1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,920 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I am a senior 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: writer with the website how stuff works dot com. And 5 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 1: as always, I like to talk about technology, especially on 6 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: this show. That's why it's called tech Stuff, and I'm 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: going to talk about subject that I've touched on in 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,520 Speaker 1: past episodes. In fact, we did a full episode about 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: this subject. I'm talking about Google Glass. And while we 10 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,839 Speaker 1: did do an older episode about this, I felt like 11 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: we could really use a chance to revisit this and 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: and kind of talk about in the more modern style 13 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: of this show. You might remember, the old version of 14 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: tech Stuff was more conversational and this one's less, so 15 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: it's more narrative. Well, Google Glass was a big augmented 16 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: reality the project or an a our project out of 17 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: Google's R and D labs, the Google x labs, that's 18 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,479 Speaker 1: the super secret research and development branch of Google. And 19 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: it probably was a little bit ahead of its time. 20 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: In fact, it really was ahead of its time, and 21 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: it was purposefully ahead of its time. That was part 22 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: of the problem. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It 23 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: might have suffered from some poor design and implementation, or 24 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: at least some choices that perhaps puzzled people. I wouldn't 25 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: go so far as to call them poor myself. I 26 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 1: actually really liked Google Glass. Maybe it was just too 27 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: darned expensive. It's pretty pretty costly. But whatever the reason, 28 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: and we'll explore all of them. It's no longer a 29 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: consumer product that you can buy from Google. So today 30 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about Project Glass, how it got started, 31 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: the technology behind it, and the failed experiment to turn 32 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: it into a consumer product, and where is it now. 33 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: The reason I decided to cover this is because the 34 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: week I'm recording this episode, The Telegraph ran an article 35 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: about some of the biggest flops in technology, and some 36 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: of the usual suspects were in there, like the Nintendo 37 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: Virtual Boy was one of the major flops listed. There 38 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: are also some heartbreaking intreats in there. The Sega Dreamcast, 39 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: for example. I know that's another video game component there, 40 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: a console. In this case, it was legitimately a really 41 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: good video game console. It just didn't do very well 42 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: in the market, but I still have one and it 43 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 1: was really really good. Then there was Google Glass that 44 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: was also one of the ones that the Telegraph listed 45 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: another heartbreaker. So what's the story behind it? Well, I 46 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: can't talk about Google Glass without first talking about augmented reality, 47 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: can I? You know me? You know I can't. I 48 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: am physically incapable of doing that. I'm sure many of 49 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,959 Speaker 1: you are familiar with the concept of augmented reality or 50 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: a R. But just in case, I'm going to give 51 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: you a quick refresher. So Thomas Couddle gets the credit 52 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: for coining the phrase augmented reality in nineteen nine. He 53 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: was specifically talking about the system that would allow you 54 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: to see where wires needed to be laid out and say, 55 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 1: the fuselage of an airplane. So if you've ever been 56 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: able to walk into an airplane where it's been stripped 57 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: down so you can see the guts of it. Uh. 58 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: I was recently at an airplane museum where I got 59 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: to do this. I walked through what had been a 60 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: former seven forty seven and now included a section where 61 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: everything got stripped away so you could see essentially the 62 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: bones the skeleton of the seven forty seven, and part 63 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: of that included conduits through which wires would run. Well, 64 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: when you're building one of these airplanes, you need to 65 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: know where those wire conduits have to be so that 66 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: you can make sure they fit into the overall design. 67 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: Caudal worked on systems that would give a digital overlay 68 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: as engineers would look at this airplane design so that 69 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: they could lay the cables the proper way, make sure 70 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: that they were aligned so that they weren't going to 71 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: end up messing up the design some other way. And really, 72 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: augmented reality is just the integration of digital information into 73 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: the real world around us. And you can do this 74 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: in lots of different ways, but typically we talk about 75 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: augmented reality in terms of overlaying some sort of visual 76 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: digital information, like a digital display through which you can 77 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: see a view of the real world, and thus you 78 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 1: can have some augmented information on top of that view 79 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: of reality. So a good example of this might be 80 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 1: a fighter pilot who has a helmet that includes a 81 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: digital heads up display or h u D on the 82 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: visor of the helmet itself, so you might be able 83 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 1: to visualize things like uh Allied aircraft and you'd be 84 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: able to see it and it would be identified within 85 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: your visor so that you get information about that. That's 86 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: a simple example, simple in the sense that you can 87 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: easily imagine it. It's actually quite complicated when you build 88 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: the technology. A few high end cars have similar features 89 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: that give digitally enhanced information that is projected or otherwise 90 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,719 Speaker 1: displayed on the windshield itself, which gives the driver the 91 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: ability to see certain special views. You might be able 92 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: to see, like a infrared view of what is outside 93 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: the car, or a projection of things like the outside temperature, 94 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:26,919 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. But it tends to be in 95 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: those luxury cars. You don't see it in a lot 96 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: of the lower production cars, even even the nicer ones. 97 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:41,239 Speaker 1: It's pretty rare. You just you also have I'm guessing 98 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: an augmented reality device on you. More likely than not 99 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 1: most of you, I'm sure have smartphones. So if you 100 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: have a smartphone, you have a device that is probably 101 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: capable of running augmented reality apps. There are tons of 102 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: different apps in the a R space for all of 103 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: the major smartphone platforms, iOS and Android being the two 104 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,159 Speaker 1: big ones, but there are ones for other ones as well, 105 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: And typically the way these work is that you hold 106 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:11,359 Speaker 1: your phone up. Your phones back facing camera pulls in 107 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,279 Speaker 1: a view of the world around you, so it's like 108 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: you're getting a live view It's like your your phone 109 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,359 Speaker 1: is a monitor for you to look at a live 110 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 1: camera feed of the world around you, but then the 111 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: app allows other digital information to be overlaid on top 112 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: of that view. So it might be something as simple 113 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: as directions of where to go. Let's say you've programmed 114 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,919 Speaker 1: your phone saying I wanna get to this one particular 115 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: coffee shop and it's about six blocks away, and you 116 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: hold your phone up and it tells you, all right, 117 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: you need to go three blocks straight ahead, then you're 118 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: gonna take a right. That's a pretty simple again concept 119 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: for augmented reality, but it could do other stuff too, 120 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: Like you might be able to hold it up to 121 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: a sign that's written in a language you can't read, 122 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: and it might be able to read it and translate 123 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: it for you. We're seeing a lot of translate apps 124 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: that in Core break this kind of augmented reality, and 125 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: it's pretty awesome, at least in my my opinion, is 126 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,480 Speaker 1: pretty awesome. But there are tons of different ways to 127 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: implement augmented reality and just as many different use cases 128 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: for a R. And it ranges from just entertainment to 129 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: productivity to industrial use and beyond medicine. Lots of different 130 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: potential uses for a r now. Google Glass started as 131 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: a head mounted computer device that would incorporate augmented reality 132 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: features into a display that you could look through and 133 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: still see the world beyond. And while the project was 134 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: first teased in a video in two thousand twelve, the 135 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: origins for this project go back much further than that. 136 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: And first, before there was even a Google, there was 137 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: a guy named Thad Starner. I've actually had the good 138 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: fortune to meet Mr Starner because he works at Georgia 139 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,160 Speaker 1: Tech as a professor there, and I visited Georgia Tech. 140 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: I've visited the wearable computing labs, and I've chatted with him. 141 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: He's an interesting dude. And Georgia techt just down the 142 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: street from how stuff works, so it's not hard for 143 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: us to get over there. Well, he also served as 144 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: a technical lead for Google Glass. In fact, I believe 145 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: he served as technical lead longer than anyone else in 146 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: that position for that particular project. And it was Startner's 147 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: work in wearable technology and augmented reality that you could 148 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: say got the ball rolling. So you remember I mentioned 149 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,720 Speaker 1: a guy named Caddle got the credit for coining the 150 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: phrase augmented reality. Well, Starner says that he really coined 151 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: that phrase independently of Caudle also in through a fellowship 152 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: proposal he wrote, and he thinks that that might be 153 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: the first appearance of augmented reality. He wanted to use 154 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 1: the phrase artificial reality when he was originally talking about 155 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: this concept. However, someone else was already using that term. 156 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: That someone was Timothy Leary, and if you don't know 157 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: who Timothy Learry is, you should look that up. Leary 158 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: was specifically talking about the kind of reality you experience 159 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: when you have partaken in mind altering substances. So it 160 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: wasn't exactly the context that Starner wanted to imply when 161 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: he was talking about his technology, so he didn't adopt 162 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: artificial reality, and he went with augmented reality instead. In 163 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: which was years before Google ever even existed. Starner created 164 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: a wearable display, so it was a display that attached 165 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: to his glasses, and really he worked with other people 166 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: to design this. He didn't build it by himself with 167 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: his own two hands, but he worked with designers to 168 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: create a computer system that incorporated a display that could 169 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: clip onto his glasses. And it was pretty big and bulky, 170 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: and it was not transparent. It was like having a 171 00:09:56,559 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: small computer monitor mounted on your glass is uh. And 172 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: he started to wear this all the time wherever he went. 173 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 1: It was kind of an experiment in finding out how 174 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 1: you might use wearable computers, what elements are important, which 175 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,840 Speaker 1: ones are not important, how do you incorporated into your 176 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: daily life. So he would wear this all the time, 177 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: and it very often would prompt people to ask questions 178 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:27,720 Speaker 1: about this weird thing that he had on him on 179 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:33,120 Speaker 1: his face mainly. Eventually there was a build of this 180 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: that started going by a name called the Lizzie. It 181 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: was a wearable computer, complete with input devices and with 182 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: that head malond display that again was kind of unsightly originally. Anyway, 183 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:53,520 Speaker 1: this display was able to show a resolution of seven pixels, 184 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,439 Speaker 1: so tiny resolution compared to what you would find today, 185 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: the very low resolution compared to today's screens. It was 186 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: also monochromatic, so only one color. And connected to that 187 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: was a one handed keyboard called a twiddler, which I 188 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: wish were a joke, but it is not. So it 189 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,480 Speaker 1: was a little one handed twiddler keyboard. It kind of 190 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: reminds me of the keypads on old cell phones where 191 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: if you wanted to send a text message and you 192 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:26,200 Speaker 1: had to hit the letter E. You had to press 193 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: the D E F key twice in a row in 194 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 1: order for you to select E before you moved onto 195 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 1: your next letter. According to Starner, he could hit type 196 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 1: up to a hundred thirty words per minute using this 197 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: one handed keyboard method, which is crazy fast. It's crazy 198 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: fast even if you're using two hands on a regular keyboard. 199 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: So I was really impressed to hear about that. Uh, 200 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:53,559 Speaker 1: very large and heavy batteries would give the computer more 201 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: than ten hours of juice before you need to recharge. 202 00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:00,280 Speaker 1: But I mean these batteries weighed several pounds at Lee East, 203 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: so they weren't little unobtrusive things attached to the computer. 204 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: It was it was like wearing a hefty backpack. Um, 205 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: so it wasn't exactly comfortable to wear all the time. 206 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 1: And the computer was really serving as a platform, a 207 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 1: development platform. It was the basis for programmers to design 208 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,559 Speaker 1: wearable computing applications. So it's not like it magically gave 209 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: Starner some sort of crazy computing ability. It was rather 210 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: an early wearable device to help explore the applications and 211 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: implementations of wearables without having to worry about creating a 212 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: specific product. So this was really exploratory, and when you 213 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: think about it, it was meant to say, we think 214 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: there's something here, but we don't exactly know what it 215 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:50,960 Speaker 1: is yet. We don't know what the final form is 216 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,319 Speaker 1: going to be, So I don't have an idea for 217 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:55,960 Speaker 1: something that's going to be in a package on a 218 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 1: store shelf that other people can go out and buy. Rather, 219 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:04,600 Speaker 1: I think computing has the capability of transforming our daily 220 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: lives in yet another way. Now keep in mind, this 221 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: isn't nineteen the early nineties. This is before smartphones, so 222 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: smartphones would go on to show us that, yes, indeed, 223 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: having a computer device that you can carry around with 224 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: you changes things. There's no question of that. The Internet 225 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: itself is a reflection of how much that has changed. 226 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:31,319 Speaker 1: Internet advertising has changed dramatically because of mobile devices and 227 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 1: the popularity of them. So wearable computer has definitely had 228 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: the potential to make an enormous impact. But we had 229 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: to figure out what sort of implementation made sense and 230 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: what kind of applications would you use it for. Because 231 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: just to have something, just to have it that doesn't 232 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,960 Speaker 1: remain compelling for very long, that would be part of 233 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:57,199 Speaker 1: the problem of Google Glass later spoiler alert. Now, one 234 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: of those applications that Starner created or e on, was 235 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: a program that would keep track of everything he said, 236 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: whether or not it was straight voice to text, I 237 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 1: am not entirely certain. I'm sure by some point it 238 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,079 Speaker 1: really was. But he would also be able to type 239 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: things in using the twiddler, which I remind you it's 240 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: not a joke. So it was kind of like a 241 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: perpetual notes system. He could keep track of things he 242 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: was thinking about and talking about, and then he could 243 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: run a search back against that and see if he 244 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: could find anything interesting later on. And he said that 245 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: about cent of the time what he got back was garbage, 246 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: wasn't particularly interesting, insightful, or helpful. But about five percent 247 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: at the time it was totally the opposite. It was 248 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: something really worth knowing and remembering. So he thought of 249 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: it as something like a memory booster. It wasn't. It 250 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: wasn't replacing his memory, but augmenting it. Now, according to 251 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: popular accounts, Starner attended a conference in the late nineties 252 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: and and he met to post graduate students from Stanford, 253 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: so this would be about those two post graduate students 254 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: were named Saragi Brenn and Larry Page, And if you're 255 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 1: familiar with those two, you know those are the co 256 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: founders for Google. In fact, they would found the company 257 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: Google just a few short months after this conference. Now, 258 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: Brin and Page thought that Starner's wearable computers were fascinating, 259 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: and he gave them a full demonstration of what the 260 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: computer was capable of doing. However, at the time, they 261 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 1: were already focusing on a way to improve search engines 262 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: on the web, so they couldn't really dedicate any attention 263 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: to wearable computers they were they were too busy perfecting 264 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: their search engine approach. And this was important because back 265 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: in the day before things like Google, the algorithm that 266 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 1: got so sophisticated that it was able to ignore a 267 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: lot of the tricks people were using to try and 268 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: direct traffic to their sites. Web search engines were just okay. 269 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: Most of them were looking for instances of keywords appearing 270 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: on a page, which meant that people would try and 271 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: full search engines by inserting as many different key search 272 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: terms as possible at the bottom of a page, even 273 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: if the page had nothing to do with that particular concept. 274 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: And why would they do this? Because web advertising is 275 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: based off of how many views you get on a page. 276 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: Page views are king at least most. Web advertising is 277 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: not all of it, but a lot of it is. 278 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: So if you were able to direct a lot of 279 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: traffic to your web page, that was another page view. 280 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: It didn't matter if what that people founded that by 281 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: the time they got there, if it wasn't what they 282 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: were looking for, and if they bounced, you got the 283 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: page view. You don't care where they go afterward. Well, 284 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: Google one of its big missions was to create a 285 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: better search engine that would ignore all of the gamification 286 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: of S e O and to try and look for 287 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: the links that are the best representation of whatever it 288 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: is you're searching for. So that's what they're they're real 289 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: focus was on. However, this whole, this meeting between Starner 290 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 1: and Brennan Page may have been the first seed for 291 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: Google Glass, and it happened in before Google was an 292 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: official company. Now flash forward a decade. It's two thousand eight. 293 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,879 Speaker 1: Google by this time is a huge company, incredibly successful, 294 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: and it had just launched its own smartphone operating system 295 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:37,640 Speaker 1: called Android. Starner immediately thought that Android had promise as 296 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: more than just an operating system for a smartphone. It 297 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: could be ported over to all sorts of different devices 298 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: and used for lots of different stuff, particularly things that 299 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: were small and nimble, stuff that wasn't like your traditional 300 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:58,080 Speaker 1: laptop or desktop computer that includes wearables. So he tried 301 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 1: to get in touch with Brennan Paige. However, the phone 302 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,440 Speaker 1: number he had from ten years previous was no longer 303 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: going to either of them. Big surprise, right, and he 304 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,920 Speaker 1: kind of let lie for another couple of years. In 305 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: two ten he would write an email to Sarah ge 306 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:20,399 Speaker 1: brend and he said, you should probably come out to 307 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,600 Speaker 1: my lab at Georgia Tech and take a look at 308 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 1: the wearables and see where we've gone in the last 309 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:27,240 Speaker 1: ten years. I think you'd be really interested. And Brandon said, 310 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: you know, we're thinking about wearables. We think it's about time. 311 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: And rather than us go there, how about we fly 312 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:34,919 Speaker 1: you and your team out here so you can give 313 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,400 Speaker 1: us a full day of demonstrations. And Starner said yes, 314 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,160 Speaker 1: and next thing he knew, he became a technical lead 315 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 1: for Project Glass over at Google's X division. By shortly 316 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 1: thereafter after Starner joined the team, uh Starner Brennan Page 317 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: were able to bring over another leader in wearable tech. 318 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 1: Someone that Starner had worked with in the past, Greg 319 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: Priest Dorman, who had pioneered work with bio feedback systems 320 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:02,880 Speaker 1: in the seventies and into the eighties and then moved 321 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: into wearable computing. He's another huge name in wearables, so 322 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: he also joined the Google Glass development team. On August 323 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, four Google employees filed a patent for 324 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: what was called a wearable device with input and output structures. 325 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 1: It's the title of a patent, and like most patent titles, 326 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: it's a little dry and it seems pretty nondescript. The 327 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: illustrations accompanying the patent include one that closely resembles what 328 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: the final form of Google Glass turned out to be. 329 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 1: Some of the other illustrations look more like a more 330 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: or less normal pair of glasses. Some of them looked 331 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: a little strange or odd. The patent described the general 332 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: components for the invention, which you know patents are supposed 333 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: to do. In order for you to get a patent 334 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 1: on something, you have to actually explain how the thing 335 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:56,920 Speaker 1: works in the parts that it that are that it's 336 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: made out of. Otherwise you can't. You're not supposed to 337 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: get a patent on it. So what did this cover? Well, 338 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,879 Speaker 1: I suppose I can quote directly from the patent itself 339 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,359 Speaker 1: under the claims section. The first and most important of 340 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:19,720 Speaker 1: the claims reads thus late an electronic device comprising a 341 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,439 Speaker 1: frame configured to be worn on the head of a user, 342 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 1: the frame including a bridge configured to be supported on 343 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 1: the nose of the user, a brow portion coupled to 344 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,119 Speaker 1: and extending away from the bridge to a first end 345 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: remote there from, and configured to be positioned over a 346 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: first side of a brow of the user, and the 347 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,439 Speaker 1: first arm having a first end coupled to the first 348 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: end of the brow portion and extending to a free end, 349 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,960 Speaker 1: the first arm being configured to be positioned over a 350 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: first temple of the user, with the free end disposed 351 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: near a first ear of the user, wherein the bridge 352 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 1: is adjustable for selective positioning of the brow portion relative 353 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: to an eye of the user. A generally transparent display 354 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 1: means for affixing the display to the frame such that 355 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,920 Speaker 1: the display is movable with respect to the frame through 356 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,399 Speaker 1: rotation about a first axis that extends parallel to the 357 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,119 Speaker 1: first brow portion, and an input device affixed to the 358 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: frame and configured for receiving from the user and input 359 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:25,199 Speaker 1: associated with a function, wherein information related to the function 360 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: is presentable on the display. What the what? Well, I'm 361 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:34,440 Speaker 1: gonna explain what that means, but first let's take a 362 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 1: quick break to thank our sponsor. All right, So what 363 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: did that patent speak actually mean? Because it gots so 364 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,080 Speaker 1: weird and dry, and that's typical for patents, by the way. 365 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: That's it's a very formulaic approach because you know, patent 366 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,200 Speaker 1: system is is a bureocracy, and you have to conform 367 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,480 Speaker 1: to the methodology of the bureaucracy in order to get 368 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 1: your idea through. Otherwise, if it doesn't conform, you're not 369 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: likely to get a patent award. So what it actually 370 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: means is the invention would fit on your face like 371 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:20,920 Speaker 1: a pair of glasses that one arm or stem if 372 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: you prefer, of these glasses would curve around the brow 373 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,880 Speaker 1: above one eye to rest against the side of your head, 374 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 1: so over one eye, and in early Google glass it 375 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,360 Speaker 1: was always the right eye. There'd be a little protrusion. 376 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,920 Speaker 1: That's where at the end of that protrusion, that's where 377 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:44,159 Speaker 1: the screen would be, the clear, transparent sclip screen. I 378 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: guess I can say clear and transparent like I can 379 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: say a t M machine. Uh. Then the the other 380 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: part of it would wrap around back behind your ear, 381 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,359 Speaker 1: with a part of it resting just behind your ear. 382 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:00,560 Speaker 1: More on that in just a second, But that would 383 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: be the main part of Google Glass. The other section 384 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: would just be a dumb frame that exists really just 385 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: to provide stability. So you would have a part that 386 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 1: would rest on the bridge of your nose that would 387 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: help support the the stem I was talking about. And 388 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: on the other side your second ear, because you remember 389 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:24,920 Speaker 1: the patent said first ear and first etcetera, etcetera. First brow. 390 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 1: The other one would be the second one. This is 391 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,680 Speaker 1: not important to the invention because nothing of any technical 392 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: technical import is going on on that side. It's literally 393 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: just a frame to hold the rest of the technology 394 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: in place. So over your right ear you have the 395 00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: stem of the Google Glass, and in that section you've 396 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: got a control area. You've got your battery, you've got 397 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,960 Speaker 1: your speaker, you've got your projector for the screen, you've 398 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,920 Speaker 1: got inside, you've got the processor, you've got the receiver 399 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,840 Speaker 1: for Bluetooth, etcetera. On the other side, over your left ear, 400 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:01,960 Speaker 1: it's just a regular or little stem that fits over 401 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 1: your ear, kind of like a regular pair of glasses. 402 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,880 Speaker 1: There's nothing there, no technical elements inside that side of it. 403 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: It's just dumb plastic. So the part that's right behind 404 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 1: your ear, that's where the speaker was, that's where the 405 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 1: audio would come from. Obviously, if you're watching a video 406 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: or you're taking a call, you would need to be 407 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: able to hear things through the glasses. Uh, it's cool 408 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: because this particular speaker wasn't just playing audio blasting it 409 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,879 Speaker 1: out into the real world. It was using bone conduction 410 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: to transmit audio so that you could hear it. Now, 411 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: if you stood close to someone who was wearing google 412 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 1: glass and they were playing audio, you would hear stuff. 413 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 1: Because when you get down to it, sound is vibration. 414 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:52,400 Speaker 1: The sound that you are hearing right now is transmitted 415 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:56,720 Speaker 1: through molecules vibrating at the frequency that I'm talking at, 416 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:02,119 Speaker 1: and the amplification as well. The amplitude. So when you 417 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: get down to the fact that sound is just vibration, 418 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,040 Speaker 1: bone conduction makes sense. It is what it sounds like. 419 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: Sound is transmitting through bone. Your bone conducts sound bones, 420 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: I should say, although in this particular case, we're talking 421 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: about the skull, otherwise known in medical circles as the headbone. 422 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,840 Speaker 1: So the headbone would transmit the sound from the speaker. 423 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,160 Speaker 1: So what's happening is that? Well, I guess it helps 424 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,120 Speaker 1: if we talk about just the regular sense of hearing first, Right, 425 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:36,200 Speaker 1: These vibrating air molecules enter your ear canal. They cause 426 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: your ear drum or your tympanic membrane if you prefer 427 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 1: to vibrate. Now, that vibration gets transmitted to a tiny 428 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: set of bones in your inner ear, which act as 429 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: kind of like an amplifier, and they ultimately terminate on 430 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:56,240 Speaker 1: an organ called the cochlea, which is sort of in 431 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,320 Speaker 1: a spiral shell shape. It's got some fluid in it, 432 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:03,040 Speaker 1: and it's got some fingerlike nerve endings in it that 433 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: are in this fluid. And when the cochlea is vibrated, 434 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: then this fluid moves around and that stimulates the nerve 435 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: endings inside of it, which then send signals to the brain, 436 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,640 Speaker 1: which then interpret that to be sound. It's pretty cool 437 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: when you really developed thought about it. Well, the neat 438 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,960 Speaker 1: thing about bone conduction is you can bypass the ear 439 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,240 Speaker 1: drum entirely. You can send vibrations through bone, which then 440 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: will reach the inner ear on their own bypassing that 441 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: pathway that all other sound tends to take and vibrating 442 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: the cochlea directly. So there are a lot of sports 443 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:44,919 Speaker 1: earbuds or or headbands or whatever that have these kind 444 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:49,159 Speaker 1: of bone conduction speakers some people call bone phones. I 445 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:54,120 Speaker 1: do not, but some people do. And the Google Glass 446 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,960 Speaker 1: had one of these types of speakers to again transmit 447 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: sound without it blasting out into the general world. Uh. 448 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: Pretty interesting stuff. And this meant that you could watch 449 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,120 Speaker 1: things like videos, or listen to a voicemail or make 450 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:11,360 Speaker 1: a call using Google Glass, and you could hear through 451 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: Google Glass. You didn't have to hold a phone up 452 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:19,199 Speaker 1: to your other ear. Now, the invention also incorporated a 453 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,120 Speaker 1: screen that was transparent, so, in other words, you had 454 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,159 Speaker 1: to be able to see through the screen and be 455 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,719 Speaker 1: able to view the outside world through it. It couldn't 456 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,800 Speaker 1: have an opaque backing, so you couldn't silver the back 457 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: of the screen, which presents some challenges. So how do 458 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:39,120 Speaker 1: you project images so that you can see a display 459 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 1: and read the digital information? Because again, that's what augmented 460 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,879 Speaker 1: reality is all about, right, It's overlaying that digital information 461 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: on top of a view of the actual world around you. 462 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: So if you can see through the screen, how do 463 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 1: you display images on that said screen? Well, Claim nine 464 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: on that same patent gives some information on that matter. 465 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:03,800 Speaker 1: It says the electronic device of Claim one, wherein the 466 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 1: generally transparent display is a prism of a transparent material 467 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: configured to make an image projected into a side of 468 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:14,439 Speaker 1: the prism visible at a surface of the prism that 469 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,239 Speaker 1: is at a non zero angle to the side of 470 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 1: the prism. Now what that means is that on casual glance, 471 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: the prism looks like an elongated cube of clear plastic, 472 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 1: and it looks like that's all it is. But if 473 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: you were to take a look at it from the top, 474 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:36,680 Speaker 1: like the top of a pair of Google glass, and 475 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: you were looking down, you would see that there's a 476 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: fine line bisecting from one uh corner of this prism 477 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: down into about the middle of the prism. And you know, 478 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: at this weird little diagonal. This is an angled layer 479 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: inside the prism, and the way it works is it 480 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: allows light to pass through straight from ahead of you. 481 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: So if you're wearing the pair of Google glass and 482 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: you're looking at something, light can pass straight through the prism, 483 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: no problem. But if light were to come from a 484 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: right angle to the right, as in a place where 485 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:18,000 Speaker 1: a little projector in the Google Glass could project out images, 486 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:23,000 Speaker 1: it would then redirect that light ninety degrees so that 487 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 1: it goes into your eyes. In other words, you can 488 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: still see the world in front of you because that 489 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: light can pass through unimpeded. Light coming from the right side, 490 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: which is where the the digital little digital projector is, 491 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: that gets reflected into your eyes, so then you can 492 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: see the digital information overlaid on top of the world 493 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,360 Speaker 1: around you. So the think of it is kind of 494 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 1: like a mirror, but the mirror only works if light 495 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 1: is coming at it from a very specific angle. It's, 496 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 1: you know, in a way like a a one of 497 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: those two way mirrors where you can see through one 498 00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: way but not in the other. It's kind of similar 499 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: to that. So I thought that was super neat um. 500 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: It was actually the most fascinating part of Google Glass 501 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: when I was first learning about it way back in 502 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: when I was trying to learn how it worked so 503 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: I could write an article about it, and in fact 504 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: I did right at least a version of how Google 505 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,080 Speaker 1: Glass works. I haven't looked on the website to see 506 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: if that's still my version, because we update these these 507 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: articles on occasion and sometimes that changes the authorship as well. 508 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:30,920 Speaker 1: But yeah, way back in the day, I wrote an 509 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 1: article about how Google Glass works, and part of it 510 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 1: was just learning about this prism and I thought it 511 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:43,560 Speaker 1: was fascinating. In addition, the UH, the design of this 512 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: prism meant that it was slightly above your normal line 513 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: of sight. So this is that part of the patent 514 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 1: that talked about it being offset from your eye. It's 515 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 1: it's mounted a bit above where your natural line of 516 00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:59,760 Speaker 1: sight would be, so you would always have it in 517 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 1: your field of view, but it wouldn't necessarily be in 518 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 1: focus unless you were to glance upward so that your 519 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:09,720 Speaker 1: right eye would be looking at the prism directly. This 520 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:14,120 Speaker 1: was a specific design implemented by Google in order to 521 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 1: avoid things like people getting distracted by digital images when 522 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 1: they should be paying into to the world around them, 523 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: and to make Google Glass something that you reference rather 524 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: than something that replaces your view of the world around you. 525 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: Very important if you're doing something like I don't know, 526 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 1: walking or driving or riding a bicycle, anything where you're 527 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: you're moving through a space, you want to be able 528 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,440 Speaker 1: to make sure that you're not having your attention divided 529 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: so that you end up doing something stupid, like walking 530 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: into an open man hole or into a a telephone pole. 531 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,480 Speaker 1: I have done that before, for real zes, but that 532 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: was because I was looking at a phone. I've been 533 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 1: that guy. I don't look at my phone when I'm 534 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 1: crossing streets, but I look at it when I'm walking 535 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: down sidewalks, and I have aid that price on multiple occasions. 536 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: You think I've learned by now, and I guess I have. 537 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:09,840 Speaker 1: I've learned how to replicate that experience almost perfectly. The 538 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: patent also included an important component in Google Glasses control system, 539 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:18,080 Speaker 1: which was a capacitive touch bar along that one stem, 540 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 1: the active stem of Google Glass. And I've talked about 541 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 1: capacitive touch before, but let's quickly go over that so 542 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: that we understand what I'm talking about. So with a 543 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: capacitive touch surface, you have the makings of a circuit, right. 544 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 1: All that remains is you have to have something to 545 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:37,200 Speaker 1: close the circuit. You have to have something conductive make 546 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,479 Speaker 1: contact with a capacitive surface, so that a complete circuit 547 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: can form, and when a complete circuit does form, there's 548 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: a voltage drop at the location of the touch. So 549 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:50,640 Speaker 1: if I have a giant touch screen in front of me, 550 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: and it's a capacitive touch screen, and I reached down 551 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: with one finger and make contact with that screen, I 552 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: complete a circuit, and there's a voltage drop at the 553 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: point where I touched it. Software on the device is 554 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 1: able to interpret that as being a an actual command 555 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,520 Speaker 1: of some sort, and it might be selecting a program. 556 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: It might mean turning volume up or down. It might 557 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,800 Speaker 1: mean swiping right because that dude you're looking at on 558 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,400 Speaker 1: tender is pretty hot and you kind of want to 559 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 1: know what what's his deal man, so you want to 560 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 1: swipe right on that. Lots of different applications. They are 561 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 1: also resistive touch screens that work on a slightly different principle. 562 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: Those are the ones that you have to actually use 563 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 1: pressure when you're making contact, because it's not enough to 564 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:39,960 Speaker 1: touch it. You actually have to press so that you're 565 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:43,920 Speaker 1: you're slightly deforming the layers in order to create a 566 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 1: circuit within the display itself. But that's a totally different 567 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:52,719 Speaker 1: type of touch screen. Now, in the case of Google Glass, 568 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:55,960 Speaker 1: the capacity panel is a means to cycle through the 569 00:33:56,040 --> 00:34:00,120 Speaker 1: various features that are on the glasses. It's all so 570 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,120 Speaker 1: a way to execute other basic commands. So Google would 571 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: go a step further than this. You wouldn't have just 572 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 1: touch commands. That was just one way you could interact 573 00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:13,200 Speaker 1: with Google Glass. They also incorporated some motion controls and 574 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,879 Speaker 1: voice commands. So, for example, if you want to turn 575 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,200 Speaker 1: your screen on and you want to wake up Google 576 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: Glass from its power saving mode, you could choose an 577 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: option where by tilting your head backward at a fairly 578 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 1: good rate, it would wake up Google. It's kind of 579 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:33,719 Speaker 1: like saying sup to someone. Uh. If you want to 580 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: take a photo, you could start with the phrase okay Google, 581 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 1: which probably sounds familiar to you if you have an 582 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,440 Speaker 1: Android device or a Google Home and if I just 583 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:47,399 Speaker 1: activated it, I am sorry. You could then follow up 584 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:50,280 Speaker 1: with take a picture, so you could give a voice 585 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:52,879 Speaker 1: command to your Google Glass to take photos. I can 586 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:55,200 Speaker 1: speak from experience that people thought that this was the 587 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 1: coolest thing ever. When Google Glass was brand new and 588 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:00,799 Speaker 1: only a few pairs were out in the wild. In 589 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:05,480 Speaker 1: uh September of after I had a pair of Google Glass, 590 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,200 Speaker 1: and yes I did have a pair of them. Technically, 591 00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:11,120 Speaker 1: the company purchased them. I was just the representative who 592 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,840 Speaker 1: got to be the one to use them. When I 593 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:17,239 Speaker 1: had them, I took them to dragon Con, which is 594 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,279 Speaker 1: a big science fiction and fantasy convention here in Atlanta, 595 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: and I would ask people, may I take your picture? 596 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:24,520 Speaker 1: You know, because there are a lot of people in costume, 597 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:27,680 Speaker 1: a lot of great causeplay at dragon Con, and most 598 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 1: of the time people say yes absolutely. That's why I 599 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,480 Speaker 1: got dressed up. And then I would say, okay, Google, 600 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,319 Speaker 1: take a picture, and they would look at me confused 601 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,560 Speaker 1: because they had never seen Google glass do that before. 602 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,280 Speaker 1: And then the little light would flash on the Google 603 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,200 Speaker 1: glass because that would indicate that a photo had been taken. 604 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: Google wanted to have a physical indicator to let people 605 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: know when a camera was active, and then immediately they 606 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 1: would freak out about the fact that I was wearing 607 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:58,400 Speaker 1: the future on my faith, and I would invariably have 608 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,880 Speaker 1: to take another photo because the first would mostly be 609 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,560 Speaker 1: if you've ever seen a dog, look confused. That's what 610 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: almost all of the first photos looked like from that 611 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,040 Speaker 1: Dragon Con, because I was talking to a pair of 612 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:10,960 Speaker 1: glasses and they thought I was talking to them and 613 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,000 Speaker 1: they were wondering, why am I saying this? These days 614 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,520 Speaker 1: everyone would totally understand what was going on at the time, 615 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:21,040 Speaker 1: it was pretty new. Now, to avoid making the headset 616 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:24,280 Speaker 1: too heavy or too hot, the designers decided that Google 617 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,840 Speaker 1: Glass would have to be a peripheral piece of technology. So, 618 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 1: in other words, they didn't want it to be loaded 619 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: down with processors and with various connectivity chips like cellular connectivity, WiFi, 620 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 1: all of that kind of stuff. Um, So you would 621 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:45,320 Speaker 1: pair it to another device, like a smartphone, for example, 622 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:50,320 Speaker 1: and the smartphone would act as your link between the 623 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,000 Speaker 1: glasses and the outside world. For the most part. You 624 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,480 Speaker 1: can also do WiFi, I think, but obviously WiFi is 625 00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:00,160 Speaker 1: not pervasive, so if you're anywhere where there's not why Fi, 626 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 1: you would need to have almost like a modem, and 627 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: your smartphone would act as your modem with a Bluetooth 628 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:10,879 Speaker 1: connection allowing for the communication between your glasses and the phone. Now, 629 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: that simplified the components that needed to go into the 630 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,880 Speaker 1: glasses themselves, and that allowed the designers to make it 631 00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,839 Speaker 1: a little bit lighter and not worry about so much 632 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: heat generation. It also meant that there was less of 633 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 1: a drain on the battery, Which was perhaps the biggest 634 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,799 Speaker 1: challenge for the team was designing a battery that would 635 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,120 Speaker 1: be light enough and yet powerful enough to do what 636 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: they wanted it to do. They needed it to not 637 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:39,680 Speaker 1: make the glasses uncomfortable to wear or really unwearable for 638 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:41,640 Speaker 1: any length of time, but they also wanted to make 639 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,440 Speaker 1: sure they had enough juice to get a decent amount 640 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 1: of use out of it before you had to re 641 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:49,800 Speaker 1: recharge it. They also got around this by having Google 642 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,600 Speaker 1: Glass go into sleep mode pretty quickly, so that anytime 643 00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:56,280 Speaker 1: you were not actively using it, it could conserve power, 644 00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,920 Speaker 1: and that way you could get maybe another hour out 645 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,279 Speaker 1: of it. It drained pretty fast back when I got one. 646 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:08,839 Speaker 1: Earlier wearable computers would require those massive batteries I talked 647 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:11,600 Speaker 1: about before, the ones that weighed four or five pounds. Now, 648 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:14,520 Speaker 1: you don't want something like that on your glasses. It 649 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: would just be uh excruciating. So this was a huge 650 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:23,279 Speaker 1: challenge and remains a huge challenge in wearables to this day, 651 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:27,480 Speaker 1: is figuring out the balance between the features you want 652 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,840 Speaker 1: to include and how much can a battery provide before 653 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,240 Speaker 1: you're going to have to start recharging it every few minutes. 654 00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:36,920 Speaker 1: While the paperwork was being drawn up with the patents, 655 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,440 Speaker 1: Starner and others were in Google's labs building this actual 656 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:44,520 Speaker 1: hardware and testing it constantly. Whenever they were in the lab, 657 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,320 Speaker 1: they were wearing these devices. Whenever they were doing the 658 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,640 Speaker 1: regular jobs, they were wearing these They were testing them. 659 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:51,960 Speaker 1: They were trying them out, they were adding new features, 660 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,239 Speaker 1: taking old ones out when they didn't work, building apps 661 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,920 Speaker 1: just for their own use, to kind of really test 662 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,719 Speaker 1: the limits of what this technology could do. And then 663 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:03,239 Speaker 1: at the end of the day they would put them 664 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:06,640 Speaker 1: up and go home because they weren't ready for the 665 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:10,360 Speaker 1: world to see Google Glass yet. They didn't want to 666 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,480 Speaker 1: go out and start using it outside where people might 667 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:15,439 Speaker 1: wonder what the heck is going on, and then next 668 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,279 Speaker 1: thing you know, everyone's talking about it. So in two 669 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:23,080 Speaker 1: thousand eleven, Google employees submitted the patent for the head 670 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:27,040 Speaker 1: mounted display. The Patent Office would eventually grant that patent 671 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:31,440 Speaker 1: in on February two thirteen, which actually is not that 672 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:35,239 Speaker 1: long at all. That's pretty fast in many cases for 673 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:39,000 Speaker 1: between a patent application and when it's actually granted, Um, 674 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:41,960 Speaker 1: a couple of years is nothing. But then Google let 675 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:44,360 Speaker 1: the cat out of the bag. In between those two dates, 676 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:50,480 Speaker 1: in April two twelve, Google released a concept video, and 677 00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:52,840 Speaker 1: this was a video that was shown from a first 678 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 1: person view, so you were in the shoes of a 679 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:59,840 Speaker 1: guy wearing some sort of device that had something to 680 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:02,600 Speaker 1: do with Google. And the reason why I'm vague is 681 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:04,799 Speaker 1: because the video was pretty vague. It was just giving 682 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: you an idea of what this experience might one day 683 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,920 Speaker 1: be like. Clearly, it was a head melted display of 684 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,440 Speaker 1: some sort with a heads up display element to it, 685 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,799 Speaker 1: and it allowed this guy to send messages, to make 686 00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,400 Speaker 1: phone calls, to take images, to share live video with 687 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,719 Speaker 1: someone else. So, in other words, the camera on this 688 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:27,719 Speaker 1: device could feed video directly to somebody somewhere else in 689 00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:34,040 Speaker 1: the world. Ah, and you could even alert the person 690 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,040 Speaker 1: of what was going on in the world around them. 691 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:38,640 Speaker 1: So at one point, he's on his way to an 692 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:41,439 Speaker 1: appointment and he wants to take the subway, and as 693 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:43,920 Speaker 1: he gets close to the subway, a little alert points 694 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:47,200 Speaker 1: up and it says their delays at the subway station, 695 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: and he's like, ah, shucks, and so he decides to 696 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:54,120 Speaker 1: walk instead. So some of the stuff would get worked 697 00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,360 Speaker 1: into Google Glass, some of it wouldn't be directly worked 698 00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:00,600 Speaker 1: into Google Glass, but they could fudge it through other means. 699 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:04,000 Speaker 1: Um But it was an interesting video and it got 700 00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:08,560 Speaker 1: a lot of people talking. It generated a lot of buzz. Now, 701 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:12,839 Speaker 1: you might think, like with the subway example, was that 702 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:19,040 Speaker 1: a case of machine vision understanding that the subway the 703 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:22,279 Speaker 1: guy is walking to is a particular one in a 704 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,520 Speaker 1: particular system, and that that one is one that's being 705 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:29,360 Speaker 1: affected by delays. Uh That was not worked into Google 706 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,080 Speaker 1: Glass because the camera cannot be perpetually on. If it were, 707 00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:37,600 Speaker 1: the battery would drain very very quickly. Instead, what you 708 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:42,680 Speaker 1: could do is you could incorporate UH GPS from a 709 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:47,320 Speaker 1: smartphone as well as a person's calendar if they've added 710 00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:51,640 Speaker 1: an appointment to their calendar, and if the phone makes 711 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: a quote unquote guess that you are on your way 712 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:57,120 Speaker 1: to set appointment, and it notices you're getting closer to 713 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 1: a subway station because of your GPS coordinates, it could 714 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,799 Speaker 1: then send you an alert saying, oh, we've got this 715 00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:07,040 Speaker 1: message saying that that particular subway station is experiencing delays. Now, 716 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,960 Speaker 1: from your perspective, it's almost like Google Glass looked at 717 00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:15,040 Speaker 1: the subway and then said, hey, buddy, let's let's walk. 718 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:16,879 Speaker 1: You're never gonna get there if you try and get 719 00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: on the train, But in reality, it could be stuff 720 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,200 Speaker 1: that's happening on the background. The nice thing is it 721 00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:26,399 Speaker 1: doesn't really matter how it happens. What matters is the experience. 722 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:30,400 Speaker 1: Does the experience make sense? Is it compelling? Because if 723 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:32,719 Speaker 1: it is, it doesn't matter if it was because of 724 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:35,960 Speaker 1: machine vision or if it was because of a combination 725 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:42,280 Speaker 1: of GPS and calendar apps and other information. The result 726 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,120 Speaker 1: is the same either way. Other than the fact that 727 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:48,480 Speaker 1: in the way I just described, it's not draining your 728 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:51,000 Speaker 1: Google Glass batteries super fast by having the camera on 729 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: all the time. The video got a lot of attention. 730 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,680 Speaker 1: People were excited about it. People wanted to know more, 731 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,719 Speaker 1: but Google did not show off Google Glass at that 732 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:05,680 Speaker 1: particular moment. They did show it off not too long 733 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,759 Speaker 1: after that. They did, and they did admit they were 734 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:11,880 Speaker 1: working on an augmented reality project and they wanted to 735 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:14,600 Speaker 1: get feedback from people about how they would use it 736 00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:19,920 Speaker 1: and what they thought about this concept. A couple of 737 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:24,160 Speaker 1: months later, they held the Google Io Developer Conference. I've 738 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 1: been to one of these. They're very very nerdy. It 739 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:33,000 Speaker 1: is interesting. It gets incredibly technical, very fast, because it's 740 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:37,239 Speaker 1: meant for people who are developing apps for Google platforms. 741 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:41,480 Speaker 1: The event took place in San Francisco's Moscone Center, and 742 00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:45,359 Speaker 1: high above the center was a blimp with several skydivers 743 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:48,480 Speaker 1: and wingsuits and parachutes, and each person in that group 744 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:50,520 Speaker 1: was wearing a pair of Google Glass. And in the 745 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:53,520 Speaker 1: middle of a totally different presentation, Sarah a Brand runs 746 00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:55,520 Speaker 1: up on stage and he says, I'm sorry to interrupt, 747 00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,760 Speaker 1: but we've got a time sensitive event going on right now, 748 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:02,080 Speaker 1: and he switches to video showing the blimp above the 749 00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:05,200 Speaker 1: Mousconi Center. Then they switch to a camera inside the 750 00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:07,480 Speaker 1: blimp itself and you see the team there, and you 751 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,560 Speaker 1: see that each member of the team is wearing a 752 00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:14,280 Speaker 1: pair of Google Glass. They start a Google hangout using 753 00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:16,920 Speaker 1: their Google Glass, and then you can see the screens 754 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:19,920 Speaker 1: from each of their perspectives. So now you're getting a 755 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:23,360 Speaker 1: first person view of these people who are inside the blimp. 756 00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:26,200 Speaker 1: And eventually, once the blimp is in the right location, 757 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:29,040 Speaker 1: they make a jump. They jump out of the blimp, 758 00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:33,279 Speaker 1: they fall, they launched their shoots, they land on the 759 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,960 Speaker 1: roof of the Muscony Center. They hand over a package 760 00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:40,720 Speaker 1: to a person riding a mountain bike and he's also 761 00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:43,880 Speaker 1: got Google glass on. He rides over to the edge 762 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:47,239 Speaker 1: of the building, switches over into repelling gear, repels down 763 00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:50,640 Speaker 1: the side, gets inside the Mousconi Center, gets on a 764 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:55,640 Speaker 1: different mountain bike, rides over into the conference room, down 765 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:59,080 Speaker 1: the aisle, straight over to the stage, and bring Serage 766 00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:03,359 Speaker 1: brand package that has inside of it a fresh pair 767 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:07,920 Speaker 1: of Google glass. It was a heck of a demo. 768 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,800 Speaker 1: I watched it live, not in the Mosconi Center. I 769 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,320 Speaker 1: was watching it remotely. I was not at that particular 770 00:45:15,360 --> 00:45:17,600 Speaker 1: io event, and my jaw was on the floor to 771 00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:24,280 Speaker 1: see this display of wearable technology in such a cool application. 772 00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:26,840 Speaker 1: You know, this this Google hangout that's showing me what 773 00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:30,719 Speaker 1: it's like to skydive from a first person perspective. And 774 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:34,360 Speaker 1: then this journey from the seat the roof of the 775 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:42,200 Speaker 1: building down into the center itself. It was an effective demonstration. Now, 776 00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:45,200 Speaker 1: in August, Google would receive a patent. Now this was 777 00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:47,800 Speaker 1: not the same one for the head mounted display patent 778 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:51,040 Speaker 1: that one wouldn't be granted until two thirteen, But this 779 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:53,239 Speaker 1: was a patent for a process and the title of 780 00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:57,200 Speaker 1: the patent was unlocking a screen using eye tracking information. 781 00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,879 Speaker 1: So this would requireing some sort of camera facing back 782 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:06,719 Speaker 1: toward a person's eye, and it would look at motions 783 00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:10,320 Speaker 1: of the eye and interpret that as various commands, including 784 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:13,880 Speaker 1: unlocking a device. So you may have had a smartphone 785 00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:16,440 Speaker 1: at some point that allowed you to create a pattern 786 00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:20,319 Speaker 1: by tracing something on a screen. An old Android one 787 00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,560 Speaker 1: I used to use had a a grid of dots, 788 00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:27,480 Speaker 1: and you would connect dots in a particular pattern, set 789 00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:30,759 Speaker 1: that as your pattern of choice, and every time you 790 00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:32,719 Speaker 1: want to unlock the phone from that point forward, you 791 00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:35,080 Speaker 1: had to retrace that pattern. But you could do the 792 00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:39,719 Speaker 1: same thing with eye tracking if you had a virtual 793 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:45,120 Speaker 1: display of dots and you stared at one dot until 794 00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:47,879 Speaker 1: the camera had picked up and acknowledged yes, you're looking 795 00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:49,920 Speaker 1: at the correct one, and then you just move your 796 00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:51,959 Speaker 1: eye from dot to dot, and this is like moving 797 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,440 Speaker 1: your finger from dot to dot, and you could unlock 798 00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:58,200 Speaker 1: a screen in that way. That's just one particular approach 799 00:46:58,239 --> 00:47:00,720 Speaker 1: that you could use to unlock a screen use eye tracking. 800 00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:06,400 Speaker 1: This particular type of feature would not be included with 801 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:08,400 Speaker 1: Google Glass, but it shows the kind of stuff they 802 00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:11,200 Speaker 1: were thinking about while they were putting all this together. 803 00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:14,120 Speaker 1: Yet Another pattern revealed what Google hoped to do with 804 00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:18,239 Speaker 1: Project Glass, and it used gestures. So these would be 805 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:21,200 Speaker 1: hand gestures, actual hand gestures you would make in front 806 00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:25,239 Speaker 1: of your face lack of crazy person in order to 807 00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:28,120 Speaker 1: send commands to your Google Glass. So let's say you 808 00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:32,640 Speaker 1: see something on the street and you like it, it 809 00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:36,360 Speaker 1: could happen. Maybe you see a poster for a band 810 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:39,200 Speaker 1: that you like and it's they're coming up with a 811 00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:42,800 Speaker 1: a show nearby. You could make a little heart shape 812 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:48,520 Speaker 1: with your hand. Awe, so cute, you Millennials, And then 813 00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:51,080 Speaker 1: this would end up being picked up by the camera 814 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:54,640 Speaker 1: and interpreted as liking the thing you are looking at. 815 00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:57,880 Speaker 1: Maybe it posts to a social media page saying, Jonathan 816 00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:00,520 Speaker 1: likes the fact that they might be bians is going 817 00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:03,480 Speaker 1: to be in Atlanta the Variety Playhouse playing a show, 818 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,520 Speaker 1: and yes, I would like that. I love they might 819 00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:09,760 Speaker 1: be giants and the Variety Playhouse is a delightful venue. 820 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:12,120 Speaker 1: I don't know that I would go so far as 821 00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:14,040 Speaker 1: to make the little heart shape of my hands, though 822 00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:18,400 Speaker 1: I do have my limits. But this shows another way 823 00:48:18,560 --> 00:48:23,520 Speaker 1: of how Google was thinking about interactions with its technology 824 00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:26,520 Speaker 1: and ways that you could control it beyond just using 825 00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:31,080 Speaker 1: a capacity, touchscreen or even voice commands. That also would 826 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:33,759 Speaker 1: not find its way into Google Glass, but it might 827 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:37,520 Speaker 1: find its way into some future Google product. Now, next 828 00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:40,560 Speaker 1: we'll explore a bit with Google Glass, and we will 829 00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:44,200 Speaker 1: pay handsomely for it. But before I jump into that, 830 00:48:44,719 --> 00:48:55,880 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. In 831 00:48:56,000 --> 00:49:00,280 Speaker 1: a Google would open up an extremely limited program called 832 00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:04,000 Speaker 1: Glass Explorers. So I guess actually it was dragon Con, 833 00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:08,759 Speaker 1: not dragon Con, which totally makes sense. I can't tell 834 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:11,600 Speaker 1: those years apart dragon Con to dragon Con, they all 835 00:49:11,640 --> 00:49:17,200 Speaker 1: bleed together. But this, this program, the Glass Explorer's program, 836 00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:20,200 Speaker 1: was a pilot testing program. It was really a beta 837 00:49:20,239 --> 00:49:23,120 Speaker 1: test for the technology itself, and you had to apply 838 00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:25,680 Speaker 1: to be in it. You actually had to fill out 839 00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:29,640 Speaker 1: an online form to explain how you would use Google 840 00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:33,080 Speaker 1: Glass and why you think you would be a good 841 00:49:33,120 --> 00:49:36,399 Speaker 1: candidate for the Glass Explorer program. And not only that, 842 00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:38,839 Speaker 1: but you had to pay for it. You couldn't just 843 00:49:39,080 --> 00:49:43,560 Speaker 1: get a pair. They cost one thousand, five hundred dollars 844 00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:48,080 Speaker 1: dollars for a pair of Google Glass. Now, the application 845 00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:50,640 Speaker 1: process was pretty simple, but it meant that Google could 846 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:54,520 Speaker 1: very quickly go through these this huge number of applications 847 00:49:54,520 --> 00:49:56,920 Speaker 1: in the site, which one sounds like good choices and 848 00:49:56,960 --> 00:50:01,880 Speaker 1: which ones don't. Now. In my case, our company bought 849 00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:04,279 Speaker 1: the pair of Google glass. I applied for them, but 850 00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:06,640 Speaker 1: it was a company purchase, so I don't actually own 851 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:10,879 Speaker 1: those Google glass anymore, but I was able to buy something. 852 00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:13,279 Speaker 1: Not going to tell you a funny little story that 853 00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,240 Speaker 1: happened to me, And this is all because Jonathan doesn't 854 00:50:16,239 --> 00:50:20,960 Speaker 1: pay enough attention when he fills out online forms. So 855 00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:22,680 Speaker 1: in the United States, there were a couple of different 856 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,920 Speaker 1: places you could pick up a pair of these glasses 857 00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:29,120 Speaker 1: once you ordered them, and you had to physically go 858 00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:32,800 Speaker 1: to these locations. Google did not want to send anything 859 00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:35,319 Speaker 1: to anyone because they didn't want to deal with a 860 00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:41,480 Speaker 1: case of someone intercepting a shipment and stealing it or 861 00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:44,600 Speaker 1: selling it or breaking it apart or whatever. They wanted 862 00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:47,200 Speaker 1: to keep a tight rein on who actually got their 863 00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:49,759 Speaker 1: hands on these Google glass So as part of that, 864 00:50:49,800 --> 00:50:52,440 Speaker 1: you had to go to one of these physical locations 865 00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:54,440 Speaker 1: to pick up your pair. They did not have one 866 00:50:54,480 --> 00:50:57,120 Speaker 1: in Atlanta, which is where I live. They had them 867 00:50:57,120 --> 00:51:01,440 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, and New York. Out 868 00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:03,360 Speaker 1: of those, New York is the easiest for me. To 869 00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:06,240 Speaker 1: get to New York is a couple of hours flight 870 00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:09,760 Speaker 1: from Atlanta. If I want to go to San Francisco 871 00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:12,719 Speaker 1: or Los Angeles, you're talking four or five hours each way. 872 00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:17,319 Speaker 1: So I decided I would pick up my Google Glass 873 00:51:17,360 --> 00:51:19,360 Speaker 1: in New York, and I filled out the form and 874 00:51:19,360 --> 00:51:21,920 Speaker 1: I indicated the day and location where I wanted to 875 00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:25,440 Speaker 1: pick it up. But then I realized something I had 876 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:28,360 Speaker 1: double booked myself. Something else was happening the day that 877 00:51:28,480 --> 00:51:31,680 Speaker 1: I had chosen, and Google Glass would allow you to 878 00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:37,279 Speaker 1: change your delivery date one time only. That's it. So 879 00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:39,560 Speaker 1: if you messed up, you can change it once and 880 00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:41,799 Speaker 1: that's all you could do. So I go back on 881 00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:44,359 Speaker 1: there and I'm like, well, I can't take this day 882 00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:45,960 Speaker 1: that I thought I was gonna do. I'm gonna do 883 00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:49,440 Speaker 1: this other day. So I chose a different day. I 884 00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:52,200 Speaker 1: did not realize, however, that by choosing a different day, 885 00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:56,839 Speaker 1: my choice of destination got reset to the default, which 886 00:51:56,880 --> 00:52:01,719 Speaker 1: was Los Angeles. So instead of rescheduling to flight in 887 00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:05,319 Speaker 1: New York, I rescheduled to fly to l A. So 888 00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:09,400 Speaker 1: I actually had to fly to Los Angeles, go to Venice, California, 889 00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:12,640 Speaker 1: which is where Google has an office, and pick up 890 00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:16,279 Speaker 1: my pair of Google Glass. Bright side of it is 891 00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:19,439 Speaker 1: the day after I got my Google Glass, I got 892 00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:21,480 Speaker 1: to really try it out at the happiest place on 893 00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:24,719 Speaker 1: Earth because I went to Disneyland and I brought my 894 00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:30,160 Speaker 1: Google Glass with me. So funny, stupid story about Jonathan 895 00:52:30,200 --> 00:52:32,960 Speaker 1: not paying attention. Moral of the story is pay attention 896 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:37,839 Speaker 1: on your online forms, especially if you have to resubmit anyway. 897 00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:43,120 Speaker 1: Back in those days, I still wore eyeglasses. I've had 898 00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:46,120 Speaker 1: lazing eye surgery since then, but back in when I 899 00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:49,000 Speaker 1: got the Google Glass, I store still wore eyeglasses, and 900 00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:52,120 Speaker 1: Google Glass at that point had not been outfitted to 901 00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:56,680 Speaker 1: work with existing pairs of glasses. You could either wear 902 00:52:56,760 --> 00:52:59,120 Speaker 1: Google Glass or you could wear a pair of glasses, 903 00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:01,680 Speaker 1: but you couldn't really do both unless you worked for 904 00:53:01,719 --> 00:53:04,680 Speaker 1: Google like Sarah a brand, and you could have someone 905 00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:08,680 Speaker 1: might make a custom pair for you, so instead I 906 00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:10,640 Speaker 1: would have to wear contact lenses. This was one of 907 00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:13,480 Speaker 1: those early complaints about the Google Glass program. A lot 908 00:53:13,480 --> 00:53:17,680 Speaker 1: of people wanted to be able to attach the Google 909 00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:20,239 Speaker 1: Glass part to an existing pair of glasses, and there 910 00:53:20,280 --> 00:53:23,400 Speaker 1: was just no way you could do that. In May, 911 00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:26,680 Speaker 1: Google opened up the Explorer program and allowed more folks 912 00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:30,560 Speaker 1: to join, and there were talks of special Google Glass stores, 913 00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:34,120 Speaker 1: including floating barges off the coast of places like San 914 00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:36,719 Speaker 1: Francisco and New York. And these were meant to be 915 00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:40,480 Speaker 1: interactive text spaces and perhaps even a high end luxury 916 00:53:40,600 --> 00:53:45,800 Speaker 1: show room for Google Glass. But by June, so mayen 917 00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:48,480 Speaker 1: this is all in the news, and in fact, the 918 00:53:48,520 --> 00:53:50,600 Speaker 1: barges have been kind of coming together over the last 919 00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:53,480 Speaker 1: couple of years. But in June, the plans for the 920 00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:57,480 Speaker 1: barges were I guess scuttled is a good word if 921 00:53:57,480 --> 00:54:00,720 Speaker 1: we're talking about barges. The plans were uttle. The barges 922 00:54:00,760 --> 00:54:05,920 Speaker 1: weren't scuttled immediately, but the plans were. They never saw service, 923 00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:09,640 Speaker 1: they never came online, they never became stores. Uh. They 924 00:54:09,640 --> 00:54:11,600 Speaker 1: did raise a lot of interest as people watched them 925 00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:14,920 Speaker 1: take form on a daily basis, but they disappeared with 926 00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:17,520 Speaker 1: about as much of a whimper as could be. They 927 00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:22,520 Speaker 1: were never really explained, and so they kind of started 928 00:54:22,560 --> 00:54:25,399 Speaker 1: to become something and then went away before anyone could 929 00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:27,680 Speaker 1: really figure out what exactly they were going to to 930 00:54:27,760 --> 00:54:35,360 Speaker 1: turn into. In January, Google pulled the plug on the 931 00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:40,879 Speaker 1: Explorer program because ultimately it had been a failure, but 932 00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:44,799 Speaker 1: not necessarily for the reasons you might think. So let's 933 00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:49,560 Speaker 1: rewind a little bit. It's two thousand twelve and Project 934 00:54:49,600 --> 00:54:54,239 Speaker 1: Glass has a divided team. You've got two main camps 935 00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:58,799 Speaker 1: of engineers who are disagreeing about a fundamental aspect of 936 00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:02,960 Speaker 1: Google Glass. One team thinks this should be a persistent 937 00:55:03,080 --> 00:55:05,919 Speaker 1: wearable device, meaning you put it on and you wear 938 00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:09,080 Speaker 1: it all day long. It's like a fashion accessory, it 939 00:55:09,120 --> 00:55:13,600 Speaker 1: belongs as part of your outfit. The other team disagrees 940 00:55:13,640 --> 00:55:15,680 Speaker 1: and says no, this should be something that you're using 941 00:55:15,719 --> 00:55:19,160 Speaker 1: for specific use cases. So a situation comes up when 942 00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:21,879 Speaker 1: you would need Google Glass. That's when you put it on, 943 00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:24,120 Speaker 1: and then when that's over, you take it off again. 944 00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:28,520 Speaker 1: The two can't agree with which direction they should go in. 945 00:55:29,719 --> 00:55:33,200 Speaker 1: Sarah ga Brenn, who's excited about the technology but impatient 946 00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:35,520 Speaker 1: to wait and get all of this sussed out, has 947 00:55:35,560 --> 00:55:38,439 Speaker 1: an idea. Instead of relying on a relatively small group 948 00:55:38,480 --> 00:55:43,560 Speaker 1: of engineers and developers, why not create a beta testing program, 949 00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:46,279 Speaker 1: invite a wider group of people to use it in 950 00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:49,960 Speaker 1: the real world, and take that information as a way 951 00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:53,640 Speaker 1: of developing it further. So, in other words, you open 952 00:55:53,719 --> 00:55:56,680 Speaker 1: this up. You get a lot more information from a 953 00:55:56,719 --> 00:55:59,680 Speaker 1: lot more people using it in a lot of different situations, 954 00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:02,320 Speaker 1: and you see where it works and where it doesn't work, 955 00:56:02,440 --> 00:56:05,000 Speaker 1: and you make changes. If it works in one case, 956 00:56:05,120 --> 00:56:07,440 Speaker 1: maybe you pursue that a little more. If it doesn't 957 00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:10,439 Speaker 1: work in another, maybe you change gears or you try 958 00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:12,719 Speaker 1: to figure out a way to make it work in 959 00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:16,640 Speaker 1: that situation. But the point was opening it up to 960 00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:21,000 Speaker 1: more people meant more information, and more information meant that 961 00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:24,799 Speaker 1: they could make better decisions. And this was not a 962 00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:29,040 Speaker 1: bad idea. It could teach Google how people would use 963 00:56:29,040 --> 00:56:32,360 Speaker 1: the technology and where they should concentrate on building out features. 964 00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,520 Speaker 1: It was really just a larger part of the overall 965 00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:38,840 Speaker 1: Google Glass experiment, only there was a small problem. The 966 00:56:38,920 --> 00:56:43,080 Speaker 1: unveiling of Google Glass made it a prestige item. The 967 00:56:43,160 --> 00:56:46,160 Speaker 1: way they showed it off and the way they rolled 968 00:56:46,200 --> 00:56:50,760 Speaker 1: it out meant that it became an object of exclusivity. 969 00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:54,080 Speaker 1: You had to apply to be in the club for 970 00:56:54,160 --> 00:56:56,920 Speaker 1: one thing, so people were either in it or they weren't. 971 00:56:57,960 --> 00:57:01,400 Speaker 1: You had to pay for it, which meant that you 972 00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:04,000 Speaker 1: needed to have a pretty good amount of discretionary income 973 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:07,400 Speaker 1: if you're going to buy something like this. Wearing Google 974 00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:10,520 Speaker 1: Glass didn't just say I'm interested in technology. It also 975 00:57:10,560 --> 00:57:13,399 Speaker 1: said I have the money to blow on something that 976 00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:17,920 Speaker 1: hasn't even become a product yet. And it also said 977 00:57:18,400 --> 00:57:21,880 Speaker 1: I'm in a club and you aren't. And on top 978 00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:25,280 Speaker 1: of that, people began to express concerns about privacy issues. 979 00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:28,480 Speaker 1: I mean, how could someone feel like they could maintain 980 00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:31,000 Speaker 1: any sort of sense of privacy if they're going out 981 00:57:31,040 --> 00:57:34,000 Speaker 1: in public and other people have cameras mounted on their 982 00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:36,720 Speaker 1: faces all the time. I mean, that's what Google glass was. 983 00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:40,120 Speaker 1: In part. It was an external camera pointing outward at 984 00:57:40,120 --> 00:57:43,680 Speaker 1: the world from the perspective of the person wearing it. Now, 985 00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:47,320 Speaker 1: Google Glass had included a light to indicate whether the 986 00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:50,200 Speaker 1: camera was on or not, so that way people could 987 00:57:50,200 --> 00:57:53,560 Speaker 1: see if perhaps video was being recorded or streamed live 988 00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:56,760 Speaker 1: over the internet, or if photo was being taken, and 989 00:57:56,760 --> 00:58:00,400 Speaker 1: if the light was off, then presumably it wasn't. Now 990 00:58:00,440 --> 00:58:04,120 Speaker 1: I would encounter strangers who would see me wearing these 991 00:58:04,160 --> 00:58:07,240 Speaker 1: glasses and they thought it was the most amazing thing ever. 992 00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:10,800 Speaker 1: And the day I received my parent Los Angeles, it 993 00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:13,440 Speaker 1: was like I was being treated as a celebrity. People 994 00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:15,800 Speaker 1: were stopping me to ask about the Google Glass. They 995 00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:18,640 Speaker 1: wanted to learn more. They were fascinated by the technology. 996 00:58:18,720 --> 00:58:21,640 Speaker 1: They wanted me to take pictures of them using it. 997 00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:24,960 Speaker 1: But then I got home and I got around my friends. 998 00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:28,280 Speaker 1: My friends were different because I hung out with my 999 00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:30,960 Speaker 1: friends all the time. They knew me. But now I've 1000 00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:33,920 Speaker 1: got a camera on my face pointed at them, and 1001 00:58:34,040 --> 00:58:36,440 Speaker 1: more than once I had friends asked me if I 1002 00:58:36,520 --> 00:58:38,520 Speaker 1: might take off the Google Glass while I had a 1003 00:58:38,520 --> 00:58:41,800 Speaker 1: conversation with them, because they didn't feel comfortable with the 1004 00:58:41,800 --> 00:58:44,320 Speaker 1: thought of a camera looking at them, even if the 1005 00:58:44,320 --> 00:58:47,200 Speaker 1: camera was demonstrably off. If they knew for a fact 1006 00:58:47,320 --> 00:58:50,680 Speaker 1: I wasn't using Google Glass, it was still uncomfortable. And 1007 00:58:50,760 --> 00:58:53,000 Speaker 1: this was a problem that was widespread. It wasn't just 1008 00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:59,520 Speaker 1: anecdotal in my case. So people who were in this 1009 00:58:59,600 --> 00:59:03,200 Speaker 1: program um began to be called a new name. The 1010 00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:08,960 Speaker 1: official name was Glass Explorer, but the new name was Glasshole. 1011 00:59:11,560 --> 00:59:16,040 Speaker 1: That hurt. The technology was not ready for a full 1012 00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:18,800 Speaker 1: consumer product. It was never intended to be that. It 1013 00:59:18,880 --> 00:59:22,960 Speaker 1: was meant to be a test bed for this technology. 1014 00:59:23,120 --> 00:59:25,600 Speaker 1: And if you've got involved in the program, and if 1015 00:59:25,600 --> 00:59:28,200 Speaker 1: you were honest with yourself about what you were doing 1016 00:59:28,240 --> 00:59:31,640 Speaker 1: and what the product was for, what the Google Glass 1017 00:59:31,720 --> 00:59:34,280 Speaker 1: was for You should have been fine with that. You 1018 00:59:34,400 --> 00:59:37,080 Speaker 1: knew from the get go that this was a testing 1019 00:59:37,520 --> 00:59:41,160 Speaker 1: phase of the technology, not something that was ready for 1020 00:59:41,240 --> 00:59:45,000 Speaker 1: prime time. But people began to get frustrated with glasses 1021 00:59:45,080 --> 00:59:48,520 Speaker 1: limited utility. They'd say, like, after a couple of months, 1022 00:59:48,600 --> 00:59:52,160 Speaker 1: they just stopped wearing them because really, I mean, you've 1023 00:59:52,160 --> 00:59:54,040 Speaker 1: got a camera in your pocket already, why do you 1024 00:59:54,040 --> 00:59:57,600 Speaker 1: need another one. They weren't putting Google Glass through more 1025 00:59:57,640 --> 01:00:00,640 Speaker 1: and more uses, which meant that the program was becoming 1026 01:00:00,840 --> 01:00:06,040 Speaker 1: decreasingly important over at Google. They were getting less data, 1027 01:00:06,360 --> 01:00:08,040 Speaker 1: which is what they needed in the first place to 1028 01:00:08,080 --> 01:00:14,920 Speaker 1: make Google Glass a successful consumer product. So there wasn't 1029 01:00:14,960 --> 01:00:19,600 Speaker 1: just enough. They're there to keep people's interest, and the 1030 01:00:19,640 --> 01:00:22,520 Speaker 1: wrong sort of folks had jumped into the program. And 1031 01:00:22,520 --> 01:00:24,400 Speaker 1: by wrong sort of folks, I mean people who thought 1032 01:00:24,440 --> 01:00:26,880 Speaker 1: it was a prestigious thing to be in this club, 1033 01:00:27,720 --> 01:00:31,360 Speaker 1: who spent the money as a way of having something 1034 01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:34,280 Speaker 1: that other people did not have, not as a way 1035 01:00:34,280 --> 01:00:36,880 Speaker 1: of expanding the technology, but as a way of expanding 1036 01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:41,680 Speaker 1: their own status among others. And so interest in support 1037 01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:45,240 Speaker 1: began to wane, both inside and outside the company. But 1038 01:00:45,320 --> 01:00:49,160 Speaker 1: Glass did not disappear lots of those features became incorporated 1039 01:00:49,160 --> 01:00:52,080 Speaker 1: into other stuff like Android and Google Home. The phrase 1040 01:00:52,160 --> 01:00:55,760 Speaker 1: okay Google is still used to activate Google's Assistant, which 1041 01:00:55,760 --> 01:00:57,480 Speaker 1: could be on the phone, it could be on Google Home, 1042 01:00:57,520 --> 01:00:59,640 Speaker 1: it could be on other devices. And I apologize if 1043 01:00:59,680 --> 01:01:01,880 Speaker 1: once a again I woke it up for those of 1044 01:01:01,880 --> 01:01:06,480 Speaker 1: you who have Android devices nearby, and that can do 1045 01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:09,400 Speaker 1: a lot of different stuff depending upon what Google Assistant 1046 01:01:09,440 --> 01:01:12,160 Speaker 1: is running on. For example, at home, I can use 1047 01:01:12,200 --> 01:01:14,360 Speaker 1: it to listen to different types of music or control 1048 01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:17,200 Speaker 1: my lights on my phone. I can do all sorts 1049 01:01:17,240 --> 01:01:22,720 Speaker 1: of different types of features. And you might even encounter 1050 01:01:23,160 --> 01:01:27,760 Speaker 1: Google hardware Glass hardware in certain industries because, believe it 1051 01:01:27,880 --> 01:01:30,920 Speaker 1: or not, Google Glass does still exist. Google still produces 1052 01:01:30,960 --> 01:01:35,240 Speaker 1: them and still licenses it out, but only to other companies. 1053 01:01:35,240 --> 01:01:37,640 Speaker 1: It's a business to business product now, it's not a 1054 01:01:37,640 --> 01:01:41,680 Speaker 1: consumer product. This is a program called Google at our 1055 01:01:41,800 --> 01:01:45,320 Speaker 1: Glass at work, I should say Glass at work. So 1056 01:01:45,440 --> 01:01:48,560 Speaker 1: rather than this consumer product, this is a device that 1057 01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:51,840 Speaker 1: gives real world assistant to people working in various industries, 1058 01:01:52,920 --> 01:01:55,600 Speaker 1: and it all depends upon the augmented reality apps that 1059 01:01:55,680 --> 01:01:58,840 Speaker 1: the glasses are running. But it could be something like 1060 01:01:58,880 --> 01:02:02,200 Speaker 1: what I was talking about before, with mechanics, giving real time, 1061 01:02:02,680 --> 01:02:06,240 Speaker 1: overlaid information on how to do a repair, or how 1062 01:02:06,320 --> 01:02:08,840 Speaker 1: to take a part an engine, or how to build one. 1063 01:02:09,840 --> 01:02:12,240 Speaker 1: It could be for medical use, it could be even 1064 01:02:12,280 --> 01:02:15,160 Speaker 1: just for corporate use. There are a lot of reasons 1065 01:02:15,200 --> 01:02:19,760 Speaker 1: that Google Glass could come in handy. So it is 1066 01:02:19,800 --> 01:02:23,640 Speaker 1: still around. It's just not a prestige product for glass holes. 1067 01:02:24,960 --> 01:02:29,040 Speaker 1: Now it's doing real work. The sad thing is, I 1068 01:02:29,040 --> 01:02:31,880 Speaker 1: bet Google Glasses progress would be much further along if 1069 01:02:31,920 --> 01:02:34,400 Speaker 1: there had not been such a hoopla about it when 1070 01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:37,680 Speaker 1: it was first launched. If it had been launched more 1071 01:02:37,840 --> 01:02:41,560 Speaker 1: like we're trying to develop this technology and less like 1072 01:02:41,600 --> 01:02:45,320 Speaker 1: a rock star, then maybe people wouldn't have gotten so 1073 01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:48,400 Speaker 1: wrapped up in it, And maybe that means that Google 1074 01:02:48,440 --> 01:02:51,560 Speaker 1: would have been able to get more helpful information from 1075 01:02:51,560 --> 01:02:53,840 Speaker 1: people who are really using the technology the way it 1076 01:02:53,880 --> 01:02:57,760 Speaker 1: was intended, and maybe we would see Google Glass much 1077 01:02:57,800 --> 01:02:59,760 Speaker 1: further in development, and maybe it would even be a 1078 01:02:59,760 --> 01:03:04,280 Speaker 1: con sumer product. I'm sure it was discouraging to the 1079 01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:09,560 Speaker 1: Google Glass team to see how things went awry, but 1080 01:03:10,440 --> 01:03:13,520 Speaker 1: it does still exist and a R is still a thing. 1081 01:03:14,360 --> 01:03:17,320 Speaker 1: There are related products that are also pushing augmented reality 1082 01:03:17,320 --> 01:03:20,560 Speaker 1: into a new era. There's Microsoft's hollow lens. That's a 1083 01:03:20,600 --> 01:03:23,520 Speaker 1: great example. There's Magic Leap, about which we know very 1084 01:03:23,560 --> 01:03:27,360 Speaker 1: little bits and pieces of information leak out over time, 1085 01:03:27,880 --> 01:03:30,560 Speaker 1: but we're always learning a little bit more. But I'm 1086 01:03:30,560 --> 01:03:32,800 Speaker 1: always going to have a soft spot in my heart 1087 01:03:33,120 --> 01:03:37,760 Speaker 1: for Google Glass. It's something that I think of and 1088 01:03:37,800 --> 01:03:41,480 Speaker 1: it's something that I think if it had just had 1089 01:03:41,560 --> 01:03:46,040 Speaker 1: a little bit of a lower key rollout, we'd be 1090 01:03:46,040 --> 01:03:48,680 Speaker 1: looking at a very different world with wearables right now, 1091 01:03:49,280 --> 01:03:53,040 Speaker 1: or at least a more advanced one. As for Google, 1092 01:03:53,600 --> 01:03:56,160 Speaker 1: the company seems to maintain an optimistic outlook. If you 1093 01:03:56,240 --> 01:03:59,120 Speaker 1: visit the Google Glass web page today, you'll be greeted 1094 01:03:59,160 --> 01:04:02,520 Speaker 1: by a pretty simple shot, a photograph of a pair 1095 01:04:02,560 --> 01:04:05,760 Speaker 1: of feet clad in Neon yellow sneakers, with the phrase 1096 01:04:06,120 --> 01:04:10,040 Speaker 1: thanks for exploring with us. The journey doesn't end here, 1097 01:04:11,560 --> 01:04:14,920 Speaker 1: but our journey does. It's time to wrap up this episode, 1098 01:04:15,280 --> 01:04:18,280 Speaker 1: So if you guys have any suggestions, comments, or anything 1099 01:04:18,320 --> 01:04:19,800 Speaker 1: like that, you should get in touch with me. You 1100 01:04:19,800 --> 01:04:23,000 Speaker 1: can email me at tech Stuff at how stuff works 1101 01:04:23,080 --> 01:04:25,480 Speaker 1: dot com, or you can drop me a line on 1102 01:04:25,480 --> 01:04:27,600 Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter. The handle for the show at both 1103 01:04:27,600 --> 01:04:30,520 Speaker 1: of those is text Stuff H. S W. And remember, 1104 01:04:30,560 --> 01:04:33,600 Speaker 1: you can watch me live on Wednesday and Friday afternoons 1105 01:04:33,640 --> 01:04:37,080 Speaker 1: at twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff. Visit that link 1106 01:04:37,120 --> 01:04:39,800 Speaker 1: to learn more about my live stream schedule. That's all 1107 01:04:39,840 --> 01:04:43,120 Speaker 1: for now, and I'll talk to you again really soon. 1108 01:04:48,080 --> 01:04:50,600 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 1109 01:04:50,680 --> 01:05:01,160 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com