Early Adopter: Using Google Glass Is A Literal Headache

When Google first opened up the possibility of using its Glass face computers, nerds all over the world were excited about the opportunity. They signed up for the Glass Explorers program, which required them to pay $1,500 and not let anyone else even borrow the device. Almost a year later, many of those early adopters are tired of talking to their face computers.

Maybe they’re bitter that Google doesn’t want users to have facial-recognition apps or use the devices while intimate with a partner. Casinos don’t want patrons wearing them, a woman was ticketed for wearing her Glass while driving (even if the case thrown out in court), and one man even claims that a movie theater called the FBI on him for wearing his device to watch a film, suspecting him of piracy. Now even early adopters don’t like Glass, with one of the device’s first evangelists admitting that he rarely wears his anymore because of the headaches. No, not the metaphorical headaches of being one of the first people in society to walk around with a face computer. The literal headaches.

Early adopter Chris Barrett told CNET that he started to experience problems shortly after he started using the device, during the second week. “After a few hours of use, my head started to pound,” he said in an e-mail. “I don’t usually get headaches. I thought maybe I was just tired, so I decided to sleep it off.”

Headaches are just a thing that happens, though: maybe it wasn’t the face computer. Unfortunately, Barrett found that his skull-crushing headaches correlated with wearing the device for extended periods. Talking to fellow “Explorers,” he learned that he wasn’t alone.

After he started leaving the device off his face most of the time, Barrett discovered that he didn’t miss it all that much. It was fun and novel at the beginning, but once the novelty wore off, he remembered that he could read e-mails and search Google using old-fashioned computers and stuff.

Google, for its part, says that the neurological risks of using a face computer are no different from getting glasses for the first time, or any other wearable item that changes one’s habits. “[W]e’ve been working with eye care professionals from the very beginning to ensure that the device is safe for use,” a spokesperson told CNET. “In our help center, we do encourage new Explorers to ease into Glass, just as they would a new pair of glasses.” If you’re prone to headaches, maybe ease slowly into the concept of wearable technology altogether.

Google Glass enthusiast: It’s not worth the headaches [CNET]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist