Google's augmented reality headsup display glasses are scheduled for delivery in 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)
If Google Plus were Google’s sole attempt to compete with Facebook in the realm of social, then Google would be screwed. Google+ does everything that Facebook does – with some features that are even better than Facebook’s – but it hasn’t been able to get much traction as a social network. It’s like a really great night spot in a part of town that no one goes to; the bar is well-stocked, the seats are comfy, and the interior decoration is superb, but the place is sparsely populated. With both bars and social networks, we want a bit of a crowd.
Photo taken by someone wearing a pair of Google's augmented reality headsup display glasses during a press conference (Click Image To Enlarge)
The real challenge Google has for Facebook is the secretive Google X lab’s creation, “Project Glass,” which New York Times refers to as “Terminator Style Glasses” (check the url) and what the rest of us fondly call “Google Glasses.” The augmented reality glasses would bring smartphone computing straight to your eyeballs, and allow wearers to capture photos and videos of the world as they see it. In the first Project Glass video released, a Googler tramps it up:
Person wearing a pair of Google's augmented reality headsup display glasses, doing backflips on a trampoline
Creating video and images like these is a visual social experience. In fact, sharing the world as you see it with someone else may be the ultimate social experience. The Project Glass output has the same allure as Instagram — capturing where someone is at a given moment, and what they’re doing — but has an enhanced intimacy from seeing the world as that person sees it, rather than as they see it through their phone. I’m calling it now: Google Glass stalking is going to be way more fun than Facebook stalking.
Googler Sebastian Thrun, playing with his son, Jasper, while wearing Google's augmented reality headsup display glasses (Click Image To Enlarge)
Facebook bought Instagram and created a Facebook Camera because photos — and specifically photos of people — are at the heart of Facebook and the social experience. With Google Glasses — which Google's co-founder Sergey Brin says may be available commercially as early as 2013 and which NYT has said will cost between $250 and $600 — Google is muscling its way into the social photo space in a big way.
Media/tech thinker Robin Sloan pegs this as the next big battle between the tech giants: “Facebook Camera vs. Project Glass” or “pictures vs. vision”:
"When you think Facebook, think: photos. And don’t be surprised if you see Facebook do even more to cement this incredible position."
Speaking of, Facebook is rumored to be acquiring Face.com, an Israeli start-up that uses facial recognition to tag people in photos and even allows them to ‘check in’ at events via a facial scan.
"And when you think Google, think… well, think long-term. I feel like Facebook is probably an easier place to work than Google these days. Facebook is all huge numbers going up, up, up everyday—everything except the share price, but that will come in time. Google, on the other hand, is Google+ and its undead shambling… but damn, it’s also Project Glass, and those cars that can drive themselves! Google is getting good, really good, at building things that see the world around them and actually understand what they’re seeing."
"In this context, Google+ is not the company’s most strategic project. That distinction goes to Glass, to the self-driving cars, and to Google Maps, Street View, and Earth: Google’s detailed model of the real, physical world."
And because Google Glasses will have the ability to send text messages, take phone calls, and give directions, Apple‘s iPhone will also be in the boxing ring here.
Another advantage Google Glasses may have: taking us out of a world of screens and little boxes, and into a world where the technology around us is near invisible (beyond the geek-hipster frames sitting on your face). At the very least, it’s hand-less. Apple made a similar move in this direction with Siri, allowing people to gradually phase keyboards out of their computing.
Google CEO Larry Page wearing a pair of Google augmented reality headsup display glasses (Click Image To Enlarge)
We’re constantly being told these days that sitting is killing us, and that the amount of time we spend planted in a chair, glued to computers and tablets, is dangerously unhealthy. Technologies that allow us to be mobile and engaged with the world, while still connected to the Internet, are going to continue to be attractive, even if we don’t look our most attractive while wearing them.
COMMENTARY: It's debatable whether Google Glasses will be enough of a leap forward in technology to give Google+ the inertia it needs to jump ahead of Facebook. It's a nice device to have if you constantly need to share what you see in your world to the rest of your social circle.
The high price tag is going to be a big hurdle towards mainstream adoption. The price needs to come down substantially so that it is as affordable as a pair of headphones.
The glasses themselves are due for a complete redesign. Looking Geeky just isn't cool enough. In a blog post dated April 14, 2012, I mentioned the design issue and believe that licensing the technology to fashion designers like Prada and Gucci, could be a way around this, but users would have to pay an even higher designer price tag.
In a blog posts dated February 8, 2012 and February 23, 2012, I mentioned several problems with the glasses. The location-based and face recognition technology that will undoubtedly be built into the software behind the Google Glasses will definite raise some serious privacy concerns.
Advertisers might use the glasses to reach potential customers, but will users be receptive to receiving small display ads or text announcements when they are near a retailer's store running those ads on Google+ or Google Search? This could certainly give advertising a huge punch, but those ads are awful intrusive if you ask me.
I definitely see the Google Glasses providing a huge boost to the travel and tourism industry.
Courtesy of an article dated May 30, 2012 appearing in Forbes
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