Replacing the smartphone? Hardly, Manufacturers need to Tap the Brakes on their Augmented Exuberance, for if you build it they will come days are in need of Augmented reality Check.
First, let’s step off the opinion train and walk into the fact station. Data always checkmates euphoria. So, looking back, and mind you, not very far back, just two years ago, Google Glass suffered an epic defeat, to this day, I believe they are still in the dark on why.
Why did Google Glass Fail?
- Safety and Health Concerns
Before the product was even launched, there were already concerns as to how safe Google Glass is for everyday use. Not everyone was comfortable with the idea of having a gadget that constantly emits carcinogenic radiation so close to the head. While other mobile devices such as an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy also emit harmful radiation, they don’t have to be in direct contact with your skin all the time.
Now with all sources of EMF, the association between elevated power‐frequency magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia is the only identified hazard. Causality has not been established. Nevertheless, current advice on mobile phone handset use by World Health Organization, WHO for example is that “present scientific information does not indicate the need for any special precautions for use of mobile devices. However, If individuals are concerned, they might choose to limit their own or their children's RF exposure by limiting the length of calls, or using “hands‐free” devices to keep mobile phones away from the head and body”
Which “Google Glass” if used properly – removes that option of safety.
- Aesthetically Unappealing
- Little Progress on the Product out of the Beta Stage
- No Clear Function
The key to creating a great product is to find the demand or a problem that your product is trying to solve. You don’t just make a product first and find someone who’ll be interested in it after. This is an essential step before determining your target market, planning your promotion strategy, driving in sales, and calling your product a success. Unfortunately, this simple principle in business was overlooked in the development of Google Glass.
- Google Glassholes
Ultimately, the failure of the Google Glass was a result of bad marketing. The first version of the product wasn’t sold in retail stores. Instead, it was exclusively sold to “Glass Explorers” who had to pay $1,500 to be called “early adopters”. Unfortunately, this group was comprised mainly of tech geeks and journalists who wouldn’t really benefit from the key features that Google Glass had to offer.
Sure, the sense of exclusivity was nice, but apart from it, the product proved to be a bad investment for these early adopters. This was thanks to the unclear advantages of using the product and all the other negatives (low battery life, unappealing design, etc.).
So, Why Did Smartphone’s Win?
- Safety and Health Concerns
As the smartphone texting or headphones clearly abides with the WHO recommendations to limit their own or their children's RF exposure by limiting the length of calls, or using “hands‐free” devices to keep mobile phones away from the head and body, it provides perceived safety and functionality.
- Aesthetically Appealing
The smartphone doesn’t detract from one’s looks – it in some cases, has become a fashion statement with the variety of cases and colors – even brand or version release of manufacturer touts social status.
- Clear Function
Not only is there a clear function of staying connected with the world, but continuously with the new apps, more functionality is being added daily. Photos, Navigation, Music Play, Movies, fitness, games, and much more.
So what did we learn from this? Apparently Nothing
Google:
The rest of the gang:
With Microsoft’s HoloLens and Tech Giants investing off the chart in Magic Leap (powered in part by a $350 million Google investment), they are pushing the limits of the current science.
Amazon and Apple are also saying, “Buddy can you paradigm”. Amazon joined the fray, introducing a new AWS service to help developers create applications in augmented and virtual reality. Available now in preview, it lets non-VR experts create “scenes” that run on a variety of devices, including Oculus, Gear and Google’s Daydream. Called Sumerian, after the seminal Mesopotamian civilization, it signals Amazon’s belief that its dominance in commerce will extend to an artificial world.
As for Apple, if your tracking Apple’s patents alone you can see their ramping their position rapidly.
Augmented Reality or Exuberance?
So, after all that mess, do these companies know what’s best for us more than us? After
all, initial PC perspectives were that it was not practical, had no use in the home. Even Apple didn’t see the use of their iPhone beyond music playing and internet access. They had no clue what apps like twitter, uber, and Instagram would play.
Even psychologically, the smartphone plays a role of fending off unwanted attention while flying, riding on a train, or bus, rather than a book, you have something more versatile to say “back off, I’m busy…”
On the other hand, with the first introduction of the Go Pad in the 80’s showed little consumer acceptance, even though it was the forager for subsequent products like Microsofts Pen Services for Windows, Apple’s Newton.
As a result, the real genius here wasn’t design as it was timing, Apple was lucky that developers came to the call and embraced the form factor with ingenious useful and functional plays. The form factor was useful, portable, and functional as such.
So are wearable computing glasses’ timing right? Nope…
Health reasons - with today's flooding of IoT and the accompanied EMFs that come with it - why on earth would you attach a transmitter to your skull on a continuous basis? Even the most tenuous Engineer knows that there are FCC, OSHA, and NCRP rules forbidding people to stand within a transmitting antenna, and your planning to strap one to your head?!!!!
Timing Right? NOPE, Why?
Health reasons - with today's flooding of IoT and the accompanied EMFs that come with it - why on earth would you attach a transmitter to your skull on a continuous basis? Even the most tenuous Engineer knows that there are FCC, OSHA, and NCRP rules forbidding people to stand within a transmitting antenna, and your planning to strap one to your head?!!!!
Aesthetics - If there is even such a thing with wearable tech - it's still goggles... Now if you clearly don't want to ever date again, sure - throw that option in an airlock and press the release button.
Legal - Remember the assault on the reporter in SF when a woman ran up, snatched is Google Glass and smashed them? In fact, the piece of evidence that may end up leading to criminal charges in the Glass assault is a recording from a surveillance camera on the street where it took place. However, the person who was apparently annoyed that a person may have recorded them with Glass was actually being recorded the whole time.
Social - Putting aside the legality of such an act (which isn't really in question, considering what the paparazzi have been doing for decades), it's hard not to admit that the armchair quarterbacks have a point. Aiming a camera at someone who hasn't granted permission to take their photo — explicitly or implicitly — is an inherently hostile act. I'd wager there isn't a soul on the planet whose reaction isn't "WTF?" when a camera is unexpectedly pointed at them.
Another case involving Glass, was the assault on Sarah Slocum, a San Francisco-based tech enthusiast and writer, who was apparently targeted because she was wearing Google Glass in a bar.
Source(s)
Legal - Remember the assault on the reporter in SF when a woman ran up, snatched is Google Glass and smashed them? In fact, the piece of evidence that may end up leading to criminal charges in the Glass assault is a recording from a surveillance camera on the street where it took place. However, the person who was apparently annoyed that a person may have recorded them with Glass was actually being recorded the whole time.
Social - Putting aside the legality of such an act (which isn't really in question, considering what the paparazzi have been doing for decades), it's hard not to admit that the armchair quarterbacks have a point. Aiming a camera at someone who hasn't granted permission to take their photo — explicitly or implicitly — is an inherently hostile act. I'd wager there isn't a soul on the planet whose reaction isn't "WTF?" when a camera is unexpectedly pointed at them.
Like many incidents of this nature, the exact account of what happened is a little fuzzy. Slocum said she was merely showing friends how the connected headset works when other bar patrons began hurling insults her way. One witness told local media she was "running around very excited," which annoyed some of the people around her. But it's revealing that Slocum has publicly come forward with her account, while the people who confronted her have not.
Think of how different your bar conversations would be if everything that was said was recorded. All those politically incorrect jokes and comments that we probably don't even really mean would be saved for posterity, potentially reaching millions of eyeballs if they were ever shared on the web. It would be a nightmare; social interaction would fundamentally change, and for the worse.
___________________________________________
We would like to thank our sponsors, for without them - our fine content wouldn't be deliverable!
Source(s)
- https://www.wired.com/2013/12/wearable-computers/
- https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-augmented-reality-2018/
- https://www.iotforall.com/future-of-augmented-reality-enabled-wearable-devices/
- https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/5/16966530/intel-vaunt-smart-glasses-announced-ar-video
- https://www.cnet.com/news/8-myths-about-wearable-tech/
- https://phys.org/news/2017-06-dont-baby-boomers-wearable-technology.html
- https://medium.com/the-mission/the-6-biggest-challenges-facing-augmented-reality-8d48c470286d
- https://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/5-reasons-google-glass-miserable-failure-01462398
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2065971/
- https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/mobile-computing
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GO_Corp.
- https://mashable.com/2014/02/28/when-google-glass-haters-attack/#bMSWz98OwPq6
- https://www.fcc.gov/general/radio-frequency-safety-0
- https://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet56/oet56e4.pdf
So “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”
____________________________________________________________
About Rick Ricker
An IT professional with over 23 years experience in Information Security, wireless broadband, network and Infrastructure design, development, and support.
For more information, contact Rick at (800) 399-6085 x502
For more information, contact Rick at (800) 399-6085 x502
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your input, your ideas, critiques, suggestions are always welcome...
- Wasabi Roll Staff