Anyone Can Buy Google Glass on April 15th, but Should You?

google glass cameraOn April 15th at 6am PDT Google will open up the Explorer program to anyone interested in owning their own heads up display.

Here’s the deal though, it’s still a BETA product, and it’s still fairly expensive. While it’s currently our best hope for a consumer, wearable, eye-level computing solution, you’ll have to pony up $1500 + Tax to grab one of your own.

I’m very positive on Glass, but it’s fairly apparent that Google hasn’t handled the launch of this project well. The general public is still fairly ignorant as to what Glass can and can not do, resulting in dramatic interpretations of privacy abuses. People have been written tickets for wearing them while driving, restaurants have asked customers to leave for wearing them, and an Explorer was even physically assaulted by a mob of people.

Google should be praised for pushing the envelope, but the Explorer experiment was flawed from the beginning. When it’s an invite only program for geeks, and the cost of entry is north of $1500, you have to expect that a statistically significant number of participants wont be the kind of people that you’d want as ambassadors for something so new. This has resulted in the coining of the term “Glasshole” to represent people who use Glass in a rude fashion. Unfortunately that term is starting to generically describe anyone with Glass, as it only takes one bad apple to taint the whole bushel. Continue reading “Anyone Can Buy Google Glass on April 15th, but Should You?”

CBS Interviews Elon Musk: Tesla Model S completes cross country road trip in 76 hours

model-s-blue-front2_960x640This is a giant leap for EV’s!

Handily answering concerns about range and charge time, two Model S Tesla sedans have completed a cross country road trip starting in LA and arriving in New York a little more than three days later.

Tesla’s Supercharger stations quickly recharge or swap batteries on the Model S, making electric vehicles a more attractive solution for people who drive long distances. More Supercharger stations need to be built for the system to appeal across the country, but this is fantastic progress considering how non-existent the infrastructure for EV’s was even just a couple years ago.

Now hopefully I’ll NEVER have to field that inane question from people here in LA “B-b-b-but what if I suddenly and unexpectedly want to road trip to Vegas like I never do?”

Interview below.

Video: Discussing Technology’s Role in Child Sex Trafficking: Carol Smolenski, Executive Director ECPAT

carol smolenski headshot executive director ECPAT intervew somegadgetguyI’m a futurist. I believe most of the solutions to problems facing humanity will involve our ability to apply tech. It’s always a shock discovering that those same tools that I enjoy can be used to support some vile behaviors.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Carol Smolenski, the Executive Director of ECPAT, an organization which provides educational materials, outreach, and supports law enforcement in reducing child sex trafficking. They were recently honored by The Hilton Foundation winning the 2013 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.

It was a sobering discussion to realize that child abuse imagery is on the rise around the world, and we spent some time discussing what technology’s role might be in solving this problem.

For more info please visit:
http://www.ECPAT.net
http://www.ECPATUSA.org

Interview: Talking External Hard Drives with ioSafe CEO Rob Moore – Waterproof & Fireproof Drives

iosafe_solopro_2tb_with_3year_drsdata_recovery_serviceThe phrase “data security” can mean a couple different things. Is your data safe from hackers? Is your data backed up? Would your data survive a flood or a fire?

Rob Moore, the CEO of ioSafe, joins me to chat about some of their solutions which should help answer ALL THREE of those questions about your data and how secure it might be!

Shop ioSafe on Amazon.
More info on ioSafe.

Real Person Video Review: Tom Costello chats about his Nokia Lumia 521

nokia lumia 521 review hands on somegadgetguy smartphoneMy friend Tom Costello is a working actor in LA, and he was kind enough to sit down with me to chat about his experiences using his Nokia Lumia 520.

I hope to continue this as a semi-regular series on how real people (not tech bloggers) incorporate tech into their daily lives. You can catch our first Real Person Review of Marie talking about her Galaxy S4.

We had a few teething pains with Google Hangouts getting the interview started, but it settled down once we got to talking.

I really want to thank Tom for sharing his experiences, and to keep track of his projects, please check out his IMDB profile: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1843641/

(Video Interview) Chris Emerson: One Month #ThroughGlass

christopher emerson throughglass glass explorer google demo hands somegadgetguyActor Chris Emerson is a socially conscious, tech forward friend of mine. He shares my more optimistic views of what technology might provide us if we are able to embrace it. For six weeks now he’s been a part of the Glass Explorers program. We spent an afternoon chatting about Google’s newest disruptive tech at a slick coffee bar in Hollywood.

This is a longer video, almost an hour, but Chris discusses in depth what his experiences have been. If you’ve been curious about Glass, this interview should answer a lot of questions.