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Archive for Glasstastic

Calling it now!

September 6, 2014 Glasstastic, Uncategorized, Writing Comments Off on Calling it now!

Image via: http://vidartop.blogspot.com/

 

I don’t actually have a dog in this fight.  I make it a policy to be platform agnostic.  When I first started working in entertainment and games you had Unix boxes, PC’s and Macs.  Depending on who I was working for, or what project I had in hand at the time, I had to be able to use all three fluently, a fluency I’ve managed to maintain.

But, for the next iteration of computer users, the ones who, in 10-15 years are going to be running the new tech startups, the future is going to be Google.

Once upon a time, Apple did something really clever.  They introduced computers into the elementary schools and by doing so they laid the groundwork for their branding and their technology, they had some hiccups along the way, but for a long time anyone who didn’t need higher-order access (like programmers) preferred Apple.

Now it’s Google that’s in the classrooms.  The Chromebook is rapidly becoming the standard for hands-on computer learning in classes.  Now, granted, these are cloud-based “dumb-terminals”, you “can’t” (notwithstanding the cleverness of students) load anything new onto them, you can only run the apps made available by the school.

So you have a large, upcoming population intimately familiar with Google and Chrome.  They are going to be familiar with how those systems work, how to work with objects in the cloud.  They will be comfortably ensconced within Google’s own walled garden (granted, the wall is only knee-high compared to Apple’s battlements) and they are going to be comfortable with the Google ecosystem.  They will be used to having a single account to access everything from any device, and the price points will make sure that Google derived-technology remains accessible to everyone.

They aren’t going to take out Apple’s market by going head-to head in smartphones, or even in laptops.  Instead they have targeted the future, and unless Apple starts to move back towards accessibility via education, one day they are going to wake up and find that they are trapped back in the boutique market they worked so hard to escape from.

 

 

A little piece of Glass

December 13, 2013 Glasstastic Comments Off on A little piece of Glass

Today I had to take the kids to the pool for their swimming lessons.  At this particular pool, there are no signs prohibiting cel-phone or camera use (there are at other pools we have visited, but this ones a little more realistic).

We had a parent (or possibly student) show up at the pool wearing Glass.  He took a look around, removed them and stowed them carefully in his backpack.

This wasn’t a necessary thing, its the kind of pool where meets and polo matches and other events are held with some regularity, so there is no overt restriction on cameras or recording devices.  Its entirely possible he was concerned with the cloud of chlorine that invariably surrounds a body of man-maintained water, or getting thrown in the pool by the Polo team, or some other reason than how the people around him feel about Glass.

Glass is not a standalone device.  It’s a peripheral, like your Bluetooth earbud, so removing it, while annoying, will not stop you from using your phone, or from receiving phone calls.  I suspect it can get as annoying as wearing an earbud *all* the time.

It was the gesture that caught my attention.  This individual came across as someone who is *using* Glass, not as someone who views Glass as the inalienable right to be wired up all the time, not as a way to show off how tech-savvy he was, but someone who is using it as the tool it was designed for and putting it back in the toolbox when he didn’t need it.

So, unknown Glass user, this week I’m going to label you as #glasstastic. Compared to the gal with the moving violation and the guy who got ranty at a restaurant, you might not be as sexxy a news story, but you are a better example of Glass users for the rest of us.

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