Final update doled out to those who let Google sit on their face: Glass Explorer Edition cut off from the mothership

Google Glass Explorer Edition was an ambitious but ultimately doomed look at a possible next frontier of human-computer interaction. Almost seven years after its initial release, Mountain View is finally putting it to pasture with one last update. The new update effectively disconnects Google Glass from all official back-end …

[karlkarl]

I'm surprised that those criminals didn't just brick the devices landing them straight into landfill.

Possibly if the devices were cracked wide open and run a proper operating system, they would be fantastic for augmented data for medical (i.e doctors, nurses) or emergency (rescue) services.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not that bad.

They can still post pictures and videos to Google+!

[Version 1.0]

I've never had a chance to play with them but I've always wanted to from a tech support angle. El dumb user calls up and wants to know how to do something mechanical (how do I get the case off or open? Where's test point #39? How do I set it up?) and the glasses would seem to be an easy way to show them.

[Sleep deprived]

El Reg feeding itself

The Register's articles about this particular project have always been very biased editorials disguised as news reports. The public didn't name the wearers Glassholes, The Register did. Of course there were a few incidents, highlighted to death by The Register, but is there any technology with 100% approval rate? (cars may be everywhere, yet, they are much despised by a lot of people). The idea of augmented reality is indeed appealing. That being said, I'd rather these smart glasses not be made by Google and serve to accumulate yet even more personal data.

[DavCrav]

Re: El Reg feeding itself

"Of course there were a few incidents, highlighted to death by The Register, but is there any technology with 100% approval rate?"

It has essentially a 0% approval rate among those that don't have them. That's pretty good going. It's also a privacy nightmare for everyone other than the wearer, who is the only person not filmed by it.

"(cars may be everywhere, yet, they are much despised by a lot of people)"

Actually, cars, and vehicles in general, have a very high approval rating by almost everyone. There's the odd person who drunkenly says "we should ban all vehicular transport", but then sobers up and remembers that they like to eat food and take medicine and have electricity and water.

[joeW]

Re: El Reg feeding itself

Google themselves used the term "Glasshole" - see the last point on this list:

https://sites.google.com/site/glasscomms/glass-explorers

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: El Reg feeding itself

The public didn't name the wearers Glassholes, The Register did.

Five seconds of research would have shown you the term was coined on TechCrunch. Or do you have an earlier citation from the Register? Because the earliest I could find was from March 2013, several weeks after the TechCrunch piece.

The idea of augmented reality is indeed appealing

No doubt it is to some. So are the ideas of Veblen goods, invading others' privacy, and being a twat on social media.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pure Coincidence......

.....that this news hits the streets only a few days after we find out that Larry and Sergey are standing down.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: Pure Coincidence......

Frankly, I'm not seeing the connection. Is there reason to believe that L&S were protecting the Glass product for some reason? Were they big boosters of it? Google has a rich history of discarding products when they feel they've scraped enough user data from them. I've never seen any evidence to suggest any of the top folks (Larry, Sergey, Eric Schmidt, Sundar Pichai) have any emotional attachment to any Google or Alphabet offering.

[volsano]

The Apple Newton was the overpriced floating train wreck of its day. Today, tablets and smartphones are part of our ambient background.

So failure does not always mean extinction.

Maybe when Google retools and launches the usable version - let's call it the Google Monocle - they might sell two to every networked punter in the world.

[Fading]

I suspect it will take google contact lenses to be the next viable version (so invisible to non-owners).

[Michael Wojcik]

Looking forward to the Google Lorgnette, though mostly because ruffians would likely grab them away from users and then beat the users about the head and shoulders with them.

[Robert Carnegie]

Apple sues Google Monocle because Apple has a trademark on "one i" :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

What about other glasses with camera?

This is clearly an "I hate Google" post. No mention of other glasses what can record videos or take photos, ie Spectacles by Snapchat.