Another pair of bars have banned Google Glass. This time, the wearble tech has been banned at a bar in the SoMa district of San Francisco, which many believed would be amiable to the technology. The second bar is owned by the same person, and in a different part of town. For Glass users in the Bay Area, there seems to be a growing list of places that aren’t open to their wearable.

The Willows, which also owns Sycamore in the Mission district, has posted a sign letting guests know they’re only welcome inside sans Glass. A sign posted has Glass inside the international symbol for “nuh-uh”: the red circle with a line through it. The sign lets Glass users know the customers at the Willows have expressed concerns about being filmed with Glass, and that they’ll need to be removed before entering.

Oddly, the sign doesn’t list Google Glass by name — it just has a drawing of the wearable. This is either an oversight, or really unique foresight. Other head-wearables, while not ready for primetime, are coming. Having not named the wearable by name, we can assume their policy is meant to stay in place for the foreseeable future. This ban is the latest in a slew of issues relating to Glass, almost none of it positive.

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A few weeks ago, one Glass Explorer was in a scuffle at another San Francisco bar for wearing Glass, and we all remember the California woman ticketed for Glass. One gentleman was even drug out of his movie while wearing Glass for fear he was illegally taping the film. Various states have begun discussions on disallowing Glass while driving, and these two establishments can be added to a long list of others choosing to ban the still-unreleased wearable.

In equity, it should be pointed out that the ticketed driver was exonerated, and the man yanked from his theater seat was not taping the movie. The woman at the bar a few weeks ago may have been acting like a “Glasshole” (if onlookers are right), but that seems isolated. The question now is, with so much ati-Glass sentiment, will anyone want them?

Source: CBS

27 COMMENTS

  1. The concerns are largely based on the false idea that Glass is a 24-hour recording device, or that it records discreetly. Instead, it records for 10 seconds after someone says “Ok Glass, record a video” and the screen comes on, creating a big white light. The user then has to stare at you if they’re going to record you. There can’t be any long-term recording, because the battery would die quickly. Yet there’s no outcry over actual 24-hour recording devices, known as lifecasters, which are used to blog people’s entire lives. And if anyone wanted to record discreetly, they would use a cheap spy cam.

    As Glass becomes integrated into glasses frames and doesn’t stick out much, people’s opposition will fade. This is more about people’s perceptions than about actual recording.

      • LOL, if that’s the case then there should not be any Android-run devices then. The last time I check, Android smartphones and tablets are doing quite well, thank you. It’s just that POS that Google should NEVER EVEN think about making. What do you need it for? To see far?!!! To read maps?!!! To read news online?!!! To make phone calls?!!! To text?!!! To take pics?!!! I’m pretty sure to each of my questions, people already have a device (a very good indeed) that can perform that task. So what’s the Glass for?!!!

      • I bet you are really fun at parties. I also bet you were one of those that when the smartphones really got big you where like “OMG WHY DO WE NEED A PHONE TO DO MORE THAN JUST CALLS AND TEXTS?!?!?!”

        I swear people have small minds.

      • No, I don’t have small minds. I just don’t see its usefulness over the devices we as people currently own. I bet that you already call, text, surf the web, read news, play games on either your smartphone or tablet. And if you need prescription glasses to read and/or see far, I bet you’ve already owned glasses (as the old-fashioned glasses, not the Glass). How about taking pics? Your smartphone doesn’t do its job?!!! How about a DSLR for a change? So now tell me why I need that Glass? Just to boast I’m on the edge of techno. I’ll leave that honor to me since you seem to have it.

      • a very limited view
        you really don’t understand that Glasses are comfortable for at least navigating?

        are you OK with using Car navigation when walking through a city? 🙂

      • How about your smartphone? Too big to hold in your hands? I always thought the current smartphones is the do-it-all devices. Am I wrong to think we need Glass for navigating? FYI, I tried as much as possible to avoid using the car GPS as well, and if I can, use with voice. Visual distraction…

      • My phone is as big as I want, I have android I can choose 😉
        Still prefer glasses for navigating

      • But that’s my point. Currently smartphones can (almost) do it all. And we still need more gadgets to replace (?) them. Look, it’s your perfect right to have every piece of at-the-edge tech, but at some point, I sincerely believe that we as smart consumers must say, “enough is enough”.

      • Progress≠undiscriminated use of technologies. I don’t live in a cave, eat raw meat, hunt and chase animals like our Neanderthal ancestors did. However, I do believe that for my hard-earned money, I must spend it wisely, and not trying to be the techno-nerd who owns every single piece of tech gadgets out there. Would you carry all the available smartphones on the market, just because one gives you the Retina display and the others don’t, or because one gives you the knockon/off and the others don’t, etc.?
        Tell me, what functions (true functions that you really use everyday) doesn’t your phone have that Glass does? Name a few to enlighten me.

      • retina? nicely brainwashed. For non ignorant people retina means inferior display far behind high end Android phones and again late….hardly catching Android’s resolution

      • Resort to nitpicking insignificant details rather than answering my relevant questions? Nice try! Failed! Where is the answer to my previous post?
        FYI, i own devices of both systems, Apple and Android (actually typing from my SGN10.1, 2014 ed.). So I’m no fan boy of any OS or company. You, on the other hand, judging be your insults, must be an Android (or Google) fanboy/girl! Learn to know that Google is Not GOD! Not everything they make deserves worthshipping. But go ahead and be an inconsiderate techno-nerd or a blind fanboy if that suits your needs.

    • How about the right NOT to have some perv. spying shooting some vids on me and my entourage? And what is it with people going to the bars WITH Glass? You need to see far. Well, there is something we call “prescription glass”! Show-off!

      • You can get glass with prescription lenses. Christ, people are so paranoid about being recorded. What makes you so special that I would record you?

        Hint: Nothing.

      • And why do you need to wear Glass to go to bars?! To see far? LOL. Your old prescription glasses don’t do their job anymore. Get an eye exam, yes? Much cheaper and much less trouble with the bar owner, ever think of that?

      • So now you talk for EVERYONE? Who are you? POTUS? And if the camera is no use to record (anyone of your interest), why does Google have this feature? Are you the Google CEO too? Grow some common sense in you, would you? If they put in a feature such as that one, someone is bound to use it whether on you or someone else. Stop hiding your head in the sand.

      • They have video cameras on cell phones too, so why aren’t cell phones banned in bars and Glass is? Most laptops have cameras, but you don’t see those getting banned.

        The reason is that there is nothing wrong with having a camera.

      • So let’s say to text, you hold your phone to the eye level, and just by coincidence (!), you also move your phone wherever a certain person moves around, right? LOL! THERE, That’s the difference between using a phone and a Glass to secretly record. FYI, some bars and/or restaurants already have rule to forbid the use of phone while inside. You want to talk, step outside! I’d say the same for Glass: you want to show off your latest toy, and prove you’re a techno-nerd, do it in your own backyard/home. If going to bar, then drink and eat and have a good time with your buddies. Leave behind your tech toys. Try it, you won’t die!

      • It’s probably a lot easier to secretly record on a phone than it is with Glass. Saying the words “OK Glass, take a video,” would probably give you away.

        You are also forgetting about those who need Glass for health reasons. They have every right to have a good time just like you do.

      • “Glass for health reasons”? Talking about the Google Glass, correct? And by health reasons, what do you mean? To see far, to read close? What’s wrong with the prescription glasses, or contact lenses we have had the last 30 years? How about Lasik or other corrective eye surgery? We don’t need Google or its Glass for that matter! Are you implying that without the Google Glass, people with eye vision problems are without solutions?!!! Hum…
        Yes, that would be very secret to see someone hold a phone at the eye level, swirl it around or move with someone’s else movement, and then answers, “Oh, to text I need to hold my phone right up to my eyeball! I can’t do it while having my phone down on my lap/table”. Good try!

      • Laptops have forward-facing cameras for skyping. Which one has backward camera to take pictures?!!! Get the facts straight. If I don’t see the laptop screen facing you, but me, and you claim to surf the web, that’ something seriously wrong with this picture! Don’t you think so?

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