Google's First AI Smart Glasses Launching This Fall With iPhone Support

[Entilzha]

You drip sarcasm. But yes, this often the way tech usages evolve.

I tried to keep the sarcasm from splashing around too badly, but it was difficult! 🙂

Google shoves these products out the door and then everyone is shocked, SHOCKED I say! when Google discontinues support a few months later. Google Glass, obviously. Stadia as well, though at least people got their money back for that waste of hardware.

But hey, maybe they’ll actually stick with this one. Stranger things have happened!

 

[Tim Jobs the 2nd]

Google Glass, obviously. Stadia as well,

So many more than that, one of my favorite sites remains https://killedbygoogle.com/

 

[rensuchan]

So exactly like Meta glass, but instead of trusting Meta for privacy (f no), you would need to trust Google for privacy (better, but I still would want an educated legal opinion on terms first).

What you see beamed to an AI is such a privacy minefield that you'd want to only use a company whose main business in not selling ads. Apple will be in a pretty good spot here.

This is the exact reason I do have a bit of an interest in Apple's version.

Meta is a data mining company that IMO, doesn't use the data for anything positive.

Google is also a data mining company, but at least gives us some useful products. If someone made me choose between the two it would easily be Google.

Apple, however, is a hardware company and doesn't need to data mine in order to profit. I don't have the same worries about Apple secretly using data from these products to serve ads / train AI / sell to others.

Given that I already wear glasses, it wouldn't be a lifestyle change for me. The idea of translating what you see visually sounds pretty awesome to me, and I can think of sporting and gaming applications for myself where having live AI video analysis would be pretty amazing.

As far as creepy purposes... I don't like people enough to want to record them anyway 😆

Not that it would really matter if I did since as has been pointed out before, these things light up if you use them for photo / video purposes so it is actually less discreet than someone sneaking phone shots.

 

[Charlie Bonesx]

No you can't. You suggested things that don't work. If the light is blocked, the glasses disable the camera. End of story.

We've already been through this.

Ray-Ban Hack: Disabling the Recording Light

Imagine owning a pair of the hottest smart glasses on the market, seamlessly blending style and technology – then discovering

bytetrending.com

Meta's Smart Glasses: Mods Break Privacy Light, Harassment Goes Viral

Creepy $60 mod for Meta Ray-Ban Glasses lets users disable the recording light, stoking harassment and surveillance.

redact.dev

etc, etc, etc

not to mention it's constantly recording audio and sending it to meta

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Perv goggles are just creepy. Their function is to evade the social stigma of recording people without consent.

People choose to act differently when someone is shoving a camera in their face. Walk up to anyone with your phone held up recording and you can see their reactions are different.

Tech like this exists to hide the cameras/sensors and deny the other person informed consent. It’s gross.

This is just wrong when you say "Perv goggles are just creepy." I disagree with the statement that "Their function is to evade the social stigma of recording people without consent" and "Tech like this exists to hide the cameras/sensors and deny the other person informed consent."

A definition of such tech glasses as "Perv goggles" is what is "just creepy." You assume (in fact you define) the purpose of glasses is "to hide the cameras/sensors" despite the vendor's apparent attempt to make camera usage obvious.

 

[Charlie Bonesx]

I wish people would do 5 minutes of research before suggesting things that were already proven to not work.

If you block the light, the camera is disabled.

You can't record without people noticing.

Ray-Ban Hack: Disabling the Recording Light

Imagine owning a pair of the hottest smart glasses on the market, seamlessly blending style and technology – then discovering

bytetrending.com

Meta's Smart Glasses: Mods Break Privacy Light, Harassment Goes Viral

Creepy $60 mod for Meta Ray-Ban Glasses lets users disable the recording light, stoking harassment and surveillance.

redact.dev

Women are being secretly filmed with smart glasses. Outdated privacy laws make it tough to get videos removed | CBC Radio

Smart glasses make it remarkably easy to film someone without their consent. And those who study covert filming say it can create a physical and psychological threat, from stalkers to increased anxiety, as the law struggles to keep up.

www.cbc.ca

and on and on and on

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I’m just going to say it: People who wear cameras on their face are psychopaths. Go touch grass.

Not everything is a content opportunity, and people are creeped out when you’re talking to them. We just are. Nobody likes having a camera aimed at them when they’re trying to have a genuine conversation. It lowers trust and makes us anxious and wary of your intentions.

Why do you (and others) assume that the use of such glasses is "having a camera aimed at them when they’re trying to have a genuine conversation?"

I am a photographer that probably would find good use for (competent) camera-mounted glasses and audio recording (my subject matter is never people). The last place I would wear such glasses would be while "trying to have a genuine conversation." Folks even thinking of such glasses as perv goggles is what is creepy to me.

 

[Tim Jobs the 2nd]

Folks even thinking of such glasses as perv goggles is what is creepy to me.

100% agreed. It is like they are saying it is what THEY would use it for so they assume everyone is doing that.

 

[spicynujac]

I do not post any of my photos on social media, or sell them. This is something that every serious street/urban photographer understands.

It's a minefield and I'm worried (as a hobbyist photographer) that these camera-equipped glasses are going to lead to heavy-handed regulations that defy common sense.

Yup, they are gonna ruin these just like they ruined drone photography.

I'm not really interested in the glasses but spent a whole bunch on nice drones and as soon as the camera technology advanced where you could get some really beautiful footage, they started being heavily regulated and socially shunned in most of the places where you want to use them (Can't pilot from any US national park for one!)

 

[spicynujac]

Folks even thinking of such glasses as perv goggles is what is creepy to me.

That's what they seem to be generally used for, though.

Meta sued over AI smart glasses' privacy concerns, after workers reviewed nudity, sex, and other footage | TechCrunch

Lawyers say Meta's marketing materials promised privacy and user control over sharing footage. But an investigation found that subcontractors are reviewing footage from customers' glasses.

techcrunch.com

There are tons of stories about how they are disproportionally used for things that aren't generally publicly seen, ie nudity. It's not really shocking--the first adopters of every new invention from the paintbrush to videotape to the internet has generally been perverts.

Apple made a pair with more practical uses, but they didn't really take off. Will these find legitimate uses later? Possibly. But the majority of users now seem to be perverts. You can't blame people for noticing.

People Are Calling Meta Ray-Bans "Pervert Glasses"

On Bluesky, users quickly embraced the term "pervert glasses" to refer to Meta's Ray Ban smart glasses, following a shocking investigation.

futurism.com

Meta’s ‘pervert glasses’ fuels trend of creeps secretly filming women, posting videos online without consent: report

Pickup artists and would-be influencers are increasingly using the glasses to turn real-life encounters into content.

nypost.com

MSN

The Rise of the Ray-Ban Meta Creep

Between pickup artists and juvenile pranksters, the wearable device is becoming associated with pests of all kinds.

www.wired.com

Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Have a Serious Creep Problem

Ray-Ban Meta glasses face privacy backlash as users disable LED recording indicators to secretly film others in clubs and public spaces.

www.gadgetreview.com

Pretending these aren't used by a substantial number of pervs is not realistic.

 

[Tim Jobs the 2nd]

Pretending these aren't used by a substantial number of pervs is not realistic.

The "pervs" could take sneakier pics with their phone since no flash is needed and there's no light that turns on. With the glasses, there's a bright light when they take a pic or record something.

 

[Charlie Bonesx]

The "pervs" could take sneakier pics with their phone since no flash is needed and there's no light that turns on. With the glasses, there's a bright light when they take a pic or record something.

which can be disabled

would you like me to find you another dozen or so examples to ignore?

 

[rensuchan]

That's what they seem to be generally used for, though.

Meta sued over AI smart glasses' privacy concerns, after workers reviewed nudity, sex, and other footage | TechCrunch

Lawyers say Meta's marketing materials promised privacy and user control over sharing footage. But an investigation found that subcontractors are reviewing footage from customers' glasses.

techcrunch.com

There are tons of stories about how they are disproportionally used for things that aren't generally publicly seen, ie nudity. It's not really shocking--the first adopters of every new invention from the paintbrush to videotape to the internet has generally been perverts.

Apple made a pair with more practical uses, but they didn't really take off. Will these find legitimate uses later? Possibly. But the majority of users now seem to be perverts. You can't blame people for noticing.

People Are Calling Meta Ray-Bans "Pervert Glasses"

On Bluesky, users quickly embraced the term "pervert glasses" to refer to Meta's Ray Ban smart glasses, following a shocking investigation.

futurism.com

Meta’s ‘pervert glasses’ fuels trend of creeps secretly filming women, posting videos online without consent: report

Pickup artists and would-be influencers are increasingly using the glasses to turn real-life encounters into content.

nypost.com

MSN

The Rise of the Ray-Ban Meta Creep

Between pickup artists and juvenile pranksters, the wearable device is becoming associated with pests of all kinds.

www.wired.com

Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Have a Serious Creep Problem

Ray-Ban Meta glasses face privacy backlash as users disable LED recording indicators to secretly film others in clubs and public spaces.

www.gadgetreview.com

Pretending these aren't used by a substantial number of pervs is not realistic.

As humans we do tend to focus on the most negative aspects of things. There's definitely a pervert problem, but I think it's a stretch to say that's what they're generally used for when close to 10 million have been sold at this point and we haven't had millions of creeper reports.

Hopefully when the Apple version comes out they can have more measures in place to make sure the lights cannot be disabled in the way that people are with the Meta product.

 

[spicynujac]

There's definitely a pervert problem, but I think it's a stretch to say that's what they're generally used for when close to 10 million have been sold at this point and we haven't had millions of creeper reports.

Only Meta likely knows the overall types of usage. I haven't seen detailed reports on *how much* of the time overseas workers spent looking at nude footage, versus more mundane things, so it's unclear if it's a substantial part of the time, or that the footage they saw was short but disturbing, but it did bother them enough to reach out to journalists.

I have looked over the uses, and can't imagine wanting things like banner ads popping up when I walk by a restaurant or any of the other uses listed (Use apps on a connected smartphone with your voice? You can do that with just the phone alone!). Though as a former teenager, I can certainly think of obnoxious ways they could be used.

Are they generally used by perverts or not isn't as important a question as whether they have a substantial use as spyglasses. And that's certainly how they are described in the vast majority of reported stories. As to the millions of other glasses sold that aren't used for shower peeping or upskirt photos, there are a lot of annoying but not super offensive uses like a huge increase in approaching strange women and filming your encounter or running pranks on people at work. Other than that, maybe some people are simply walking around being quietly fed ads, but to me that is just as offensive 😀

I guess the foreign language translation thing could be helpful, but that's the ONLY useful case I've seen. I think that's fundamentally why Apple's version failed--supposedly watching movies on it was cool but that was about it, and they cost more than a nice projector system that you could watch with others. Maybe this is just a roadbump until we figure out what we can use this device for, the same way the Apple Newton laid the ground work for the iphone. Or maybe it will be like 3D glasses for the TV, something never to be seen again.

 

[JohnWick1954]

It's just a little pepper spray followed by some black spray paint to the face. No biggie.

So again, unprovoked assault, got it🙄

 

[ChrisMac47]

...

I guess the foreign language translation thing could be helpful, but that's the ONLY useful case I've seen. ...

They are also useful for vision-impaired ("legally blind") people.

For both of these applications, and doubtless others, there is no need to be able to RECORD video or audio. The camera sees the text or object and the processor performs its translation or identification ... no image or audio is recorded for the wearer to download afterwards. But there is still the problem of the company (Meta, Apple ..) stealing your data!

 

[richinaus]

Apple

Oh cool, it's time to go back to "OK Glass"ing people in the face that try to take my photo with those!

It's ok I will just take your picture on a 100mp camera with a decent long lens and you will never know...... or just stand in the street with my iPhone snapping away as thats acceptable?

 

[Piggie]

Can we please Pin this thread for the future, so when Apple brings there smart glasses out and many start wearing them, we can refer back to this thread where all the people said they'd never buy or wear anything like this.

You know it will happen 😀

 

[thogin]

I think Apple is on the right track with putting cameras and sensors in Airpods. Everyone walks around with Airpods. If we can ask Siri about our surrounding and not have to wear glasses, that might be kind of cool. It would certainly have wider acceptance.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think Apple is on the right track with putting cameras and sensors in Airpods. Everyone walks around with Airpods. If we can ask Siri about our surrounding and not have to wear glasses, that might be kind of cool. It would certainly have wider acceptance.

I agree, and particularly if there is no ability to record footage with it.

This issue is so thorny that I could see Apple wanting to avoid it totally.

People are wearing AirPods at the gym. You can’t just have AirPods with cameras that can record and people walking into locker rooms and around showers.

 

[thogin]

I agree, and particularly if there is no ability to record footage with it.

Very true. It should not record/store photos or video. In fact, I doubt Apple would refer to it as a "camera".

I can just hear the announcement at WWDC: "Apple has developed a brand new image technology. It doesn't take pictures. It doesn't take video. It senses your surroundings in a privacy-focused way. We call it the Exploration Sensor".

 

[MacBH928]

When George Orwell wrote 1984 to warn people of governments spying on them 24/7 in the future, he didn't imagine it was actually the people going out of their way to get the device, pay for it with their own money, sign agreement to be monitored, and use it be monitored by big corporates and the governments.

he just didn't imagine it was going to be this bad...

 

[MacBH928]

I agree, and particularly if there is no ability to record footage with it.

This issue is so thorny that I could see Apple wanting to avoid it totally.

People are wearing AirPods at the gym. You can’t just have AirPods with cameras that can record and people walking into locker rooms and around showers.

they already have security cameras there, don't they? not the showers but locker rooms.

 

[frownface]

their first? did they forget about google glass?

 

[eifelbube]

Not that it would really matter if I did since as has been pointed out before, these things light up if you use them for photo / video purposes so it is actually less discreet than someone sneaking phone shots.

Definitely not less discrete.