One of the most common criticisms about Klout is that they do not incorporate one's real life influence into one's score; Klout is currently only a measure of one's social media influence. Due to this, some extremely influential people who are not very active on social media have a very low Klout score. While some of these people are so influential and known that they do not care, others find it insulting and are therefore dismissive of the new platform. While Klout is an awesome, innovative idea - creating social influence scores for individuals and not just press organizations and/or companies - they could easily generate both metrics.
Take Sergey Brin for example. Klout shows that he only has a 47 Klout while I currently have a score of 65. One of the additional reasons for this is that +Sergey Brin not only probably didn't create this Klout page (since Klout now automatically generates Klout pages for every Twitter profile), but because it is only linked to his Twitter profile (though I just noticed this link is broken and that he doesn't even have a verified Twitter account). For the most accurate Klout metrics and the highest score one must link up all their social media accounts.
Klout should have three separate scores - social, life and an aggregate of them both. To accomplish this Klout could extract one's education and work experience from LinkedIn, determine the Klout score of the company/university, multiplied by two variables - position and time. For example, continuing with Sergey Brin (though he doesn't have a LinkedIn profile either), we all know that he is one of the founders of Google, Google has a Klout score of 97. Therefore, 97 would be multiplied by one of the highest variables due to his founding position, multiplied by 16 years, To tally his educational life influence score, one would include his education at University of Maryland, which Klout indicates has an 89 Klout score times four years and some points for his bachelors degree in science, plus his brief graduate study at Stanford in computer science. Stanford has a Klout score of 96, times the few months there. All of this would then come up with some tally in between 97-89 for his life experience. This would at least be a start to problem solving the lack of life clout in Klout's metrics.
It is exciting times in the wearable smartglass area. This week we've had +Samsung USA announce that they will be coming out this September with their +Google Glass competitor, Galaxy Glass, and +Google Glass just released their new stylish and prescription framed models. According to +Heather Kelly at +CNN, Google is now offering four light weight titanium framed models for $225 each and three new active wear twist-on lenses for $150 each. The ability to customize and twist on different lenses, or even unscrew and change the frame will make them considerably more versatile, stylish and natural. Awesome move. I am looking forward to the coming customizable, wearable, high-tech fashion, +MAKE generation. Still no news however on when Google will be releasing the 3rd generation Google Glasses to the masses at a much lower price.
One of the things that I would definitely modify if I were one of the +Google Glass product managers is the prompt screen. Google should not only include the date in the 3rd Generation model, but something much more rich in data like the homescreen/notifications windows of our smartphones. I would add a small battery icon and the city/GPS location in the bottom corners, and messages, social media notifications and +Google Now Alerts all along the top of the screen. An automatic scrolling through these pages, notifications and apps until selecting might also be nice. When screen projection capabilities develop so that we can increase the screen size and even project it on walls, the data enrichment of the homescreen will become even more relevant.
The new Google "gaze tracking system" will speed-up functionality and completely change the whole UI/UX, though I'll be curious to see if Google actually incorporates it in the next generation model. It will be super cool when we can just focus for a few seconds on whatever we would like to open or further read/learn/interact with, though I am not sure if the technology is there yet, or for that matter, if people are really ready for it. This technology will open up a whole new box of intimacy and openness with our smartdevices, and further erode previous conceptions of the word privacy. When Samsung released the +Samsung Galaxy S IV with it's new eye detection technology, it was a big bang in the press, though I haven't heard much about it since. From the feedback I received it seemed to act erratically and be hard to maneuver/control. However, Glass Explorer +Brandyn White describes in his blog a current Glass hack enabling pupil detection for gaming.
Additionally, from the 3rd Generation +Google Glass prompt screen we should be able to voice command it into any of those icons/apps/notifications. When we initially respond to it by saying "ok glass," the time, (date), and "ok glass" prompt should disappear and it should then open up into a further detailed/rich smartglass home/notification screen. All of the screens from the prompt all the way back to and including the "settings" should be voice command accessible in and/or visible from this homescreen.
As the movie +Her Movie Official Channel indicates, we are at the point of interacting with personal smart-devices so much that we would like not only to personify them, but might even fall in love. Customization and open platforms will be key characteristics to the success of wearables and future products. I look forward to the day when we can not only change the glass prompt or name from "ok glass" to "ok Scarlet" for example, but change our device name at any time in the My Glass application. Additionally, we should be able to reprogram the voice command operating system with key words to perform all the basic Glass functions - picture, video, send, and share. One example of how this would really come in handy is if we were at a birthday party and programmed it to take a picture every time you or someone else said "happy birthday." This would create an awesome birthday album and one could even make a fun game out of it if you could modify the microphone settings to background and/or local sound.
In the future, not only will all our smart-enabled wearable devices and fashionables be connected, but they will be connected to all of our smarthome and smartcity IoT devices. Being able to touch your smartwatch, smartring, smartnecklace etc. to get your glass into prompt mode and/or perform basic commands will be one of the next big wearable trends. +Katia Canepa Vega, Founder of Beauty Technology, is one of the young entrepreneurs thinking of innovative ways to use sensors and technology in a fashionable way. This type of technology along with 3D printers connected to our smartdevices will make life very interesting and get us even closer to the future of instantaneous manifestation, to which we are heading. The currently seen "erosion of privacy" is part of the fundamental process in our evolution as conscious beings to this next stage of existence so that we do not per say manifest "The Marshmallow Man." The smartglass and wearable era will continue to transform the debate of privacy, data and the share movement, and even redefine what it means to be human.
The Marshmallow Man - Ghostbusters
In the 3rd Generation +Google Glass I would also like to see the following apps: +Foursquare+Instagram+LinkedIn Facebook Messenger (at least), +Pinterest and Tumblr (at least sharing at first ). Additionally, while the +YouTube app makes posting videos to your page really easy, currently we can only play videos while we should also be able to share and send them as well. I will review the current Glass apps in more detail in my next post.
The 3rd and 4th Generation Google Glasses should be all about geo-locational augmented reality information, apps, and networks. Some new social networks such as Circle and Highlight, and the more established networks like +Foursquare and Twitter will bring interesting locational awareness that we have previously never experienced. Being able to receive notifications about who is around us in our networks and extended networks, and see their face, name, location, and distance will completely change the way we interact and behave. When engaging with the locational people notifications, we should be taken to a feed of their most recent activity on all their main social media accounts. For example, one could easily hack a program to scour all the social media accounts that someone has linked to their Klout, About.me or Google+ pages to draw up a feed of their most recent activity. I would also like to know when a lot of my friends are checking into any local place, be notified if many tweets are going out locally with a common hash/theme/place/etc.
Another simple thing that I might change on the "ok glass" screen is just indicating prompt mode with lights and color rather than words. For some reason this just seems much more high-tech and by switching between various different color modes you could place it in different command prompts. Additionally, in the ever expanding interconnected global economy, a product that can be easily operable across-borders, with a simple universally understood UI and UX will be essential to mass market success and adoption.
Currently the audio notifications are extremely limited on +Google Glass. I cannot tell the difference between receiving a text, news notification or social media notification. We should likewise be able to customize the sound alert notifications within the My Glass app. Furthermore, when receiving a notification and hearing the chime, you can voice prompt the glass by saying "ok glass." However, when doing so we are only presented with two options: read aloud and reply. While the glass is in read mode you can usually interrupt it by saying "ok glass" again, but the voice detection seems to time out after ten seconds or so. If having Glass read a long news article or something, then one must tap to wake back up into prompt mode to stop it or place another command. Additionally, when Glass is reading something and you stop it in the middle by saying "ok glass," you are only presented with the one and only option again - "read aloud." I do not know why the Google engineers did not program the basic commands of "ok glass, stop" and "ok glass, go back" into the first generation model.
While I have since figured that Glass automatically capitalizes after punctuation ending a sentence, I have not figured out how to capitalize at the beginning of a text message. Additionally, recently when trying to share a pic on Twitter, I was unable to make Glass spell out 702; it kept turning it into 70 2 or 700 2. I'm not sure exactly why for voice recognition of numbers usually works very well. I tried probably about 10x.
I don't know how long it takes to get approved but you can now sign up to be a part of the Google Glass Explorer program on the website.
Stay tuned for more news and info about my #throughglass experience.
First off, all I want to say is love, love, love. Must try. Must get. And must use. +Google Glass is incredible, and no, I am not being paid to say this or employed by Google. Aside from the lack of certain apps that I use on a daily basis like +Foursquare and +LinkedIn, I can do almost everything that I can do with my +Samsung Galaxy S III on Glass - call, text, surf the web, take pictures and videos, read and receive news notifications, Twitter notifications, and share media via text or with Facebook, Twitter and +Google+. I am also looking forward to the day when I can message on Facebook with Glass.
Taken with Google Glass
So it has now been about a week since I first received +Google Glass and originally blogged about my post 24hr experience. Since then, most of the problems or frustrations I was experiencing have either been resolved or I've discovered that my initial perspective was wrong. Most importantly, I've discovered how to go back, extend videos past 10 seconds, and add emoticons and punctuation at the end of a sentence. I still haven't figured out how to capitalize though. Additionally, now when I receive text messages or notifications usually they automatically pop up. However, this still doesn't happen 100% of the time and I'm not sure exactly why.
When initially receiving Glass, I had set up all of the special features except for screen lock - "head wake up," "on-head detection" and "wink for picture." Since then, I have turned off the first two - "head wake up" and "on-head detection" - for both features didn't work properly and/or caused other problems. The "head wake up" only occasionally worked, and the "on head detection" caused a problem with Glass leaving it unresponsive at times and unable to wake up without taking it off and putting it back on again. In the process of problem solving these issues, I discovered that +Google Glass has the most amazing customer support. You can reach someone almost immediately 5am-9pm and receive excellent service. I haven't really had a need to use the screen lock yet, but will test it out soon.
The "wink for picture" feature is one of the most interesting, for I still haven't really discovered how it works. Usually when it is on and I wink it will respond and react properly and take a picture, though sometimes it just randomly does so as well. Additionally, sometimes when the Glass is sleeping it will wake up and take a picture. However, when I've tried to Q/A this and blink again while apparently in sleep mode, sometimes it will take a picture and sometimes it will not. Today, while I was over at a friends house I had placed the Glass on the coffee table and when I put it back on and went through my history I found a picture of us sitting on the couch. Not sure how that happened since no one was near it at the time to have prompted it to do so.
Taken by Glass
Another feature that I haven't fully figured out is the screen saver mode vs. full light display. Sometimes it is in battery save mode and sometimes the display is fully lit up. I haven't yet figured out whether this is something that can be manually adjusted or whether it is just based on the battery life. I do not think it is the latter though because sometimes when it initially comes on it will be in full light display then a few seconds later it will revert back to dim mode.
Though I figured out how to go back, this design is clearly still in beta. The way one is supposed to go back on +Google Glass is by swiping down. However, the down swipe back function is extremely finicky and there is no protrusion or tactile indication of where you are supposed to do so. Not sure why the Google engineers chose that mechanism vs. a button per say. Usually, on average, it takes about 2-3 tries before I actually get it right. This clearly leads to some problems and frustrations for if you are trying to cancel an action like sending or sharing and you do not touch it just right, out goes the media/message.
Since last week I have now accidentally shared two pictures with the wrong people via Google Hangouts. The most recent of which just happened when I was trying to share the picture that Glass took of my friend and I while it was sitting on the coffee table. I accidentally ended up sending it to someone with the same first name and even though I realized this just as I had apparently clicked, I was unable to cancel/void.
The voice recognition on +Google Glass and my +Samsung Galaxy S III is pretty excellent and accurate about 90% of the time. The most problems arise with weird nouns that it does not recognize. However, it is near impossible to use in a noisy restaurant or any loud area. While I was out at dinner this weekend I tried at least 5 times to add a short caption to a picture of my dinner. I ended up just sending it out with no caption. Additionally, using voice recognition vs. type texting requires a slightly different process of thinking and takes getting used to if it's not a feature you commonly use on your phone or with other electronics. Messaging via voice recognition is more of a stream of conscious and live conversation while the act of producing an edited and fully punctuated message is more in line with publishing. The ability to immediately receive text messages and immediately respond via voice recognition though make it worth getting used to and using.
One app that I recently added to My Glass is +Evernote though I haven't seen it show up in Glass yet. I must not have completed the set-up process. I also still haven't added my +IFTTT account and look forward to playing with that on Glass as well. I recently added the Strava Run app, but additionally have yet to complete the set-up and use it.
I have the second generation Glass with the ear piece and removable lens. At first, I really did not like the ear piece and found it very hard to position in my ear. I have since figured out how to use the yarn to position it in place and find it much more comfy, though at times it still feels a bit big and causes discomfort. While the battery life of Glass can be improved, at least it can be fully charged in less than an hour. I look forward to the day when I can accessorize and bling out Glass with different shaped and colored lenses. This will enable them to not just be extremely functional but also fashionable. The interchangeable lenses design is amazing and yet so simple.
The +Google Glass Revolution and wearable generation are here to stay and once they hit the mass market this year and next, they will take over just as smartphones did. I have already become so comfortable with Glass that I've forgotten to bring my cell when running quick errands around town, forgetting that it is rendered useless except for taking pics and videos without my cell.
Here are a few awesome pictures I've captured of people's reactions to just discovering Google Glass for the first time:
