Explorers get their Glass – photos and videos hit the Web

By Trevor Mogg Published April 16, 2013

True to its word, Google has started sending out the Explorer edition of Glass to the developers who registered an interest in the high-tech eyewear at Google’s I/O event last year.

Photos and videos from the recipients are beginning to appear on the Web, with the simple packaging suggesting Google has taken some cues from another Silicon Valley company more famous for its phones and tablets than any futuristic head-based gear.

Recommended Videos

Inside the box you’ll find a microUSB cable and charger, a carrying pouch, attachable shades, a clear visor, and, of course, Glass.

One of the first videos (below) to hit the Web shows San Jose resident Matt Abdou tearing around a go-cart track, filming the experience using Glass. The 720p footage is certainly crisp and clear, though some stabilization software would’ve ensured a smoother ride for viewers.

Matt has to adjust the glasses several time during his high-speed ride, presumably because they were slipping off his head. While I wouldn’t have wished to see any harm come to his newly acquired gadget – a gadget for which he had to hand over $1500 – a through-the-Glass video of the futuristic specs tumbling across the track would certainly have given us an opportunity to make a judgment on the robustness of the device. The video probably would’ve looked pretty cool, too.

On Tuesday, Google released a spec sheet for Glass, revealing that its new gadget incorporates a 5-megapixel camera and 16GB of memory (12GB usable), and comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Over the coming months, Google will be hoping to get some useful feedback from the several thousand developers set to receive Glass, with the Mountain View company thought to be working towards a commercial release of its tech at the end of this year or in early 2014.

[Image: Brandon Allgood via engadget]

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Cars

BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too

BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Cars

Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say

Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Cars

Waymo, Nexar present AI-based study to protect ‘vulnerable’ road users

waymo data vulnerable road users ml still 1 ea18c3

Robotaxi operator Waymo says its partnership with Nexar, a machine-learning tech firm dedicated to improving road safety, has yielded the largest dataset of its kind in the U.S., which will help inform the driving of its own automated vehicles.

As part of its latest research with Nexar, Waymo has reconstructed hundreds of crashes involving what it calls ‘vulnerable road users’ (VRUs), such as pedestrians walking through crosswalks, biyclists in city streets, or high-speed motorcycle riders on highways.