“Like it or not, a Google Glass world is finally upon us,” Dana Schuster reports for The New York Post. “And it’s a divided one.”
“Since its April 2013 rollout, tens of thousands of Google Glass devices have been sold nationwide, says a Google spokesperson who declined to provide specific numbers,” Schuster reports. “But not everyone is going Glass. Critics argue that the flashy gizmo is both pretentious and intrusive, letting wearers take photos with a simple wink of the eye.”
““Glasshole” has become the term du jour, and outrage has spiraled so out of control that San Francisco has had a series of reported attacks on users. New York City’s not immune to the backlash, either,” Schuster reports. “In April, a techie war erupted when East Village restaurant Feast kicked out Glass-user Katy Kasmai after she refused to remove her device. Kasmai vented online, and hundreds of Glass groupies rallied against Feast on Google, accusing the eatery of discriminating ‘against people who are into new technology.’ Feast co-owner Brian Ghaw is unapologetic. He says Feast’s no-Glass policy is for guests’ peace of mind. ‘They just felt uncomfortable about having somebody who could potentially videotape them,’ explains Ghaw. ‘If someone were sitting at a table with their smartphone constantly pointing in a certain direction and you didn’t know what they were doing with it, you’d feel pretty uncomfortable as well.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take:
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“Sorry, but this video is unavailable from your location”
Oh Joy.
Apple and IBM!
Just by virtue of owning Glass to me means you have insensitive social or sociopathic issues. (And probably a host of other mental problems as well.)
I personally appreciate people who where Google Glass. When I see such a person I know immediately they are an asshole who I do not want to interact with. This saves a few steps.
Google Glass: Another one of life’s lovely litmus tests for stupid…
Next up, do glassholes suffer skin irritation?
Whenever I see someone wearing Glass, I whip out my iPhone and turn on the light. Then I shine it right in their glass-hole!
Better yet: Carry a LASER PEN.
While I absolutely would never follow through on it, I have to admit I’ve had the passing thought to use this…
http://www.wickedlasers.com/arctic
I want one that’s powerful enough to knock Amazon delivering drones out of the sky! Prize packages from heaven.
Blethering on: I had a friend in college who was nearly expelled for stalking one of his professors with a LASER he had snuck out of the lab. He was that kind of fellow. Ingenious and devious.
Tens of thousands @ $1500 a pop, I don’t believe it’s been that successful and if it was goog would be shouting it from the mountain top.
Thousands shipped to various locations, but only 10 sold out each shipment. Thus 10’s of thousands .…
100,000 would be considered a abject failure if this were Apple, and it sounds like maybe they sold 30-40k.
“…tens of thousands of Google Glass devices have been sold nationwide.”
Bullsh!t.
Let’s be real about this. The average glass user really isn’t interested in wasting their storage space or time on recording an uneventful and more than likely boring conversation and/or interaction 3 tables away at a restaurant or bar. If I wanted to make the same recording with my phone, I could do so and you would never know. It’s real assholes are the people who believe that they are so self important that if someone has the ability to be recording them, they automatically must be. Your lives really aren’t that interesting. And if anything interesting does happen, well there are plenty of YouTube videos that show everybody extending out their own personal privacy invaders videoing the whole experience. It doesn’t matter if it’s Glass or cellphones, if someone wants to record you they will, and if they don’t want you to find out, you won’t.
That’s exactly the problem. You have no idea what it is that Google Glass wearers–average or otherwise–are interested in.
And if you happen to own a pair, then you still can’t speak for any other users beyond yourself.
As the article states, if someone were pointing those things at me, I’d have a problem with it; the same way that when I see people pointing cameras in my direction when I run I move out of the frame or turn aside.
I’m a technophile and love all things technological but Google Glass crosses a line that shouldn’t be crossed.
People don’t like having others pointing cameras at them. It makes them feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. We already have to deal with almost constant surveillance, being videoed at ATMs, at the mall, by store security, at traffic lights, toll booths, etc. We put up with this because we have no other choice, and after all, it is for security reasons.
Now here come random hipsters potentially recording us on the street, in restaurants, in bars, in ATM lines, in public parks, at the beach, even in restrooms and our privacy is further being invaded, this time not for reasons of security, but for no other reason than their own amusement. It’s socially unacceptable behavior and it’s normal human nature to find it repellant.
Frankly I’m not surprised that the self-important Glass users are so oblivious of common curtesy that they try to justify such obnoxious behavior. After all, the term “Glasshole” didn’t appear out of a vacuum.
“Your wife interested in er… photographs, eh? Know what I mean? Photographs, ‘he asked him knowingly’…. Yes. Nudge nudge. Snap snap. Grin grin, wink wink…”
For all of you that hate Google Glasses referring to wearers as glassholes do you have the same negative reaction to all the security cameras watching you from within stores, on the streets, cameras at private homes, restaurants, red-light cameras, cop cars with cameras along with private citizens that have those as well, yes the list goes on.
There is hardly anyplace we can go that does not have a camera eye watching us. Possibly hundreds of time a day we are under a watchful eye. So please do not become hypocrites, nor pompous a$$holes yourself.
Thats the point. We’re inundated with constant invasions of our privacy, but deal with it because it’s done in the name of security and we can’t really do anything about it.
On the other hand, Google Glass can follow us into restaurants, restrooms, beaches and down the street, and our already limited privacy is further invaded by glassholes, not for the sake of our security, but for the sake of their entertainment.
The difference is that while we can’t do much about the first problem, there’s a lot that can be done about the second.
Technically speaking once you step outside the confines of your private residence you legally have no expectation of privacy, you can be photographed, taped etc.
Private businesses could limit or restrict these things I suppose, but in all reality if someone was recording you with these, you have no recourse. They are breaking no law.
There are no laws YET. Go hang out near a playground wearing Glass and see how happy the parents or teachers are to see you. Sit down in a restaurant wearing them and customers will be complaining to the manager left and right. You’ll be given a choice to remove them or yourself just prior to a sign prohibiting them goes in the window.
Look on this page and see how popular pro Glass posts are.
You might not be breaking any laws (for now) walking down the street wearing them, but don’t expect the people you irritate by doing so to be so law abiding.
Security cameras are there for public safety, to stop shop lifting, monitor build up of riots and prevent crime in built up areas.
Google glass is an invasion of privacy – security cameras aren’t.
There are always morons who have no common sense. It would follow that if this individual thought it a good idea to buy google glasses, they wouldn’t have the sense to take them off during dinner. If you have low character, it shows in everything you do.