By Alexandria Jezina
Columnist
As I was looking online at fashion shows for spring 2013, a certain accessory caught my eye from the Diane Von Furstenberg Show. Not a new pair of cute pumps, but goggles…Google Goggles. For those of you scratching your head at the moment over what in the world Google Goggles are let me specify. Google Goggles are the new product from Google that lets the user take pictures, take video, and use navigational maps with a pair of glasses.
The product appears to be straight out of a sci-fi novel or movie. It’s designed as mock glasses combined with a headband and a square camera on the right-hand side of the user’s head. The finished product of Google Goggles also will aim to do activities such as translate signs in different languages, translate spoken languages, and enable hand-free gaming and facial recognition of friends. When I first found out about the product and its expected multiple features, I thought it was fantastic in every way. After review though, I wondered if these Goggles are going too far.
Like most new technology, with it pros it brings cons, and its cons usually include an increasing lack of privacy. What if you’re talking to someone and they decide to Google your name or use facial recognition to find out more about you as you’re having a conversation with them? User must be at ease with that reality, because that is definitely a possibility with these Google Goggles. As in most technology, with these glasses we’ll be trading off privacy for ease of access.
Currently the Goggles are in their prototype stage and are expected to be on the market in 2014. For those who can’t wait until 2014 the prototypes are on sale for $1,500. Creators at Google are also giving current updates on the product online on Google Plus under Project Glass. They have been working on the product since announced in 2010. So far the product has a long way to go until its grand unraveling in 2014. Videos taken by models at the Diane Von Furstenberg Fashion Show wearing the Goggles were extremely shaky and not ideal for such an expensive product. Creators at Google are going to have to step up and figure out a way to stabilize pictures and videos for those who are walking and using the Goggles simultaneously.
Though the Google Goggles are currently nowhere close to perfect, tech experts are predicting that these specs will be a big hit. As social media and technology brings our world closer together, it also makes our world smaller and less private. As information becomes more accessible to the masses, information about your personal private life does as well. The question of privacy issues is becoming a question of how rapidly privacy is slipping through our fingers.