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This is what happens when you give old people Google Glass [VIDEO]
While the rest of the world is having a field day critiquing (or just plain making fun of) Google Glass, there’s still a sect of people are who are generally unfamiliar with the latest in tech: the elderly. While it’s true, my abuelita enjoys playing a good hand of rummy on her iPad, wearables like Google Glass are as foreign to her as top 40 music.
So what happens when you give Google Glass to a group of elderly people? Well, TheFineBros looked to find out in their latest “Reacts” video. In the video, these older folks are given a quick intro on what Glass does, even how to wear it (one man initially pointing upwards into the air). Glass functioned as intended, accurately performing actions given by its users. One lady couldn’t figure out how she could hear feedback when nothing was in her ear (bone conduction speaker).
After trying it out first-hand, the general sentiment was that Glass was pretty nifty and in their words, they felt like they “were in the future.” In our modern age, it’s easy to forget how far technology has come in such a short amount of time. Because of this, we’ve seen technology slowly drifting over the bounds of individuals’ comfort levels.
One lady said that while neat, she felt like there should be rules on where you could wear Glass. Not so much over privacy, mind you, she equated it to her resentment over people having their noses buries in their phones all the time (a “problem” Glass actually looks to solve). Others said Glass could be distracting while driving (something courts seem to agree with), while another lady said she could see the front facing camera making people feel “uncomfortable.”
Finally, when it came to actually buying (something tells me they weren’t told it’s current beta price), 4 out of 5 of the elderly said they could actually see themselves buying the “Google Eyes.” To see for yourself, check out Elders React to Google Glass below.
[GIFs via: Mashable]
Google confirms new ‘kill switch’ feature for next version of Android
Say what you want about the iPhone, one of the phone’s single greatest features is the ability to prevent the device from being factory reset and used by another party as their own (without permission, of course). But in a statement issued today by Google, the search giant will finally be implementing a similar feature for the next major Android release.
But Google isn’t the only one. Microsoft will also be joining Google in offering this “factory reset protection solution.” It’s unclear whether the new security feature will join existing ones found in the Android Device Manager, but we’re sure to learn more during Google I/O kicking off in a few more days.
This is all in an effort to curb smartphone thefts and couldn’t have come at a better time. A recent reports showed a 19% drop off in iPhone thefts from 2013 to 2014 thanks to Apple’s kill switch feature on their devices. Don’t forget, a new bill introduced in February is looking to require all phones sold in the US to include kill switch functionality. Senators believe that this is the only way to truly prevent smartphone thefts, making it common knowledge that would-be smartphone thieves are getting little more than a shiny new brick.
While we weren’t expecting to see “the next version of Android” debut until later this year (for Android Silver or another Nexus device), Android 4.4.4 made a surprise appearance today on Nexus/Google Play edition devices. It’s possible the kill switch could arrive in yet another version of KitKat, or in the next major Android release (Android 5.0 Lollipop or whatever you wanna call it). We’ll have to wait until we hear more from Google.
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