Mother of all gadgets - Specs that makes you look smarter, I mean for real

I believe that the future of all mobile phones,tablets,PCs and TVs that we all own will converge into something like the "Project Glass". You want to know why, then just continue reading.

 

There are four different areas that will be relevant in the future no matter what gadget people will use:-

1. Nowadays a lot of gadgets have natural gestures. This has lot to do with gadgets like Microsoft surface and iPhone. But they just gave the whole industry a simple idea that people love gadgets that have natural gestures. Like, swipe a picture to view the next one and pinch to zoom maps,web pages and photos. These are all great but this is just the beginning of natural interfaces
2. The second best feature that everyone likes is a personal assistant who follows you wherever you go. Projects like Siri,Wolphram alpha,Watson and Google Now are just some examples. But these projects have a lot to improve for normal day-to-day use. Nowadays it is more gimmicky and less useful. But in the future these services will be used by every single person in this planet just like "Google Search" today. Because that's how things are shaping up.
3. The next feature that everyone is used to is the camera on these devices. Nowadays almost every device out there has a camera that can capture a moment in real time. Most of the real time news are now captured by these powerful mobile phones. This even applies to a party as well.
4. People now prefer virtual presence. Like if you have a big 4K TV at home many people prefer not go to a real game if they have other household things to care about on the same day. People are now able to do video chats with gadgets available today. And this will always be a relevant feature.

Now lets look why glass will fulfill all these and do more. I have five points why a glass form factor would really work:-

1. The technology is here and things are getting smaller. But like the ad from HP quite long ago that said "A cell phone that an ant can use" , mobile phones have become more thinner ,smaller , more powerful and have beefy batteries(not quite true now but wait for it). In the future we can do things that were not possible like a powerful computer on your glasses.
2. Glass is more appropriate because it is the gadget that will be near all your sense organs. And there is this gesture that is not captured by any of the current devices. That is the eye. We look at things. What if this can be captured. Like the direction by sensing the position of the two eyes and focus of the eye lens to understand the distance.
3. Now when I said that the form factor that is possible for the masses is a specs someone would have thought contact lenses with a similar feature like this short film. I too agree it is possible but not practical for many people who don't like to wear contact lens all the time. And after all it is an electronic gadget. How many people other than spies,reporters and crooks would like to use it on a day to day basis?
4. Holographic displays has always been a thing everyone wanted. And that is there in almost all movies. Think those personal moments or relative who comes up in mid-air when strangers are around you in a public space. But I see that glasses can really fullfil dreams of holographic displays. Because if we all can share the same 3d object around us then why do we even need a dedicated holographic display. But it will stay relevant in films as the movie viewer needs to be shown what the actors see.
5. With glass on you, every single surface around you is a canvas. It is like the King's wish to keep his feet clean before the concept of shoes. He ordered to put carpet everywhere he used to go. So the minister created shoes for him to keep his feet clean not matter where he walked to. So with glass form factor you don't need a tablet,a phone or even one of those big TV's.

As a fan of this new form factor here are some of my predictions for the interface of this device.

1. A switch to ON/OFF the device. Just like those silent ringer switches that are available today. This is very important as it affects almost all or senses.
2. The display will be augmented on top of both the eyes to give a 3D placement for the various virtual elements. A gryroscope and compass to maintain objects with respect to the view.
3. When it is ON there can be notifications at the top/bottom corner. A look at them will highlight it. A single tap on either of the glass legs will select them. Otherwise it would look funny to others, if you wave and poke in the air - as shown in movies like Minority Report. The eye tracking mentioned above and the single tap can help in most scenarios.
4. A double tap on the glass legs can suspend and resume the glass for an intelligent mode. This would work by outlining any object that you look at. This is because there will be two cameras on the glass to view the object in 3D Space. The Outline will be displayed stereoscopically.  Now a single tap when the object is highlighted should show options like take a picture, search on the internet , remember location of this object and description from the internet about the object. This means everyone just becomes more smarter now.
5. A button near the ear can be used for voice search. Eg:-  what is this thing? How does this work? Remind me to buy this? Or should I buy this?
6. This glass would be great to capture any moment and that too with Stereoscopic videos, it will be great to share moments with friends. A slide gesture on the glass leg could be used for zoom in and zoom out. A tap to enter camera mode and a blink to capture moments would be great. I think a tap with a small timer would be enough to take a good picture without any unwanted shakes.
7. Navigation would be great as it would really be like directions in air. Or a virtual person whom you can follow. The maps would be visible if you would look down as if you were holding a map in your hands. And this map will be interactive and live.
8. The advertising model should be revamped. Till now it was just your preferences and where you are. Now one more variable should be added that considers where you looking at. Advertisements will be shown on shops as you look at them instead of popping up everywhere.
9. Last but not least would be a piece of mirror for this glass to do video chat. But I think initially there will be secondary device in your pocket to which the glass connects to. This will have a front facing camera. But in the future when the glass is an individual device it may work out with a mirror.
10. Just displaying small pixels into the eye at a short distance means very less energy required for a display. And also these things can really replace a TV. The projection means that there can be a TV as big as your wall or ceiling. These displays can be shared with your friends and family.

Now all said I think it is really far but it is a possible piece of technology. I believe the first versions will only work with the help of a secondary device.

All companies around the world wants you to see what they have for you. Some of them wants to know what you are looking at. I think the future of this gadget is in the hand of companies like Google. There is a flip side for everything in this world and I think some prefer the convenience over privacy. If you are one among them then definitely you are going to enjoy this futuristic gadget. Otherwise this is a scary one. It won't be like a video feed that goes to Google. But more like short texts about what you see using image processing on the glass hardware. It is like a massive parallel network of devices that does surveillance all around the world. I relate this to the story of the cat and the mouse where the mouse decides to gift the cat with a bell to know where the cat is at any given moment.

Anyway good luck for a future with "A Glass gadget" in it. I am eagerly waiting for May 2013 for updates on Project Glass. But till then enjoy the best smartphone from Google - watch the below video.