[HN Gopher] Facebook, Ray-Ban debut picture-taking smart glasses
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Facebook, Ray-Ban debut picture-taking smart glasses
        
       Author : starkd
       Score  : 154 points
       Date   : 2021-09-09 16:41 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.axios.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.axios.com)
        
       | madrox wrote:
       | I'll never forget the time I wore google glass to a bar in Palo
       | Alto and a very annoyed bartender told me to take them off. I
       | wasn't even using them for video or picture taking, which I
       | wanted to explain but he had no patience for.
       | 
       | Maybe attitudes have changed but I can't imagine it going much
       | better.
        
         | motohagiography wrote:
         | The world just wasn't ready for glassholes. I remember those
         | and thinking how alien someone's socialization would need to be
         | to consider recording in strange peoples faces to be
         | appropriate, but now that we are just getting comfortable with
         | totalitarianism, they can do their part and keep society safe
         | from people with personal boundaries.
         | 
         | Nobody is ever recorded in public to exonerate them. The idea
         | someone could have an objection to carrying firearms as public
         | aggression but not see how recording people is effectively
         | brandishing with an implied threat is going to be one of those
         | things we will look back and laugh at.
        
           | madrox wrote:
           | Tell that to everyone who saw the George Floyd video.
           | 
           | I watched an excellent interview with Khary Payton where my
           | ideas on surveillance really changed.
           | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GnZ1HCRqdB4
           | 
           | I think socially there's a difference at play between
           | recording in general and headwear for it, specifically.
        
       | lostgame wrote:
       | I don't understand how these are legal. I would sign a petition
       | in half a second against this technology's use in public spaces.
       | 
       | I swear to God. What about a camera you can wear in a public
       | bathroom don't people get the obvious 'wrong'-ness of?
       | 
       | "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they
       | could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
        
         | 0des wrote:
         | How do you feel about people walking past you with their cell
         | phones pressed to their ear? Surely that camera is also an
         | issue.
        
           | 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
           | I trust that people with a cell phone in their ear are
           | probably using them to talk. On the other hand, if someone
           | has their phone up in the usual taking-a-photo-with-their-
           | phone pose, then I'll also assume they're taking a photo, and
           | if they are holding their phone out like that in the locker
           | room, I'd ask them not to.
        
         | floren wrote:
         | I didn't really understand the bathroom objection when it was
         | Google Glass, and I don't really follow it now. I've got plenty
         | of problems with the general idea of camera glasses, but in
         | terms of bathrooms...
         | 
         | The wearer can't really record anything he/she can't directly
         | see already. Is the concern that the guy at the next urinal
         | might crane his neck over the divider and film your junk? Would
         | you consider that acceptable behavior if he didn't have camera
         | glasses on?
         | 
         | Is the worry that someone might capture you entering or leaving
         | a bathroom stall, or record your back as you stand at a urinal?
         | It seems like a regular old cell phone would be a more
         | effective way to take sneaky pictures or videos, since it
         | doesn't involve popping your whole head under the stall...
         | 
         | It just feels like doing anything truly unpleasant with camera
         | glasses would require a _serious_ breach of standard bathroom
         | etiquette, and even considering how shitty the general public
         | can be, I 've never experienced that level of bad behavior in a
         | public bathroom in all my years.
        
           | loriverkutya wrote:
           | >The wearer can't really record anything he/she can't
           | directly see already. Is the concern that the guy at the next
           | urinal might crane his neck over the divider and film your
           | junk? Would you consider that acceptable behavior if he
           | didn't have camera glasses on?
           | 
           | My concern is the difference between something being able to
           | be seen and something being able to be recorded and shared
           | later.
        
           | kreitje wrote:
           | I've been in a hand full of k-12 schools where there are no
           | stall doors. You can walk in the bathroom and make eye
           | contact with someone who has their pants around their ankles.
        
       | Etheryte wrote:
       | > Alex Himel, VP of AR at Facebook Reality Labs, informed me over
       | a Zoom chat that taping over the LED light was a violation of the
       | terms of service of the glasses, which prohibit tampering with
       | the device.
       | 
       | This is a good summary of the kind of deal buying a pair of these
       | would be. Even putting a piece of tape on something you bought
       | and supposedly own is a violation of some contract and may in
       | theory render your device inoperable. It's not hard to imagine
       | that the companion app, which is the only way to use the device,
       | requires Facebook login and then you just end up with a few
       | hundred dollars worth of regular old glasses.
        
         | Johnny555 wrote:
         | So just put a dab of black paint over the light and claim that
         | it must have happened when you were painting your door. Though
         | it's not clear how they'd ever notice, surely they don't have a
         | light sensor inside the camera light that would tip them off if
         | it never seems ambient light.
        
           | jws wrote:
           | LEDs work both ways. I wrote a tutorial on doing this with an
           | Arduino sometime in the early 2000s. I've forgotten most of
           | it, so this is going to be vague...
           | 
           | * Instead of driving your LED from one live pin to ground or
           | power, put it between two pins (with its current limiting
           | resistor unless your microcontroller can safely limit the
           | current and you can tolerate the heat in package (RP2040!))
           | 
           | * Forward bias (say pin 1 high, pin 2 low) to illuminate.
           | 
           | * Reverse bias briefly (pin 1 low, pin 2 high) to charge the
           | stray capacitance of your pin 2 driver. Then turn pin 2 into
           | an input and time how long it takes to change from a "1" to a
           | "0".
           | 
           | Your LED is going to be matching up photons and electrons and
           | passing electrons across. It isn't great at this compared to
           | a photodiode, but it does do it. If the current flow through
           | the LED is at least in the ball park of the input current on
           | pin 2 you will be able to tell the difference in light
           | levels.
           | 
           | It's crude, and may not be workable at all in low light
           | levels because the input pin current will dwarf the LED
           | current.
           | 
           | But for compliance checking in FB Glass, the camera knows
           | when it is in bright light, and if the LED disagrees, then
           | you have covered your LED. The cost to implement is one
           | package pin and a little software.
           | 
           | Note: I am not necessarily known as nefarious. I used it to
           | automatically modulate the brightness of indicator LEDs.
           | Bright in the day, dimmer in the dark. The time to sense is
           | short enough that you can do it with your indicator and no
           | one notices the tiny dark interval.
        
             | wyager wrote:
             | Clever hack.
        
         | Apocryphon wrote:
         | Well, it's a policy that's uncharacteristically protecting user
         | privacy, or rather the privacy of those subjected to the user's
         | presence, so it's not the best example of onerous TOS.
        
         | grishka wrote:
         | > may in theory render your device inoperable
         | 
         | I still can't get over how it is still legal for a manufacturer
         | to retain any kind of control over a device after sale. It's
         | even more dystopian that you basically can't buy a phone that
         | isn't backdoored.
        
           | exporectomy wrote:
           | It seems like we're moving out of the 1900s world where
           | manufactured objects carried inherent value on their own and
           | people paid high prices to retain control of the valuable
           | object. People even passed furniture, dishes, books, and
           | clothes down from generation to generation because they were
           | so valuable but now you can't even give this stuff away most
           | of the time. TVs don't get stolen much anymore because
           | they're worth so little. Physical things are getting cheaper
           | to a ridiculous extent and are being merged with services.
           | That world of industrialized materialism might have been an
           | aberration historically. I still encounter old people, myself
           | included who have an aversion to destroying books,
           | electronics, toys, etc. no matter how cheap and useless they
           | are.
        
             | grishka wrote:
             | The problem is, the devices themselves do have inherent
             | value. The manufacturers literally spend extra effort to
             | nerf that value to make sure your continued use of the
             | device is one way or another dependent on them. The iPhone
             | is a very capable general-purpose pocket computer that was
             | turned into an appliance that Apple controls remotely.
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | 30 years ago you still could not get a phone line which can't
           | be tapped.
           | 
           | At least now you can buy a second-hand phone with an unlocked
           | bootloader, and flash it with GrapheneOS or PostmarketOS,
           | which likely are not phoning home you location or actions,
           | and switch off the mobile and wifi data connections just in
           | case.
        
             | bserge wrote:
             | And they still can be tapped. Kind of different things tbh.
             | This is more like buying a PC in 2000 and the manufacturer
             | reserving the right to remove a RAM stick if you
             | overclocked it or visited a porn site or something.
        
             | gunapologist99 wrote:
             | Depending on the phone, turning off mobile data might not
             | disable the radio, which will continue to ping nearby
             | towers. You might need a faraday cage, or a battery-
             | removable phone like Pinephone.
        
           | 1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote:
           | Are landlines, like the ones found in commercial buildings,
           | backdoored. Can we purchase development boards that the
           | suppliers do not control after sale.
           | 
           | Whats difficult to get over is when non-tech companies, e.g.,
           | Bausch & Lomb, go along with the nonsense.^1 All this
           | supposed corporate responsibility and yet they still partner
           | with unethical "tech" companies.
           | 
           | 1 Probably should not be surprised considering B&L is owned
           | by Valeant Pharmaceuticals. (Who has sinced changed its name
           | to try to escape its well-earned bad reputation.)
        
             | alfiedotwtf wrote:
             | With Australian Telstra phones, if you called someone and
             | they didn't pick up after a number of rings, a dial tone
             | would happen. If you whistled a handshake, the reciever
             | would PICK UP and yes you literally turned it into a hot
             | mic.
             | 
             | Since I no longer have a landline, I can't confirm it works
             | now.
        
             | grishka wrote:
             | No they are not, because there's a clear boundary between
             | _your own device_ and _someone else 's infrastructure_. And
             | you could as well build your own landline system -- which
             | is exactly what people do in commercial buildings. You
             | could also build some sort of scrambler device that goes
             | between the phone and the line.
             | 
             | It's the same as asking "is internet backdoored". It might
             | be wiretapped, but you can use encryption to avoid that
             | risk.
        
           | avalys wrote:
           | Why does everything you dislike need to be illegal? No one is
           | forcing you to buy these things.
        
             | vitno wrote:
             | Its not so much that it needs to be made "illegal", The
             | problem is that terms of service itself is a legally
             | enforcable idea. Facebook is the one using legal frameworks
             | to overstep into our life.
        
             | wtetzner wrote:
             | How about we just rephrase?
             | 
             | We should stop making it illegal for people to do what they
             | want to things they own.
        
               | grishka wrote:
               | Not even this. The problem is that hardware manufacturers
               | have what amounts to technological supremacy over the
               | rest of the society. If you buy an iPhone, it's not
               | illegal to jailbreak it in most countries. The problem is
               | that you lack the technology to do so reliably (i.e.
               | change the fuses in the SoC to flip it into a less
               | restricted mode of operation) so you have to resort to
               | vulnerabilities to untether it from Apple's servers which
               | you never wanted in the first place. Android is
               | marginally better because of the officially unlockable
               | bootloader, but there still are various encryption keys
               | _within your device_ that you aren 't allowed to see
               | and/or overwrite.
        
               | space_ghost wrote:
               | Isn't that at the core of the "right to repair" debate?
        
               | sethhochberg wrote:
               | Its related, but not identical. "Right to repair" in the
               | sense that the FTC is talking about now is largely about
               | manufacturers restricting usage of third-party repair
               | services or parts - so think of it more in terms of
               | Facebook/Ray-Ban allowing independent repair shops to
               | swap your cracked camera lens, or an individual who can
               | source the parts being allowed to perform the work
               | themselves without buying a service contract: things
               | which the manufacturer may currently choose to prevent
               | via terms of use, or which they might have required you
               | to buy a service contract to do.
               | 
               | You making a modification to your glasses to hide an LED
               | isn't a repair... at least in the terms the FTC is using
               | at present.
        
               | tshaddox wrote:
               | Should it be legal to use hidden cameras to record images
               | of people without their knowledge? Or should it just be
               | legal to deliberately modify small cameras for the sole
               | purpose of doing so, and illegal for manufacturers of
               | small cameras to implement tamper detection?
        
               | grishka wrote:
               | I mean people have been putting cameras in their cars for
               | more than 10 years. And at some point, with the
               | advancement of neural interface tech, the line between
               | eyes and cameras would start to become blurry.
        
               | bko wrote:
               | It's not "illegal" to put tape over the led. It's a
               | violation of the terms of services and they could cut you
               | off from their service.
        
               | grishka wrote:
               | The point I'm making here is that the device becomes
               | useless without said service, even though there's no
               | valid technical reason for this dependency.
        
             | grishka wrote:
             | No one is forcing me to buy a phone? Yeah sure. Try to live
             | without one in the modern society.
        
               | arkano wrote:
               | But don't lots of people live without one though?
        
               | bin_bash wrote:
               | it's pretty tough now that we do things like pay for
               | parking, provide vaccine status, communicate with
               | daycares all via apps
        
               | raimondious wrote:
               | No, at least not in the US:
               | https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
        
               | squeaky-clean wrote:
               | About 48% of the human population owns a smartphone (that
               | doesn't include "feature phones"). 85% of American adults
               | own a smartphone. 97% of Americans own a cellphone.
        
           | tshaddox wrote:
           | Do you think it should be illegal for a manufacturer to
           | implement features in their product that attempt to detect
           | and prevent usage of the product that is dangerous or harmful
           | to the user or others? Should products with batteries be
           | allowed to detect when the battery is being damaged and
           | deactivate in order to prevent excessive heat or fire? Or is
           | there something specific about tampering with a camera
           | indicator light that you feel is deserving of legal
           | protection for the end user?
        
             | newbie789 wrote:
             | I can't speak for the person you're responding to, but I
             | personally do find a large difference between the risk of
             | fire/explosion and the visibility of an LED.
             | 
             | Furthermore I do in fact think that the distinction is big
             | enough to justify legal protection to the end user on the
             | basis that one can burn your house down (and can happen by
             | accident with no user intervention) and the other cannot.
             | 
             | Personally I think words like "harm" have concrete meaning
             | outside of language specifically crafted by marketers in
             | order to make awful products more palatable.
        
               | tshaddox wrote:
               | Do you think it's controversial whether secretly
               | recording images of someone can sometimes constitute
               | harm? To me, it's quite clearly the case, so I hadn't
               | considered the need to present an argument that
               | undisclosed video recording can constitute harm.
        
               | kelnos wrote:
               | _Sometimes_ , yes. But always? No, certainly not. There
               | are perfectly good reasons to want to record someone
               | without their knowledge (e.g. recording law enforcement
               | officers while they are in public).
               | 
               | I'm reminded of how phones sold in Japan have a fake
               | shutter sound on their camera apps that you can't
               | disable. Yes, there's a good reason for it (preventing
               | creeps from quietly taking upskirt photos of women on
               | subways), but it also removes the ability to take silent
               | photos for legitimate reasons.
               | 
               | But in the general sense, I do find this new Facebook
               | product to be gross and creepy, far worse than Google
               | Glass. And frankly I think a recording light, which will
               | easily become washed out and invisible in sunlight, is a
               | pretty poor attempt at helping maintain the privacy of
               | random people.
        
             | bambax wrote:
             | > _Do you think it should be illegal for a manufacturer to
             | implement features in their product that attempt to detect
             | and prevent usage of the product that is dangerous or
             | harmful to the user or others?_
             | 
             | Yes. I use knives for cooking. I could use them for
             | butchering my neighbors but that would be none of the
             | knives' manufacturers business.
             | 
             | Not just knives. _Anything_ can be used in a dangerous or
             | harmful way. You can suffocate someone with a pillow. So
             | this line of reasoning leads to any company having the
             | right (or maybe the duty?) to monitor us.
        
               | tshaddox wrote:
               | Some knives intended for cooking have features
               | deliberately intended to make them less suitable for
               | stabbing people. Do you oppose this practice, or the
               | legality of this practice?
        
               | bambax wrote:
               | Not really. I mostly oppose monitoring in the name of
               | "security". But I also prefer to be considered an adult
               | who's not a murderer and can handle their knives without
               | help or active supervision.
               | 
               | So they can make "safe knives" if they wish but I would
               | rather buy the other ones.
        
               | gknoy wrote:
               | I've never ever heard of this. Can you elaborate? I
               | hesitate to say "citation needed" but this seems like an
               | extraordinary claim.
        
               | tshaddox wrote:
               | https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cutlery-firm-makes-
               | blunt-...
               | 
               | They're not particularly popular as far as I can tell,
               | but my point only relies on the concept itself as another
               | example of manufacturers implementing features to attempt
               | to influence how the product can be used.
        
               | cwkoss wrote:
               | What is the market for less-useful knives that can't
               | stab? I don't understand why this product exists or who
               | the customer is...
               | 
               | It's still dangerous via slashing if it's at all useful
               | for food prep
        
               | kelnos wrote:
               | At least in that case people can (and it seems they have)
               | vote with their wallet, and avoid the more limited
               | "nannying" product. Given the lack of competition in
               | things like mobile phone OSes, that's not always an
               | option.
        
               | nl wrote:
               | Not quite the same thing, but ceramic cooking knives have
               | metal inserts to make sure they show up on airport
               | scanners.
        
               | ramses0 wrote:
               | eg: kitchen knives do not usually have cross-guards,
               | whereas a bayonet does.
               | 
               | https://www.1911forum.com/threads/does-a-fighting-knife-
               | need...
               | 
               | https://www.google.com/search?q=bayonet+crossguard
               | 
               | It's subtle, but true. I would imagine that a "kitchen
               | knife" with a full cross-guard that was regularly carried
               | in your belt and implicated in a crime would probably not
               | be considered "just a kitchen knife".
               | 
               | eg: all the rules around gun shapes, sizes, etc. etc. so
               | they don't become "assault-style weapons" or give people
               | impure thoughts when they're out on the shooting range.
               | 
               | https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/748665339/the-pistol-that-
               | loo...
        
           | echelon wrote:
           | > I still can't get over how it is still legal for a
           | manufacturer to retain any kind of control over a device
           | after sale.
           | 
           | Apple is such an amazing company and we're nothing short of
           | blessed to have their miraculous hardware grace our lives.
           | How dare you want control? You'll take what you get and be
           | happy. How dare you want it any other way? Anything that
           | takes away from our precious and benevolent gift giver should
           | be shunned. They deserve all profits now and forever. Amen.
        
             | grishka wrote:
             | Sure, Apple makes great hardware and software. But
             | services? I don't want any. I trust myself more than I
             | trust Apple, and I have a server I pay for anyway. It's
             | about choice. Apple would have to compete with others and
             | actually earn its reputation as an online services company
             | instead of just abusing its existing market power.
        
         | IfOnlyYouKnew wrote:
         | Well.. my main objection would be that it seems impossible to
         | detect such manipulation, and therefore these ToS are
         | toothless.
         | 
         | As to your complaint: I don't see a problem? Assuming for a
         | second that such a scheme would work, it allows transactions to
         | happen and devices to be sold that otherwise would not or could
         | not.
         | 
         | That's the basic mechanism of how contract law and court system
         | help a society: a bank wouldn't have the capability to build
         | its own mercenary force to collect debt (or, at least, it would
         | be expensive and a nightmare for civil liberties). So,
         | counterintuitively, by allowing you to bind yourself to an
         | agreement to pay back a loan, your range of options is only
         | expanded.
        
           | murderfs wrote:
           | > Well.. my main objection would be that it seems impossible
           | to detect such manipulation, and therefore these ToS are
           | toothless.
           | 
           | I don't think that's true: LEDs can also be used as light
           | sensors. If the camera sees a bright day and the LEDs see
           | pitch black, you know something sketchy's going on.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | bobiny wrote:
         | I don't see this in Axios or AP article, source?
        
           | Etheryte wrote:
           | The post originally linked to a different source [0, if I'm
           | not mistaken in my google-fu], it seems that the link has
           | been switched to a more neutral source which albeit omits
           | some of these details.
           | 
           | [0] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/face
           | boo...
        
         | anigbrowl wrote:
         | Ooh I'm sure that's going to dissuade people.
        
         | 908B64B197 wrote:
         | "Just trust me"
         | 
         | https://9to5mac.com/2016/06/21/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-tape...
        
           | Arainach wrote:
           | That's not a good comparison. The user of these glasses isn't
           | looking for privacy here (these glasses with the camera taped
           | over are simply dramatically overpriced shades), they're
           | looking to hide their intent.
        
           | CamperBob2 wrote:
           | "Dumb fucks."
        
       | the-dude wrote:
       | Interesting to see no mention of Google Glass or Glassholes.
        
         | coding123 wrote:
         | which means it's a paid spot.
        
         | babelfish wrote:
         | Or even the Snapchat Spectacles
        
           | Apocryphon wrote:
           | It's like Facebook finally caught up to 2016.
        
         | SirHound wrote:
         | It doesn't really have anything in common with them other than
         | the camera. It's more like the Spectacles
        
           | spywaregorilla wrote:
           | The camera was the controversial part
        
       | jonathanlb wrote:
       | Shades of Google Glass!
        
       | vineyardmike wrote:
       | I really appreciate that FB keeps trying to make hardware and
       | products that don't need to be a data collection funnel. It's
       | like they want to free themselves from the cursed golden goose
       | that is data driven ads.
       | 
       | I really don't appreciate that every attempt by FB to free
       | themselves of ads they end up with a product perfect for scooping
       | up data so it either flops out of consumer fear and/or turns into
       | a data collection funnel.
       | 
       | I want FB to be more than a heinous data trap. I don't think it's
       | going to happen though.
        
         | sneak wrote:
         | I don't appreciate it, because it means that good product
         | designers are going to work at a terrible data collection
         | funnel advertising company.
         | 
         | I would really like our world to be one in which attracting top
         | talent requires more interestingness than simply being an a
         | data vacuuming ad service.
         | 
         | If you work at, or would work at Facebook, you should probably
         | follow Bill Hicks' advice.
        
           | ryandrake wrote:
           | I don't know if you should paint the entire company's
           | employees with the same brush. There are probably people at
           | Facebook working on user privacy, trying to fight the good
           | fight. Are they still tainted because they are fighting that
           | fight at a "terrible data collection funnel advertising
           | company"? These companies are huge and have lots of
           | departments within that are not feeding the beast at all.
           | (Disclaimer: Not a Facebook employee :) )
        
             | bserge wrote:
             | Well, it is rather clear which departments have higher
             | authority.
        
             | sneak wrote:
             | Yes. Working for Facebook and "fighting the good fight"
             | involves abandoning your Facebook paycheck.
        
             | type0 wrote:
             | > Are they still tainted because they are fighting that
             | fight at a "terrible data collection funnel advertising
             | company"?
             | 
             | They are, how naive could such hypothetical employees be
             | that they wouldn't know FB's stances on privacy?
        
           | slut wrote:
           | Insisting that people that work at a company you don't like
           | should kill themselves seems a bit much, no?
        
             | sneak wrote:
             | It's just a suggestion; I don't insist on much of anything.
        
         | bserge wrote:
         | > FB keeps trying to make hardware and products that don't need
         | to be a data collection funnel _right away_.
         | 
         | Only 6-12 months later.
        
         | commoner wrote:
         | You need a Facebook account to use the "View" app that connects
         | to the glasses. Not convinced that Facebook will refrain from
         | data collection, especially after some time passes and the
         | reviews have already been published.
         | 
         | https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/faceboo...
        
       | fnord77 wrote:
       | I don't suppose these can be used without a FB account?
        
         | commoner wrote:
         | Yes, the "View" app requires a Facebook account to log in.
         | 
         | https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/faceboo...
        
       | novok wrote:
       | My guess, it will be as popular as Snap's Spectacles after the
       | hype died down. Not at all basically.
        
       | mkr-hn wrote:
       | Everybody's talking about DSLR vs mirrorless cameras when the
       | real topic was Black Mirror cameras.
        
       | type0 wrote:
       | the title should be: "Facebook, Ray-Ban debut picture-spying
       | smart glasses"
        
       | mdoms wrote:
       | If some Silicon Valley turd came anywhere near me wearing these
       | things he would be asked - very politely, but only once - to take
       | them off.
        
         | coolspot wrote:
         | Then what?
         | 
         | You pickup a felony battery and/or assault charge?
        
           | SyzygistSix wrote:
           | If you hit them from behind, your crime is recorded on the
           | hidden cameras that are everywhere.
        
           | type0 wrote:
           | then the battery in the glasses would explode
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | mdoms wrote:
           | If he refused to remove his surveillance equipment, yes.
           | Absolutely.
        
       | beezischillin wrote:
       | Maybe I'm old or have the mentality of an older person, I don't
       | know... but this seems very deeply unappealing to me, even though
       | I have looked at bluetooth-enabled sunglasses before with
       | potential interest. My subjective take-away is that Facebook's
       | hardware release attempts are always tainted by the company's
       | previous behavior (rightfully so) and they just come off as
       | pretty uncool regardless of the marketing angle even when they
       | partner with insert brand name here.
       | 
       | Oculus stands alone in that they offer a product that's good
       | enough to get some people to ignore that and all the potential
       | future Facebook-initiated awfulness that will inevitably come
       | down the pipeline. Even then I'd happily buy a Facebook-less
       | Oculus device, though I understand that the financial realities
       | of VR R&D kinda necessitate having them there.
        
       | literallyaduck wrote:
       | If you don't like them get your local government to pass a law.
       | These are a great opportunity for creeps and perverts and we
       | should ban the devices from the community .
        
       | idworks1 wrote:
       | I was thinking about this recently when I took an Asus laptop
       | apart. You can get a 720p camera and microphone for $5.00 [1]
       | 
       | It weighs nothing, cost nothing. I just have to figure out how to
       | plug it into a raspberry pi for an augmented car experience.
       | (right not using my bulky laptop)
       | 
       | I've trained a small model with my voice to respond to basic
       | commands. No need to go through a Facebook server or any cloud
       | server for that matter. Tech can be a lot of fun when you get
       | your hands dirty and ignore FAANGs.
       | 
       | [1]: https://www.ifixit.com/Store/PC-Laptop/Asus-G75VW-
       | DS73-3D-Ca...
        
       | tyrfing wrote:
       | Interesting to note that Facebook advertises on Axios (see any
       | recent copy of Axios AM) and that fact isn't disclosed despite an
       | editorial policy stating "If a story involves an investor, board
       | member or business partner, we disclose the relationship in the
       | story or on the bottom of the story."
        
       | dafoex wrote:
       | Honestly, it sounds a lot like Google Glass but with none of the
       | actually useful stuff like heads up navigation, AR translation,
       | heads up documentation, etc.
       | 
       | But given how everyone seems to have forgotten about privacy and
       | invited always on microphones into their homes, maybe this won't
       | hit the same brick wall Google did in 2012?
        
         | standardUser wrote:
         | Video recording is already ubiquitous since everyone carries a
         | camera. Glasses just make it slightly less obvious.
        
           | Duralias wrote:
           | Or everyone more aware that anyone with these glasses could
           | be recording you at any time.
           | 
           | I can already tell that this will be popular with creeps.
        
             | SyzygistSix wrote:
             | Destigmatizing creeps by turning everyone into one seems to
             | be Zuckerberg's overall goal.
        
       | banana_giraffe wrote:
       | Two cameras, separated by a good distance, and no mention of any
       | stereo image capability.
       | 
       | I'm actually surprised. Just looking at the glasses, I'd expect
       | some sort of "make 3d cameras popular" attempt to help create 3d
       | content.
        
         | asadlionpk wrote:
         | There is a 3d feature, inside the app. I am guessing it exports
         | as 3d post on fb (already a feature that uses iPhone's portrait
         | photo to get depth data)
        
       | ortusdux wrote:
       | _A white LED light on the front indicates that a picture or
       | recording is in progress._
       | 
       | I am generally weary of government regulation, but, depending on
       | the implementation, I might be onboard with a law that requires
       | cameras and microphones to have a power indicator. Specifically,
       | the LED should be hard-wired into the main power wire going into
       | the camera/mic, so that it will activate any time those sensors
       | are receiving electricity.
        
         | frozenlettuce wrote:
         | phone cameras in japan must produce a shutter sound
         | https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/4vyko2/shutter_s...
        
         | robofanatic wrote:
         | I shouldn't be hands free, especially for video recording.
         | There should be a button that needs to be pressed all the time
         | and as for taking picture it should have a shutter sound effect
         | without ability to silent it.
        
         | Daniel_sk wrote:
         | You can then just paint over the LED...
        
         | oh_sigh wrote:
         | Ok, but what about blind people? Should they not be allowed to
         | know they are being recorded? There clearly needs to be a
         | "recording" sound that plays while recordings are happening.
        
           | coolspot wrote:
           | Also please don't forget about people with both impaired
           | vision and hearing.
           | 
           | Hence all cameras must make powerful low-frequency vibration
           | when active.
        
             | lozaning wrote:
             | What if I've also lost my sense of touch? I think it should
             | also have to disperse a sulfur agent into the air, just to
             | be safe.
        
         | gregmac wrote:
         | > I might be onboard with a law that requires cameras and
         | microphones to have a power indicator. Specifically, the LED
         | should be hard-wired into the main power wire going into the
         | camera/mic, so that it will activate any time those sensors are
         | receiving electricity.
         | 
         | Such a law should be equally applied to police body cameras.
        
           | gunapologist99 wrote:
           | That would present a severe risk to officers working at night
           | and turn them into a lit-up target.
        
       | NoGravitas wrote:
       | I thought we firmly kicked this idea to the kerb the last time
       | they tried to push it on us.
        
       | cs702 wrote:
       | If you think addiction to social-media via round-the-clock
       | mobile-phone use is a serious problem today, wait until you see
       | what addiction will be like via always-on glasses. A new kind of
       | always-on addictive-social-porn-on-steroids industry is likely to
       | emerge on this technology.
       | 
       | I'm not sure these glasses are a Good Thing(tm) for humanity.
        
         | bserge wrote:
         | My retirement plan is to kill myself, failing that, a piece of
         | land far from everything and everyone where I would do
         | substinence living and a lot of cannabis consumption.
         | 
         | I'd only need around $50k-100k, so it looks doable.
        
       | fassssst wrote:
       | The best part of these is the Bluetooth speakers and Bose Frames
       | do that without the creepy cameras. It's really nice to go
       | running without earbuds.
        
       | neogodless wrote:
       | Sibling dicussion (apnews.com)
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28471302
        
       | fossuser wrote:
       | I take this as work towards the next platform/UX of AR enabled
       | glasses. These look a lot better than previous attempts and embed
       | the hardware pretty well so that's cool to see.
       | 
       | Absent the actual AR part though I don't think there's much here
       | that's an improvement on previous failed attempts (with a big
       | exception for improved hardware integration/design which does
       | matter a lot). I don't personally find the camera/video recording
       | stuff compelling (but I'm also not the target audience) and
       | there's still the negative privacy/social element of it. That's
       | been talked to death so nothing interesting to discuss there imo.
       | 
       | I think Apple's focus on airpods/lidar and waiting on glasses
       | with cameras until they have the actual UX/AR working in hardware
       | probably makes sense, but FB always has a bias to shipping and
       | testing new stuff early.
        
         | nine_k wrote:
         | When you do, say, extreme sports, you can attach your GoPro to
         | your helmet, and produce an almost your-point-of-view
         | reporting. But this is unpractical in less extreme situations.
         | 
         | I can imagine that various video lessons can benefit from a
         | camera positioned right at your eyes; there are several other
         | offers for that on the market. OTOH reporting in a social
         | situations, like a birthday party, can benefit even more,
         | because you don't have to carry the camera around, keep it
         | pointed, etc, you can _participate_ and sometimes make shots,
         | or shoot video.
         | 
         | As an aside: an ideal reporting camera would have a button like
         | "save the shots from 10 seconds ago to now", and "start video
         | recording 10 seconds ago". This hardware likely lacks the
         | battery capacity for such a mode, though.
        
           | darepublic wrote:
           | I would like something like this to try to realtime predict
           | events of one sort or another by taking in video and
           | performing analysis on the phone
        
       | calebm wrote:
       | Facebook wants more eyes.
        
         | type0 wrote:
         | Will these glasses be sold in Five-eyes states or will it also
         | be distribuited to Nine-eyes and Fourteen-Eyes states?
        
       | woodpanel wrote:
       | For a moment: Let's step aside from the glaring immorality of
       | Ray-Ban (aka Luxottica SpA) and Facebook.
       | 
       | And instead ask: Is there a reason to not immediately "defend
       | yourself" against any person who is looking at you with a pair of
       | these? (Physically or not)
        
         | jensensbutton wrote:
         | > Is there a reason to not immediately "defend yourself"
         | against any person who is looking at you with a pair of these?
         | 
         | Yes. You would be guilty of assault and potentially end up in
         | prison. You would not be in the "right" in this scenario.
        
           | snuser wrote:
           | if enforced, wouldn't surprise me of flashmob style groups of
           | protestors got together often and started doing it
        
         | SyzygistSix wrote:
         | I don't have a problem with people wearing these glasses as
         | long as I'm allowed to wear full body armor and carry a
         | disruptor beam.
        
       | d--b wrote:
       | This feels like Holy Motors. Wearing these will inevitably change
       | the way the bearer or the person pointed at will behave. They'll
       | start being actors in their actual lives. Weird blending of life
       | and film...
        
         | SyzygistSix wrote:
         | Thanks for mentioning the film. Never heard of it. Looks like a
         | winner.
        
       | K5EiS wrote:
       | Reminds me of the Snapchat Spectacles, but i guess getting
       | another form factor for glass cameras is hard with the limited
       | space.
        
       | doc_gunthrop wrote:
       | Widespread adoption of these kind of products are a precursor to
       | a big-brother dystopia. Given FB's reputation (and raison
       | d'etre), it's plausible that these devices will become tools for
       | purposes such as crowd-sourced sousveillance.
        
       | binarynate wrote:
       | An interesting review from Katie Notopoulos at Buzzfeed:
       | 
       | https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/faceboo...
        
         | mawise wrote:
         | > The View app requires a Facebook account to log in
        
       | ortusdux wrote:
       | Standups have a strong incentive to keep their routines off
       | youtube, so comedy venues use products like Yonder to secure
       | phones at the door. Imagine needing to relinquish your
       | prescription lenses because they have cameras built into them.
       | 
       | https://www.overyondr.com/howitworks
        
       | api wrote:
       | Facebook wants me to wear a camera. That is a really hard "nope."
        
         | azinman2 wrote:
         | Sounds like you're not the target demo then.
        
       | humaniania wrote:
       | Ray-Ban is Luxottica and they have done a lot of not great stuff:
       | https://www.forbes.com/sites/anaswanson/2014/09/10/meet-the-...
        
         | Tenoke wrote:
         | To be fair at least this is the first time where the pricetag
         | on Luxoticca glasses makes sense.
        
           | VRay wrote:
           | yeah, except that I'm seeing similar devices on AliExpress
           | for $10 to $50
        
         | camillomiller wrote:
         | Yeah this is basically like Exxon partnering with Nestle
        
           | lunatuna wrote:
           | When Clearly Contacts was bought out by Luxottica it was
           | described to me as the Mafia coming in. Clearly Contacts had
           | gotten too big to ignore and it was starting to impact their
           | bottom line. Yes was the only answer, how much was
           | negotiable.
           | 
           | Rayban integrating with Facebook looks like the Mafia and
           | Triads joining forces.
        
         | VRay wrote:
         | It's pretty wild
         | 
         | People look at me like a madman when I try to explain that you
         | can buy good-quality glasses for $7 online + $6 shipping (or
         | ~$40 with all the coatings and fancy upgrades you could ever
         | want)
         | 
         | I just buy a sack of glasses every couple of years and then
         | treat them with absolutely no respect whatsoever. My toddler
         | loves to rip the glasses off my face and chew on them or use
         | them as a club to beat on random objects around the house..
         | This is not a problem for me. I popped the lenses out of a $7
         | pair of glasses and strapped them into my VR headset. When I
         | find an old scuffed-up pair of glasses, I just throw them in
         | the trash.
         | 
         | I wonder how many other parts of our society are a blatant scam
         | without me knowing about it.. I know that the way people study
         | English in Japan and Korea is a giant scam where they basically
         | learn nothing, but I could only recognize that thanks to my
         | outside perspective
        
           | trashcan wrote:
           | Where?
        
             | AvesMerit wrote:
             | I feel like a shill by saying this, but I get mine at
             | zennioptical.com
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | vmoore wrote:
       | Queue the Ray-Ban smartglasses spam links in my Facebook feed.
        
         | jldl805 wrote:
         | You have ads in your facebook feed? Weird, I'd assume someone
         | who posts on HN and has an opinion on this would also know how
         | to shut that down.
        
           | haliskerbas wrote:
           | I presume what the parent poster is referring to isn't ads
           | but spam images posted by people whose accounts have been
           | compromised. They promise huge discounts on ray ban sun
           | glasses. I still haven't gotten my pair of $20 wayfarers!
        
       | annadane wrote:
       | Putting aside the whole "Facebook has something to do with this
       | so I will dismiss it out of hand because blah blah blah evil
       | company" I don't really see the point in smart glasses, though
       | yeah I'm sure it has some uses
        
       | awkward wrote:
       | Google glass had this air of inevitability about it. The glasses
       | were hyped to be the the next iphone. Not only that, but tech was
       | going to create iphone-level product categories every 3-6 years.
       | 
       | Then it completely fell flat. It just didn't cross the divide
       | from enthusiasts to the wider culture at all. The term glasshole
       | was invented. We all saw scoble in the shower.
       | 
       | It might be that the culture's moved enough over the last decade
       | that smart glasses will be a thing, as more people see social
       | media success as aspirational. AR and VR give a value prop that
       | wasn't there. Still, it seems like there's a big gap between the
       | enthusiast market and the mainstream, and this release doesn't do
       | much for that.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | llbeansandrice wrote:
       | I don't understand why companies keep making these glasses with
       | cameras on them. That's the main issue and concern that people
       | have with these devices.
       | 
       | Something like a HUD would be great but people don't want cameras
       | pointing at them all the time.
        
         | sneak wrote:
         | People in public spaces in the USA have cameras pointed at them
         | all the time and they don't seem to care.
         | 
         | Even local bars and restaurants that don't even handle that
         | much cash have tons of surveillance cameras up everywhere.
        
           | 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
           | If I'm in a store and the store has a camera that I know will
           | probably never be looked at, it's different from me being in
           | a store with a camera that will be fed into some facial
           | recognition system sold to advertisers that decides to charge
           | me more for airline tickets a year later, which is also
           | different from sitting across the bar from twenty people with
           | cameraphones pointed at me. It's not a binary 'cares about
           | cameras or doesn't.'
        
             | taylorfinley wrote:
             | You don't think all the cameras in big box stores are
             | networked and monitored by AI? I would be shocked if
             | they're not doing customer tracking. Notice the number of
             | face-level cameras popping up in Wal-Mart, they even have
             | them built in to the front doors at chest height so they
             | can scan every face and then track what you're looking at
             | as you peruse the shelves.
        
               | CamperBob2 wrote:
               | An underrated point. All those security cameras represent
               | an inexhaustible source of monetizable data that is
               | currently going to waste.
               | 
               | Right now there are too many retail security cameras for
               | humans to monitor constantly, and too many shoppers to
               | tag and track even if the data could be retained and
               | processed. But both of these problems are well on their
               | way to being solved.
        
               | 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
               | I certainly didn't mean to imply that they aren't doing
               | it. But I also don't like it, which was my intended
               | statement. Especially so if they're sharing data about me
               | specifically outside of their store, or if they're using
               | it to charge me special prices.
        
           | yur3i__ wrote:
           | Surveillance cameras are entirely different, in the same way
           | as people don't care about giving their data to a company but
           | _do_ care about giving someone else their phone, a persons
           | camera pointing at them is much different to a surveillance
           | camera.
        
             | ryandrake wrote:
             | Reminds me of "Surveillance Camera Man" [1] from several
             | years ago. His YouTube channel seems to have been scrubbed
             | of videos, but basically the guy just stood out in public
             | recording people, just like thousands of surveillance
             | cameras currently do, with lots of subjects objecting,
             | berating him, becoming scared, upset, even violent. Point
             | being, it's no different than all the surveillance that is
             | already done, except people freak out when there's an
             | actual human visibly holding the camera.
             | 
             | 1: https://blogs.harvard.edu/internetmonitor/2013/07/10/sur
             | veil...
        
         | snuser wrote:
         | I've seen it a many times it's dumb stuff they have the money
         | and talent to waste and a fear of being left behind.
         | 
         | the leaders of these companies are also fairly uncreative
         | leading them to blindly follow the current meme of "the future"
         | which ironically leads to them faltering anyway
        
         | habeebtc wrote:
         | Indeed. These will be just an evolution of the previous glasses
         | cameras which have been around for ages.
         | 
         | Higher quality, and now with data collection.
         | 
         | All I really want is a nice HUD which pairs with my phone via
         | bluetooth to show content, and a low-effort way of navigating.
         | No camera needed.
        
         | de_keyboard wrote:
         | The companies pushing them want to normalize having our every
         | moment captured, logged and analyzed - on their platform.
        
         | IshKebab wrote:
         | Because people love taking photos, and this is pretty much the
         | only kind of smart glasses that are technically possible at the
         | moment.
         | 
         | Yes I have used Glass. They sucked.
        
         | DenverCode wrote:
         | I would hate sitting across someone with them.
        
         | humblepie wrote:
         | They want young people walking around as face recognnition
         | agents (eventually). Roaming as swarms that gather and submit
         | data to the mothership.
        
         | luckylion wrote:
         | Have you seen the average teenage girl lately? They point
         | cameras at themselves and others all the time, this would free
         | their hands.
         | 
         | I don't know whether it will be a success, but I don't think
         | the crowd that doesn't want a camera pointed at them is a
         | majority. For the record, I don't want a camera pointed at me.
        
           | wheelinsupial wrote:
           | Is this a generational thing? I've started using Instagram
           | lately and I just can't understand how people who are
           | doctors, lawyers, or dentists are posting content providing
           | professional advice or tips and tricks one day and the next
           | day it's videos of them doing yoga in thongs to sell
           | underwear. There is the odd account where developers are
           | posting similar content. Even elementary school teachers are
           | twerking in videos in their classroom for likes.
           | 
           | If the upcoming generation of developers and tech
           | professionals no longer believe in a separation of personal
           | and professional boundaries, will we see a complete
           | elimination of boundaries and privacy? Is the end goal to
           | have the ability to directly tap into what others are seeing
           | on demand in their most intimate interactions. Something
           | similar to the TV adaption of Brave New World? (I haven't
           | read the book, so I don't know if this is true to the
           | original.) As far as I know, Facebook photos and accounts are
           | private, or that's what it appears people tend to send the
           | accounts to, but Instagram is all about leaving an account
           | open, so they can get influencer collaboration bucks.
        
           | wtetzner wrote:
           | I don't know if it would help them much. They want the camera
           | pointed at themselves. I guess they could use them while
           | looking in the mirror.
        
         | helen___keller wrote:
         | > Something like a HUD would be great but people don't want
         | cameras pointing at them all the time.
         | 
         | I really wanted this maybe 5-10 years ago, but personally I've
         | reached a point in my life where I feel "less is more"
         | regarding tech. Enough things want to send me notifications
         | that I know it would be as worthless as my email feed, or my
         | phone notifications feed, or my facebook feed, or any of the
         | other feeds out there that have become sources of noise.
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | Notifications are not the important case for the HUD.
           | 
           | Other things are. Maps which track your location and show you
           | the way overlaid on the streets and roads you see. Books and
           | manuals which you don't need to hold in your hands. Video
           | instructions that track your hands and correct their
           | position. Finding stuff in a warehouse or in your closet by
           | pointing at it right in your FOV. Heart rate monitor, etc
           | right before your eyes when you are performing your hardest
           | and can't lift your smartwatch to your eyes.
           | 
           | Many good uses with broad markets. Sadly, it's technically
           | too difficult, so it's too expensive for non-professional
           | use.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | silisili wrote:
         | Yup. I don't get the argument 'well every store already records
         | you.' Well, that's different, I'm in their store. If I let
         | people into my home, or go to the urinal, I have an expectation
         | of privacy unless the guy next to me is pointing his phone down
         | or camera down awkwardly. With glasses, I don't know who is
         | recording what or when.
         | 
         | This isn't a 'i dont want people to watch me pee' argument,
         | that was just an example. I don't want to be recorded when I
         | have an expectation of privacy - full stop.
        
         | rudasn wrote:
         | I can think of many professionals who would likely pay good
         | money to have smart glasses.
         | 
         | - Mechanics who can see under the car and identify components
         | and potential issues with those components. - Logistics
         | handlers who can look at a package and know where it goes next,
         | or people who scan QR and barcode codes all day - Construction
         | workers who can measure distances, see wind speed, temperature,
         | etc
         | 
         | In other words, there is good use for this tech while avoiding
         | all together any privacy concerns, as you are looking and
         | analysing objects, not people.
        
           | asdff wrote:
           | In practice can this tech even do that? according the article
           | this is just a 5mp camera on a set of frames meant for taking
           | pictures and stories. To do some of the stuff you mentioned
           | (like measuring distance) you'd need lidar, since
           | construction workers currently are starting to use lidar and
           | this is the new standard. What something like the iphone can
           | do today in terms of measuring is not that accurate in my
           | experience, certainly no good for commercial construction
           | where lasers have been a thing for decades. Smart helmet
           | seems like a better bet since you can shove a ton of sensors
           | in there and have the lidar spinning on top of your head.
        
         | throwaway2016a wrote:
         | With Google Glass the HUD was not as useful as it seemed it
         | would be. I think smart watches are a much better idea. More
         | pixels and nothing on your face all day.
         | 
         | Though, with that said, some people I know tried it on and the
         | HUD was easier to use. A lot depended, I think, on the shape of
         | your face. The way my nose and eye sockets and ears are I had
         | to look up with my eyes at an uncomfortable angle to see the
         | full HUD.
         | 
         | Maybe they fixed it since V1.
        
           | warning26 wrote:
           | The biggest problem with Google Glass's HUD, IMO, was the
           | lack of true augmented reality features like object tracking
           | and recognition.
           | 
           | Without that, it really ended up just being a tiny smartwatch
           | screen that is in the corner of your vision instead of on
           | your wrist.
        
           | jackson1442 wrote:
           | I think if it's "actual" glasses, unlike the Google Glass, an
           | HUD could be incredibly useful since you have the entire
           | vision field to play with. Bonus points for that since many
           | people wear normal glasses anyways (me included).
        
       | crorella wrote:
       | > "Weighing just a teaspoon of salt more" why not just say the
       | glasses are 5 grams more?
       | 
       | I like that there is a light signaling the glasses are capturing
       | photo/video, although it might not be noticeable in some cases,
       | just like other devices
       | 
       | Cool to see the pictures/videos don't go directly to FB.
        
         | akomtu wrote:
         | I'm sure the FB's plan is to see everything you see, analyse
         | faces and places and build a better personal profile of its
         | users. These glasses will be connected to network and linked to
         | your real identity, or there's nothing in it for FB.
        
         | cwkoss wrote:
         | Don't go directly to FB... yet.
         | 
         | FB always launches things in a better state then errodes
         | privacy and user value to tilt towards more data collection.
        
           | Darmody wrote:
           | That's the thing with Facebook. They want it all and if they
           | can't get it now they will try again the next day until you
           | give up.
        
         | httpsterio wrote:
         | I was just thinking that if these are going to be used by
         | perverts, its going to be trivia to paint over the light with
         | something like nail polish. At least a proper audio cue like
         | the camera snap noise which has been forced on at least in
         | Japan, would be a bit better.
        
           | httpsterio wrote:
           | Clarification, its not in the Japanese law but all phone
           | manufacteurs have agree upon it together.
        
             | sneak wrote:
             | What stops one from defecting and building one without?
        
               | IfOnlyYouKnew wrote:
               | Decency.
               | 
               | ...and the certainty that a law will then be passed
               | within a year. Also you're no longer getting government
               | contracts.
        
         | thesausageking wrote:
         | > Cool to see the pictures/videos don't go directly to FB.
         | 
         | Yet. They also said you'd never need a FB account to use
         | Oculus. Or that Whatsapp data would be kept separate.
        
       | 0des wrote:
       | Absolutely not.
        
       | blocked_again wrote:
       | Over the years I have become very mindful of what tech I choose
       | to adopt. Which means I first encounter a problem and then try to
       | find a solution for it using tech. I can't think of any
       | worthwhile problem that this smart glass will solve. So I am
       | going to pass on it.
        
       | throwaway2016a wrote:
       | I had a pair of Google Glasses when they first came out in beta.
       | Looking at the HUD was a bit of a strain but these look like they
       | don't even have a HUD.
       | 
       | Plus the privacy concerns and the "glasshole" nickname.
       | 
       | I see that there is an activity indicator LED (just like there
       | was with Google Glass) but even the article admits there will
       | likely be nonconsensual candid photo taking.
       | 
       | Which raises the question: Did things really change that much
       | about how people perceive privacy since 2013 that now no one
       | cares?
       | 
       | I'm happy with with smart watches at this point. I'm not
       | convinced smart devises were meant to be attached to our head.
        
       | durnygbur wrote:
       | The glasses of the future with camera(s) and needing frequent
       | recharging... yay!
        
       | darod wrote:
       | I"m curious as to how these will be received at U.S. ports of
       | entry considering U.S. Customs and Border Protection's policy and
       | practice of prohibiting the use of cameras and video recorders.
       | Will they take people's prescription glasses away?
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | lunatuna wrote:
       | A bit childish, but this seems like it was built with PoV porn as
       | the primary use case. Saves a hand. Likely good for creeps too.
       | 
       | I can't figure out who else would be using it. Good way to lose
       | friends and make enemies. I wouldn't be hanging out with anyone
       | with them on. Would stay away from any strangers with them on.
        
         | Johnny555 wrote:
         | POV porn seems like a pretty niche market for a mainstream
         | company to target when they couldn't even host most of the
         | content produced from this use.
         | 
         | And why buy a $299 device when you could just buy a $5 headband
         | mount for a phone or GoPro?
        
         | standardUser wrote:
         | "I wouldn't be hanging out with anyone with them on. Would stay
         | away from any strangers with them on."
         | 
         | I imagine a lot of people will choose to only cavort with
         | people who have hidden audio recording devices, as opposed to
         | visible video recording devices. At least until we all get used
         | to this in 2-4 years.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | the-dude wrote:
       | Apple will release the Apple Glasses when the time is right.
       | Since Apple hasn't released the Apple Glasses, it is obvious the
       | time is not yet right.
        
         | xen2xen1 wrote:
         | That doesn't really seem to fly, as smartphones existed before
         | the IPhone, but they were not done with the "no stylus" idea,
         | thus not done correctly. When Apple does their best, they make
         | the market by just doing it better, and everyone follows.
        
           | the-dude wrote:
           | That's what I said.
        
           | darkwater wrote:
           | You are basically saying the same as GP
        
       | snuser wrote:
       | We really need laws banning devices like this before they become
       | common place, Illinois at least has some laws regarding facial
       | recognition it's probably a good starting point
        
       | fudged71 wrote:
       | I don't understand why these aren't programmed with rolling
       | buffers like dashcams. Often I want to capture something that
       | already happened, not something that is about to happen.
        
         | asadlionpk wrote:
         | exactly! I wish this had that feature.
        
         | polartx wrote:
         | Dash cams are wired to a car battery and often only record when
         | the engine is running. If these glasses were constantly
         | recording, the battery would last less than 60 minutes
        
       | arnaudsm wrote:
       | The reveal trailer is so dishonest, it shows environment-mapping
       | AR features, while the glasses don't even have a display. Please
       | calm down the creative department.
        
       | jamespullar wrote:
       | Posted earlier in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28471302
        
       | xnx wrote:
       | I'm probably in the minority, but I would like a record of
       | everything I see and hear for my entire life. If every other
       | private company gets to monitor me, why don't I? That said,
       | Facebook is probably the very last company I would want to buy
       | that kind of a device from.
        
         | 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote:
         | The objectionable part isn't you monitoring you, it's you
         | monitoring everyone around you.
        
           | xnx wrote:
           | For sure this is a socially unusual thing to do now, but the
           | same was thought about having Gmail "read" your email, or
           | having an always-on Amazon microphone inside your home. I
           | expect attitudes will be different about personal recording
           | in 10 years.
        
             | [deleted]
        
         | fnord77 wrote:
         | me too. every day when I go out for lunch I witness at least
         | one crime, sometimes multiple crimes. At least one involving a
         | gun per week.
         | 
         | Nobody believes me how bad the crime has gotten here. I'd like
         | to document it.
        
           | Duralias wrote:
           | Wouldn't that make you a target for any criminal who has
           | heard of these glasses?
        
           | reactspa wrote:
           | Sorry to hear about this bad situation.
           | 
           | A great benefit from having cameras everywhere (e.g. Ring),
           | is the crime evidence aspect.
           | 
           | May we ask what general area you live in?
        
           | camillomiller wrote:
           | You don't need smart glasses, you need drastic gun control
           | laws.
        
             | fnord77 wrote:
             | SF already has the strictest in the nation!
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | sneak wrote:
       | Great, more ways for parts of my life to get uploaded to Facebook
       | against my will and without my consent.
       | 
       | I hope wearers of these get the same stigma that the Google
       | Glassholes did.
        
         | commandlinefan wrote:
         | Creepshot types will be a big market for these.
        
           | SyzygistSix wrote:
           | Facebook has been helping to make being a creep seem normal
           | and acceptable for a long time.
        
           | sneak wrote:
           | There are already countless easily concealed $20 cameras
           | available for that, including ones in pens and, yes,
           | sunglasses.
           | 
           | This isn't enabling any new functionality there.
           | 
           | The danger from these is the internet-connectedness, and
           | Facebook.
        
       | dclaw wrote:
       | Death to facebook. No one really wants crap like this, and
       | facebook needs to die like myspace.
        
         | type0 wrote:
         | FB as a company is already dead in their heart and soul, the
         | world would be so much better without them.
        
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