TECH SPECIAL...Google Glass technology is here. But will it be a boon or curse?

Google Glass technology is here. But will it be a boon or curse?
 

Google Glass, like the name implies, is a pair of glasses that you wear but can do what no other ‘spectacles’ can even dream of. And the specs on these specs are quite mind-boggling. It has a tiny high-resolution screen embedded right where your peripheral vision starts and because it’s that close – your eye sees it like a 25-inch screen. The glass band has a touch pad that lets you slide your fingers up and down to scroll and move though pages and you tap to select an item. The device is also fitted with a tiny speaker, microphone and motion sensors that interpret commands based on the wearer’s head movements. Eye movements can also be used to control the device and simple head motions allow you to scroll through different apps and features. Google Glass can do everything a smartphone does without you having to fish it out of your pocket or look at the screen or use your hands to control it. It can film and photograph on demand, provide real-time info at the nod of your head, plus get your driving instructions and maps without you ever looking down. Excited? You should be! This is the Holy Grail of technology.

FLIPPING THE GLASS
Just like all modern technology breakthroughs, there’s an obvious flip side to this device too. But that’s where the similarity ends. Unlike other devices, once we go down this path – there is no going back. Life, as we know it will be over. And while that may sound very profound, let me make my case.
DISTRACTION
Crossing a road with these on and you see new Facebook pictures flashing onto your Google Glass; it may well be your face plastered all over a truck the very next second.
Driving a car and using this for directions – a news headline may distract you enough to make sure that it’s your mangled car that makes it the headlines the next morning.
DISCOMFORT
Wearing glasses at all times isn’t the world’s most comfortable thing. They need care and attention and these are super fragile. Plus, there will be versions for those who already wear powered glasses, so now you have two to take care of.
Imagine an entire world that wears these kind of glasses as this is now your phone and heads-up info unit. Have you heard the term ‘Cyborgs’? Well, now you’re going to be one of them!
TECHNOLOGY
These look and sound very cool, but at the end of the day, these have to have the form factor of a pair of glasses. So where does the battery go? If your current smartphone gives you 14 hours of battery life, this one may give you four, despite the claim of full-day battery power. That would mean an additional battery pack that we will have to wear on our body! This will give birth to a whole new world of wearable accessories. I think I’ll go with the purplish black GogGlas battery pack shaped like a beard and also worn like one.
Storage is another issue. These are supposed to be the record keepers of your life. Photos every five seconds, video on demand, record of where you went, whom you met, what each person said – you can literally play back your entire day just like a film. But where will you store your life? Not on the glasses! The on-board 16GB will fill up in minutes and thus you will need an extra device to store it all. Plus you need to tether this to your smartphone to send all that info to and fro as this may not have Wi-Fi or 4G embedded in it. Kind of defeats the whole purpose, doesn’t it?
PRIVACY
The big one. Just how uncomfortable is it to know that anyone can look you up, recognise you, search for all your personal details and invade your life just because you’re sitting nearby in a coffee shop. Stalkers and the mildly obsessive will have a field day.
As the whole world starts to wear these, an army of Google Glassians will be born. Every word you’ve said around anybody, every gesture and every action will be tagged, searched and played back by anyone who can hack or access this info. Big Brother was nothing; this would be the Big Mother of them all!
Privacy at all levels will be compromised. You won’t be allowed to wear them into cinema halls (you can record a movie and ‘share it’ first day first show). Casinos won’t allow them anywhere near the tables (film your blackjack hand and get expert card counting advice), or strip clubs (!!), examination centres or nightclubs. The 5-Point Café in Seattle has already banned the use of Google Glass and has even pasted a sign that says ‘a** kickings will be encouraged for violators’ of the rule.
As of now, this technology comes in the form factor of glasses to be worn and is thus easily identifiable. The next version may well be contact lenses – which may make it impossible to know when you’re being observed, studied and filmed.
A London-based campaign group ‘ Stop The Cyborgs’ are calling for limits on when the glasses can be used – along with guidelines to inform the public when they are being filmed. They want people to ‘ actively set social and physical bounds around the use of technologies and not just fatalistically accept the direction technology is heading in’.
TWO SIDES TO THE COIN
When you look deep into what technology like this represents – it may well be the first time that a technology has come along that represents both sides of the coin in such a dramatic and drastic manner. On the one side, this is by far the most cutting-edge innovation in a very long time; on the other hand, it is also the most invasive technological innovation ever conceived. Put together it may turn the world upside down, one pair of glasses at a time.

Rajiv Makhni HTBR 130421