Google Glass: Confessions of a New Cyborg

Google Glass isn’t Virtual Reality (VR) but rather Augmented Reality (AR) where real sensory inputs must be combined with Augmented ones, and so the risk from nausea is even higher. Moreover, Glass needs to be very portable (unlike Oculus Rift which we believe is normally tethered to a console), so there’s less CPU power available. It heats up when playing video or other computationally intensive asks like Augmented Reality, and you get warning that “Glass needs to cool down” to provide best performance. The frame update rate of course slows down as a result of this overheating, increasing the chance of nausea from AR.

Another health concern we have is with WiFi and Bluetooth so close to the brain. Cellular phones close to the brain have gotten much attention, although repeated studies have failed to conclude there is any danger. Nevertheless, there have been scientific studies showing cellular signals may impact protein binding, including DNA repair proteins. Also, holding a cell phone close to the brain apparently increases brain stimulation in the areas closer to the phone. We try to use a wired (non-Bluetooth) headset whenever we’re talking on a mobile phone, just in case there are risks.

Google Glass doesn’t have cellular connectivity. You’re expected to carry a mobile phone around with you to relay data from Glass when you’re away from WiFi. It’s not clear whether WiFi and Bluetooth have similar health concerns as mobile signals. There’s less data, and they use different frequencies. Then again, WiFi was originally assigned to same frequency bandwidth as microwave ovens. Recall those frequencies were originally selected because they are near optimal for heating water molecules. Given the importance of water molecules in protein binding, it seems like there might be some concerns there. This concerns can be reduced by ensuring the product is somewhat RF shielded on the side closest to the brain, or reducing the energy of radio transmissions by moving to lower-energy technologies. Perhaps BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) or future variants will be safer. This is a concern for all of these “cyborg” technologies (starting with the mobile phone). The concerns may increase as wearables become and move ever closer to body tissue. (Will the “special contacts” Google is now working eventually use WiFi, BLE, or some future system that reduces both energy consumption and health risks?)

These concerns don’t just apply to Glass. They apply to Bluetooth headsets as well, a device most Americans own. We’ll point that the Glass WiFi and be turned off, and the device used exclusively in Bluetooth mode. At that point, any dangers from the Bluetooth will be similar to Bluetooth headsets, or fitness trackers like FitBit that also continuously broadcast Bluetooth. Despite being common, there is very little discussion about health risks from Bluetooth devices worn on the head.

Bluetooth is only transmitting a short distance to your nearby cellular phone, not a longer distance to a cell tower, so it emits much less energy than a cellular signal. You’re using your phone to do the heavy lifting, which is hopefully further away from your body. Consequently, health risks from bluetooth may turn out to be minimal. (We’re just hoping someone is researching these issues.)

Google Glass software and UI issues?

So what about Glass’ software? We immediately encountered problems with our first test. We mentioned Avril Lavigne not sounding great in monaural or through bone. We actually had problems getting Google Play to work at all initially. It was able to detect the songs were present in a playlist, but then kept generating an error when we tried to play them. It’s not clear if we fixed the problem by reinstalling Google Play in Glass, or if the problem was fixed after Google sent out two software updates in rapid succession.

Even after Google Play began working, there will still some User Interface issues. It takes Play a while to download the songs from the network (it can’t transfer from Google Play on the phone). However, it doesn’t have a good message while this download is taking place. The songs slowly appear, with their cover albums appearing first, and then play begins working. However, the doesn’t provide a clear indication that songs are still downloading. Instead, the user is left wondering why the songs don’t play immediately. (Mobile and desktop versions of Google Play of course make very clear that downloading is still happening in the background.)

Google Play illustrates other issues. The mobile and desktop versions have many features that you can set. The Glass version has to be kept very simple due to limited UI controls. An obvious solution would be to let you control the more complicated features of Google Play from your mobile phone. This happens with other parts of Glass, mainly when you’re installing new software. Google Glass might ask you to enter an email address to provide to the app maker. This happens in the “MyGlass App” on the mobile device, and appears to be necessarily implemented in clunky HTML for portability. However, that support seems limited to installing new software. There appears no way for a complex Glass app (or Glassware as it is called) to expose say, an HTML5 interface on the tethered Android or iOS phone to allow more complex settings to be set.

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