![]() For example, Google has created some nice blindspots in the way it’s positioned Glass. Is there some kind of blindspot in our fascination with heads-up displays that is similar? That’s the question that intrigues me now. ![]() So now we have virtual trade shows that use what you see in Web browsers, and that has worked, more or less. Basically, writing is a wonderful invention for finding and describing things, and giving it up for immersion into 3D representations of things is silly for many purposes, even if it’s great for movies and games. I got it some months later when I wondered why anybody would shop in a supermarket without signs over the aisles, or detailed labels on the cans. The technology wasn’t really ready, but, more fundamentally, there was an intellectual flaw that the wonder of VR had somehow obscured. I tried to sell my boss on a virtual trade show, where people online would walk into a full-surround 3D trade show with booths and products and avatars. I got sucked into that once, with virtual reality. Sometimes you don’t realize how far back you have to go to find the right point to jump on the evolutionary curve. The big question may be what features those are, and that is where all this real-world feedback Google is getting really matters. The next step may be a device that displays a few features simply enough to work well, with less battery drain, less (literal) headaches, less conflict with traditional vision and lower cost. So maybe that is what will happen to heads-up displays (assuming there simply isn’t some wonderful military product we can declassify). And this halting progress provided real improvements step-by-step, at a pace that allowed the company to stay in business and then make money. The BlackBerry evolved, model by model, and pretty soon (at least in geological time) the President couldn’t live without one. But it got my email to me before I walked into the office. It looked like a pager and had, what, six lines of display, or was it four? You scrolled with a wheel. Otherwise, evolution would never have gotten to eyes.Ĭompared to the iPhone, RIM’s first BlackBerry (if it was even called that back then) was like that rudimentary eye. He was talking about how eyes evolved, how it happened slowly over millennia, and how every incremental step in the process, even vision that was only perceiving a slight difference between light and shadow, must have had survival value. ![]() It makes me think of something Richard Dawkins wrote about evolution, some time ago. Google may be able to fall back (while appearing to move forward), but, if not, others will, and who knows who will get it right in the end? In Newton’s case, there was no direct fallback position. They both tried to reach the potential of their devices right away, and they didn’t get some of it right. The comparisons between Glass and the Newton are apt in more ways than that they are both objects of ridicule. I even think I know what it will take to go up the other side. They took the sensible step of not betting the farm on this beta, and they will learn a gigantic amount from it. I don’t think the clever people at Google are going to mind that much. So Google Glass is on the way down its mountain. It’s easy to see the publicity videos for Glass and imagine great things, without knowing whether the technology is there yet. Somebody smart once said it’s like being on a mountaintop and seeing across to the next mountaintop, but forgetting having to climb down your mountain and up the other one to get there. The thing about the future is that it’s easy to see the possibilities. The devil in the details can’t be seen until you see the details. It seems that what is happening to Google Glass is what has happened to several past technologies: ISDN, PDAs, video conferencing, even PCs and laptops: The closer they got, the farther away they looked. Otherwise, just admit the bloom is coming off the Glass rose. Even better, watch this Saturday Night Live skit, which resonates with many tech embarrassments over the years. If you really want to sync with me on this subject, read this article first, where the early problems with Google Glass are relentlessly noted.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |