David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

  • WinstonSmith2012

    Ah, yes.  The future tool for high res 1st person amateur sex videos.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13001904 Jeremy Sweeney

      OH GOD. Google is singlehandedly going to put porn cameramen out of business.

      • http://twitter.com/incarnedine_v Dan Hibiki

         well of course they’re doing it single handedly.
        The other hand is a bit sticky.

    • euansmith

       I’m thinking this sounds the death knell for dreary, hand held, “found footage” movies and issues in a new era of drearier, google glass, “found footage” movies. Coming soon to a multiplex near you, “Blair Witch: Doom Goggles. Four times the eyes, four times the fear!”

    • Antinous / Moderator

      Prediction:  morningpooflush.tumblr.com

  • EricBlairEtc

    So, hands-free search images and videos for display in your glasses? This will be a big hit with porn addicts and masturbators tired of mousing. 

  • http://twitter.com/AntiBoredomTeam Dan Century

    All that, and they’ll just use it to put more advertisements in front of our face. 

  • madopal

    Just waiting for them to wire completely into the senses.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNiZP2G-nEM

    • http://www.facebook.com/jorgen.fleisterman Jorgen Fleisterman

      I was thinking it reminded me of the Apparent Sensory Perception deck from Gibson’s Fragments of a Hologram Rose short story.

  • ikelleigh

    Can’t wait to be talking with someone who is wearing these and is compulsively looking to their upper-right.

    • http://www.facebook.com/jorgen.fleisterman Jorgen Fleisterman

      Might be less distracting than talking to the people who glance down at their smartphones while you’re talking to them…

  • perch

    This is one of those things that I think is ridiculous and useless right now (I don’t have kids, fly airplanes, or need the time in the corner of my eye constantly), but in 10 years am going to be like “how in the shit did I ever live without this?”

    I think it’ll be cooler when it allows you to see broader EM spectrum, take measurements and temps from a distance, and auto-remove irritating things like billboards IRL.

    • http://twitter.com/jotkali Jot Kali

      You think Google, the worlds largest Advertising company, is going to *remove* billboards ? Google is astounding, but what they are perceived to do, which borders on the magical, is completely divorced by how they make their money. Expect more ads not less with Google Glass. Its a balance they have struck, we individually need to be okay with it.

      • euansmith

         ”Well, Officer, I was just joining the freeway when I got a “Red Hot Russian Ladyboy” pop-up…”

      • http://insight.pinkonbrown.org/ Dr P Fenderson

        You think that people, the worlds largest market, are going to allow Google to prevent them from *removing* billboards? Every wall you build, people will find a hole. See: Adblock/Adaway. Root your phone, and Google doesn’t have a say. All the new Nexus devices, released by Google, make rooting/unlocking a negligible and encouraged practice. I mean, we’ve had the tech to remove selective objects visually using a camera for years now.

        On the other hand, targeted and relevant advertising through Google is much preferable to me than being assaulted by ads for things I don’t care about. I’m just saying you have a choice. This isn’t some dystopian future where DRM isn’t easily hacked, like, all the time.

        EDIT: Also, Google has stated, multiple times, that they won’t insert ads.

  • vonbobo

    Awesome videos!

    Unfortunately, my videos would consist of watching cats sleep and doing laundry.

    Looking forward to when this tech begins being used in legal cases. Forget Big Brother when you know there are 20 cameras that will begin recording your actions in split second.
    And hopefully this will eventually cut down on the cameras and phones being used in concerts and such.

    • euansmith

       Cats doing laundry? Post your videos now!

      • http://www.facebook.com/jorgen.fleisterman Jorgen Fleisterman

        The cat version of “doing laundry” is sitting on it and not letting you fold the clothes.

  • xian

    See also: Season 1, Episode 3 of Black Mirror.

    • Graceless

      See also also: “Rainbow’s End” by Vernor Vinge

    • signsofrain

      See also: Dennou Coil

      • ganarce

        when the reality of our children diverge from ours so much that they will live in another world, parallel to ours, impossible to reach

      • AviSolomon

        See also ‘The Final Cut’ (2004)

    • ganarce

      I did think a lot about Black Mirror S01E03 upon watching this video. It was pretty disturbing. It does not make sense to order the recording verbally: Just record everything and have a good way to choose later ( and then end up in the Black Mirror universe)

    • angstrom

       See also the Gargoyles in Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash

      Gargoyles are no fun to talk to. They never finish a sentence. They are adrift in a laser-drawn world, scanning retinas in all directions, doing background checks on everyone within a thousand yards, seeing everything in visual light, infrared, millimeter-wave radar, and ultrasound all at once. You think they’re talking to you, but they’re actually poring over the credit record of some stranger on the other side of the room, or identifying the make and model of airplanes flying overhead. For all he knows, Lagos is standing there measuring the length of Hiro’s cock through his trousers while they pretend to make conversation.

  • http://twitter.com/jotkali Jot Kali

    “Google Glass records your life in first person perspective” ….. that’s one elaborate TV DVR.

    I do love the fact Google is actually doing this. Some of the concepts shown in the video are incredible. 

  • http://profiles.google.com/callypowers California Powers

    Is it just me, or is that little display *insanely* distracting?

    • http://www.markcrummett.com crummett

       No, that was my first reaction, too. I can either experience life, or record it. Hard for me to do both at the same time.

  • Laurent Ledru

    Just a particle question,
    i’m wearing glasses, and it’s impossible to my eye to be able to focus on anything so close  ( especially only one ) 
    did i miss something ?

    L

    • http://insight.pinkonbrown.org/ Dr P Fenderson

      They could just make the display match a focal point in front of you, so it’s clear when your eyes are focused on a point straight ahead, but blurry when you try to look straight at it. Or track your focal point so that it changes when you do. Don’t worry – our bodies will adapt very quickly.

      • Laurent Ledru

        ok sure
        did you ever try to put something on your glasses, and try to focus on it ?

        • http://insight.pinkonbrown.org/ Dr P Fenderson

          Did you ever try science’s solution? Isn’t physics awesome? It’s totally not the same as putting a solid object on your glasses and trying to focus on it.

          • Laurent Ledru

            well at list that answering my skepticism, thx

    • Antinous / Moderator

      Hit ‘enhance’.

  • Fogbert

    Can someone explain to me how this works for those of us that need glasses to be able to see?  Is there a focus knob or something?  Otherwise, what I’ll be seeing is an indeterminate grey blob.

    • DewiMorgan

       Yes. The image focus depth would need to be at about 5-10m or so in order to be comfortable as a head’s up display. So, I’m willing to bet that’s about where it will be.

      • Fogbert

        Thanks.  Even so, it occurs to me that they would need to make a version that I could attach to my own glasses–otherwise I’d have to wear their glasses on top of mine.

  • http://www.batshite.com/royalflush Scott Bartlett

    I’ll be pretty surprised if these see widespread adoption.

    • BarBarSeven

      These seem like utter B.S. even if they work. But I can easily see these things getting widespread adoption in police departments & the military… Also, the the general d-bag who wears a bluetooth headset consumer niche.

      • http://www.batshite.com/royalflush Scott Bartlett

        Yeah, other than people feeling pretty goofy having these gadgets clinging to their faces, I think about the awkward situations that in my experience still arise when hands-free headsets are used in public. I can’t envision going around saying “Okay Glass” every time I want to perform a simple task without feeling foolish, as well as annoyed that my every interaction with the device must be broadcast vocally. I don’t see how this is superior to tapping discreetly at my smartphone.

        • signsofrain

          I would not be surprised if eventually Glass was able to read ECG data out of your head and thereby be commanded by subvocalization.

        • Antinous / Moderator

          How about, “Awake, Crystal!”

          • http://www.batshite.com/royalflush Scott Bartlett

            Now that I could get on board with!

        • BarBarSeven

          I genuinely feel like an idiot when I “talk” to Siri. So to me this is Google “wowing” the world to make them seem cool. Past that, I am starting to trust Google less & less. 

    • http://insight.pinkonbrown.org/ Dr P Fenderson

      Vic has already stated that they have a control on the side, so no need to worry about looking silly doing voice commands in public. Plus you have the various Android watches in the works that will allow control. It’s also just piping stuff from your phone, so you can use your handset like normal. 

      Remember: this is a prototype. 2 years before we see consumer models. They’ve already stated that there are “designer” versions in the works. Plus, Apple is most certainly already working on an iMonocle/EyePhone, so widespread adoption is a no-brainer.

      • BarBarSeven

        I would love it if Apple created a smart magnifying glass. A handheld tool that can act like a bigger iPhone with camera.

        • AviSolomon

          You should file for a patent for that:)

      • http://www.batshite.com/royalflush Scott Bartlett

        Interesting! I didn’t look beyond the video, so I thought it was voice command only–thank you for sharing this with me.

  • Lloyd Cogliandro

    Great! Now I can watch delayed video of my skydive while I fall to my death instead of paying attention and pulling the damn cord.

  • http://twitter.com/celesteh Les Hutchins

    1. Holy Fuck
    2. OMG that would be distracting.  Like, to the point where some of the skydivers might not make it.
    3. I’d feel more comfortable if I had to say ‘Go go gadget photo’ rather than ‘ok glass, take a picture’

  • http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist

    I wish Apple were developing this product so it wouldn’t end up stylized-cyberpunk hideous.
    I mostly dislike Apple but they’re good at making products that don’t look like they fell off the Terminator’s taint.

    • http://insight.pinkonbrown.org/ Dr P Fenderson

      Um…you realize that this is a prototype model? They’ve already stated that “designer” versions are in the works. Give it a few years. The G1 was ugly as sin too.

  • Jennifer Carrigan

    I can see a very practical use for these glasses – subtitles for the deaf. Some people (like me) are horrible at lipreading, and this would help so much. Assuming they improved the voice-to-text software. Google VM has this feature, and it’s not very accurate atm.

    On a tangent: would the glasses violate the required party consent for recordings? In private settings…lawsuit material.

    • Chip Andre

      It would depend on the specifics of the local laws.  Most anti-recording laws are written to prevent *covert* recording.  If you’re walking around carrying a video camera, it’s obvious you’re recording.   That’s why you don’t need individual permission from everybody that walks by when you’re filming something in public.  It should be obvious (*should* be) to anybody that someone wearing glass may be recording at any time.

      But I expect it will take a decade or more for laws to catch up with reality, as per usual.

  • kingluma

    Watching that video makes me worry that wearing glasses / goggles with any kind of info overlay at all will be a fundamentally disturbing (perhaps even nauseating) experience simply because the eye / mind hasn’t evolved in a way that will allow that to work well… I felt like I could not watch the overlay nor what was actually in front of me well enough (hopefully the experience of wearing the goggles is better than watching the youtube video in a web browser on a monitor)… I’m currently reading this book [ http://boingboing.net/2013/02/11/sleights-of-mind-the-secrets.html  which has some interesting info on visual perception and attention (for example how the center of your gaze has better “resolution” etc.) And I found while watching the video that part of me wanted the overlay to be centered but of course then it would be in the way etc… I don’t know…

    • Chip Andre

      You’ll adapt.  And even if you don’t, your kids certainly will.  Give a pair of these to a five year old and by the time they’re seven they won’t understand how humans possibly survived without a HUD.  By the time they’re nine they’ll be so used to it that when they take the glasses off they’ll feel like they have a blind spot where their data should be.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Janine-Murdock/513268661 Janine Murdock

    What would have made that video for me is if it ended with Vaas pulling it away from the camera and telling you what a nice Google Glass it is while you’re trapped in a bamboo cage…

    • http://www.facebook.com/rvdeters Rob Deters

      Very specific reference there…but then again, I love me some Far Cry.

  • Frank W

    The only thing I’ll ever say to anyone wearing these will be, take those Google goggles off first, then we’ll talk.

  • euansmith

    Can other people see what you are viewing on your goggles? For example, when you are pretending to pay attention at a team meeting, could everyone see a reversed image of your live streaming porno on your lenses? 

  • Petzl

    The first thing I’d do is select a typeface other than “Windows 8 Standard”.

    • teapot

      First thing you do should be to check out teh interwebs and learn how to properly ID typefaces.

      By “Windows 8 Standard” i presume you mean Segoe UI and.. why.. would.. Google use that when they already developed their own typeface for Android, Roboto (which – surprise, surprise – is the typeface used in this video).

  • flickerKuu

    Kind of snoozeville here.  Nobody understands that the camera operating off your head and neck is about the worst thing you can do. Yay- Thousands of vomit inducing videos from people whipping their heads around.
    The “amazingness” of this also heavily relies on the quality of the camera, which like all small cheap plastic lenses- is horrible.
    So, we have a head-mounted I-phone in your glasses. I’m falling asleep here. Not much new, just a worse way of actually recording videos.  Sounds like a great way to stick pop-up ads literally in our face.

  • http://www.peterbagge.com/ Buddy Bradley

    For me the best part of this video was the kendo kirikaeshi strikes at 1:22, but in reality, there is NO way anyone would wear those clunky glasses in their men while playing kendo. Or anyway they probably shouldn’t.

  • DewiMorgan

    If they need “record a video” to record video, what the heck use are they?
    Should be constant-record, share-between-marks.

  • Amina65

    Does anyone live in the moment anymore? Or is everyone too busy recording things to look at later?

  • deathisastar

    Because there just aren’t enough ADD-inducing videos out there.

  • femalefaust

    strange days.
    indeed.

  • http://www.sheffieldindustrialhearing.co.uk AudioTherapist

    69 Comments and no Virtual Light references – Pshaw Boing Boingers, I thought better of you…

  • poivre

    Welcome to the world with constant surveillance, everywhere, by everybody

  • Edna Grennan

    The trapeze shot was cool…..

  • http://www.epinardscaramel.com TokenFrenchDude

    “Ok glass” ? No, I think I’ll call mine “assh**le” (Old man’s war reference)