Wednesday 13 March 2013

Seeing into the future with the Google Glass

Here we go again!! 

You may be wondering why I love to talk about gadgets, well like a colleague of mine said "Oby you are just a gadget freak" yea! not denying that, lol. Its just that I want to be able to experiment and try out new things with the latest technology which makes life easier you know!!

Back to today's gist, seen so much wave about the Google glass and really decided to check it out. Here's what I got and thought to share too. Trust Google to always come up with one innovation or the other but the product reviews I see make them always worth the buy.

About the Google Glass
The prototype Google Glass Explorer Edition which was introduced at the Google I/O conference last June finally had developers get their first taste of what they could do with it in January and February of this year.  The Google Glass Explorer Edition, which has a camera, multiple radios for data communication, a speaker and a mic and a gyroscope is the first product to come out of the company's Project Glass. A Glass device is something that lets you see and interact with the world around you without disconnecting from it, now this is interesting!


Its Design
The Google Glass headset is designed to be out of the way so it doesn't interfere with your activities. According to Google, it weighs less than most pairs of sunglasses. On the side is a touch pad for control, on top is a button for shooting photos and videos with the built in-camera, and there's a small information display positioned above the eye out of the line of sight. Some features includes a Broadcom 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi radio and Bluetooth 4.0 as well as bone-conduction speakers, which would keep your ears open to your surroundings. The Glass can also tell your position and orientation at all times. Check this link to really see what they are talking about: http://www.google.com/glass/start/how-it-feels

What can I do with Glass?
You can use the Google search, Google+Hangouts, live-stream video, read or listen to your mails, snap pictures or shoot some movies and share what you capture with little effort, but you'll have to inititate a voice command by saying "Ok,Glass" followed by whatever it is you want to do, such as "take a picture." The experience seems to be very similar for those who use Google Now on Android device with Jelly Bean.


Downsides
One downside of this is that the glasses have an audio output to the right ear only, and there's no earbud -- the sound just leaks into space, which means you will always have to cup your hand over your ear and the glasses' temple to amplify the sound, this will also let people around you know you are paying attention to your Glass device. 
Also, you may have to take off your prescription lenses to wear the Google Glasses, but Google designer Isabelle Olsson (a former eyewear designer) says they are working with glasses manufacturers to serve glasses-wearing users.  Another downside is there may be absolutely no privacy anymore, you could be sitting in a restaurant and another person wearing a Google Glass can be filming everything you do because the Glass has the potential to make those tasks far less overt and more surreptitious. 

Who may need this?
A major area of need I think this may be useful is in the Education sector which seems to be suffering. This maybe highly recommendable for Lecturers, teachers and students, not to encourage examination malpractices, but will increase intellectually abilities and access to information on the go following the ban of mobile phones in Government owned schools last year. Also Researchers, Journalists, Public relations specialists and Social media managers will find it very useful in carrying out their work effortlessly.

Well, we’ll have to wait to see the reception when the Google glass finally hits the market but trust my humble self to want one, it will just  me the hassle of carrying too many devices around, who knows we may be able to make cellular calls as well Lol.  I only fear the charges that will be accrued by Internet Service Providers (ISP) and Telecom operators. 

Thanks for taking out time to read and please feel free to follow my blog and share too :-) :-) :-)  

Love you plenty!!!



Sited: CNET reviews by Joshua Goldman, cnet.com, Google images

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