The Tweet and the Trip-
Last week I received my Tweet telling me my GoogleGlass was ready. I wanted to fly to San Francisco to pick them up, but there were no appointments until mid-July. There were, however, appointments in New York City. I purchased an airline ticket, flying in to LaGuardia. Getting to Chelsea Market was relatively easy by cab.
Taxi Ride
I told the taxi driver the address, 75 Ninth Ave., and off we went. The cabbie was a little confused about the address first taking me to 7th Ave., but eventually, we found the right place.
Shared bikes
It had been years since I'd been to New York. During the cab ride, I shot some photos of Manhattan. Apparently Citibank now sponsors bicycles in the city. Looked tempting.
Chelsea Market
We finally arrived at our final destination, Chelsea Market. Here is a view of the building from across the street.
Google NYC
Chelsea Market is right across the street from the Google Offices in Manhattan.
Chelsea Clock
I arrived early, so I toured the Market. Chelsea Market is retro-very cool. Because I was early, I set up my computer at a table and got some work done. At 10:30a I set off for the Glass Studio.
Retro Art
The first floor of the Chelsea Market has old looking art--mostly in stone. It was hard to differentiate art from old building.
Elevator
I walked back to the front of the building and took the elevator to the 8th Floor.
Down the Hallway
When I exited the elevator and looked to my right, this was my view. I headed to the reception area.
Glass Couch
I was greeted by two Glass Customer Experience Representatives--extremely friendly. They looked at my invitation and checked my photo ID, then chatted with me while I waited for my "guide."
The Box
My guide introduced himself and escorted me back to the studio. I was first asked to confirm the color of my device. I chose Slate. We then walked over to a workbench where we spent the next 30-40 minutes.
Pop the Top
Google did a nice job on the Glass packaging. Here is the top layer of the box.
Second Layer of the Box
The second layer had the Glass Satchel, along with instructions. The bottom of the satchel is a hard case, manufactured to protect the Glass lens and camera.
The Bottom Layer
The Bottom Layer had the USB charging cord / plug as well as some extra nose pieces. My guide also went through how to fit the clear and shaded lenses onto the Glass Frame.
Studio
Here is a picture of the studio. Very open. Over the next 30 minutes, my guide fitted the device, showed me how to turn it on and off, how to connect to wireless networks, and tethered the device to my phone. He explained how to shoot pictures and video and introduced me to the few available apps.
Glass navigation is a snap, although it's not truly "hands-free." You navigate using a touchpad on the right side of the frame.
After leaving the studio, I was able to initiate a GoogleHangout with my son from the back of a cab by tethering the device to my phone. Of course, doing this gobbled up a fair amount of data usage.
Backyard and Initial Experience
Since returning home, I've been exploring the Glass software ecosystem. There are currently few apps available--reminiscent of when the iPhone was released. I'm sure there are many developers working feverishly to remedy this. I'm especially enjoying the ability to quickly shoot pictures and video. Below is a picture of our backyard taken with Glass using only voice commands--pretty decent.
My guide told me the battery will last for about an hour of continuous video recording-he typically charges overnight, while he's sleeping. This seems an accurate estimate given my two days of experimentation.
Overall, I'm impressed by the potential of Glass both in personal and professional life.
From a medical standpoint I have two comments derived from my initial use. First, the voice recognition for medical terminology needs some work (as an experiment I tried to find the dosage of several common meds using only voice commands--the only word it recognized was "Furosemide"). I'm sure Glass will improve with time. Second, there is a huge need for a HIPAA compliant GLASS environment for pictures, movies and streaming content. Many of the potential medical applications revolve around patients. Patient information (or images) cannot be sent to consumer web sites (e.g. Google+). Until someone cracks the HIPAA nut, GLASS will fail to reach its full potential in healthcare.
I'm looking forward to experimenting (carefully) with my GLASS over the next few months. I'll report back here.
