I got to try on some Google Glass(es) the other day!
Very cool.
The time just hangs there in front of you, as though it's projected on a windshield. It's also cool to be able to take pictures of what you're looking at (although there's an annoying lag).
If/when Google gets the Google Glass(es) price down to ~$100-~$200 and makes Google Glass(es) look like normal glasses, I could see normal folks wearing them. I might even wear them in certain situations!
But here's the thing:
The main interface for Google Glass(es) right now is talking to them.
You can also stroke and tap them, but that looks and feels pretty dorky, and if you're going to stroke and tap something, you might as well stroke and tap your phone--a gadget that can do everything Glass(es) can do plus a whole lot more.
So, absent stroking and tapping, if you want to do anything with your Google Glass(es), you have to say, "Okay, Glass!" and then tell them what you want to do.
You can say, "Take a picture!" for example.
Then, after a short but annoying lag, your Google Glass(es) will snap a picture for you.
That's kind of a cool party trick--something that's fun to try once, or something that's good for amusing the kids for a few minutes, like Apple's Siri.
But as the primary interface to your glasses, it's lousy.
Why?
Because unless you're all by yourself--such as when you're driving, for example--you don't want to talk to your glasses.
At least I don't want to talk to my glasses.
Especially when I'm talking to someone else, who is already going to be annoyed that I'm wearing a device that basically says "I'm only partially here with you, and you're so boring that I need this conversation to be augmented--because anything is more interesting than talking to you."
I don't want to interrupt an already fragile conversation like that to say, "Take a picture!"
And I also don't want to wander around museums or streets or restaurants saying, "Take a picture!"
I'd rather just take the picture myself, with a phone.
Also, I don't need to know what time it is every single second of the day.
And I don't find it all that inconvenient to look up at a baggage-claim screen to figure out which carousel my suitcase is on--I don't need my Glass(es) to do that for me.
It would DEFINITELY be cool to take pictures of people without they're knowing that I was taking pictures of them (nice journalism tool!), but that would probably be unethical, and I also couldn't do it without saying "Take a picture!" or stroking and fondling my glasses. So it wouldn't be practical.
Bottom line, that's my biggest issue with Google Glass(es) right now.
I don't hate the idea of wearing them, as long as they eventually look like normal glasses.
I just don't want to talk to them.
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