Google Begins Testing Its Augmented-Reality Glasses!

[Vehl]

[IMG][/IMG]

^^ One of the dozens of designs being tested. Google says multiple designs, some which can be worn over regular glasses will be available.

[IMG][/IMG]

^^ Contact lenses with built in screens under development.

If you venture into a coffee shop in the coming months and see someone with a pair of futuristic glasses that look like a prop from “Star Trek,” don’t worry. It’s probably just a Google employee testing the company’s new augmented-reality glasses.

On Wednesday, Google gave people a clearer picture of its secret initiative called Project Glass. The glasses are the company’s first venture into wearable computing.The glasses are not yet for sale. Google will, however, be testing them in public.

In a post shared on Google Plus, employees in the company laboratory known as Google X, including Babak Parviz, Steve Lee and Sebastian Thrun, asked people for input about the prototype of Project Glass. Mr. Lee, a Google product manager and originally worked on Google mapping software Latitude, mobile maps and indoor maps, is responsible for the software component and the location-based aspects of the glasses.

“We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input,” the three employees wrote. “Please follow along as we share some of our ideas and stories. We’d love to hear yours, too. What would you like to see from Project Glass?”

Read the Full story here
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/google-begins-testing-its-augmented-reality-glasses/

Check this mind blowing video which showcases what the glasses will do

This is truly amazing, and innovative. This invention comes from the secret Google X labs, which also produced the Google self driving car currently under testing.

Link to Story on the Google self driving car driving a blind man on his errands.

Google puts a blind man behind the wheel of its self-driving car
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002489397


PS: Other projects being worked on in the X Labs?
Space Elevators!!

[Duer 157099]

1. Google goggles!

Want

[ChairmanAgnostic]

12. iGiggle.

[Hugabear]

2. Sounds like it could be incredibly dangerous

I wonder how many people are going to get themselves killed or seriously injured walking around wearing these things.

[Angleae]

57. It's not the walkers, it's the drivers that worry me.

[joshcryer]

82. The software could turn off or go into a very simple mode while driving.

GPS and all, it'd know when you were driving.

Of course, then you'd have to be able to override it for riding on a bus or a train or whatever.

And some drivers might do that.

[Frank Cannon]

85. Well, if a Google Car is driving you, it's no problem.

You can just kick back, enjoy the augmented scenery, and peruse the half-million additional advertising messages that will be shotgunned at your eyeballs.

[Angleae]

87. So long it isn't by Google GPS (as it drives into lake Washington)

[Skinner]

3. I must be a Luddite.

I watched that video, and yes it is cool. But I don't think I want that.

[Vehl]

8. We all have our likes and dislikes :)

I find myself sharing some Transhumanist notions....provided that the mega rich and corporations do not use them to further their current advantages over us, the general population.

I agree that even though I would love such seamless connectivity, that there will be times when I want unplug myself for some down time.

[Ikonoklast]

54. ---initiate transmission---

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED.


- Just a friendly reminder from your friends at Google.



---end transmission---

[joshcryer]

73. I think it was really marketed. The market teams behind it...

...really need to do their research. People don't want to be fed information like that, imo.

[Matariki]

4. Google is both amazing and alarming

They have a lot of really smart people working for them and a very innovative work environment that allows time for 'passion projects' and the ability for employees to choose which team/project they want to work on. I think that goes a long way toward creating innovative and exciting stuff.

On the other hand, they seem like they're inexorably headed toward taking over the world.

[onehandle]

5. Beaming your every thought to personal data miners. No thanks. Google is evil. nt

[dipsydoodle]

6. Will they make Doris Day look young again. ?

.

[backscatter712]

56. That's an idea: Write Beer Goggles software for them! n/t

[Matariki]

7. In the future...

everyone will be walking around, looking off into space, and apparently talking to themselves.

When aliens land they'll think the whole planet is a lunatic asylum.

[dawg]

24. I look forward to that day.

For I already do those things, and I look forward to not standing out so much. (Looks off into space. Mutters to self.)

[Javaman]

51. in the future I will make it big selling tripping devices.

[coalition_unwilling]

78. LMAO-Since when did this planet stop being a lunatic asylum???? :) - n/t

[Vehl]

9. I believe Transhumanism is now becoming a real possibility

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism

It does have its advantages and Disadvantages...as with many other things in life.

Transhumanism, abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.[1] Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as study the ethical matters involved in developing and using such technologies. They predict that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".[1]

The contemporary meaning of the term transhumanism was foreshadowed by one of the first professors of futurology, FM-2030, who taught "new concepts of the Human" at The New School of New York City in the 1960s, when he began to identify people who adopt technologies, lifestyles and world views transitional to "posthumanity" as "transhuman".[2] This hypothesis would lay the intellectual groundwork for the British philosopher Max More to begin articulating the principles of transhumanism as a futurist philosophy in 1990, and organizing in California an intelligentsia that has since grown into the worldwide transhumanist movement.[2][3]

Influenced by seminal works of science fiction, the transhumanist vision of a transformed future humanity has attracted many supporters and detractors from a wide range of perspectives.[2] Transhumanism has been condemned by one critic, Francis Fukuyama, as the world's most dangerous idea,[4] while one proponent, Ronald Bailey, counters that it is the "movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative, and idealistic aspirations of humanity".[5]

[Odin2005]

43. Unabashed transhumanist here!

[Vehl]

60. Cool! that makes two of us here!

I was hooked into the notion the moment I played the first Deus-Ex PC game more than a decade ago, as a teen



PS:

Some of the lines which I found awesome in the Original Deus Ex Game(2000)


"It is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven." - John Milton, Paradise Lost

"Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks to emperors. Today we kneel only to truth." - Kahlil Gibran

"If there were no god, it would be necessary to invent him." - Voltaire

[joshcryer]

74. +1, we're close to the horizon, not sure if we'll make it.

If we do then expect to live 100 trillion years in some form or another.

[ceile]

10. Cool I guess...

But not for me.

[Blue_Tires]

11. The part where the cute girl called in was obviously imaginary

[Vehl]

15. I wil trade the cute girl for the space elevator! ..or maybe not. :P

I doubt any other Sci-Fi Fans...especially those who read Arthur C Clarke's works will disagree!

But then again..I will rather have a cute girl calling me now than wait for the Space elevator to materialize in the future

[Ian David]

13. Just the navigation features alone would make it something I would want.

I also want facial recognition, so I never have to worry about forgetting someone's name, ever again.

I'd also like a visual warning if I'm approaching something I might hit my head on, or an object I might trip over.

I'd also like to be able to call-up a virtual tour guide that spouts trivia and historical information about wherever I am, if I want it.

And reviews of any store, restaurant, or item I look at.

Caloric and diet information for menu items.

And just imagine how well this will work with Grindr or Match.com.

Or canvassing software.

And win every political argument by being able to discreetly google everything.

Instant plant identification.

First-aid instructions.

Virtually undress everyone you look at.

Put virtual Hitler mustaches on everyone you look at.

Calculate an 18% tip just by looking at the check.

Make the "Crushing Your Head Game" even more fun...



When sorting files, it could project a virtual alphabet index, so you don't have to keep singing the stupid alphabet song over and over again inside your head.

Lip reading.

Instant dictionary definitions of anything you read, or that is mentioned in conversation.

Give them to your children to automatically pixelate brief nudity in PG-13 movies.

[Vehl]

29. Cool list

I believe that a lot of the stuff you listed will be available/added pretty soon.

And win every political argument by being able to discreetly google everything.

First-aid instructions.

^^ this would be pretty awesome, they could even do virtual overlays over a body and maybe a 911 operator/doctor could help a layperson do a complex life saving operation in situations where help will be too late to arrive.

[Ian David]

30. Not to mention it could help you land a plane if the pilot dies. n/t

[arcane1]

14. Great, more aloof people walking around who can't function

There is no way I would have a conversation with someone wearing these things. It's bad enough trying to converse with people wearing earbuds with their noses buried in their phones. Now I have to deal with someone constantly nodding and blinking? I'll pass. Even worse if it's someone who didn't pay premium and has to deal with pop-up ads on their lenses.

If one doesn't know the walking route from their own home, perhaps one should stay indoors.

[HiPointDem]

18. +1

[Vehl]

16. Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?

Vegeta : Its over 9000!!!





Dragon Balls reference

[Vehl]

37. :)

[IMG][/IMG]

[silverweb]

17. Pretty cool.

[n2doc]

19. One step closer to the Matrix n/t

[Vehl]

27. And this one looks a bit like Trinity from matrix too!

Last edited Thu Apr 5, 2012, 04:13 PM - Edit history (1)

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[eShirl]

20. Coming soon: ads wherever you look!

yay

[onehandle]

47. Exactly. A more realistic version:

[Frank Cannon]

86. Thanks for that. It's spot-on.

And is no one else freaked out about having EVERYTHING they see and do during the day passed on to ad servers?

[Poll_Blind]

50. Oh yes. nt

PB

[joshcryer]

75. There are already ads everywhere you look.

[MineralMan]

21. Weird and Wonderful at the same time.

Intriguing, but I won't buy them. Too distracting to suit me.

[Uncle Joe]

22. An early version of "Strange Days"

Thanks for the thread, Vehl.

[provis99]

23. "Augmented reality"? Can we give them to freepers for free?

[Hugabear]

25. Freepers have been working with augmented reality for a long time

They simply do not see the world the same way that normal people do.

Actually this isn't far off, a recent study showed that conservatives tend to have lower brain functions than other people. Don't have the link handy, but shouldn't be too hard to look it up.

[dembotoz]

26. so google would not only know everywhere i go but everything i look at and everything i say???

no i don't think so

[SomethingFishy]

28. So I take it we'll be seeing more of this:

I'm all for technology.. but a HUD? Not really necessary.

[Vehl]

31. :D

What if the HUD alerted you that there is an obstacle on your path?

[Ian David]

32. Here’s A More Realistic Look At Google’s Project Glass [Video]

Because walking and texting isn’t dangerous enough, Google Glasses will put AdSense 5mm in front of your retina. Disclaimer: I actually don’t know if Google plans on using in ads in their glasses.

The video above comes by way of Reddit and was made by Tom Scott. It humorously shows what the future could hold through the eyes of Project Glass. Of course the Google Glasses are likely made in such a way that they won’t completely dominate a person’s field of vision but there’s no way they won’t be distracting to some. Instead of walking with their head down looking at their phone, pedestrians are going to wander around in a zombie-like stupor, completely immersed in a YouTube video being shown on their glasses. I can’t wait.

More:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/05/heres-a-more-realistic-look-at-googles-project-glass-video/

[joshcryer]

77. Haha, that cracked me up. :)

[onehandle]

33. The consensus on tech blogs is that Google is flailing desperately. Notice it's not 'Glasses'...

...but glass. They will rent out this non-existant technology to... carriers. It'll be a phone, if it's ever anything.

Google keeps producing 'new' technology fantasies, on the off chance that the concept becomes pertinent.

Google owns an embarrassingly small amount of patents, so they are making shit up.

This is exactly what Microsoft was doing just before the Feds went after them.

Now Microsoft, and of course Apple, don't make shit up. They release products.

And still, nobody is beating Apple with tangible results.

[Vehl]

38. well

Whatever that makes an Apple fan sleep at night.

[LeftinOH]

34. We already have glasses like those:

And according to the ads, they really work!

[onehandle]

35. Those were just as real as the fantasy in that Google hipster video. nt

[Javaman]

53. Amaze Your Friends with X-Ray Glasses - The Flametrick Subs

Well heavens Betsy and goodness knows
My, I can see right through your clothes
I see it all, far and wide
The front, the back and the other side
Cover it up but you can't hide
These things I see can't be denied

I put these glasses on my nose
And everything becomes exposed
You ask me "What's inside a girl?"
Beneath the ribbons, bows and curls
Underneath the perfume and the pearls
With these things on the truth unfurls

Chorus:
Well you got somethin' I gotta see
But you keep it from my sight
You keep it so secluded and wrapped up so tight
I bought some X-ray glasses from a comic book
Now whether you like it or you don't
I'm gonna have a look

It used to be a mystery
Confused by things I couldn't see
But now the world's a different place
With these x-ray glasses on my face
With these things on I will discover
All the things you try to cover

[FSogol]

36. Bah, soon you'll be able to have ads blasted straight to your eyeballs

while hiking or reading.

[RebelOne]

39. Like something from a sci-fi novel.

But of course, all of the technologies of today have been in sci-fi novels and movies in the past, including TV, i.e., Star Trek.

[petronius]

48. William Gibson's novel Virtual Light centered on some

augmented sun glasses like these, and one of his other stories (can't remember which one) mentioned the same sort of idea but used as eyeball implants - the kicker there was what happens when your 'enhanced' eyes get hacked by a spammer?

[belcffub]

40. I'll wait for the 2.0 version

with the X-Ray vision option... hey I've been waiting for that since I was 7...

[piratefish08]

41. Google IS Skynet.

i rest my case.

[onehandle]

42. A more realistic version of what Google wants to subject you to --->

The Mountain View Ad Company has two priorities:

1) Filling every moment of your life with ads.
2) Selling your every move to anyone who wants it.

[Vehl]

58. disingenuous post

Google does NOT advertise in Android. All the Google-made apps in Android are Free AND Free of Adds.

The ONLY ads one sees are the ones found in FREE third party Apps.
Dont want Apps? pay 99c (or more for certain apps) and get the Ad Free Version.


Repeatedly posting this idotic Video only underscores how clueless some iCultists are about Google and Android.

[onehandle]

62. Google is an Advertising Company that gums up the Internet with spam.

Nothing more.

They haven't made a dime on Android.

[Vehl]

64. How does that explain the previous Video that you posted.

It totally misinterprets what the Android OS does and is clearly disingenuous.

It was either made by a person who is clueless about Google/Android is/or deliberately made push lies as fact. You may pick one.

[onehandle]

66. Sorry, I was making my way through Google ads on my mini-tablet sized Android phone.

I look so awesome with that big piece of plastic pushed against my face.

Oops. Google sold my login to Russian scammers and now I'm no longer me.

V ia gra. Che ap. Cli ck here.

[Vehl]

67. While in the Reality Distortion field ?

cool story bro

[joshcryer]

76. Google owns AdMob.

They make money on Android and iPhone.

[onehandle]

79. Nope. The Mountain View Ad Company still hasn't made back its money on AdMob.

And is basically giving Android OS licenses away for free.

They only make money over their crappy, little text ads that pollute your Internet experience.

En large y ou pen is cli ck her e.

[joshcryer]

80. Do you have a source?

[joshcryer]

81. OK, I found a source, and I call total BS. They got AdMob for $750 million. It pulls in $1 billion.

http://news.accuracast.com/google-7471/google-discloses-revenue-breakdown/

It's very likely paid itself off by now, several times over.

[onehandle]

84. Fantastic! The world's largest ad spammer finally made a profitable purchase.

Now we can get our cornea implants and be one with the Borg.

Cia 1is $1.52 a p ill. C lick h ere.

[joshcryer]

88. Blame Angry Birds.

I suppose you're against developers monetizing their apps with advertisements. Piracy on the mobile phone market is rampant, ads are the only real way to make money.

[.99center]

70. Is that an Apple feature

that causes you to spam the same video multiple times in the same thread or is it your religious like experience that overwhelms you to do so?

[joshcryer]

72. It wouldn't take off it was like that, it'll be far more subtle.

Suggestions and whatnot would be tailor fit for the individual.

But we'll hack them since Google uses open source on their stuff and be able to get rid of the subtle manipulation.

[Odin2005]

44. I WANT!!!

[onehandle]

46. ...ADS BEAMED INTO MY EYES AND MY EVERY MOVE SOLD TO MARKETERS!

You're alone there.

[blaze]

45. I'll have to think about the glasses for a bit... but the car!!

Wow! The potential good there is amazing!

[Javaman]

49. oh joy...

yet another distraction to be added to the morons already talking on their cell phones, texting, reading their news papers or books, etc while driving in traffic.

some goofball, if google hasn't already done it, will find a way to rig the glasses to show movies.

"Long drive home? No more! You can watch a movie while on that long commute! No worrying about accidents, that's what insurance and neck braces are for!!"

Give me a self driving car for the masses first, then I could give a shit if someone want to play racketball in their backseat.

[Poll_Blind]

52. "This sunset brought to you by Carl's Jr. -> Morse-Blink 'CLOSE' to close this Ad"

PB

[backscatter712]

55. The Gargoyles from Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash have arrived! n/t

[Vehl]

59. Google Co-founder Sergey Brin wears Google glasses in public

[IMG][/IMG]

Google's Sergey Brin takes Project Glass into the wild

Project Glass, Google's planned augmented reality product, has been spotted in the wild on none other than Sergey Brin. Robert Scoble ran into Google's co-founder at the "San Francisco Dining in the Dark" charity event and snapped the above photo of Brin wearing the glasses, posting it to Twitter. He followed up with a few details, saying Brin wouldn't allow him to try the "very light looking" glasses on, but the glasses did appear to be self-contained. Brin told Scoble that it was a prototype device, but it was operational enough for Scoble to see "a bluish light flashing off his right eyeball."

more here
http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/6/2929486/googles-project-glass-sergey-brin

[onehandle]

63. The King of Hipster Douchebags. nt

[Vehl]

65. Lol Apple IS the company catering to Hipsters..not Google.

At least get your terminology right.

Oh and btw, this so called "Hipster" is probably one of the smartest persons out there...one who actually made great advances in technology possible by his own work..(eg page rank algorithm, other algorithms)...not one who ripped off others like Steve.

I doubt if "Zen"-ish Steve could even write a program to print "Hello World".

Apple is the company Hipsters love...cos it makes them look "cool" even when it rips them off by selling over-priced, outdated tech.
Android caters to everyone...even the ones who can barely afford shiny new "toys"...you know..like most of the working people in the world. Will apple sell a 25$ phone without contract? Google will and does.

Not everyone lives in the Bay-Area bubble, surrounded by Hipster Coffee houses , being "creative" with their Overpriced-underspecced Apple toys. And no..you do not see Any Android/Google user making fun of people for buying "cheap phones", whereas Snobbish Apple fans regularly do.


PS:
How exactly is he a douche? pray tell.

AFAIK He was not the one who lied so he did not have to pay child support for his own child.....a child who had a harsh childhood, living in welfare while her dad bathed in luxury.

Seems like you have your terminology all messed up...but then again its no different from the nonsensical reasoning ive seen come from the mouths of Religious Fundamentalists.

PPS:

16 Examples Of Steve Jobs Being A Huge Jerk
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-jerk-2011-10#he-wanted-nothing-to-do-with-his-daughter-for-a-long-time-6#ixzz1rJ7Q1PSa

[onehandle]

68. Apple is ubiquitous.

Apple is in 55% of American households.

Grandmothers accessing the Internet for the first time on an iPad are so hipstery.

Well, hip replacery, anyway.

[Hugabear]

69. Arguing over billion-dollar corporations...

might as well be arguing if a tiger makes a safer pet than a crocodile.

[adigal]

61. How can you enjoy the moment with all that info popping up all of the time??

I heard George Clooney talking on NPR, and he said that so many people are so busy recording and taking photos of him and others, that they don't enjoy and live in the moment. They go to shake the person's hand, and the person is too busy filming him to shake his hand.

I think this is similar. If you are so busy planning and getting information on everything, do you ever get lost in the moment. Completely un-Zen if you ask me. Don't want that at all.

[joshcryer]

71. I predicted this just a few weeks ago. :)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=362628

[lonestarnot]

83. Doz tings not for me. Hmmm ugh.

[onehandle]

89. The Truth About Google Glasses (Comic)