2013 - Lost Year in Tech?

As the old year winds down, included among my favorite traditions are the retrospectives, both in broadcast and print (online). Who died, what were the top movies and books, and what were the best photos? We can find many examples like these, and I tend to enjoy them all, even if I don't agree. I am even producing one myself for publication on my other blog, blogspot.jimlyonsobservations. com, on the Year in Mobile Printing. It should be up tomorrow (New Year's Eve - nothing like a deadline!).

Regarding tech-industry milestones for 2013, a provocative year-end summary from Quartz and writer Christoper Mims titled "2013 was a lost year for tech"), has stirred the proverbial pot over the lost few days. Responses from many have followed, including two notable tech voices, Om Malik (see "Dear Quartz, maybe it’s you that needs new glasses and a map. 2013 was not a lost year for tech") and John Gruber (see "2013: The Year in Apple and Technology at Large") who beg to differ with Mims.

Specifically regarding Google Glass (which was featured as the lead illustration for the Quartz piece), Mims lumps "wearables" generally as a "letdown". Specific to Glass, he actually makes a very reasonable point, that Google "couldn’t hide the fact that Glass is a technology in search of an application..." but goes on with a conclusion to the solution-seeking-a-problem statement ("...unless that application is invasions of privacy") that I simply don't agree with.

Malik, after leading with the argument that Mims is too consumer-focused in his judgments, also fires back on Glass, with more very reasonable points (which means I agree with him).

Quartz bemoans Google Glass and labels it the standard bearer of disappointment in tech in 2013. Google Glass might earn you the sobriquet “glasshole,” but the reality is that in the future we will have a much improved derivative of Google Glass in our lives. It might not even look like Google Glass, but the wearable computing and personal compute fabrics will be a reality in the not-too-distant future.

I will leave my readers to read more, from all three pieces as well as others, and wish everyone a Happy 2014. My next post should include an update on my new-and-improved Glass, being exchanged this week!

Adventures in Glass

I've enjoyed taking pics of the holiday decorations #throughglass, and the enhancements through Google+

The last few weeks have brought about many interesting Glass-related adventures and developments. I'll recap as many as I can remember here.

I traveled with Glass, first to Las Vegas and the Business imaging Expo, and then in the same week, to Miami and an Analyst Day hosted by Nuance Communications. On both stops, I enjoyed showing my Glass to friends and colleagues, providing many people with a chance for a little up-close-and-personal experience. 

I also am in the waiting stage for the mailer that will allow me to get my new Glass hardware from Google (should be here any day per the emails), and in addition to trying the "new and improved" version and its "winking" capability (more on this to come), I'll be glad to be rid of my current unit and its janky charge/battery situation, which I have been working around since the beginning (mid-August).

On the software front, I've just downloaded the XE12 version of the Glass OS, and also, only today, grabbed the iOS Glassware app. I should also add my proficiency with the Android version has increased significantly. 

So lots to report with more pending, but I would be amiss to not include a scary "misadventure". My Glass unit, snugly packed in its carrying pouch, was temporarily abandoned in the seat back pocket of one of the many airplanes I have been aboard recently. Fortunately, I realized it was missing from my gadget-laden backpack after a few minutes, and a quick stroll back to the gate, along with trusty help from a UAL agent, helped me get it back. Whew!!!

Back in Glass Again

As of last week, my Glass has returned home to its original home in Boise, ID. It had been on loan to some app-developer friends who are getting their solution ready for the broad consumer release of Glass, thought to be sometime in early 2014.

I am up to Operating System version 11 (XE11), and enjoying some new and improved features on Glass. Stay tuned!

Google Glass Printing

Winding down #HPPrintDay- great event! A highlight? Making #throughglass Greatest Photo Hits poster #glassexplorer pic.twitter.com/O4VmjmIl0W
— Jim Lyons (@jflyons) November 13, 2013

I am still processing all the interesting information gleaned from the HP Print Tech Days which took place in Boise this week, and am confident my article pipeline is well stocked for the coming weeks and months.

There is one thing I will immediately highlight here (and those on my Twitter feed will have already seen it, and may recognize the screenshot above) - that was the creation of a #throughglass 2013 poster, including a number of my still photos captured since become a Glass-wearing Explorer in mid-August. (And truth be told, there is one photo included in the collection that depicts a colleague borrowing my Glass, but taken with another camera.)

My hands-on poster creation was part of our visit to the "HP Oasis", a center at HP's Boise site (as well as others around the world) where HP's vast lineup of photo and photo-related devices are available to use, free of charge, for employees and special guests (like retirees and members of the press, which hits me twice!). (The Oasis is worthy of a post in itself, which will be coming along here, along with the rest of the aforementioned pipeline.)

(This post also appears on jimlyonsobservations.blogspot.com)

Google Magical Mystery Barge - part of Glass commercialization?

I have been fascinated over the last few days, reading about the "Google mystery barge" in the San Francisco Bay, and found it almost eerily coincidental that that same Bay was my outlook during the time in August I was picking up my Glass. In fact, it's the Bay and Bay Bridge in the background, right outside, prominent among the first photos and video I shot during my Glass training. (Example above.)

(Now that I think about it there WAS excitement right out there in the Bay that day, but it had to do with the America's Cup and not barges!)

A tweet about this coincidence ended up in a short interview with Brandon Bailey of the San Jose Mercury News, and an even shorter quote in his article (screenshot below) on the barge (which actually may be part of a fleet!). It was great meeting Brandon this way and it will be fun to track the barge story, ongoing!

Google Glass economics update

From http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/supplyshock.asp

On October 28, Google announced two initiatives involving its 8,000 Google Glass Explorers. One is an upcoming "swap" allowing existing owners to get upgraded hardware over the next several months. The other is an opportunity for existing Explorers to extend Explorer invitations to up to three friends (at the same price as before, $1,500, but with mail order delivery available, as an alternative to the exclusive pickup-by-appointment terms of the past.)

The press has covered the two programs in detail (for example, see Techcrunch), but my interest, as a student and teacher of microeconomics, is what this does to the Glass "after market". By the terms of Google's agreement with Explorers, resale is not allowed, but many Glass units have appeared on eBay since I've been watching, beginning well before I picked up my Explorer unit in mid-August. The listings are replete with warnings of potential bricking of the device along with an "as is" caveat, and from what can be observed without being a direct party to the transactions, have sold (at least auctions have closed) with prices between the high $3,000's up to $5,000.

So what will this "supply shock" do to the market? After all, the imminent quadrupling of the Glass installed base is quite a "supply shock" and as the graph and short note above indicate (courtesy of Investopedia, one of my students' favorite sources), we would expect, given an unchanged demand curve, for the "equilibrium" price to decrease.

 A quick look at eBay today makes it hard to tell so far, but the "invitations" are out there, at prices ranging from $100 to $1,000 or so. Twitter also includes a number of requests/offers for the invitations, as well.

One more fun thing about being a #GlassExplorer!

Demo Conference #ThroughGlass

A walk in the woods #ThroughGlass - JJ Audubon State Park, Kentucky

Wow - it's been two weeks since my last "Half Full" post. I've been busy, including some experiences with Glass away from home (see above) but just haven't had the chance to summarize here.

Now I am at high-tech conference Demo, in Santa Clara, CA, with - drum roll - lots of Google Glass discussion including from developers and one of the leading evangelists for Glass. So stay tuned!