Yesterday I tried Google Glass.
Summer interns where I work had been given a pair of the wearable computer glasses to program. For fun, they made the glasses present a data-visualization tool my boss created last year.
When I tried it out, I had to say first, “OK, Glass” to activate the program. A small computer screen appeared in front of my vision but a bit higher and to the right. Then I had to ask see a piece of the information I knew was available in the data-visualization tool. “Show me the population of Boston.”
Then the interns told me to scroll with my finger on the right side of the frame to see other data about Boston: characteristics of people in lower-income census tracts; characteristics of middle- and upper-income tracts. Finally, I asked to see other cities.
Until yesterday, I had no idea that you talk to the thing. It’s wildly expensive and, according to MIT Technology Review, sometimes subject to security dangers.
But what a fun toy!
(Hmmm. I can hear my father quoting Fowler’s dictionary: “Fun is a low-cant word.” And that man didn’t even know “fun” would someday be used as an adjective. Well, as the song goes, something’s lost but something’s gained in living every day.)
Photo: NBC producer Frank Thorp using Google Glass in Washington, DC, Aug. 2, 2013. 
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Of course you would be the first person in our family to try Google glass!
Well, I admit that’s pretty much what I said when we were given the opportunity: “Yes! Can’t wait to tell my kids!”
I’d like to try these. Right now, I can’t imagine they’d ever be a part of my life but I’ve said that about so many things before . . .
For me, they are just good for a laugh. But I have read that some surgeons are really loving Google Glass in their work.
I can see what’s being lost every day (the balance of ecosystems, for example, and unpolluted drinking water) but I am still not sure what’s being gained… I love that song though!
Yeah, one wouldn’t say that gaining Google Glass makes up for loss of ecosystems. Maybe one can say the world has gained more awareness of the threat to ecosystems. Let’s pray it’s not too late.