Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s Glass wearable division has poached itself a new Community Manager, with former Gmail community lead Sarah Price jumping from email to augmented reality. Price’s new role, confirmed on Google+, will see her engage with bleeding-edge Glass developers, who stand to get their hands on the first Explorer Edition in early 2013, as Google attempts to encourage coders to come up with apps suitable for a wearable display.

The Google Glass Explorer Edition went up for sale at Google IO, priced at a hefty $1,500 apiece. Deliveries won’t begin until the beginning of next year, however, with a consumer version expected to drop within twelve months of that happening.

Exact details on Price’s new responsibilities haven’t been given, but the new community lead is already fielding questions from keen developers, particularly on Explorer Edition availability outside of the US. Asked whether Google will be accepting international pre-orders any time soon, Price would only confirm that Google is looking into it.

“There are a lot of developers inside of the US who want to get their hands on a pair, too” Price told one developer. “Right now we are still working with the appropriate regulatory bodies, and we aren’t ready to send Glass outside of the US.”

Price is also coy on Glass’ specific technical specifications, though recently published patent application documents suggest that Google is planning a broad range of control and interaction systems that includes touch, voice commands and more. However, Glass could also integrate some degree of AI, similar to Google Now, using context to automatically offer up information the system believes is more relevant to the current circumstances.

Google Glass grabs developer outreach chief from Gmail is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Wearable computing pioneer Steve Mann has allegedly been attacked by employees of a French McDonald’s after sporting his own version of Google’s Glass AR headset, with the EyeTap eyepiece grabbing snapshots of those involved. Mann, who led MIT’s Wearable Computers group and has been exploring mediated reality technologies for several decades, claims that while on holiday in Paris with his family he was challenged by staff at the fast food chain, who ripped up his medical documentation about the headset and then attempted to pull it from his head. Mann’s system is “permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools.”

Update: Official McDonald’s statement after the cut.

According to Mann’s account, he had taken documentation explaining this fact – and the research behind the wearable computer – to France in case of any issues with museum, restaurant or other staff. Several staff at the McDonald’s restaurant apparently reviewed the information at different times, with the first employee suggesting that there was no problem with the researcher wearing the headset.

“Because we’d spent the day going to various museums and historical landmark sites guarded by military and police, I had brought with me the letter from my doctor regarding my computer vision eyeglass, along with documentation, etc., although I’d not needed to present any of this at any of the other places I visited (McDonald’s was the only establishement that seemed to have any problem with my eyeglass during our entire 2 week trip)” Steve Mann

However, after ordering food, three further employees from the restaurant reportedly approached Mann and tried to pull the EyeTap headset off of him. He attempted to placate them by showing them the same documentation that had satisfied their colleague, but they destroyed it. ”After all three of them reviewed this material, and deliberated on it for some time, Perpetrator 2 angrily crumpled and ripped up the letter from my doctor” Mann writes. “My other documentation was also destroyed by Perpetrator 1.”

Mann’s own EyeTap system captured what could end up being evidence. The wearable is designed to store what would normally be buffered and deleted transitory images in the case of physical damage, and when the McDonald’s employee supposedly grabbed at the headset, it triggered this recording function.

“The computerized eyeglass processes imagery using Augmediated Reality, in order to help the wearer see better, and when the computer is damaged, e.g. by falling and hitting the ground (or by a physical assault), buffered pictures for processing remain in its memory, and are not overwritten with new ones by the then non-functioning computer vision system … As a result of Perpetrator 1′s actions, therefore images that would not have otherwise been captured were captured. Therefore by damaging the Eye Glass, Perpetrator 1 photographed himself and others within McDonalds” Steve Mann

Mann attempted to contact McDonald’s but has been unsuccessful at speaking to someone about the incident. ”I’m not seeking to be awarded money” he writes, “I just want my Glass fixed, and it would also be nice if McDonald’s would see fit to support vision research.”

It’s not the first time Mann’s mediated reality technology has caused problems. Airport security damaged some of the equipment back in 2002 after allegedly forcibly removing it and causing over $50,000 of damage. With Google’s Glass headed to market in the not-distant future, incidents where wearable computing bumps up against privacy concerns look likely to increase as society catches up with technology.

Update: McDonald’s has so far given the following comment: “We take the claims very seriously, are in process of gathering info & ask for patience until all facts are known.” We’ve reached out to the company for more details.

Update 2: McDonald’s has given SlashGear the following statement:

“We strive to provide a welcoming and enjoyable experience for our customers when they visit our restaurants. We take the claims and feedback of our customers very seriously. We are in the process of gathering information about this situation and we ask for patience until all of the facts are known.”

More on Steve Mann and his AR research here.

[via Avram Piltch]

Broken Glass: Father of wearable computing allegedly assaulted is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google’s cautious approach to allowing people to play with Project Glass means the UI of the wearable computer is something of a mystery, but a new patent application could spill some of the secrets. The wordy “Head-mounted display that displays a visual representation of physical interaction with an input interface located outside of the field of view” details a system whereby a preview of the controls of a wearable – such as the side-mounted touchpad on Google Glass – are floated virtually in the user’s line of sight. The application also suggests Glass might maintain its own “self-awareness” of the environment, reacting as appropriate without instruction from the user.

In Google’s patent application images, the side control is a 3×3 grid of buttons – which could be physical or virtual, with a single touchpad zoned to mimic nine keys – and the corresponding image is projected into the eyepiece. Different visual indicators could be used, Google suggests – different colored dots or various shapes – and the touchpad could track proximity of fingers rather than solely touch, with different indicators (or shades/brightness of colors) used to differentiate between proximity and actual contact.

“As the wearer’s hand gets closer to a pad the touch pad, a dimmed colored dot 338 [in diagram below]may become responsively brighter as shown by the colored dot 342. When the touch pad recognizes a contact with pad 340, the pad 340 may light up entirely to indicate to the wearer the pad 340 has been pressed” Google

However, that’s only a basic interpretation of Google’s ideas. The company also suggests that a more realistic use of virtual graphics could float a replica of the user’s hand – even mimicking physical characteristics such as their actual fingernails, wrinkles and hairs, which Google reckons would make it more believable – in such a way that the control pad feels like it’s actually in front of them.

“This feedback may “trick” the wearer’s brain into thinking that [the] touch pad is directly in front of the wearer as opposed to being outside of their field of view. Providing the closest resemblance of the wearer’s hand, the virtual mirror box may provide a superior degree of visual feedback for the wearer to more readily orient their hand to interact with touch pad” Google

Button control isn’t the only strategy Google has for interacting with Glass – there’s the possibility of speech, input from the camera, and a wireless keyboard of some sort, among other things – but the headset would be able to prioritize UI elements depending on context and/or wearer preference. “In the absence of an explicit instruction to display certain content,” the patent application suggests, “the exemplary system may intelligently and automatically determine content for the multimode input field that is believed to be desired by the wearer.”

Glass could also work in a more passive way, reacting to the environment rather than to direct wearer instructions. “A person’s name may be detected in speech during a wearer’s conversation with a friend, and, if available, the contact information for this person may be displayed in the multimode input field” the application suggests, useful for social gatherings or business meetings, while “a data pattern in incoming audio data that is characteristic of car engine noise” – which could even potentially differentiate, from the audio characteristics, the user’s own car – could trigger a navigation or mapping app based on the assumption that they’re likely to be traveling somewhere.

Input from various sensors could be combined, too; Google’s application gives the example of predicting what interface methods are most likely to be used based on the weather. For instance, while the touchpad or keypad might be the primary default, if Glass senses that the ambient temperature is so low as to suggest that the wearer has donned gloves, if could switch to prioritizing audio input using a microphone.

“For example, a wearer may say “select video” in order to output video from camera to the multimode input field. As another example, a wearer may say “launch” and then say an application name in order to launch the named application in the multimode input field. For instance, the wearer may say “launch word processor,” “launch e-mail,” or “launch web browser.”” Google

Although the prototype Glass headsets we’ve seen so far have all stuck to a similar design – an oversized right arm, with a trackpad, camera and single transparent display section hovering above the line-of-sight – Google isn’t leaving any design possibility unexplored. Future Glass variants could, the patent application suggests, provide displays for one or both eyes, built into a pair of eyeglasses or attached as an add-on frame. The displays themselves could use LCD or other systems, or even a low-power laser that draws directly onto the wearer’s retina.

Meanwhile more than one camera could be implemented – Google suggests integrating a second into the trackpad, so as to directly watch the user’s fingers, but a rear-facing camera could be handy for “eyes in the back of your head” – and the headset could either be fully-integrated with its own processor, memory and other components for standalone use, or rely on a tethered control device such as a smartphone. The touchpad could have raised dots or other textures so as to be more easily navigated with a fingertip.

Google has already begun taking pre-orders for the Google Glass Explorer Edition, which will begin shipping to developers in early 2013. Regular customers should get a version – much cheaper than the $1,500 for the Explorer – within twelve months of that.

Google Glass controls and Artificial Intelligence detailed is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Watch out, Google. Here comes Olympus with the MEG4.0 and don’t dismiss this as a Google Glass knockoff. Olympus has been researching and developing wearable displays for more than 20 years. The MEG4.0 concept, and with that, its eventual production counterpart, has been a long time coming and could be a serious competitor in the space.

Olympus made it clear in today’s announcement that the 30g MEG4.0 is both a prototype and a working name. The stem-like system sits on one side of the glasses and connects to a tablet or phone through Bluetooth. A 320 x 240 virtual screen floats above the wearer’s eye line. The MEG4.0 is designed for all-day use and should last eight hours on a charge, although Olympus states the glasses are designed for bursts of use, 15-seconds at a time.

Google isn’t the only player in the augmented reality game. In fact several companies have toyed with the concept for the last few years including Olympus. The company introduced a working set of AR glasses back in 2008. Called the Mobile Eye-Trek (shown above) the glasses were designed to be worn on a daily basis, feeding information like email to the wearer on a screen placed 50cm in front of the eyes, making it appear as a 3.8-inch screen.

While the Mobile Eye-Track never hit the retail market, Olympus indicated at the time that the prototype would lead to a production version by 2012.

However, much like Google, Olympus is not revealing the user interface yet. If the MEG4.0 is to be a success, the interface, and more importantly, the depth of the information available needs to be as mature as Google Glass. Price and availability was not announced.

Google’s Glass may not be headed to buyers until next year, but Olympus is wasting no time with its own alternative augmented reality display, the MEG4.0. The stem-like wearable features battery life of up to eight hours and floats a 320 x 240 virtual screen above the user’s regular eye-line, hooking up via Bluetooth to a nearby smartphone or tablet.

The headset weighs under 30g, though it’s worth noting that Olympus’ battery estimates aren’t based on continuous usage. Instead, the company says it expects the display to be used in fifteen second chunks every three minutes or so; under those circumstances, it can manage a maximum continuous runtime equivalent of around two hours total use, Olympus predicts.

Also integrated is an accelerometer, for using head-control features or figuring out which way the wearer is facing, though unlike Google Glass there’s no camera. While Google has so-far focused on the potential for photography and video capture with Glass, emphasizing how useful it could be to have a persistent record of your experiences, Olympus apparently believes discrete content consumption is more relevant to augmented reality adoptees.

The company is also particularly proud of the brightness of its microdisplay, which it claims is sufficiently powerful to be used even in strong daylight. Pricing and availability is unconfirmed, and it’s not clear whether Olympus will actually be commercially launching the MEG4.0 or instead pushing to license the display technology to other companies.

[via The Verge; via Akihabara News; via Newlaunches]

Olympus MEG4.0 Google Glass rival revealed is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.