And do you think they will be mass adopted to replace smartphones once the technology becomes good enough or will the general public revolt against them like they did with google glasses? Meta just released a new pair of smart glasses which lets you have a discreet POV camera ready to film at all times, discreetly listen to music, view a projected screen just by looking to the side which is not observable to others, talk to an always present AI for any thoughts or questions that pop up during the day, discreetly send text messages by drawing letters on your leg, have instant translation for speech or text that pops up in your view, etc…
In theory? Could be cool in some cases I guess. But I don’t really want more tech, nor do I want another device I need to charge. In practice? I don’t trust Meta, or any of these large tech corporations, to not turn this into a privacy and security nightmare. Also a waste of electricity - these AI models will need to analyze a lot of audio and video to be useful.
They’re nothing but just a new way for companies to track us more intensely 🤣
I hope they come down in price to the point where you can get 'em for cheap on the used market in order to repurpose the optics and screens to make dumb hmd’s.
It would be great for my industry. I’m in the trades and sometimes worry on jobs that I could get put in situations where it’s a he said she said kind of thing. Having video of everything I’ve done would be handy. Also if someone happens to be a wanted felon and I could get some money from crime stoppers through facial recognition, that could be handy too.
Privacy nightmare
They need to be smashed to bits… every single one of them.
I think if they ever get good enough that a lot of people are wearing them, a lot of companies will put rules in place to keep employees from wearing them at work.
Restaurants, hotels, and other service industries don’t want their employees posting video of insane customers to their personal TikTok profiles. Any company with any sort of technical or financial or medical data won’t want employees to be able to take photos or video secretly.
I could see companies even attempting to ban them for customers. Like banks, airports, stadiums or other areas where large crowds of soft targets would gather. Schools to protect the security and privacy of children. It’s one thing to go in a record with a phone; that is visible and draws attention. Being able to record completely in secret will be unappetizing to many (except when the government does it, of course, no one must question our police).
EU privacy laws would have to be rewritten for smart glasses to be usable in public. Let’s not do that.
Can‘t wait for a new US trade deal to soften that up.
Let meta write the laws and get only 60% tariffs. Von der Leyen will be enthusiastic about it.
I don’t like von der Leyen but she’s been more steadfast against Donnie than I’d expected. Not in everything and not as much as she should but I don’t see her just caving to absolutely everything.
I can really see the potential in them. Like, I keep envisioning glasses that analyze what is infront of you, help to magnify, help people with eye issues and plenty of other things.
But, as I’ve see what has been done with VR least with Facebook, is that I can see the technobro applying some dystopia level shit on there. Be prepared to see ads - that you can’t close.
I just want the screen built into the glasses. So I guess the ability to cast to them or mirror my phone screen would be enough. I don’t need the AI, camera, probably a lot of other features. I guess my use case my not be the same as everyone’s.
If we had decent privacy, they could be amazing. Imagine something like Facebook, the way it used to be advertised, that could identity your friends and give you some of the information they’ve chosen to share with you.
Instead of trying to frantically remember your friend’s new partner’s name, you get a subtle name bar above their head. Maybe you get a reminder about their birthday, or a life event they’ve shared.
Unfortunately though, we’re currently stuck with the shitty version that going to extract all the data it can, and sell it to whoever can afford it :(
If they addressed the privacy nightmares that they are likely to present… by not being directly connected to the internet, by using a local and contained personal AI instance, by never being able to film anything with them without it being clearly obvious to others… then I’d be excited for that kind of tech.
But we all know that it’ll turn out to be the dystopian, corporately-connected, data-leaking version of the tech that’ll spread everywhere. So, I’m actually not really looking forward to it.
This sounds awesome except the ever present AI. I know my phone and anyone else’s phone and basically any Internet connected device in my vicinity is actively spying on me at all times, I dont need a constant reminder.
I really want a screen on the inside of glasses though. If I could do 2 menial jobs AND catch up on all the TV everyone keeps recommending me I would be so happy.
Tap for spoiler
Well maybe not so happy but I’d at least be able to stop hearing "you havent watched (stuff) yet!? Omg! You HAVE TO…
The ability to watch something while doing dishes is intriguing but the concept of having short form content (instagram reels in this case) accessible one inch from my eyeballs any time I get bored is kind of scary. I downgraded to a dumbphone due to how short form content had cooked my attention span.
I think they’ll become mainstream eventually. It seems obvious to me that they’d be useful and eventually a far superior experience to a smart phone. If and when they start to gain steam, there will be a backlash of some degree that will likely die out because the vast majority of people have no concern for digital privacy. I think the google glass backlash was a result of them looking weird and the personalities of the people willing to drop $1000+ to get one and wear it around.
I think the real question is what kind of world will bring them into mainstream. With surveillance on the rise, I imagine the most powerful people would actually like everyone to have cameras on their faces.
I think the new meta glasses will be decently popular relative to the rest of the MR market, but will ultimately be held back by the tech industry’s insistence on AI. I don’t think any new technology will become mainstream so long as AI is a headline feature, it’s too inconsistent as a feature and wildly unprofitable as a technology. Once the AI bubble pops and the economic consequences are sorted out, that’s when I think smart glasses will get big.
So I worry if we’ll live in 1984-esque surveillance hell by then or if somehow things will turn around. Either way I think smart glasses are coming and they’ll be common soon.
Great for pervs. I thought we went through this bullshit with Google Glass and the Glassholes.
I think were I a man of stronger convictions, I’d rip off and smash any pair of camera equipped glasses I’d encounter.
