Google Glass - life changing? yes, but for better or worse?

Google Glass - life changing?  yes, but for better or worse?

On a limited basis Google has begun to roll out its latest, and perhaps more innovative product yet, Google Glass.  While I haven't had the opportunity to try the stylish (umm) glasses out yet, those that have are quite vocal about their experience.  Firstly, one may ask "what does Google Glass do?"  well, the answer is just about everything, from taking pictures, providing directions, answering random questions (think Siri), stream live video, allow hands free use of voice/text to maybe the most important, allow easy access to social media.  Is there a demand for such a product?  Well, a quick scan of any crowd these days confirms people spend as much time starting at their smart phones as they do not staring at them.  Google Glass allows people to do both -- go about their day, walking, driving, eating etc, all while interacting with their favorite social media site, website or friends.  All sounds remarkable and useful, right?  Ummm maybe.  There is no doubt that easy, hands-free communication and access to realtime data has real world applications like aiding police/file personal respond to an emergency or allowing a surgeon to confer with another specialist around the world in the middle of a surgery.   However, the question of whether we need/want the rest of us streaming realtime audio/video all the time is a little more dicey.  Maybe it's harmless and maybe we are being watched by video cameras all the time anyway, however it seems like such a device will make our already lowered expectation of privacy virtually non-existent. There is also another concern about Google Glass, how does Google monetize it?  If history is any indicator, they will eventually add advertising to it.  Trouble is, we may not know when we are being "advertised to".  Take for example if Google Glass knows its lunchtime and starts pointing out all Wendy's in a 3 block radius -- without asking it to.  Or even worse, Glass allows Google to gather data by capturing our everyday habits -- route to work, favorite drink, best friends, good habits, bad habits -- and smarty uses this data to create highly customized profiles to be sold to advertisers.  Whatever the case, the roll-out, adaption and eventual opportunities for advertisers will be interesting to watch (for me sans Google Glass for now). 

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