Path is Getting Its Hand Slapped

Bryan Bishop, over at The Verge regarding the social network app Path having its API access restricted by Facebok:

The spamming behavior first went into effect with a March 6th update to the app. It gained traction when a digital marketer named Stephen Kenwright signed up with the app, and discovered that multiple individuals from his contacts received Path text notification early the next morning — even though he'd subsequently deleted the app on his own device. In that particular case, some of the texts manifested as robocalls due to the way local phone companies dealt with text messages sent to landlines.

​It isn't at all surprising that Path would pull something like this. They've been caught with their hand in the cookie jar before. Also, what would you expect from a company whose CEO has this kind of personality?

I don’t use a ring of any kind on my phone. This is so that I am always on offense and never defense.

Google Glass Pre-Banned at Seattle Establishment

Todd Bishop, writing for GeekWire:

“I’m a thought leader,” jokes Dave Meinert, owner of the 5 Point, speaking on the Luke Burbank Show at our news partner KIRO-FM this morning. “First you have to understand the culture of the 5 Point, which is a sometimes seedy, maybe notorious place. People want to go there and be not known … and definitely don’t want to be secretly filmed or videotaped and immediately put on the Internet.”

It is noted in the post that this pre-banning of Google Glass is done partly as a joke, but it does have a serious aspect to it.​

This gets to the heart of the biggest challenge for projects such as Google Glass. The biggest challenge is cultural, not technical.​ It is noted in a follow-up link in the GeekWire article that the 5 Point does in fact use surveillance cameras, but that is altogether different than what Google Glass's introduction into society will entail. People are somewhat more comfortable with the idea of surveillance cameras used in a general sweep of an establishment than they are with cameras that are directly in front of them.

Some have said that Google Glass is not much different than what we already have now, where cameras on smartphones are ubiquitous. However, it is indeed different since it is far more obvious when someone is using a smartphone to record video than it is when someone is using Google Glass. It is a tad more difficult to hide a small rectangular object than it is to hide a small blinking light.

Folks, this sort of technology isn't going to just go away. We will have to decide how best to integrate it into our societal norms and practices just as we have done with other new technologies.​

Google Glass Could Be a Real Winner

Amar Toor, in a post for The Verge:

Excitement has been building around the project ever since Google first announced it last summer, and will no doubt swell going forward, now that the company has given a fuller idea of its augmented reality future. According to Google, today's video "actually shows how Glass works."

It's easy to see why people would be excited about what was recently shown for the Google Glass project. The product is the latest example of the trend towards wearable computing. It will provide its users with some interesting features.​

First up is media capture and sharing. Google Glass supports taking pictures, recording videos, live video conferencing via Google Hangout, and sharing all of that media with others. This is, of course, functionality that could be done via existing mobile devices, yet the ability to do these things hands-free opens up new possibilities for sharing information. The video in the source link shows quite a few examples of the devices being used while performing other activities such as flying an airplane, swinging on the trapeze, or engaging in a Kendo duel.

Next is the ability to get contextual information such as navigation directions, airport and flight details, weather information, and Google search. In my opinion, this is the true 'meat' of the video. While the media capture capabilities are sexier, the contextual information is what the typical user will get the most value out of on a daily basis. Navigation, in particular, is quite useful when offered hands-free (for example, while walking).

Folks, this very well could be The Next Big Thing.​