Amazon ~ Smart Glasses

[Teken]

Looks to be the next fad and rage is the smart glasses: https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/20/amazon-is-working-on-smart-glasses-to-house-alexa-ai-says-ft/

 

Very curious to see how Amazon executes this technology unlike Google. Having been a big Sci-Fi fan for most of my life and a tech nerd my belief is no one is hitting that mark. I think it comes down to segregating the platform for consumers vs professionals. What I envision is similar to what Apple show cased in their latest AR platform.

 

Where a person can superimpose an image, live action, to historic records. Couple this with high accuracy GPS a person could say use Google Maps to see what a site looked like in 1986. While standing there they could walk around that same location and take readings / recordings which could update the same terrain / location for historic recall.

 

Being able to lay over past vs present images would help those in various industries from trucking, shipping, mapping, geologists, infrastructure etc. I guess having the ability to see & hear a destination would be pretty cool especially if its a new area unknown to a person. The transition of a stand alone GPS is quickly merging with smart phones which have been in place for years. Now having the ability to wear something that allows that person to do more tasks would be just a move to another platform.

 

Until they can make the device stand alone and offer WiFi / Cellular where the device can operate for more than 24 hours. Never mind addressing privacy, security concerns the world has become one giant microscope!!  

[lilyoyo1]

I think they should market it to professionals first. Let them figure out the best use cases and from that market to consumers.

 

By letting pros build it's use case, the end user has better ideas and understanding of what they can do and how to use them. Right now, by letting the consumer lead the charge, it becomes buyer's remorse and never takes off

[Teken]

I think they should market it to professionals first. Let them figure out the best use cases and from that market to consumers.

 

By letting pros build it's use case, the end user has better ideas and understanding of what they can do and how to use them. Right now, by letting the consumer lead the charge, it becomes buyer's remorse and never takes off

 

I think it could go either way and really depends upon how the company envisions their road map. From past experience letting the public have access can help fund the product along with better insight vs the professional. I can't tell you how many times I've had to work on a so called *Professional* piece of hardware and wonder

 

*What kind of moron developed this product*

 

 

The most common answer I would hear is: There isn't a need, We see no value in this, Nobody has complained.

 

Having a larger cross section of the general public from consumers to professionals offer more insight and the wants. It also goes with out saying once a product is in the wild all kinds of bugs or unknown conditions are found. Many of us can relate to Alpha / Beta testing and what is found in 1st generation products from hardware, software, to human ergonomics.

 

This was clearly seen by the Google Glasses . . .

 

You had a bunch of nerds with zero common sense, style, or ability to be objective.

 

Given how Amazon has iterated the Alexa platform I have more hope they will hit the special mark. Thus far my personal experience is they are more than open to receive feedback and make changes to better the platform and the user experience. Once upon a time Google was that darling tech company that had that open mind and capability to push forward with concepts that made sense and helped all.

 

Now, not so much . . .  

[lilyoyo1]

While I agree with you, I think the avg consumer would have buyer's remorse. It's the techs and geeks that could figure it out. However when something is open to the general public everyone looks at sales. Google glass was a great idea but since noone knew what they needed it for it didn't catch on.

 

I see glasses like I do smartphones. In the beginning it was mainly the corporate world with blackberries. They led the charge while the avg user questioned the need for email access 24/7. As it's usage began to make sense (along with Crapple), it made the transition much easier for the general public.

[Teken]

While I agree with you, I think the avg consumer would have buyer's remorse. It's the techs and geeks that could figure it out. However when something is open to the general public everyone looks at sales. Google glass was a great idea but since noone knew what they needed it for it didn't catch on.

 

I see glasses like I do smartphones. In the beginning it was mainly the corporate world with blackberries. They led the charge while the avg user questioned the need for email access 24/7. As it's usage began to make sense (along with Crapple), it made the transition much easier for the general public.

 

Well, certainly if the product comes out with a insane price tag it will limit who can have it. At this juncture I believe it really comes down to doing a few basics well, first. If I had a say as to what should be on the first iteration of said product this is what I would expect in no specific order of importance or relevance. 

 

- Offer WiFi, Cellular, BLE 5.X connection

- HUD *Head Up Display* of speed, direction, temp, humidity, elevation, pressure, sound levels, object / traffic alert & avoidance, POI (Point of Interest) 

- Map Info: Different types mapping from Satellite, grid, ground, local = Allow current user data to be pushed up and updated

- Sound: Detect sounds like Shazaam for music, people identifier, objects cars, trucks, train, bus, boat, plane, etc

 

- VR: Present historic data to the user where ever they are. Say you're in Rome and standing by a POI the system would pop up historic facts, best restaurant to eat that fits your mood, where the closest bathroom, bank, police, hospital is in relations to you. 

 

- Medical / Emergency: Track, monitor, record personal health. Having a heart attack? System would be able to call 911 immediately and offer exact geo location. Someone isn't breathing? A pop up would show a person how to complete CPR. Call 911 and triage assistance etc. Doctor Assist: Could help a surgeon, combat medic, EMS as to next steps or provide insight to a supporting personal. 

 

- Battery: Offer 7 day use and be wireless charging

 

- IP Rated: For use in deep water environments or where its extremely hot / salty.

 

- Distance / Ranging: Provide distance / elevation data with ballistic compensation and wind correction. Endless military applications and die hard hunters.

 

- NVG: Offer a serious model for night time viewing in complete darkness.

 

- Health: Track steps, distance, route, BPM, calories, pupil dilation, etc

[lilyoyo1]

I like your list though all of that would come with a high cost. Especially early on. More the reason to start with pros and bring it to the masses later.

 

I agree with the HUD and less on connectivity, at least early on. Adding too many radios will simply increase cost and size turning people off. This can also impact battery life as well.

 

In public most people will have their smartphones on them so ble should be sufficient for the casual user. Pro models can add additional radios however as function over form would be more important.

 

Battery life is a different story. While a week would be nice, the size needed would impact people's desire as that would make the device larger. As technology advances this could change. Once again a pro version would be great for this as well. Wireless charging is a no brainier given that even Crapple has finally jumped on it.

 

NVG. To do it right would be expensive as hell though I admit it would be a good feature.

 

IP rating: no need to comment. You hit it on the head on that one. Really sad that it needs to be mentioned but I can see someone making a decision to leave it off.

[Teken]

I like your list though all of that would come with a high cost. Especially early on. More the reason to start with pros and bring it to the masses later.

 

I agree with the HUD and less on connectivity, at least early on. Adding too many radios will simply increase cost and size turning people off. This can also impact battery life as well.

 

In public most people will have their smartphones on them so ble should be sufficient for the casual user. Pro models can add additional radios however as function over form would be more important.

 

Battery life is a different story. While a week would be nice, the size needed would impact people's desire as that would make the device larger. As technology advances this could change. Once again a pro version would be great for this as well. Wireless charging is a no brainier given that even Crapple has finally jumped on it.

 

NVG. To do it right would be expensive as hell though I admit it would be a good feature.

 

IP rating: no need to comment. You hit it on the head on that one. Really sad that it needs to be mentioned but I can see someone making a decision to leave it off.

 

I should have left the list much shorter and basic. Except I was on a roll when typing this reply! I agree the NVG itself would put this thing well outside of $1K just from that lone feature. A supplemental idea would be to offer thermo imaging which is probably easier to include at lower costs when compared to true NVG. Having played with a few military NVG's even the pro versions seem to lack what I expect.

 

The older version I had didn't have the high tech star lighting amplification never mind gobbled up power. The military is now testing out this new tech we saw at CES a few years ago. It was based on different animals and insects eye balls which are able to translate different light waves and amplify them organically. Meaning no external power source is required because its organic in operations. The only thing I found as a negative is its currently single use.

 

Its kind of like a chem light where you break it, shake it, and it starts to emit light ~ Single use.

 

These NVG's I demo'd had a usable life of about 12~15 hours. I guess if you're the government you can afford to buy and throw away stuff when ever! Also, one of the coolest things I saw at a demo was a different way of illuminating large areas. I don't know how practical it is to fly a plane over a given area and spread XYZ materials but wow.

 

With this stuff all over the place on the ground, tree's, rocks, buildings, etc. Using these special glasses which required no power except a special lens you could see almost clear as day. The only downside to this in my view was odd yellow color which I could see giving someone a seizure!

 

LOL . . .     

[lilyoyo1]

I liked the list but you know I gotta play devils advocate here. Lol. While the govt can afford 1 time use, a soldier cant. Id hate to be in battle and something runs out.

 

To be honest I wouldnt expect milspec in a pro version. Now you are truly talking about an astronomical cost for something.

[Teken]

I liked the list but you know I gotta play devils advocate here. Lol. While the govt can afford 1 time use, a soldier cant. Id hate to be in battle and something runs out.

 

To be honest I wouldnt expect milspec in a pro version. Now you are truly talking about an astronomical cost for something.

 

Oh I know most of the ideas on the list are pretty much never going to happen. The cost to offer some of the ideas would make the product large, heavy, and impractical for most. But speaking off the cuff someone who is diving or doing some kind of mapping job wouldn't be too worried about a extra wired pack to offer auxiliary power / features.

 

The consumer would probably have little buy in to a two part system never mind something that costs upwards of $4~5K. Given how many so called VR goggles have come out over the last two years. You can already see a quick shift in advancement and down sizing of the units. I know way back in the day when having the opportunity to be at Boeing and playing with their simulators to fly a 777.

 

The realism of the cockpit and the feedback was simply incredible.

 

Now, kids of all ages can go to Disney and experience similar things but in first shooter / racing bike / Jurassic park etc.

 

One thing which could help meet this multi-use is to modulize the basic frame which allows different features to be incorporated. Someone needs X vs Y just remove a module and plug in the new one. Need more run time add on a module. Hunting or stalking your prey add in that NVG module! Somewhere down the line all of this will push the technology to a point where its cheap enough for the masses.

 

The fact most smart phones are a swiss army knife that offers phone, speaker, video, camera, GPS, page / text / SMS, bio-metrics, and 999999999 other capabilities all for $0.00 down on a X year contract. Won't take too long for this technology to be be downsized and made cheap for all. Ultimately I would like to see this advance human health for all while teaching people what can be. 

 

I know ~ Just a fanciful dream . . .