Google Glass has seen hard times lately. Between various talking heads positing the end of days for the wearable and more establishments banning it, Glass is gaining quite the reputation. In an attempt to quell fears and misunderstandings, the Glass team created a rather lengthy Google+ post about Glass.


In the post, Google goes over the top ten “myths” about Glass, ranging from facial recognition to always-on recording. They even went so far as to remind us that Glass is still a beta program, and not ready for the big leagues of retail. They also suggest Glass isn’t distracting, and caution establishments against banning it. As many “myths” as the post addresses, it asks as many questions in return.

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At least in a roundabout sort of way, five of the ten “myths” regard the camera on Glass. Google suggests the same privacy fears brought up with Glass have been posed when both regular cameras and cell phone cameras were introduced in their day. What they don’t address is that it’s pretty easy to tell when someone is pointing a device they’re holding up at you; it’s much harder to tell when you’re being video taped while someone looks in your general direction. In a more intimate setting — say a bar — it’s pretty clear when someone is taping you. In an open space? Not so much.

Google also makes an argument against Glass being for “technology-worshipping geeks”. They take the stance that people from all walks of life are using Glass, and finding it efficient and useful. That’s true, but there are also an incresing number of folks dropping Glass for their own reasons — and not just the noisy ones. It’s also a bit dismissive to think that a zookeeper or doctor can’t be a tech-obsessed nerd.

Bottom line: Google is unnerved. The fervent anti-Glass chatter is obviously bothering them. Between potential driving bans and ‘Glassholes’ getting much more attention than the respectful ones, Google has their hands full. We’re not sure posting something to the tech-centric Google+ crowd is really fixing the issues, though.

15 COMMENTS

  1. Pretty sure most of this anti-glass FUD is being propagated by iTards who hate the concept that Google has a leg up on Apple on something. Watch. The minute Apple has something they will be all over it.

  2. I don’t see anything real useful about having google on my glasses. Now, if they REALLY wanted to do something useful, they’d do a digital display on lenses that correct your vision and has zoom and photo capabilities. I’d love to have glasses like that. 20/400 vision is horrible.

  3. Did Google ever think of designing the product to be unnoticeable, like oh say, an ordinary pair of glasses? I think it is natural for people to resent being videoed or photographed without their permission, the other issue is why people have to own something so conspicuous which has more to do with maturity then other people not wanting to move with the times.

  4. Google Glass is, and will always be, the Leisure Suit of the 21st Century. Wearing it denotes a lack of taste as well as marks the wearer as a creep.

  5. Google glass maybe a wonderful engineer innovation, but it
    is NOT practical, when I see an individual wear Google glass in our office
    building, my (not just me) impression is creep, if I saw someone to wear it
    during our group meeting, I will ask them to remove it, if they say no, I will
    cancel the meeting, I don’t want to our group meeting or clients meeting later
    be broadcast on ytube. If we can do a personality assessment on the type of
    people wears Google glass, you will not hard to find a similarity: people
    wear Google glasses are Ego-Driven Pursuit Happiness disregarding
    other people’s well being.

    • You mean like everyone walking around constantly talking on their cell phones, looking at their personal device or wearing Bluetooth headsets? It’s just the latest flavor. You’re being video recorded and your picture is being taken continuously. Welcome to the 21st Century. BTW, it IS practical for specific tasks, like teaching surgery.

      • Office meeting read much? 1,500 dollars 4 eye. I am a surgeon and would never ever consider it. Clean your mouth with some toilet paper.

  6. Why does anyone care anyways? We are all already under surveillance without our knowledge. I’d be willing to bet the same people on here complaining about their privacy are the same people standing in front of me in line at the store talking so loud on their cellphone that everyone in the store knows whats happening in your personal life….or the same person updating their status on facebook 25 times a day with pictures of everywhere they are and everything they do.

  7. If they would just put a small LED across the VCC and GND of the camera’s CCD chip, then people would know when they are being recorded, when the private moment became public, and the user could tell when the device was wasting power on running the camera without benefit to them. Problem solved.

    Another thing for the paranoid would be a switch that absolutely interrupted power to the camera… more secure.

    For absolute security, best price/performance ratio, could be done right now, but would require some manual work… an opaque pastie, or slide over/flip down shade that would cover the lens. Simple, obvious, and foolproof.

    Now the interesting thing is, if the camera is blocked, when not being used, will the OS be complaining about loss of image (which means it’s still trying to do optical things, against the owner’s wishes)?

  8. I went to a conference last week, and the vendor at the Booth was wearing Google Glass. It was the first time I talked with someone wearing them, and I was disconcerted by it–wondering if I were being filmed, etc. Hardly anyone went to the booth–I watched for a minute, and people were heading toward the booth and then steering away when they say the rep was wearing them.

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