Digital bytes

Google Glass – the hands-free smartphone?

Some companies are tailoring the fledgling technology to fit their workplace needs.

Maybe you think people spend too much time staring at their smartphones. Google thinks so too! That’s why the tech giant created Google Glass. With Glass, Google aims to provide the features of a smartphone built into an accessory many people already wear: glasses. The internet, text messaging, phone calls photos, videos – all built into the frame of a head-mounted computer, all accessible by voice commands, as well as taps and gestures on the touch-sensitive bar that runs along the side of the frame.

It remains to be seen if a Google Glass user is more in tune with his or her surroundings than that guy staggering through a crosswalk with his eyes glued to his phone who narrowly missed being hit by a bus.

Early adopters, termed “Explorers” by Google have been testing Glass since April 2013, but the product is not expected to be available commercially until later this year. It’s debatable whether smart glasses like Google Glass will ever gain mainstream acceptance, but they could be useful in many jobs. Perhaps nurserymen could use them to access pesticide information on-the-fly while spraying, or search through a plant database while both hands are busy in the dirt.

Using head-mounted displays for specific workplace scenarios is nothing new. The military has been using the tech for years, and scores of Glass Explorers have already shown novel workplace scenarios for Glass. North Carolina firefighter Patrick Jackson, for example, is working on an app that can provide firefighters in the field with potentially lifesaving information, including building floorplans and instructions for dismantling specific cars. And the NYPD is experimenting with cops wearing Glass.

The Washington Capitals, a NHL hockey franchise, partnered with an app development company to develop an app that shows fans real-time stats, instant replays and different camera angles – all through Glass. Oil services company Schlumberger’s uses Glass to give its employees hands-free access to crucial information in the field.

Google’s recently announced “Glass at Work” program essentially asks businesses how they are working with Glass. The initiative is for companies that are interested in tailoring Glass to their workplace.

For more: www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/

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This month on the Grower Radio Network, we got down and dirty with a vermicompost expert, talked Cultivate’14 with the chairman of AmericanHort, and discussed herbicide trial results. Plus, we covered problem plants of Southern California in the second installment of our series on invasive ornamentals.

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