Google Goggles
I’ve been away from the blog a bit working on an academic project for graduate school, but how could I not take time out of my day to comment on Google Glass? This blog is subtitled “Your mind on media,” isn’t it? And the idea of this project couldn’t be closer to that theme. So here’s my comment: I would rather have my eyes removed than put Google in charge of them. Their wonderful little concept video (seriously, Google, do you even make things anymore?) is nothing what this interface will ultimately look like. After the advertisers and marketers and spammers and trolls have had their way with this project, it will likely look much more like this and that concept video should make you want to shed virtual tears. This is Google we’re talking about. They don’t say it outright, but openness to them means curated as little as possible. Anyone can put their software on the Android system and if it happens to exploit your phone and steal your information, that’s your problem. Do they really believe that they can create a clean, curated augmented reality experience? They simply don’t possess the corporate psychology to do so; they’re motives are simply not aligned with such a design project. First known for search, their search results aren’t even that great anymore. Why? Because they are an advertising company, plain and simple. What they are motivated to do is put ads in front of you. Aren’t we kidding ourselves a little bit when the concept video for this technology contains no ads served by the Google Goggles? Yes. We are.
Update: Someone has created a more genuine version of the Google Goggles project video.