This Is Why Google Glass Is the Future

It stands to reason that a nerd like me would love Google Glass. The wearable technology has it all: A tiny screen projection that hovers in front of your face, voice commands and instant response to your most critical desires. Plus, it makes you look a little bit like you’ve joined the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, that’s not why it’s the future. Google Glass could be the next big thing because it’s a piece of powerful, yet elegant consumer technology that anyone can use with almost no training.

It’s been a few days since I first got my hands on the lightweight and not at all bad-looking eyewear, and with each passing moment, I am more convinced that extraordinary promise resides in this high-tech monocle.

Over the last two days, I showcased it for television audiences, using a Samsung Galaxy S3 Android phone to screencast what I see on my screen for the viewing audience. Despite my relatively limited time with Google Glass, the segments went smoothly and

I was constantly amazed at the reception Google Glass received

I was constantly amazed at the reception Google Glass received. People are intrigued and about as excited as they were when the first Apple iPhone hit the scene. This is a paradigm shift; a game changer.

At the Today show, I had been hesitant to let the anchors wear Google Glass. It’s a touch-sensitive device and (unless you put it in guest mode), a gesture can change a setting. I told them to be careful and then gave Matt Lauer a brief tutorial. Soon he was taking pictures and issuing commands to Glass. Then he started passing it around to his co-anchors: Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, and Natalie Morales. Matt trained all of them. Each took photos and video. Only Roker got briefly stuck in a phone-call loop.

That wasn’t his fault. The method for navigating Google Glass is somewhat new. Yes, it’s still intuitive, but only after you understand that a tap or head nod wakes Google Glass up and puts it to sleep. Things you’ve done before are brought forward to your view by a swipe forward, and the future (or what you may encounter in your day) is found by swiping back. More interesting is that in menus with lists, looking up and down will take you up and down through the menu options. You can also use up and down gestures to dive in and out of menus.

I guess some of this sounds complicated, but I swear to you, I have now witnessed people learning this in minutes.

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