| Google has just given us a sneak peek into its Project Glass – a set of smart eyewear that gives the user a hands-free, augmented reality experience everywhere. The teaser video that Google put out shows the wearer being able to send and receive text messages, video chat, check in, get directions, and more, all by just wearing these glasses. He can see tiny bits of information in the right corner of his line of sight, and he seemingly moves about his day with ease as his glasses help him through every activity. |
Future Reality
While these glasses are surely far from being ready for retail sales, they’re certainly a very interesting product to consider. If Google’s augmented reality glasses are released, would you try them out? Could they replace your smartphone and your tablet? Will they make things easier for you while also adding value to your everyday life? I think that while innovative and revolutionary, Google’s glasses are completely unnecessary because your reality just doesn’t need any augmenting.
Futuristic Potential
Google’s augmented reality glasses are the kind of product we had in mind when we envisioned a futuristic, Jetson-like world. These glasses will help us see (literally) just how far technology has come. The glasses will combine all our technological capabilities into one tiny, wearable device. We would be able to view anything we could ever need or want in the corner of our vision. It’s very cool, of course, but it’s also intimidating. The problem is information overload. Would we really have things popping up in our line of sight every few minutes like the video shows? In our daily lives, everything could potentially be augmented. When is it too much?
Augmented Reality Pros and Cons
Augmented reality can be very useful at times. When we’re looking for more information about our location, for example, augmented reality can help us discover interesting tidbits and things to do that we wouldn’t know about otherwise. Google’s glasses would combine GPS-positioning to help augment our reality wherever we go. Imagine having a personal tour guide with you at all times. Occasionally it would be cool and helpful, but most of the time it’d be super annoying because we’d rather just discover things on our own.
Google Integration to the Max
One of the scarier things about Google’s augmented reality glasses is that they’d take Google integration much further. With Search plus Your World, Google +, and the combining of Google’s privacy policies, lots of people have become wary about how much power and information Google has over us. With Google’s glasses, the mega-corporation would succeed in becoming the embodiment of Big Brother. Google would know every single step you take, and it’d be along for the ride. How comfortable would you be with that?
The Bottom Line
While augmented reality can be fun, it just isn’t necessary. Like all tech advances, it’s cool but you can live without it. Now that Google has shown us its desire to be in our field of vision at all times, we will have to evaluate our willingness to accept, and in fact invite, augmented reality to simply become reality.
Andreas Svensson is a swedish-born IT specialist who loves to write about his vast knowledge of gadgets. To ensure his writing is crisp and mistake-free he proofs it with a grammar checker. On his days off he loves to get his friends together and drive down to the beach in his Nissan.
Find us on Google+