Wearing Google Glass can hurt, doctor warns

[onehandle]

Source: BBC

The College of Optometrists advised anyone who buys Google Glass to get their eyes tested before using it.

The College's clinical adviser Dr Susan Blakeney said: "The optometrist can advise you, they can see how its position will affect you and they can also advise you on how long you should use Google Glass for before taking a rest."

Harvard optometrist Dr Eli Peli, who acted as a consultant to Google during the development of Glass, said it is unusual for people to look up for long periods of time and doing so can be uncomfortable.

"The only people who look up a lot are some professionals like electricians and painters. Most of us look either straight or down. It's well known that up is less comfortable," he told BetaBeat.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27485628

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Focusing up unnaturally to read a tiny screen a fraction of an inch from your eye can hurt it?

No kidding.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Cooley Hurd]

1. My eyes are terribly strained after looking at my GN2 for a short period...

...with the display about a foot away. I can only imagine the eyestrain if the display was less than an inch away!

[truthisfreedom]

2. I always wondered why I hate tall people.

[Leme]

3. dangerous too

I think some people punch you.

[kracer20]

4. The Optigrab Revisited!

Reference from the movie "The Jerk", just in case someone doesn't catch it...

[onehandle]

6. First thing I thought of when Glass was announced. nt

[geomon666]

11. .

[VWolf]

12. LMAO! Ya beat me to it! n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

19. In other news

THE NEW PHONE BOOKS ARE HERE.

[awoke_in_2003]

20. Things are going to start happening to me now. nt

[redwitch]

21. I'm somebody!

God how I love that silly movie!

[awoke_in_2003]

23. Sounds like a typical bastard...

I need to buy that movie one day.

[steve2470]

5. call me an old fogey but...

if I want to use the net, I'll sit down and use my tablet, thank you very much. I'll pass on the GG unless someone gives me a pair.

[Warpy]

7. I'll pass on them even if I do get a free pair

I had too many surgeries to give me my eyesight back to want to risk fucking it up again.

[Xithras]

8. The current design probably isn't long for this world.

With the huge advancements that OLED's have made in the past couple of years, primarily with the perfection of transparent and flexible OLED displays, it's probable that future versions of the Glass will be indistinguishable from a normal pair of eyeglasses or sunglasses. In theory, an OLED "lens" could simply be layered inside of a traditional pair of glasses, and any point in the lens could be used to generate an image.

At this point, I believe that the biggest hangup is resolution. While Google hasn't released the specifics on their display, most people have worked out that it has a pixel density of at least 480ppi, which most people consider to be "grainy" at such a short viewing distance (Retina, by comparison is 320ppi, and the sharpest smartphone currently on the market is the HTC One M8 with 470ppi). Google is apparently talking to a French company that has worked out a way to make 3000ppi OLED screen (which will make the Pixel and Retina displays look like cartoons in comparison), but that technology hasn't yet been merged with the transparent and flexible screens.

When it does, the Glass (or its competitors) will probably look more like this:

[Brigid]

9. I see Google glass as dangerous from another standpoint:

Privacy. There was a post on DU a while back about an app for those things that enable the wearer to look at you on the street or wherever and instantly know your name and other personal info. I think the danger here is obvious.

[Sunlei]

13. major cities are blanketed with cameras & have facilities to monitor those cams.use that software

facial recognition software is everywhere & in use including face book 'pics'.

There is no Privacy if one walks around,carries a cell phone, or drives a car.

[Brigid]

17. And that has to stop.

We have to begin somewhere on taking back our privacy, and I think Google glass, with the potential for stalkers, rapists, and other violent criminals to use it, is a good place to start. I am an absolute privacy bug. I don't go near facebook, and don't give out my information at stores either. Maybe I've read "1984" too many times, but I find the erosion of our privacy rights -- and the growing acceptance of it -- extremely dangerous.

[Sunlei]

18. It won't stop, cities like NYC depend on this type of security.

I'm a privacy bug too. We have no privacy, even our right to our own home use & privacy is gone.

I don't give out any personal info either especially to face book type places. That's the number 1 place criminals worldwide and local- go to find their next mark.

[tridim]

10. None of this really matters, since HUD's will be directly connected to the brain in about 5 years.

[Sunlei]

14. can you imagine the hacks (or bugs) for a hud attached to someones brain....

[tridim]

15. Yes, but it's the hacks we can't imagine that will be the most shocking.

It'll be all over if/when these things start hacking into dopamine.

[Sunlei]

16. Last week when I went to the Apple store I thought thats what happened to everyone.

Twilight zone- 25 employees and about 100 shoppers all staring slack faced at their devices.

[arikara]

22. I thought the same just walking down the street

in a nearby city. Everybody was walking around poking at their cellphones. The only people who were aware of anything around them were the few people walking their dogs. I can't imagine how much creepier it would be if everyone was wearing google glasses.

[FormerOstrich]

24. I am buying one for all my family and friends

Socail Media Guard

[bnolkyz]

25. It also makes you look like you require Immediate Psychiatric Intervention