What You Wanted From Google Glass

A few weeks ago I asked you guys to send in your suggestions for Google Glass. We had some great plans like:

@TheAvgGamer #IfIhadGlass I'd be able to read in bed without exposing a limb to the cold night air.

— The Ninth Egg (@Jjst9) April 23, 2014

And Joe Dale”s very practical idea:

I think for those who commute, especially in big towns and cities wouldn’t it be great if you could get real time views of how your tube / metro line is going at the moment? If anyone else is on your selected lines you can have a look at what they see…”looks busy, I’ll walk!”

But my favourite by far came from John Maynard. It keeps you entertained while travelling while providing that heart-thumping risk of being exposed as a lunatic:

“I’d build a commuter-shooter game, where you shoot fellow commuters in the back of the head by saying bang. if they turn and face you, you lose points, but you have to say “bang” loud enough in order to earn points.”

Google Glass also provides audio through bone conduction, so you could happily live in your own fantasy murder commute. Don”t look at me like that, you”d do it anyway if you were standing on a train for 75 minutes every day. Congratulations, John. you”ve won a £50 Google Play voucher.

Now, the whole point of this competition was that Virgin Media are looking at ways to use interesting technology. I went in to chat with them about your ideas and what”s already happening with Glass.

There are some good apps out there, the casino online most impressive of which is Word Lens, an app that translates signs from one language to another. It”s also out on iPhone and Android but if you already wear Google Glass while travelling, it”s far more practical than whipping out your phone to read every sign. Check out the video for the smartphone version.

Of course, it”s not quite as perfect as the video would imply, but it”s pretty damn good. I pointed my phone at the 20-second mark of the video set to translate Spanish to English and got this.

Good enough for finding the loo when on holidays, right?

The main problem I see with Glass for gaming is the battery life. Right now, it only lasts about 2 hours and it gets annoyingly warm. The screen isn”t something you want to be looking at for long time periods either. Since it”s designed not to obstruct your view, you will feel it if you”re staring for a long time. Given the right style of game, though, you could have some fun.

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