How will people use the Project Glass Augmented Reality display?
Looks like an elegant pair of glasses.
The elegant, clean appearance of Google's Project Glass eyewear is reminiscent of products designed by Apple, and the capabilities of the glasses might just be the thing that brings Augmented Reality into the mainstream. Google's demonstration video of a person wearing his AR glasses shows him wearing the glasses all the time, which seems to presage a world where people will essentially be immersed in technology all the time, so in essence a computer screen is in front of your eyes wherever you go. This leads to questions about how much of your world you want Google to experience, and the privacy rights of those who are part of the user's experience. Obviously, everyone you look at can't agree to terms and conditions before talking to you, and as the capbilities of augmented reality glasses improve, there could essentially be a hundred million cameras all providing information back to a server cloud that is monitoring the behavior of everyone in its view. Since computers can already monitor behavior and recognize people, the potential for surveillance and evidence gathering becomes tantalizing for law enforcement and investigational agencies, since such glasses could give nearly continuous audio and video monitoring of everyone in your field of view. Considering that people already use their cellphones in the bathroom, how much privacy will other people have if a person forgets to remove his/her glasses in public restrooms? What if a person's video stream is hacked? Can your augmented reality glasses be subpeonaed as evidence in crimes or divorce cases? While Project Glass is certainly innovative, and not the only set of augmented reality glasses on the market, these questions are going to have to be answered sooner, rather than later.
Notes and Special Information
Special note: How prescription eyeglass wearers will experience Project Glass is still a matter of debate..