Google's Project Glass: Does It Even Need New Technology to Work?

By now, you've probably seen Google's video that shows off how its new Project Glass augmented-reality glasses will function. If not, it's pretty wild and you should definitely take a peek:

Wanting to know the weather, he picks up the newspaper, which has the day's forecast printed on the cover in 4-color graphics. Ah! It's going to be 48 degrees, partly cloudy, with a 10% chance of rain!

While the man sits down to eat his breakfast noisily, making annoying "nom nom munch munch" noises of appreciation, even though no one but himself could possibly hear them, the phone rings. Picking it up, it's his buddy, Paul.
"Wanna meet up today?" his buddy says.
"Yah," he says, uncouthly, through a mouthful of food. "Meet me in front of Strand Books at 2," then he hangs up and continues to noisily eat until it's time to go meet his friend at the book shop.

Approaching the subway, an exiting commuter stops him and says, "Sorry, buddy! Subway service is suspended on the 6!"
"Thanks friendly stranger!" our man says, then takes out a map of the surrounding environs. He realizes that he was only 11 blocks away from the bookstore, anyway, and should've been walking there in the first place. Since the streets of NYC are a simple grid pattern, he can remember which turns to make, without having to consult his map again.

Think it's rare that anyone carries a map? Fine. Maybe the man asks a passing stranger, "Excuse me, kind sir, how does one get to The Strand Bookstore?" and is told, "Keep going until you hit 12th Street, then make a right. Can't miss it!"
"Thanks, helpful stranger!"

During his short walk, he stops to pet a dog, hoping there will be a place to wash his hands at the bookstore.

Continuing on, he sees a poster for an event he'd like to attend. He says, "Using my memory, I will rememeber this thing I am interested in seeing, how hard is that?!" He resumes his journey.

Arriving at the bookshop, he asks an employee, "Where's the music section?"
"Right back there, sir!"
"Thanks!" he says.
"My pleasure!" she replies, and they both conclude the interaction with an increased sense of well-being and self-worth. He walks to the music section and locates the book he wants and wonders, "Is Paul here, yet?" then continues, "He knows we're meeting in here and the store isn't that big that he wouldn't be able to find me ... but I'll wait near the front of the store, so he can find me easier! I'm a good friend!"

And there's Paul now! "Hey, dude? How's it goin'?" our man says. The two friends slam their outstretched hands into each other as a way of informal greeting. Paul replies, "Wanna go checkout that new place I was tellin' you about?" And even though Paul has a weird expression on his face — like he's trying to act like the man's friend, rather than being the man's actual friend — our hero says, "Sure!"

Leading him over to a coffee cart street vendor, Paul says, "This truck's really good!" but his tone makes it seem like he's lying.
"Just a second," our man says, then he turns to face the city and shouts, "I'M HERE!"
His location established, he says, "Cool." Paul goes on, "It's good to see you again." But, again, there is something insincere about his tone.
Their coffee time concluded, the man says, "See you, dude!" and Paul walks away.

Wandering alone, possibly contemplating his place in the universe, our man Paul spots a piece of graffiti on a building's door and remarks, "Whoa, cool!" even though it is derivative trash that Banksy wouldn't bat an eyelash at. But, he takes his polaroid camera out of his bag and snaps a picture of it. Shaking the photo — even though Polaroid has indicated this is unecessary, despite what Andre 3000 says — our man remarks, "I'll show this to my friends later!"

Looking at his watch, he realizes he's running late for his meet-up with Jess, so he hustles up some stairs until he gets to the roof. And there Jess is, waiting for him. They exchange face-to-face pleasantries until he takes out a Ukelele from somewhere and begins to play, assuming she likes ukelele music.


Overall, a very nice day! And no fancy technology was needed!

^{Yeah, we know the check-in / location sharing analog we came up with was a bit of a stretch. What can you do?!}