All the big tech companies are working on computer glasses. None of them really want to go first.
Everyone remembers how Google Glass, and the “Glassholes” who wore it in public, became the laughingstock of the world. So they’ve been waiting, biding their time, refining their prototypes and occasionally making sure investors know that, no, they’re not going to pass up the first potentially iPhone-sized opportunity from the iPhone .
But now, Google itself is taking the next step. And whether you’ve been dreading the moment when Big Tech’s all-seeing eyes reappear in people’s heads or simply counting down the days until you own a computer with a hands-free camera, you should know that we’re about to wrestle with they. again.
Google shared this image to represent their AR glasses prototype. Image: Google
Last Tuesday, Google revealed that it will begin testing camera-equipped augmented reality glasses in public, and the company’s blog post contains numerous statements designed to assure you that this won’t be the age of Glassholes again. Google says it’s starting with “a few dozen” testers, and that the cameras and microphones on its glasses “do not support photography and videography.” They collect visual data, but Google wants you to imagine use cases like “translating the menu in front of you,” not recording someone in front of you at a bar.
The company’s support page also contains a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions such as “What is the image data used for?”; “How long is it stored?”; and “How will I know if I am very close to the products being tested?” Turns out there’s an LED that lights up if Google decides to save images for analysis and promises to delete them 30 days later.
For now, Google says its testers won’t use them in schools, hospitals, churches, playgrounds and the like, though it’s saying nothing about restaurants and bars, where Glass ran into trouble years ago.
You probably already know how you feel, but…
If you hate that idea, there’s probably nothing I can say to convince you otherwise, nor would I necessarily want to; I will not pretend to know whether this gadget should exist in the world. I just think you should realize that if Google’s test doesn’t end in a complete upset, it won’t be long before Apple, Microsoft and others throw their long-awaited glasses into the ring as well.
And in 2022, I wouldn’t actually bet on disgust, mainly because we’ve spent a decade pointing our phones at things in public, documenting every element of our lives, to prepare for what’s to come.
Since the day in 2012 when a team of Google paratroopers landed at the Moscone Center with the first public prototypes of Google Glass, the use of mobile cameras has exploded. Not only have phone cameras completely destroyed images, they have also changed social norms. In 2012, it was still a little weird to pull out a camera in a bar or restaurant; Now, it would be weird not to take a selfie with friends or take some photos of a particularly tasty looking meal. And the fear that you might accidentally capture a stranger in your photo? It’s such an everyday occurrence that Google uses a “magic” background eraser as a selling point for its Pixel phones.
The Snap Pixy is a self-flying camera. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Also, mobile cameras aren’t just filming when someone thinks to take their smartphone out of their pocket; they are flying through the air. Now anyone can buy a $230 self-driving camera from Snap to robotically film public places, and we’ve had nearly a decade to get used to the idea of someone else’s camera looking down on you. The vast majority of the consumer drone revolution happened after Google Glass — the DJI Phantom didn’t launch until 2013.
Google Glass also predated the widespread adoption of 4G LTE, which brought live streaming and instant video sharing to the masses. This is why you can record the police and maybe hold them accountable. (Remember when the folks at Google Glass wrote about the concept of “sousveillance,” a form of reverse surveillance where people use their own cameras to see watchers? Phones already got us halfway there.)
Police push an elderly man to the ground in Buffalo, New York on June 4, 2020. Someone was filming. Image: Mike Desmond / WBFO-FM Buffalo
Public spaces are full of cameras pointed in every direction now and there is very little expectation of privacy outside the home. Nor has society mounted many successful challenges to the proliferation of cameras. And even if filming was illegal, how would you police it? It’s not easy to tell if someone is recording, checking TikTok, or even doing work on the fly.
Will the pandemic restore the rules?
As my former colleague Ellis Hamburger said in 2014, we are all Glassholes now. And I think this has only become truer through the pandemic, as even the tech-resistant have come to rely on pocket computers for necessities like socializing and eating. In the past couple of years, I’ve seen people who swore off technology for things they could do in person reluctantly turn to Amazon, DoorDash, Facebook, Instacart and more. And I suspect some of them will be more open-minded about the advantages of technology now.
Even headphones may not carry the stigma they did due to the pandemic. VR usage exploded during the 2020 lockdowns, although overall sales numbers are still relatively small. The rise, fall and modern rise of virtual reality is, again, something that happened after the fateful launch of Google Glass in 2012.
The pandemic may also end up resetting some of our social norms, such as masking, which has the practical side effect of hiding your identity from cameras while reducing the spread of germs. It’s not too hard to imagine countries that tolerate citizens wearing a Bane-like mask also tolerate other head-worn devices. You may remember a time when Bluetooth headphones were considered too silly and rude to wear in public, and now they’ve become completely normalized.
Snapchat’s fourth-generation Shows are the first with AR, and the company is distributing them privately rather than selling them publicly. Be careful after Glass. Photo by Amanda Lopez for The Verge
Moreover, Google is not the first to put a finger back in these waters. Snapchat is now on the fourth generation of its Spectacles camera glasses, Meta has its Ray-Ban stories, and you could argue that Meta’s Project Aria test is pretty similar to what Google is doing now. None have yet generated the kind of stink that Google Glass experienced a decade ago.
Of course, that could change if a future pair of glasses proves to be more intrusive than our existing phones and drones. There will definitely be serious questions about data collection and privacy, especially given the track record of some of the companies that build them.
But in 2022, I think the biggest challenge facing Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Snap is figuring out how to create AR experiences that we’d pay for, experiences that are more engaging or convenient than what phones already offer. As we wrote in May when Google showed off some real-time language translation glasses, the company has an intriguing idea there:
It’s very hard to watch this video and see a glass hole. But it’s also too easy to detect vaporware.