With the backlashes it is garnering, will the people accept the provocative Google Glass technology on its release later this year?
Perhaps one of the most note-worthy critics of the Google Glass is tech futurist Robert Scoble who said that the wearable voice-controlled Internet connected device was useless.
He said you can only store less than 20 contacts, it has short battery life, it could get heavy for others, and it still needs a lot of work.
Engineers from Google are working their best to prepare Google Glass for the release. However, it is not Scoble’s criticism on the technical aspect that is the major problem. It is the controversy surrounding the technology that Google should be concerned about.
In 2012, Google released a concept video that hyped people about the Glass. In 2013, the company released a beta version that was available for a few explorers.
Later on critics started popping out. First was writer Ed Champion, who made a list consisting of 35 arguments against the Glass ranging from personal data collection to distraction during conversations. Another critic is the group Stop the Cyborgs who said that the video camera in this device could cross privacy boundaries easily.
There are other people who see the new technology as a symbol of the elite, wealthy people of Silicon Valley. That was after Google’s social media consultant Sarah Slocum hounded in a San Francisco bar for wearing the Glass. One woman ranted at her that she was killing the city.
Perhaps one of the major concerns among people is the big possibility of recording personal transactions without consent. This is something people aren’t accustomed to yet.
Despite all these concerns, there are still a lot of supporters who believe that Google Glass will be a big hit. One of them, ironically, is Scoble who said he believes that wearable tech will be accepted in the norms in the next ten years, just like how people were sceptical about tablets in the past.
