Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, took to the stage at the Technology, Education and Design (TED) conference in Los Angeles to speak about Google Glass, saying the technology could free us from “emasculating” smart device addictions.
The augmented reality technology, Google Glass, could be hitting the markets this year apparently releasing consumers from their unnatural smart phone addictions and redefining the search engine experience.
“Is this the way you’re meant to interact with other people?” said Brin, referring to the use of smartphones. “It’s kind of emasculating. Is this what you’re meant to do with your body?”
Of course, with Google’s huge investment in its Android mobile phone operating system, Brin had to appear like he was suffering from the same bad smartphone behaviours.
“I have a nervous tic. The cell phone is a nervous habit – if I smoked, I’d probably smoke instead, it’d look cooler. But I whip [Google Glass] out and look as if I have something important to do. It really opened my eyes to how much of my life I spent secluding myself away in email.”
Brin believes that Google Glass will a step towards the technology giant’s ultimate goal, transforming the current search engine experience to one that brings you information on command.
“When we started Google 15 years ago, my vision was that information would come to you as you need it. You wouldn’t have to search query at all.”
Google Glass may not be exactly this vision, but with hands free interactivity and information displayed directly in your field of vision, it’s certainly a step closer.
Google Glass Features
First demoed in at the Google I/O conference in May last year, Google has recently released fresh details on its augmented reality technology in the form of a YouTube video that displays the Google Glass features.
Voice recognition will be the primary interaction method for Google Glass, coupled with a small touch pad and button mounted on the side of the glasses behind the camera. Speaking a set of pre-set phrases instructs Google Glass to take photos, record videos, send message, start Google Hangouts or access Google Maps for directions, all starting with the phrase “Okay Glass”.
So far we’ve only seen a handful of the future Google Glass features, with the head of the Google Glass project Babak Parviz confirming “the feature set for the device is not set yet.”
All the information is fed to the user via the Google Glass’s small, translucent square perched in the top right-hand corner of the wearer’s field of vision. The latest images of the augmented reality technology show that this glass panel is considerably smaller than that seen at last year’s Google I/O event.
According to Brin, Google Glass should be available to the general public sometime this year, perhaps undercutting the original early 2014 estimate set by the Google launch timeline.
Would you be happy to be seen sporting Google Glass technology? Do you think we have an unnatural obsession with smartphones? Give us your thoughts via the TrustedReviews Facebook and Twitter pages or the comment boxes below.
Via: TED
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
