TheTweeted: TheGlassLog: Why owning Google #Glass (right now)...

TheGlassLog: Why owning Google #Glass (right now) isn’t as Awesome as You Might Think thepete.us/1N

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TheGlassLog: Why owning Google #Glass (right now) isn't as Awesome as You Might Think

Your humble TheGlassLogger skeptical but wanting to believe as he tries out Glass for the first time.

If you’re one of the many people who wish they had been able to pick up an Explorer Edition Glass device, you may want to consider yourself a little lucky. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Glass. Taking photos and video is easier than with any device I’ve ever owned (and I’ve owned many cameras, including two pairs of dedicated video glasses). However, the software just isn’t there yet and Google’s UI is a bit too minimalistic to be practical when considering all the cool-as-hell stuff Glass is capable of doing.

In my last post on TheGlassLog, I described how Google Glass doesn’t really run “apps” nor does it really use “cards”. Both “apps” and “cards” are words Google uses to describe how Glass works. In my previous post, I described “apps” as “services” (because they are not really installed on Glass but are run on a server somewhere) and “cards” as “books” on a “bookshelf” (because Google’s “cards” can come with interior content thus causing the “card” metaphor to fall apart).

All Your Eggs on One Bookshelf

Now, imagine the bookshelf I described in my last post. It’s perpendicular and directly to the right of your head. Every service you enable for Glass delivers content to this bookshelf. This bookshelf is also where your texts, emails, photos and videos are kept. This, alone, can make for a very confusing jumble of content to navigate through. Now think about all those services you’ll want to enable.

What it looks like when you are swiping forward to go backward through the books on your shelf (aka your Glass stream). The thumb nails don’t render quickly, so you really don’t have much of an idea of what you’re scrolling past.

When I first got Glass, I enabled almost every service Google had officially sanctioned. Tumblr, Twitter, Google+, CNN, NY Times, and a few others. Suddenly, I had my texts, emails, photos, and videos mixed in with my Tweets, news updates and Japanese pop-culture posts.

The myglass page features each service in it’s own box. This is easy enough to use, but it’s strange that there is no way to disable these services from Glass, itself. You can access this page from a browser on a mobile device (even an iOS device) or the MyGlass app on an Android device, but not Glass.

In short, content on Glass is organized the way it is in a junk drawer. Only, this isn’t junk–it’s your content! You don’t just toss all of the stuff you collect during your days onto a single shelf. You have different shelves for different types of things. It should be the same for Glass.

Here are some more examples of what swiping deep into your bookshelf looks like currently:

Sometimes the icons for the types of files are visible, so that helps in navigating at least a little bit. But, honestly, not so much.

When thumbnails for your files do start to show up, they’re practically off the screen. As a result you have to just randomly stop swiping based on the relative dates that do show up. Of course, I hate relative dating–Google really needs to get more specific. How about marking off the nearest hour for the files created in that hour? Anything is better than only citing a 24-hour window.

So, when you slow down while swiping through your bookshelf, thumbnails generate faster but by then it’s too late for them to really be helpful. If you keep swiping you have to wait for thumbnails for the rest of your files to render. Of course, waiting for thumbnails is a pain on most devices. But really, it’s not just Google that should have gotten past this problem by now, one would think, anyway.

So, What’s a Google to do About It?

The main bookshelf should be for your own stuff–like texts and email. Your photos and video need their own shelf. Then for news services, they should get their own shelf, too. Then your social networking needs to be on a separate shelf, too. Hell, better yet, these shelves should all be customizable.

Currently, the way you enable services for your Glass is by going to glass.google.com/myglass and flipping these little switches. Why not add a pulldown to allow us to decide what shelf each app should be displayed on?

As far as navigating these new shelves, how about swiping up or down? Currently, swiping up does nothing and swiping down functions like the “back” button on Android devices. So, fine, use a two-finger swipe-down to navigate between shelves. Sure, currently, a two-finger swipe-down puts Glass into sleep mode, but why not change that to a three-finger swipe-down?

Having all content on just one shelf is kind of absurd. In fact, it was the very first thing I complained about when I got Glass just over a month ago.

Hopefully, when the next Glass OS update comes in early August, we’ll see this problem fixed. To me, it seems like one of the more obvious problems to solve.

Thanks for reading TheGlassLog! Next time I’ll be reviewing the Twitter service for Glass. Missed any past posts in TheGlass Log? Read them here!

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TheTweeted: Finally caught up with #GameOfThrones and 1) wow a...

Finally caught up with #GameOfThrones and 1) wow and 2) is winter no longer coming, or has that slogan been retired?

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Is this stuff even food??? Oh, why do I shop at a place with a dollar $ign in its name?

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TheTweeted: TheGlassLog: When an App isn't an App: How Google...

TheGlassLog: When an App isn’t an App: How Google #Glass Really Works and How it Doesn’t Run Apps thepete.us/1G

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TheTweeted: Why I don't like Batman as a character anymore. ht...

Why I don’t like Batman as a character anymore. thepete.us/1E

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Another shot of yesterday's gorgeous sky over the Hudson #throughglass (but not posted #throughglass--there's no Instagram for #Glass yet :( )

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TheGlassLog: When an App isn't an App: How Google #Glass Really Works and How it Doesn't Run Apps

Your humble TheGlassLogger learning how to shoot video by navigating the bookshelves of Glass at Google’s “Glass Store” on the 8th floor above the Chelsea Market.

Let me explain how Google has decided we should use Glass. Imagine you are standing next to a book case, perpendicular to it. It’a a book case that has one shelf and that shelf is exactly to the right of your head. When you tap the touchpad that is the side of the Glass device, itself, one of the books on the shelf slides out so you can see it. Google calls each of these “books” cards, but that’s confusing to me for reasons that will become clear in a bit. So, I’m going to stick with calling them “books.”

Swipe forward on the touchpad and the book is replaced by what ever book is behind you on the bookshelf. Swipe backward on the touchpad and what ever is in front of you on the bookshelf becomes visible. Just imagine each swipe is pushing those books forward or backward on the shell. The default book is always the Home Screen which displays the time and the phrase “ok glass” (you know, just in case you forget o_O).

C’est ne pas une App



Here’s why there Google’s idea of a Glass app is not an app. When you install a Google Glass “app” you do it via a web interface. When you do this, you’re essentially turning on a service. For instance, when you enable the CNN “app” you are essentially telling CNN that you would like to be served “cards” featuring their content. In the vocabulary of the post you are reading now, you are telling CNN to put books on your bookshelf with their content inside. As you can see, this isn’t an “app,” it’s really a service. Granted, it is possible to install Android apps on Glass, but it’s not easy or practical to do.

When the CNN service delivers a book to you, you’ll hear a chime. To see it, just tap the touchpad and swipe forward, to “slide” the bookshelf forward. You see the “cover” of the CNN “book”. You’ll know it’s got content inside for you because, in the upper righthand corner, you’ll see a little folded-down page corner. Tap the touchpad again and you’ll see the first “page” of the book. It will be a description of the story they are delivering to you. Swipe forward on the touchpad to move to the second “page” inside the “book.” The second page of a book from CNN is always a video. This is the best part about the CNN service, in my opinion. My first night with Glass I was served a video of protests erupting in Cairo. It was visceral having the story reported directly to my eyeball. It felt much more like I was there than it does when I’m staring across the room at my TV.

In the case of the New York Times service for Glass, the book they serve you has a cover showing you how many pages are inside of it. Tap on the touchpad to open the book and then swipe forward to move through the stories.

So, you can see why the “cards” metaphor Google uses is a little confusing. My metaphor isn’t perfect either, perhaps calling them “folders” instead of “books” since the word “folders” isn’t as easily misunderstood. But you don’t have a “foldershelf”. Anyway, the point is, “cards” don’t have interiors and are usually thought of single things that aren’t directly related (we say “web pages” not “web cards,” right?). Plus Google already uses the “folded-down page corner” icon to signify there is more content behind the card, soooo… calling them “books” makes more sense to me.

At least now you understand when an app isn’t an app.

Thanks for reading TheGlassLog. Next time, I’ll get into why using Glass, at this point isn’t quite as cool as you might think. Read past posts in TheGlassLog!

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I shot this beautiful sky over #FortTryonPark #ThroughGlass yesterday. Seems like it's almost as a nice a day today.

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Why I don't like Batman as a character anymore.

The other day, I opened up the YouTube app on my iPad Mini and it recommended a video to me featuring a UK-based American comic called Reginald D. Hunter who, in the clip explains that Bruce Wayne is a rich white guy who beats up street criminals and how Batman is a conservative’s wet dream.

And when you stop and think about it, he’s 100% right. Bruce Wayme is a disgustingly rich guy who can afford to spend millions on the Batmobile, the Batwing, the Batcopter, an endless supply of batarangs, all the equipment in the Bat Cave, and more.

Wouldn’t those millions be better spent helping to fund schools in Gotham’s poorest neighborhoods? Schools that could provide a good education so that kids don’t grow up to be thugs like the one that killed Bruce’s parents. Hell, he could fund after school programs so that poor kids have some place to go and won’t get mixed up with the bad elements in Gotham. He could also fund a jobs program to help poor folks train to get jobs or HEY how about Wayne use those detective skills to find or even creat new jobs to hire those poor folks that are so desperate for work that they turn to illegal stuff?

Or, you know, he could dress up in a bat costume and beat on thugs. Which ever works better, I guess.

Seriously, I’m not a fan of Batman anymore because of this obvious truth: criminals largely exist because there are not enough legal opportunities for poor kids growing up and adults who grew up poor. The whole super-hero concept plays on the fantasy that violence against violence could make a difference when, obviously, it will, at best, prolong the violence, or even make it worse.

I know I sound like a bleeding-heart liberal, but do the math. Crime will always exist, but in tight communities with plenty of opportunities to make a good living, they put walls and gates up to keep people without those opportunities from getting in. So, if you think there isn’t a correlation between money/opportunities and poverty/street-crime I think you’re just plain batty.

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