Hasta La Gadget!

Now that Google Glass is out – at least in its developer edition for those wishing to get in on the party first – it’s time to track mind-blowing uses of this technology as they appear. Two of the examples you’re seeing below are filmed with the Developer edition of Google Glass, showing us what’s possible with some simple experiments. The third is a video that’s not brand new, but should blow your mind nontheless: it includes a talk by Tom Chi showing how you’ll be able to make a very rudimentary Google Glass yourself.

1. Sports

A first-person perspective video is not an entirely new concept for some regions of the sports universe – NASCAR has been live-casting the insides of vehicles for several years, in fact – but with a sport like hockey, this idea is just appearing. What you’re going to see here is developer Joseph Lallouz playing some ice hockey with Google Glass, letting the NHL know that they’ve got some new entertainment possibilities on their hands.

2. Music

The world of instructional videos are certainly opening up here at the advent of Google Glass and the augmented reality glasses releases of the world. In a video filmed through Glass by musician Henrik Nordberg, you’ll see him and his fellow students playing a song at Sycamore Strings Academy. While this particular video doesn’t act as a set of directions for the viewer, you’ll surely see the possibilities unfolding.

3. Do It Yourself Glass

Back at the beginning of this year, Google X (aka Google Department of Science Fiction) Experience Lead Tom Chi spoke at a TED convention about the possibilities blowing up with rapid prototyping, one of these being the ability to create what’s effectively your own Google Glass device with a few simple elements. He also shows some Minority Report technology and its relative simplicity, too.

This is just the beginning

Google Glass is only in the hands of less than 1,500 users at the moment, and very few of them are sharing their experiences with the public. Once this user experience expands to the general public – and once developers using the units out there today find themselves being a bit more comfortable with sharing their creations and findings, they’ll be pushing videos out like no tomorrow. Stay tuned to SlashGear’s Google Glass tag portal for more as this saga unfolds!

Google Glass: 3 videos that will instigate a major perspective shift is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Security concerns around Google Glass and what data access those casually – or nefariously – picking up your wearable might have has prompted the first DIY lock system for the headset, Bulletproof. Resembling the standard Android lockscreen, but adding some head-detection smarts to prevent you from having to swipe in a code every time you want to use Glass, Bulletproof is the handiwork of Explorer Edition owner Mike DiGiovanni.

As others have observed, Glass lacks any sort of locking system, which means that when you’re not wearing it – or supervising it – it’s possible that anybody could pick the wearable up and start digging through your data. That’s potentially not the most worrying exploit, however; as arch-tinkerer Jay Freeman pointed out this week, with the right software and a microUSB cable, a well-placed hacker could install surveillance malware onto your Glass and joyride every app you use, every photo and video you take, and potentially even track your location when wearing the headset.

DiGiovanni’s app addresses that concern in a straightforward way. Since Glass has no keypad, it uses a combination of user-customizable swipes and taps on the trackpad on the side of the eyewear to enter an unlock code. That access then stays valid all the time you’re actually wearing Glass.

Take it off – or have it pulled off your head, whether by a thief or someone keen to try it themselves – and Glass automatically re-locks.

Since Google isn’t exactly keen on native apps running on Glass at this point, preferring web-based services that hook up through the Mirror API, you’ll need to do a little modification if you want Bulletproof on your headset. As it’s a native Android app, Glass needs to be put into debug mode, and then ADB used to install it. You can find the source on GitHub.

Glass has thrown wearables security back into the spotlight in recent weeks, as issues of privacy and data management become increasingly discussed as more of the headsets work their way into the wild. Much of the concern voiced has been about what goes on in-front of the camera, particularly since the Explorer Edition units lack any sort of clearly visible indicator that recording might be taking place. At present, only the glow of the eyepiece could be used as a sign that Glass is capturing video; some have suggested that Google should have fitted a red LED on the outside, or even a sliding cover that could entirely block out the lens.

[via LivingThruGlass]

Google Glass Bulletproof lockscreen adds unofficial wearable security is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Jay Freeman, an iOS and Android developer known for his popular Cydia app store accessible by jailbroken iPhones, has discovered a scary security flaw in Google Glass. While toying around with the Explorer edition of Google Glass, Freeman discovered that the device’s lack of a PIN code or any other form of authentication could make it easy for hackers to install surveillance malware onto the device.

Unlike a smartphone, which stays in your pocket most of the time, a hacked Google Glass can give hackers access to everything you see and everything you hear. According to Freeman, “The only thing it doesn’t know are your thoughts.” All a hacker needs to do is grab an unattended Google Glass, hook it up to their computer via USB, and enable root access on the device. Freeman says,

“Once the attacker has root on your Glass, they have much more power than if they had access to your phone or even your computer: They have control over a camera and microphone that are attached to your head.”

Not only will hackers be able to see and hear everything around you, they will be able to upload your files and recordings to remote servers. Freeman says that a hacked Google Glass “knows all your passwords” because it sees you typing them in. With a compromised Google Glass, “Nothing is safe.” However, chances are that Google will take note of these security flaws and issue fixes to them before the devices become available to consumers early next year.

On the bright side, the only way hackers can install surveillance malware onto your Google Glass device is if they have physical access to it, meaning it won’t be too common. But nonetheless, Google needs to step up the security on the device. The user’s privacy and security should always be the top priority for any company. Freeman issued a statement to Forbes regarding the entire situation. He says,

“It’s just kind of sloppy and negligent for Google to release a device to a bunch of early adopters that is missing a basic security function and even has a known bug on it that was disclosed eight months ago. Like someone could be inside of [tech pundit and blogger] Robert Scoble’s glass right now.”

[via Forbes]

Hacker shows how Google Glass could watch its user’s every move is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Square‘s Jack Dorsey is keen on wearables but cautious on Glass, arguing smart glasses aren’t likely to offer legitimate value to wearers for another decade or so. “Glasses are very compelling and I think it’s an amazing technology” Dorsey told the NYTimes, “but I just can’t imagine my mom wearing them right now. What is the value of Glass?”

While augmented reality wearables like Google’s headset are technically impressive, Dorsey expects more mundane examples of body-worn gadgetry to do better in the mass market. Part of that, the mobile payments service founder suggests, is due to the fact that tech you wear on your wrist can be associated more readily with geek-jewelry.

“I think the movement you see around Fitbit, Up and FuelBand, that seems to be the next step in wearable” he argued. “So something on the wrist that feels natural, almost feels a bit like jewelry.”

Some have taken Dorsey’s apparent affection for smartwatch-style tech as an indicator that Square will explore an app for such gadgets, potentially allowing for payments to be made without having to pull your phone out of your pocket. Square is best known for the credit card swipe dongles that plug into iPhones and iPads; however, the company has also been exploring other, less traditional methods of customer recognition, including geofenced apps that flash up the user’s face on the cashier’s terminal, allowing them to be recognized in a more passive manner.

For Glass to fit into daily use, Dorsey suggests, the technology will need to assimilate more readily, as well as potentially give the market time to come to terms with a computer on your face. “I think it might be a 10-year answer, but not in the next five years” he concludes. “Maybe if they’re in sunglasses or what not.”

Square CEO questions value of Google Glass is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Efforts to hack Google’s Glass have already seen unofficial Android apps running on the wearable, as Explorer Edition early-adopters get to work tweaking and modifying the headset. Google recently released the kernel source for Glass, but Mike DiGiovanni already has regular Android software up and running, as per this blurry screenshot through the compact lens block.

Google had always been clear that Glass was Android-based, but it was uncertain how much the OS had been modified in order to rework it for wearables duty. In fact, DiGiovanni discovered, “pretty much nothing has been stripped out” and the Glass functionality is simply slapped on top of the core platform.

That opens the door for modifications outside of what Google expects through its official Mirror API, the cloud-based system that funnels apps and services through to Glass as a display of sorts. Regular APKs can be loaded on the Android wearable itself, but if services want to take advantage of the inherent advantages of Glass that Google has on offer, they have to operate within the company’s relatively strict guidelines.

When a native Android app is side-loaded, meanwhile, the regular Android theme shows itself, complete with the usual drop-down notification bar. The touchpad on the side of the headset works for navigation, going left and right through the interface with side-swipes, and back with a downward swipe, just as per Glass’ own UI cards.

What remains to be seen is how the battery of the headset holds up when running native code. One of Google’s aims by treating Glass’ display as a window on the cloud is apparently to minimize just how much processing the device needs to do: that prolongs battery life. As we’ve already seen from other early reports, heavier use of the local hardware – such as when recording video clips – quickly takes its toll on runtime.

Still, the Explorer Edition is intended to be just that: an early iteration of the gadget for developers to pick apart, and Google undoubtedly expected just this sort of tinkering to take place. That should mean a far better product for the consumer market by the time the mainstream Glass edition arrives, tentatively predicted to drop in 2014.

Glass hack runs native Android code on wearable is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.