Will anyone create a killer app for Google Glass?
March 7, 2013
Google’s Glass Foundary hackathon
Google is creating high expectations that Google Glass will become a mass-market device, MIT Technology Review reports.
A new company, Augmedix, is making a Google Glass app for doctors, not for their patients. Founder Ian Shakil says his company is already testing it with medical facilities using the Vuzix M100, another smart glasses gadget coming out this year.
Google said there were more than 80 new ideas created at their recent hackathons.
Others also seem to believe that Glass will find initial value in specialized uses, including job-related functions that are done away from a computer. Khan Academy software engineer Stephanie Chang, who was at the Foundry events, has ideas such as creating a Glass app for teachers, who could be notified as they give a lecture which students are struggling.
Det Ansinn, is the CEO of a Web and mobile application development firm, imagines Glass being marketed to, say, a property manager, who might be willing to slip on a pair for his job, especially if it allows him to be more efficient — say, documenting a repair while actually making it.
Google will be hosting an event entitled “Building New Experiences with Glass” at SXSW next week.
Comments (49)
by Anthony
Sousveillance rules!!!
by MatthewQ
Just came across this:
http://phys.org/news/2013-03-insight-team-wearable-glass-people.html
It identifies the clothes you’re wearing in order to help identify you.
The app I would like to see is hard to describe.
Let’s say you input your own interests into the app. And also ‘Tags’ you would like other people to be able to use to reference you with- for example ‘Taurus’ or ‘Book Lover’ or ‘Likes Blondes’ or ‘Non-Smoker’. And of course, everyone else could upload their own tags.
Then you’d decide who to reveal these tags to via filters. So maybe ‘Book Lover’ is looking for other Book Lovers. You could filter by using combinations of tags and other criteria.
Then when you walk down the street, those people you had filtered for (and who also allowed you to see) would become hi-lighted in your HUD. Then you could decide to talk to the person or not. Obviously if you used many filters it could be that you’d know for a fact you’d have things in common with that person so approaching them would be an interesting experience.
This would encourage people to be actively engaged with the external environment and maybe even cause them to get out more in social settings.
An ‘Asshole Warning’ (sorry for profanity) would also be a useful app. If a person consistently got ‘Disliked’ and ‘Down-voted’ in social media/apps then past a certain point perhaps that person would have a flashing red outline around them. This would encourage better behaviour.
by Kristof77
I like the ideas shares, but perhaps we should temp our expectations since the google glass will just be able to relay info in one small corner of your vision, modifing your entire view of the world is not going to be accomplished with GG.
The little corner data is still a great start to AR and I feel the greatest success google could hope for is that the product works as advertised and it attracts enough attention to spawn GG2.
I would be happy with information about my run being displayed (pace, distance, time, maybe a map) along with details on the pardora song being played. Extra bonus points if I could switch the song with a verbal command or a hand jester.
by Ian Clarke
Kristof77, that’s a completely fair comment. But, I don’t know about others on here, I personally can’t limit my ideas to today’s tech (probably too much sci-fi as a kid!). Google Glass, to me, is our first baby steps in AR – it fires my imagination, but I won’t be amongst those to early adopt (mind says ‘yes’, bank manager says ‘no’). Plenty will, though, I’m sure!
by Gabriel
Indeed Ian; in general, people aren’t thinking of Google Glass with their ideas, so much as AR as a whole, and there is plenty potential.
by Ian Clarke
Gabriel, I recognise GG as being a valuable step on the path to integration with our technology. What they develop now may lay the groundwork for all future AR, and even help accelerate eventual human augmentation.
I agree, the potential is awesome! Personally, I think the most important feature of a future AR is the control it will give an individual over his/her immediate environment. The ability to change aspects of reality not in keeping with the user’s preferences, which can then be tweaked or transformed at will. At present, we can only control our home environment (and some can’t even do that) When we can control the environment anywhere that we are, I feel we’ll become a less stressed and more contented/balanced society.
Perhaps, in time, our most valued ‘possessions’ will be stored within us (and in the Cloud) and all but the barest minimum of personal property (for that’s all we’ll need) will be viewed as unnecessary hoarding. But then, I’ve always thought we’d be better off with less stuff – virtual stuff, excepted – clogging up our lives. :-)
[oops, went a little off-topic at the end - sorry!]
by SmartAndSober
RE But then, I’ve always thought we’d be better off with less stuff – virtual stuff, excepted – clogging up our lives. :-)
This sounds, to me, like a step toward the cyber-life as Dr Hans Moravec imagined. Eventually, we will upload our minds into the cyberspace. Our minds have to be streamlined (we will not live in a VR environment that is familiar to humans) to cope with the abstractness of the mathematical/computational world.
by Ian Clarke
Hmm, I’d like to dip my toe in cyberspace before jumping in. Maybe if I upload a copy of myself to reconoiteur the terrain? Just suppose my copy reports back: “Nah. Stay where you are, mate! Those streamlined female minds are more baffling than the non-cyberspace ones!”
But, who knows, by then I might be up for the challenge! :-/
by Gabriel
Out of all the various technologies I’ve heard related to the Singularity, Mind-Uploading is my favorite…achieving that post-biological era, that ‘logical endpoint’, is the bottom of the slippery slope of augmentation and will give us the most benefits (most of all, backing yourself up)
And you have a point Ian – when more and more becomes information, and nanotech can make anything, what it means to even have possessions will take on new meaning…of course, people will still have things of sentimental value and such (the personal property you were referring too), but a world of abundance will change the way people will view the material which leaves more time for focusing on things like personal growth and other such emotional/spiritual needs….which ironically fits in with what many philosophers want; the complaints that some people may care too much for material possessions and thus should turn to more conservative philosophies is only a temporary product of today’s day….as abundance grows, and everything is ubiquitous, views will turn more to what they always wanted without necessarily turning away from material wants…it’ll be the best of both worlds.
by Ian Clarke
I guess mind-uploading will be the ultimate break in our relationship with possessions (i.e. our own bodies). But, by then, how much of our original bodies will be left? I think even the brain will be non-biological at that stage, and augmented to the hilt – an immensely powerful computer with full cyberspace access. Will we actually need to upload our minds, other than to perform backups?
It’s tough to imagine. Our boundaries may have been stretched so far that we could be unrecognisable to our present day selves. Will this future we envision be the death of our own distinctiveness? If we immerse ourselves in the font of all knowledge, and regularly interlink with others, won’t we all evolve into a single global mind? And aren’t we already heading that way?
I’m sure these ideas have been put forward countless times before, and, when the time comes, the decisions we make will be with vastly different minds – superior in every aspect – so maybe we should just trust our future selves more than our current selves to make the right choices? Haha, you could send yourself mad with the conjecture!
Before all this happens, I believe we will go through a period of self-education and self-examination on a global scale. We are all damaged goods to some extent – having lived through this primitive age – and there will need to be a time for healing (this would include the spiritual growth you mentioned). Life extension will allow us to explore avenues we’d never considered, and we may find some hitherto untapped talents and start contributing in unexpected ways. We might even drop some core values that we’d held onto dearly all our unaugmented lives.
by SmartAndSober
… and we may find some hitherto untapped talents and start contributing in unexpected ways.
I agree. After the Singularity, we should also reform the system to make sure that no more talents will be wasted.
by Ian Clarke
The healing process I referred to would include ridding ourselves of any negative mental conditioning that may have stifled such talent. Of course, some talent may just lie dormant and undiscovered due to all sorts of entirely benign factors. It’ll be interesting to see what emerges given the chance.
by SmartAndSober
It would be a almost perfect world in which everyones’ (all sentient lifeforms, including transhumans, transanimals and AIs) talents can be developed to the fullest.
There will be almost infinite niches in the post-Singularity world for lifeforms to occupy and put their talent to use.
I imagine the Moravecian cyberspace to be housed in Jupiter-brains and even Dyson-Sphere-brains. Imagine how many googolplexes of uploads and AIs can exist in such a cyberspace. Imagine how much development (of all kinds: mental, physical, scientific, artistic) can be achieved in such a cyberspace.
Even better: if we can find breakthroughs in physics and develop FTL,we will be able to build a galactic civilization (consist of billions of Dyson-Sphere-brains) with no lightspeed-barrier induced delay.
by SmartAndSober
RE Those streamlined female minds are more baffling than the non-cyberspace ones!
According to modern psychology, really healthy human minds are hermaphrodites.
That is why Kurzweil used Romona, a female figure, as his avatar in some of his presentations.
by Ian Clarke
Errm, I guess that means I’m sick in the head, then!
Yep, makes sense! :-)
by SmartAndSober
The “baffling” female minds you described are probably also not psychologically wholesome (so that making men percieve them as undesirable).
Tecchno-telepathy and eventually mind-merge (for all humans) will allow us to overcome this barrier.
We will also possess better mutual understanding.
by SmartAndSober
As a cyborg, you will have very fast implants interacting with the much slower (by orders of magnitude) biological nerves.
As a upload, you will not be constrained by any biological inefficiency.
I believe majority of the computers will be quantum computers by the 2040s.
QC will compose the post Singularity cloud / cyberspace.
by Ian Clarke
SmartAndSober – excuse my ignorance, but do nerves help us think?
Whatever the case, as we’re discussing the future, and neither of us has a crystal ball (err… you don’t, do you? :-) either of our scenarios could be right, or, heaven forbid, neither. The way I imagine it, our brains will eventually become entirely non-biological, with our ‘deeper thoughts’ being outsourced to cloud computing (we really will have our heads in the clouds!)
Our mind-uploads will not be required to do any of the hefty number crunching of GAI (even uploaded to a network of quantum computers, would we be able to fully comprehend the revelations being made by them/it?) so I think that we’ll reserve the majority of our available computing power for the smart guys (GAI).
But like I said, it’s all guesswork. I’m certainly not going to dismiss your scenario. Quite frankly, either way works for me.
by Editor
“Our minds have to be streamlined (we will not live in a VR environment that is familiar to humans) to cope with the abstractness of the mathematical/computational world.”
Computation is normally capable of representing (to some degree of fidelity, depending on sampling precision and other factors) the analog (“real”) world in a nearly-convincing way (and being rapidly improved) and there may have to be some data compression, if that’s what you mean. But what upper bound would you place on this simulation fidelity and based on what?
by Bri
The article is about GG app ideas I think all this living in the clouds speculation is off topic. Hope my head doesn’t roll. If you are uploaded into the clouds what possession will you have? Picture of a virtual family? Entering that is like living in spirit. There is no need for anything. The bow no longer draws across the string. There is no tension and resolve. All of what was becomes echos of a distant past.
by Ian Clarke
Bri, if you were referring to my post, my speculation was that our more processor-intensive thinking might be outsourced to cloud computing, not that we’d upload ourselves there.
But you’re right, it has drifted way off- topic and unfortunately it was my fault to begin with.
Sorry about that.
by Bri
No problem. It’s an enjoyable discussion.
by SmartAndSober
It is really my fault so please don’t blame yourself, Ian.
I’ve done similar things in “How to read a mouse’s mind”.
I apologize.
by Bri
It’s my fault to bring it up. I like the exchange. Perhaps we could have a place to discuss off topic subjects. Call it ” The Pit”. A no holds barred area where if you enter you enter at your own risk. There is no crying of foul play. That way Amara wouldn’t have to waste time. If it strays off topic she hits an icon and a message is left that it’s been transferred to the pit. The pit would exist at the bottom of each articles comments section. Just a thought. Something less draconian than banishment. Some people like to argue and might choose to debate the topic in the pit rather than the normal comments section.
by Editor
I love it! Let’s see if anyone else does. Can we call it “Mosh Pit”? Ironically, this discussion itself is Pit material. :)
by Bri
Mostly original substrate humans? Certainly! I agree with your assessment of the dialog. Send them to the pit!!!! I’ll be joining them there. Oooohhhh I have a thing or two to say >_< .
by Editor
Yes, also “mosh pit” as in heavy metal.
by Bri
Make the background color a firiery red.
by Editor
The dreaded Mosh Pit has been created. Enter at your own risk. We couldn’t figure out how to allow commenters to select it, but moderators may either banish comments to the Mosh Pit, or move comments there when requested. Let’s see how this works out. You’re on your own! — Editor
by Bri
Idea for a GG app. When you’ve been thrown into the pit a little red charging bull appears in the corner of your GG augmented reality field of view. Make it moving and snorting, maybe pulling it’s front hoof on the ground!
by Gabriel
I’ve said it a million times, but I think the best thing that could come out of these AR glasses, are self-teaching tools.
If I wanted to learn a musical instrument, better my cooking, or anything….the overlay could present the instructions in front of me to follow; even better, they could make it fun by turning it into a game with high scores, grades, funny animations or whatever.
And although AR glasses are bound to have subtitles for you to understand foreign languages, learning a new language would be good too — an avatar-teacher speaks to you and you follow along.
by Editor
Very interesting. Gives me two ideas: existing videos could have linked info overlayed for AR display (using gestures to select/respond) and overlaying custom info for autistic people could help them cope with overload and social situations.
by SmartAndSober
Work, family and other interactions with the world can be regarded as a game.
Psychologists had discovered that video game players (especially MMORPG) have more competitive mindsets and are more enthusiastic at work.
Perhaps the course “Gamification” on Coursera.com can be interesting to you.
by Ian Clarke
I’d like something as simple as the ability to adjust colour, contrast, & brightness of a dull, drab & overcast day – effectively turning it sunny – kind of the reverse of sunglasses. But I see this as being on a future successor to Google Glass where a (perhaps bio-luminescent?) fluid is applied directly onto the eyes forming an integrated film over the pupil. :-)
by John C. Havens
I’d like to see an app that lets them determine how they’d like to be seen in the virtual world. Meaning, when you look at me with Glass, I determine whether or not you can use facial recognition tech to identify who I am or even to take my picture. There are not enough conversations about the ethics of Glass along with the awesome tech.
by Editor
Very good idea. Glass could, for example, recognize a thumbs-up or down gesture for that purpose.
by Gorden Russell
There is already an app for that, it’s called a Guy Fawkes mask. Just put one on and you become Anonymous.
by Gorden Russell
What conversations about ethics? What John? Ethics, smethics, we doan need no steenkeen ethics.
Everywhere you go there are security cameras taking your picture without ever asking for your permission. Police have had dashboard cams for years and when you read the article following this one you will see:
“Pivothead is putting superior technology into sunglasses worn by highway patrol officers in places like Austin, Texas. The glasses are able to capture the details of a driver’s face in high-definition and record conversations at higher bit rates using smaller, more precise microphones.”
Well, yes it is in the public interest for police to be able to link up to a video database and get the make on criminals at large with “wants and warrants” out on them.
And yes, it is in the public interest to obtain images of hoods knocking over liquor stores and convenience stores.
So why isn’t it in the public interest for individuals to link up their Google Glass to the Cloud by broadband so that they have the same protections as shopkeepers and police?
As more and more people start wearing these gadgetrons, there will be test cases in California backed by the ACLU or Occupy Wall Street or the NAACP.
Why the NAACP? Have you ever heard of Rodney King? Have you ever seen a fellow citizen, an American of African Ancestry, being shaken down and harassed by cops on the suspicion of “…being a nigger on a sunny day.” Sometimes the cops beat them and then charge their unconscious bodies with assault. Somehow the courts always rubber-stamp these charges.
With an image that the citizen can publish to a blog, everyone becomes a reporter, so the first amendment to the Bill of Rights applies.
If the cops treat the Google Glass as a weapon, then the citizen may use it as a weapon against tyranny and the second amendment also applies.
One last thing; if the shopkeeper needs a camera to protect himself from a robber, who shouldn’t a citizen? You’ve never had somebody behind the counter lie about what he was selling you? You’ve never been cheated by an unscrupulous merchant who misrepresented his wares?
The citizen needs a video record of every transaction to take to the Peoples Court. May your camera shoot ‘em all and let Judge Wapner sort ‘em all out.
by Vin
Funny, this sounds like the ole wild west doesn’t it? Anyone can shoot anyone down anytime in real-time-cloud-upload with incriminating video, pics or voice etc. I wonder if it’ll make people act more self-responsibly.
Personally, I like to imagine browsing the web by controlling glass with only languid eye activity as input to the browser or ultimately no muscle effort whatsoever! It sure would feel empowering to be able to activate a hyperlink or look up a word etc. just by looking at it with a hardish stare ,say. I’d start to feel psychic!
by Cybernettr
Only if the irresponsible mainstream media is replaced by independent online citizen journalists (which is already happening) since the MSM was so contemptible in its reporting of the Rodney King affair, repeatedly replaying the few seconds where he was subdued with batons but not the minutes prior to that in which he resisted arrest. The blood of the L.A. riots and the millions of dollars of damage that ensued is on the hands of the MSM.
by Ian Clarke
A related news item:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/09/seattle_bar_bans_google_glass/
What’s not mentioned is whether this bar has its own CCTV in operation.
by star0
An app I would like to see is “find it”: imagine you lose your keys; and imagine you wear Glass pretty much all the time, and that it passively takes a photo every minute or so (to conserve memory). You could ask it, “Ok Glass: where did you last see my keys?”; and then it would scan through your images using decent image recognition (it wouldn’t need to be perfect if the item appears in several photos). Or imagine something like, “Ok Glass: show me that house I visited yesterday [to possibly buy].”; or, “Ok Glass: show me the paintings I looked at at the gallery last week.”; or, “Ok Glass: I forget when the water bill was due [Glass looks up anything that says "water bill"].”. And one can easily image dozens more uses for such an app.
by Editor
Very good idea. Or add RFID stick-on tags to objects and have a Glass feature (and associated micro-scanner) that detects all RFID objects when in range. Would do the same when shopping.
by Camaxtli
I need this. Also, if it could record all conversations I have with my wife so that when she says she told me something that I don’t remember, Google Glass can confirm it so that I know whether or not my brain is indeed turning to mush or not.
by Gorden Russell
There ya go, Camaxtli, there is the killer app for every long-suffering well-nagged husband. Both my wives pulled that crap on me. It always turned out that they said something in the kitchen while I was in the attic or the basement. I really hate the way that women insist on talking to you while you aren’t even there.
by g. Hartwell
Agree, very annoying habit of my second wife. Especially since she avoided relevant conversation when with me face to face. I now hate it when someone talks to me from another room.
by Mark
I tried that with my wife a few years ago by wearing a voice recorder. It failed for two reasons:
1) I found that I was wrong in a lot of the cases (not sure that was really a failure since I learned something), and
2) she did not take the cases where I was right “well”, and I ended up worse off than if I had just said “yes dear” :)
by Gorden Russell
It’s funny to me, star0, that you mention the forgotten water bill. I picked up mine yesterday and it was a month overdue. I had to pay a $5 late fee.
by Ian Clarke
Gorden, we are merely fallible meat-bags – not matter how much we try to kid ourselves. :-)