Before this trial ends, I wanted to evaluate the Glass device for my main project Mindlogr. I’ve been working on this life logging platform for a while and the use of video on Glass intrigued me about its potential applications for Mindlogr.
I had many concerns before the launch, from other developers jumping the gun and developing a competing product to Mindlogr, to how it might change the way people relate to logging, but all my concerns have been put to rest since my own testing of the device.
Mindlogr is a video logging platform that allows people to record their own private thoughts into log books and keep them for all time. The system is geared towards total privacy because we believe that there are still many uses of video online where people would prefer it to be completely private.
Examples of these can be see here: https://www.mindlogr.com/infographics.asp
One of the main reasons for testing Glass is to see if it might act as a viable video recording tool for users to be able to record from Glass directly into their mindlogs. I thought that it would be so cool for people to be able to record straight into their logs and store their memories permanently all hands free with ease.
Unfortunately the current restrictions of the device make this application most probably impossible right now. There are many things which do not help the Mindlogr cause, which I will proceed to explain:
- Limited recording – Glass only records 10 secs of video as standard, and an extended recording would take up too much space, time and battery, hence the 10 second default. This means that if someone were to record a single log entry fully for 15 minutes, it could drain the Glass completely, not to mention take up all the storage space on the device.
- Point of view only – so often users of Mindlogr record facing the camera so they can talk to the camera, pretending to talk to their future selves. I guess this is achievable by glass, but you’d have to put it down and face it. Probably not it’s intended use, and you might trigger the off head detection and turn Glass onto standby mode.
- Connectivity – to mitigate on the space requirements you might think that we can record the video, download it to the phone or phone app and then upload there and release the memory space from Glass. I suspect that the connectivity issues that Glass has would make this process a living nightmare, with lost recordings and broken video streams.
These are the 3 top issues that would affect any potential Glass had with Mindlogr. So the conclusion here is that I’m not going to pursue the device for Mindlogr, and I don’t think that anyone will come up with a way to use it and compete with Mindlogr.
I’m glad I tested Glass in this way, otherwise I would never have been able to find out it’s true capabilities. It reiterates a lesson in life about information, no matter how much data or information you can gather online, it’s no substitute for experiencing it for real.
No amount of car reviews would tell you what it’s like to drive a car, nor wear a jacket, or taste a meal. In this day and age where information is aplenty, it’s more important than ever to live life in the real.
[videojs youtube=”http://youtu.be/3w3zX-6_0Nc”]
