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BARCELONA, Spain–We’re through the looking glass, people; as a great man once said. And as we trawl the halls of phone and tablet industry shindig Mobile World Congress, we bumped into this happy chap wearing Google Glass high-tech specs.
Google Glass is a set of high-tech spectacles that records and broadcasts everything you see. The 21st century superconnected eyeglasses aren’t for sale yet, and are only spotted adorning the facial space of Google employees. I spotted one such Google fellow on the show floor at MWC checking out Ubuntu Touch on the Google Nexus 4 — and I found that being recorded is a bit weird.
When the wearer of Google Glass says out loud that he or she wants the specs to start recording — like Michael Knight telling K.I.T.T. to turbo-boost over a dried-up creek, only with more awkward pausing to see if it worked or not — then the spectacles start recording video from a tiny camera over the eye.
What’s odd about it is that a light flicks on over the right eye of the wearer. If you’re wearing the glasses you won’t even notice, but as the person being talked to I suddenly saw that this chap’s right eye been replaced by a little white light. It’s surprisingly unnerving to be chatting to someone who suddenly has a little white light where their eye is supposed to be; like Locutus of Borg, albeit without the whole sticking spikes in your eye and assimilating all your pals thing. On the plus side, you’re left with no doubt that you’re being recorded.
For the latest smartphones, tablets, and other cool stuff — including a Wi-Fi coffee machine, a 21st century walking stick, and a Spotify app with a car attached — check out our in-depth news, previews, and videos from Mobile World Congress.
