I tried them out and found the same thing as the author. The fact that someone dared to take a different approach gathered them a large amount of attention at CES but the 2min demo had me a bit dizzy for a good 10 minutes.
You inevitably have to look up to see the display and it's also a constant struggle to aim as best as you can to be able to see what's on the display effectively.
It's important that people in the industry try and test different approaches though!
I think the camera-free designs while inherently limited, as the article states, are the only way that this tech will be accepted in public. The glasshole phenomenon is real. I’m not going to engage with someone with a camera on their face at anything but the most superficial level. It adds an unwanted context to every interaction.
There are technological measures that could overcome this, but even if running a local model in the glasses were possible, how could this be trusted?
As a person who would love to use this technology, with camera, anyone using this would be essentially persona non grata until this was off of their face. And even without cameras, knowing that your voice interaction with a person is 100 percent recorded…
So, there must be a way to leverage AI in everyday life… but unless we can figure out a way to keep private interactions (99 percent of F2F interaction) legitimately private, I don’t think these devices will be a success.
Meta Ray Ban wearer here and zero people know Im wearing sunglasses that can take pics and videos of what's in front of me.
Whomever you are I dont care to take a photo or video of you Im using it the same way I use my phone to capture my life experiences. Except I dont have to pull out my phone, unlock it and open the camera app. Just click a button on leg of my glasses or say take a pic.
I think Meta has sold around a million of them globally, Oprah made it her 2024 product of the year and i have encountered a few other Meta Ray Ban wearers too. It's a slow adoption and might hasten once Meta Orion's glasses are released. Overall tho smart glasses could be as big the Apple watch (which isnt massive like iPhone) or potentially be as ubiquitous as regular sunglasses. I'm betting in time on the latter tho sorry Zuckerberg they will never replace our phones or personal pocket AI devices. You can not take selfies with glasses!
I know how you feel: and. You are currently constantly being videoed pretty much everywhere. There’s more video of you in hours than you’ve lived most likely.
I hate the glass hole vibe, but in a way it’s just a reminder of reality. I wouldn’t be surprised if humans mostly ignore it (front of mind) and reconstitute what private space is (back of mind) — that is to say, keep doing what we’ve been doing since the launch of the iPhone.
I’d imagine that what you say holds true for most people living in cities.
I’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to make sure that this doesn’t apply to me and my family. Obviously, when we are in an urban environment, there is a lot of camera coverage. But when I have a conversation or just share an opinion with a stranger, if I think that is going to become part of the public record or be part of some big-data company database, I’m just not going to bother communicating with that person.
There are plenty of people in the world who value their own integrity as an individual person far too much to wire themselves up to be the tip of the tentacle for the tech brohood. Phones are bad enough.
But couldn't the same be said for people bringing smartphones into gym locker rooms?
20 years ago if you pulled a camcorder out in a locker room you might get yelled at, today there are signs posted saying no cameras but people are taking selfies in gym mirrors with people changing 3 feet out of frame, and if you ask someone to put their phone away while they text next to you at a locker you'll be ignored and given a rude face.
Rudeness gets normalized over time unfortunately.
Texting at dinner is the same. Imagine someone pulling out a book and reading some Harry Potter for 30 seconds during the middle of a conversation at dinner or drinks. Now do the same with checking a text or Slack for 20-30 seconds during a 1:1 or group social hang.
I'd pair a pair of Halliday glasses like these with a pair of bone induction headphones. That oughta do it.
Wireless connectivity/latency issues aside, we're probably better off with them being two separate "cranium accessories" (as Mitch Hedberg called them), to accommodate a wide variety of heads
You inevitably have to look up to see the display and it's also a constant struggle to aim as best as you can to be able to see what's on the display effectively.
It's important that people in the industry try and test different approaches though!