Google starts selling Glass to Brits – for £1,000 a pop

Google is opening up the sale of its Glass head-mounted computers to customers outside the US for the first time, and the UK is the first country to get them. "Beginning today, we're extending our open beta Explorer program to the UK. The world sees the UK as a center (actually, a centre) of innovation," said the Chocolate …

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm.

There are many cheaper ways to look like a complete and utter prick...

[VinceH]

Re: Hmm.

And here's one.

[Euripides Pants]

Re: And here's one.

And another:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/tubingen_incident/

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmm.

"There are many cheaper ways to look like a complete and utter prick..."

But few come with better anagrams: Lax, gross leper.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmm.

Indeed, Apple have been selling iPhones for years.

[Andy Roid McUser]

Re: Hmm.

As excited as I am about having an internet embedded heads up display in my glasses.. and .. considered buying the first tranche of devices once formally released in Europe, I saw a chap wearing a set yesterday at the train station and initial thoughts were 'what a complete tw@t'. Ironically, he was staring at his mobile for 20 mins through his glass, which appears to defeat the object of the exercise.

Miniaturization and total concealment are required before I put a set on my head in public.

These things illicit the same emotions of pity as wearers of bluetooth headsets.. that bad.

[Steve the Cynic]

Re: Hmm.

"These things illicit the same emotions of pity as wearers of bluetooth headsets.. that bad."

Methinks you mean "elicit"(*), but for me it isn't so much pity as a sort of diffuse contempt.

(*) "To elicit" is more or less equivalent to "to provoke", while "illicit" is an adjective meaning not licit, more generally carrying a sense of dodgy dealings.

I guess I'll add this to my list of pairs and triplets of frequently-confused approximately homophonic words, alongside ours/hours, you're/your, their/there/they're, accept/except, affect/effect, lose/loose and a host of others.

[Andy Roid McUser]

Re: Hmm.

I stand corrected and will endeavor to refrain from blurting out responses via mobile without verifying each and every word. Thus ensuring I do not 'elicit' a severe reprimand from people with far too much time on their hands.

Your feedback was greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous Coward]

$200 markup = less than the VAT

or am I missing something?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: $200 markup = less than the VAT

Maybe they'll be able to pony up some taxes now?

[Anonymous Coward]

No symetrical frames

You have a big lump on one side which makes them stand out a lot more than I would like. Double the lumps and put extra battery or features in there like a laser pointer.

[Adam Foxton]

Re: No symetrical frames

Three well-collimated lasers, giving you a proper Predator targeting system

Or a single one and have a choice between pretending you're a Borg or a Shark :)

[Polhotpot]

Re: No symetrical frames

Or you could integrate a Wicked Lasers Arctic 2W laser in to the side and burn a hole in anyone who dares to laught.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: No symetrical frames

Or you could integrate a Wicked Lasers Arctic 2W laser in to the side and burn a hole in anyone who dares to laught.

You mean like http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2014-06-21/ ?

[Jonathan Richards 1]

Re: No symmetrical frames

> Double the lumps and put extra battery or features in there like a laser pointer.

I read that as "laser printer", which is (a) funnier, and (b) more practical. A laser pointer that you aim with head movements? "Look, Glasshole, an aeroplane! Ha ha, now the plod are coming for you."

[Anonymous Coward]

Figures..

NSA, GCHQ - yup. Kinda predictable, actually.

[Anonymous Coward]

anyone wearing one who wants to talk to me

will have to remove it and switch it off, preferably put it under their heel and crush it.

The sooner someone wearing one causes an accident and these are banned the better.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: anyone wearing one who wants to talk to me

Don't worry I don't think anyone would ever choose to speak to you.

[toxicdragon]

Re: anyone wearing one who wants to talk to me

I cant find it but I am sure that there was an article on here about that very scenario, cant quite remember the outcome but it was something like they have to be provably off, ie not wearing them or something. Can't quite remember.

[Zog_but_not_the_first]

Airstrip One

Land of the free

[Robert E A Harvey]

Re: Airstrip One

It's not free. It costs two monkeys. At least one of which is wearing it.

[TopOnePercent]

I can't wait for the first You Tube video of someone being relieved of their gleggs by a mugger / promising young footballer / up & coming DJ.

"But you have a video of the mugger taking them from me and a GPS read out on their location!"

Sorry sir, but the CPS feel there may be insufficient evidence to warrant an arrest or a search warrant.

[Hollerith 1]

As long as I can see it...

...I can ask them politely to remove it. When the Glass bit get so small that it's hard to tell whether it's just a fancy frame or Glass, I will be bothered.

I recently read an article on Google Glass, suggesting newbie salespeople could be mentored by their managers via Goggle Glass while they were talking to clients, and also how salespeople could collect lots of useful info (photos) while face to face with clients, making a pitch. How many clients would permit themselves to be Glassed? How many clients will say 'first take off the Glass, then we will shake hands and talk.' I'm thinking maybe...100% ?

[Pascal Monett]

100%

Sadly, most probably not.

Given that Facebook has, reportedly, half a billion users, and that millions of said users are continuously posting whatever inane stupidity happens to cross their diminished brain cells, there is a fair chance that any of them seeing their host with a Glass is first going to think "cool! I'm going to be on YouTube!" before a one-in-a-million starts asking "but do I want to be?".

And let's not mention Twitter.

[Nathan 13]

I like gadgets

But at £1000 you have got to be a fool to buy this.

I wonder if its legal to drive wearing these, would serve as a great sat nav and dash cam!

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: I like gadgets

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[Spleen]

Re: I like gadgets

Hopefully not. You know what else serves as a great sat nav? A sat nav. And it occupies a fixed point in your vision so it won't obstruct your view of, say, children dashing out from between parked cars.

Obviously sat navs are a distraction, but they're only distracting you when you choose to stare at them, rather than constantly floating in front of the real world.

[HippyFreetard]

Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic...

They're ugly, and they're expensive.

Call me when it's a nice pair of glasses with augmented reality.

I want to be able to slip a pair of these on, and have GPS arrows on the road, or a terminator-style HUD with scrolling emails, text messages, calendar reminders etc. Then if I get on a train for a long journey, I should be able to turn up the opacity and watch a movie in 3D. All on a nice pair of designer sunglasses or glasses (why not both, with LCD).

In fact, if you think about it, Google's self-driving cars have to have in-built hazard perception. A pair of sunglasses that were sensitive to peril could be a money-spinner...

[Anonymous Coward]

Industrial use.

Now if there were software that allowed superimposing what the camera sees over information from a service manual these would be the ideal way to carry and use service information in an industrial situation.

I know everyone will po-po this use mainly because they have a down on Google but something like I describe will eventually arrive and make the service engineer's life a little easier.

[edge_e]

Re: Industrial use.

something like I describe will eventually arrive and make the service engineer's salary a lot smaller.

FTFY

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Industrial use.

I am sorry edge_e but I don't 'get' what you are talking about. How will it make service engineer's salaries smaller?

If you are charging per job (as we do) and you do more jobs per month then the salary goes up not down.

The only way it would go down is if your contract of employment was so worded that any increase of efficiency on your part was somehow penalised, in which case more fool you for signing such a contract..

[Dr Scrum Master]

Re: Industrial use.

something like I describe will eventually arrive and make the service technician's salary a lot smaller.

FTFTFY

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: Industrial use.

Companies like Boeing already use this technology for their service techs, they have heads-up displays that can superimpose wiring diagrams over cable looms during aircraft maintenance.

[Andrew Punch]

1000 pounds?

They will need to pay me much more than that to wear it!

[CmdrX3]

I'm sorry..

...but Glarseholes just doesn't work as well as Glassholes. Still as true, but just doesn't work as well.

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Re: I'm sorry..

I do believe that was deliberate, it made me laugh anyway

[Mitoo Bobsworth]

An eye watering price,

and, I'm betting, some interesting times ahead for those who can afford them. I'm looking forward to future social interaction stories on this topical tech.

[HKmk23]

Still only seen one real life potential use

As a shoot around corner system for a suitably equipped gun.

[jnffarrell1]

By now, Moore's Law says the ugly and conspicous parts of Glass can shrink

by a factor of two in every dimension. I'd like to see a reporter ask. Why not make bars, and obnoxious people totally unaware of the enhanced peripheral awareness Glass provides. Why not clunk the mugger first when you see him coming up from the rear. Why not clock the jerk trying to blind side you. Why not have court ready chain of evidence assured files ready at the DA milliseconds before assault turns into assault and battery?

[Spleen]

I've just had a great business idea. Did you spend £1,000 on a pair of Google Glasses, and have been walking around London for hours waiting for someone to ask you to take it off, but no-one actually cares? Did you spend ages planning how you were going to educate the ignorant masses on public recording rights, only to find that none of them actually give a shit? Have you spent hours sitting in Shoreditch bars waiting for someone to drunkenly assault you, but have got nothing more than a pitying glance?

Then simply pay me £1,000 and I will walk up to you in a location of your choosing and publicly ask you to take your GGlasses off. I can do aggressive, passive-aggressive or Victorian politeness. ("Sir, I must remind you that a gentleman does not wear his hat or his Google Glasses indoors.") For another £1,000 I will actively engage with you in a long and ill-informed argument about whether or not you're allowed to wear them. For £5,000 I will pretend to knock you senseless, and you can use the YouTube footage to get yourself in The Independent.

Act now before I'm fully booked. Contact me on Twitter at @LookAtMyGoogleGlassesPleaseImLonely.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Luxottica"

If that's not a chavvy name for a company, I really don't know what is. :-(