Last month there were rumblings over how the majority of Google Glass units went to men and USA Today opined that this could be a result of the dearth of women in tech but eventually suggested that it could be because women recognized that the device makes people look “dorky.” My sentiments exactly.
Another frightening aspect of the design is how dangerous it seems. Please tell me if I’m being paranoid here but isn’t the small, sharp-edged cube of glass placed directly in front of my very delicate eye an accident waiting to happen? Will a quick smack to the face from, say, an opening door or the open hand of a spurned lover not send that little cube of crystal into my eye, severing tissue and causing an explosion of ocular jelly? I’m wincing just thinking about this.
What makes Google’s lack of design savvy so confusing is that a stylistic (and perhaps safer) alternative is available without reinventing the wheel. Think about it: for its Glass project, the company needed a screen on which to display the interface for its new computer platform. Attached to a head-born mounting system, the screen had to be positioned in front of the eye of a user. I’m wondering if any at the Google development team thought about whether you could just make Glass look like a regular pair of glasses. I’ll take mine full-on mirrored aviators, please!
Google CEO Larry Page said last month that the company should be busying itself “building great things that don’t exist.” I think he’s absolutely right. Google Glass is a brave development and represents one of the few areas in which Google is attempting to really invent something.
If tech spectators are correct, we’re going to see quite a bit more of wearable computers, including a wrist-mounted device from Apple AAPL -0.06%. Though it’s early days and developers have yet to test the waters in the sci-fi wearable field, players like Seattle-based adult app store, MiKandi – which just released a pornography-sharing application for Google’s Glass – is showing us that strong minds are at work in this space.
When I look at photos of people wearing Google Glass, I remind myself that the product is still in a relatively early stage of development and I should forgive the company for its lack of style. I also can’t help but wonder what such a device would look like were it made by Apple, a company long committed to style as much as substance. Should the final Glass iteration become wildly successful, we might see a similar product from the Cupertino-based tech giant.
In many cases style is subjective and there may be those of you reading this that feel the current version of Google Glass is in fact a handsome device. You may feel that it adds a futuristic aesthetic to the already noble visage of the industrious human. You may even think that Google Glass is sexy.
You are entitled to your opinions. I think you’re wrong.
source Forbes
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