Google Glass is essentially magic, and innovation is a good thing. Advances in science and technology move humans forward, for the most part. Even the most innocuous invention can have a huge impact, if not immediately, then perhaps somewhere down the line.
But that doesn't mean everyone has to like it. A restaurant in Seattle has caused a bit of furor by banning them before they're even available on the mass-market.
David Meinart, owner Lost Lake Cafe in Seattle, has instructed his staff to ask users to take their glasses off whilst they're inside, or be asked to kindly jog on. He's cited potential privacy violations, that sort of thing, as his reason. Put yourself in his shoes, imagine you have a celebrity in your restaurant - let's say, for instance, Robert Pattinson, that dude from Twilight. He's there, and he's buying a bunch of food for him and his entourage. But every other customer is a hardcore Twilighter, and they're all staring at him like enthralled mannequins, muttering instructions to their glasses to post pics of him to Instagram and Twitter. That's not good. He's gonna run, and run far, and never come back.
I also wouldn't want to be taking an order from someone wearing a pair in case they were snapping images of me. Same way I wouldn't be able to hold a decent conversation with someone shoving an SLR in my face.
Regardless, some users - those lucky early-adopters with a pair of their own - aren't too happy about it. For some unknowable reason, they're unwilling to put their new toy down for half an hour whilst they eat, even when asked perfectly reasonably
One such customer demanded to see a written policy that said he wasn't allowed to wear his new toy in the establishment and generally had a bit of a whinge - going as far as to suggest the waitress who asked him to take off the Google Glass be fired. Which is the pinnacle of dick moves, if you ask me.
When camera phones proliferated, I remember standing behind some kid
in McDonalds. He was maybe twelve or thirteen years old. He, in turn,
was stood behind a couple of older college-age girls. It was the height
of summer and everyone dressed accordingly. The kid thought he was being
sneaky; he whipped out his flip-phone with the .2 megapixel camera and
attempted a very cheeky and most-likely illegal 'up skirt' shot. I like
to think he was very proud of himself, right up to the point his phone
made the classic 'Kik-chirk' noise of a photo being taken.
The girls turned around with scowling faces, the kid snapped his phone shut and bolted for the door without his Happy Meal.
Now, imagine having that sort of technology
innocuously strapped to your face in the form of a Google Glass headset.
Sure, up-skirt shots might be a bit trickier, but to take a photo of
some studly cashier's bulging workpants is no more than a whispered
'Glass, Take Photo' instruction away.
Google Glass is supposedly going into mass production next year, at which point they'll be available to anyone willing to stump up the cash. So what would you do? Would you have any objection to taking off your $1500 headset if politely asked?
Words by CHRIS WELSH
