hands on its wearable device, and AppleInsider was on location at the first stop of the "Experience Tour," where enthusiasts got their first chance to see the world through Glass.
Google recently named Durham, N.C. as one of the technology hubs around North America that they're supporting. Soon after that announcement, Google brought Glass on tour to give larger numbers of people direct experience with the device.
For the event held last Friday, Google had employees called Google Guides on hand to put Glass on the heads of attendees and give people outside of the Google Glass Explorer program a chance to wear the headmounted computer. People attending were unsurprisingly curious and receptive to the idea of wearing Glass.
All attendees signed a waiver permitting them to be photographed before being admitted to the event. Glass is a headmounted photo and video camera, and privacy is still one of the concerns present ? it's hard for observers to discern quickly from a few feet whether they're being photographed.
Google conducted two events in Durham: An invitation-only event on Friday, and a second event on Saturday for the general public. Attendance was high for the public event, with the Bay 7 room full and lines out the door at times.
People who showed up were local entrepreneurs, local tech people. At the private event, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and North Carolina State Sen. Dan Blue were present as well.
The Google Glass guides did a good job of explaining the device as people swiped at their temples or looked up to prompt Glass to wake up its display and view items. Guides taught people how to wake glass with a look up or saying "OK, Glass", how to perform a web search, or get turn by turn directions. There was also a photo booth so that attendees could take a picture of themselves wearing Glass.
Google really believes that Glass is for everyone. In one pitch, it was said Glass would work well for wearers with conductive hearing loss, as bone conduction speaker can be heard by people with this need. Google's Guides also mentioned there would possibly be an option for prescription lenses at some point.
Google provided displays showing all 5 glass colors, but Guides were carefully monitoring Glass displayers and making sure that none of the units were removed from the display, and only one person at a time had Glass on their heads.
None of this changes the fact that Glass requires you to say "OK, Glass" or tilt your head up 30 degrees to activate it, or that staring slightly up instead of at the people in front of you can be disconcerting.
In the past, I've only had Glass for myself, and frankly I didn't come away impressed. But thanks to Google's "Experience Tour," it was possible to see a future where people stare through each other, focusing on a display floating just above their eyes.
Google recently named Durham, N.C. as one of the technology hubs around North America that they're supporting. Soon after that announcement, Google brought Glass on tour to give larger numbers of people direct experience with the device.
For the event held last Friday, Google had employees called Google Guides on hand to put Glass on the heads of attendees and give people outside of the Google Glass Explorer program a chance to wear the headmounted computer. People attending were unsurprisingly curious and receptive to the idea of wearing Glass.
All attendees signed a waiver permitting them to be photographed before being admitted to the event. Glass is a headmounted photo and video camera, and privacy is still one of the concerns present ? it's hard for observers to discern quickly from a few feet whether they're being photographed.
Google conducted two events in Durham: An invitation-only event on Friday, and a second event on Saturday for the general public. Attendance was high for the public event, with the Bay 7 room full and lines out the door at times.
People who showed up were local entrepreneurs, local tech people. At the private event, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and North Carolina State Sen. Dan Blue were present as well.
The Google Glass guides did a good job of explaining the device as people swiped at their temples or looked up to prompt Glass to wake up its display and view items. Guides taught people how to wake glass with a look up or saying "OK, Glass", how to perform a web search, or get turn by turn directions. There was also a photo booth so that attendees could take a picture of themselves wearing Glass.
Google really believes that Glass is for everyone. In one pitch, it was said Glass would work well for wearers with conductive hearing loss, as bone conduction speaker can be heard by people with this need. Google's Guides also mentioned there would possibly be an option for prescription lenses at some point.
Google provided displays showing all 5 glass colors, but Guides were carefully monitoring Glass displayers and making sure that none of the units were removed from the display, and only one person at a time had Glass on their heads.
None of this changes the fact that Glass requires you to say "OK, Glass" or tilt your head up 30 degrees to activate it, or that staring slightly up instead of at the people in front of you can be disconcerting.
In the past, I've only had Glass for myself, and frankly I didn't come away impressed. But thanks to Google's "Experience Tour," it was possible to see a future where people stare through each other, focusing on a display floating just above their eyes.
Comments
DOA.
Google will be last to see it.
AppleInsider got itself queued up there for Glass as if they were Apple products. Nice job AI.
I'm guessing that was because a TV company is making a compilation of puzzled people slapping their foreheads, looking up at the ceiling and generally looking like idiots!
It may be only a niche product at first but there's more than a few professionals that are excited about it. Once they're on board the general public will be more accepting of it too IMO.
http://mhadegree.org/will-google-glass-revolutionize-the-medical-industry/
http://readwrite.com/2013/06/07/google-glass-5-industries-it-will-change-forever#awesm=~ojBJsQq94CCBko
http://jalopnik.com/five-reasons-why-google-glass-could-be-great-for-gearhe-476333253
Oh great, more Glassholes. Do you have to make the public sign a waiver when this thing is release?
I was thinking the same thing. It'll be called the "Google Glass World Waiver".
You too can experience looking like a douchbag with shit stuck to the side of your face. I can't believe people think this is going to make them look cool, lol.
Wearable computing has a way to go yet before it won't make the wearer look like a complete dork.
Looking forward to a whole new genre of accident videos
Didn't know Eric Schmidt posted on AI.
I was there in Durham NC on Saturday. The article is wrong in at least one point
They had up to 80 visitors wearing Glass at the same time in the room, not just one. They never demoed the tilt-the-head trick to me. Afterwards I was told you could turn your head to see menus but I didn't see that either,
There were several things that bugged me about the demo.
1. The bandwidth from the Glass to the Internet was so pathetic (and mismanaged) that most things didn't work. Why didn't they have several WiFi channels with Ethernet support? They seemed to be doing it via bluetooth to cellphones to LTE and since there were nearly 1000 cellphones in the immediate area being used by technophiles things didn't go well. This was really bad because Google sales should have known this and now they will probably have this problem at every demo-site.
2. They never demoed receiving text messages, or email or notifications of any kind which would seem to be the killer feature for me.
3. They didn't show off how to view photos you'd already taken.
There were several things that bugged me about the product.
1. From what I saw, you have to either talk to it or touch it for any manipulations. There was no notion of controlling it from another device.
2. You either need local WIFI or a compatible app running on a bluetooth device in order to reach the internet.
3. The audio is terrible compared to ear-buds on a smart-phone. I couldn't hear it at all without cupping my hand over my ear.
I learned a things I didn't know.
1. the display is very nice.
2. the device itself is much larger than it looks in the photos you get from google images. There is a largish item hanging behind the ear which includes the speaker/bone thing and the USB connector.
3. There are many images on the internet that are not of the current device
4. I was told that the device that will eventually be sold retail is the same one that we was demonstrated on Saturday
5. It charges through a micro USB connector. I don't know what else it does with that connector (synching?)
Things I'd like before I'd buy one.
1. Need to be able to see what is on my phone's screen from the Glass, i.e. stream like airplay to the glass.
2. Needs to work with iPhone or as stand-alone, i.e. I'm not going to get an Android phone.
3. Needs to be able to take input from other device like cellphone or watch. How about a tiny band with accelerometer on my wrist or ring-finger?
The article didn't mention the excellent food available after the demo. Great meatballs, cake, cookies, fancy alcohol-free drinks.
Other notes:
It would be nice if I could add glass-specific web pages to my server, much like we have Mobile-specific web pages now.
On a more serious note, I don't think this will be for the general public, as much as Google would like it to become. At $1400 it's not for everyone. Maybe they should pop in a SIM card, and sell it through a telco on subscription basis.
what a horrible looking device....Best birth control device ever.
Yep, right up there with the Toyota Corolla!
Google Glass already works with iPhones. I've never seen Google Glass so not sure about the other two.
DOA.
Google will be last to see it.
It may be only a niche product at first but there's more than a few professionals that are excited about it. Once they're on board the general public will be more accepting of it too IMO.
http://mhadegree.org/will-google-glass-revolutionize-the-medical-industry/
http://jalopnik.com/five-reasons-why-google-glass-could-be-great-for-gearhe-476333253
http://jalopnik.com/five-reasons-why-google-glass-could-be-great-for-gearhe-476333253
I have no doubt that it will find some niche uses.
Google Glass is amazing. The future. So many applications. As a composer I conducted a recording session with Glass I could see the score in front of me plus I could record video and show to people afterwards from a conductor's point of view how it looks. Also I paint and I put a portrait in front of me and painted. Also GPS function and Google translate helps when I am in a foreign country. A totally amazing product.
You forgot the '/s' tag.