In an interview with the Gaming Business Review, an online site ran by M2 Publishing, Tim Sweeney detailed recent developments in Epic Games, as well as his visions of the future.

The interview obviously took place during Game Developer’s Conference 2015, which is traditionally held in San Francisco, CA. We highly recommend that you head there and read the whole interview, but we could not miss out on a question that is shaping the industry right now:

GBR: How big do you see virtual reality becoming over the next five to ten years as a business?

TS: Virtual reality and Augmented Reality will literally change the world. They will be the next computing platform.  There’s a market for billions of these devices because everybody who has a smartphone today will — perhaps in as much as decade from now — much prefer entertainment in a completely immersive experience that takes advantage of your entire field of view and has full body input through miniaturized cameras and other technologies.  But we’re in the early days of it now.  Let’s be clear, everything is in the development kit stage.  It is for early adopters and what we’re seeing now is really just the Palm Pilot to the platform that will evolve into something iPhone-like in its quality.

There’s no point in denying it, after seeing billions of dollars earned by 3D movies which rely on ‘cheap tricks’ to achieve depth (try finding animated feature movies without 3D being the ‘default’ option), next step will bring us technologies such as Microsoft Hololens, production versions of Facebook-owned Oculus VR (John Carmack keynote) and second-generation Google Glass, which is developed in near-secrecy by the search giant and a practical monopoly in glasses, Italian giant Luxottica.

After operating for almost 20 years as an independent studio, Epic Games made waves across the gaming and development community when they accepted an investment from Tencent Holdings (HKG:0700) last June (2014). The Chinese powerhouse paid up $330 million for 48.4% of the company, setting the valuation just a bit below $680 million.

Tim Sweeney continued to be the CEO, while his lifelong business partner Mark Rein still continues as in his role of Vice President.  Not selling themselves outright like idSoftware did with ZeniMax Media, Epic Games continues to be independent studio, consisting out of product (games) and technology development units. Their recent announcement about making Unreal Engine ‘free’ opens a path for even more ‘premium freemium’ titles which base their revenue model on microtransactions.

The post Tim Sweeney: Virtual Reality will Literally Change the World appeared first on VR World.

The wearables market launched to a rocky start, but IDC sees nothing but growth over the next few years.

According to a recent report by IDC, a combination of new vendors, new devices, and greater awareness among potential consumers will lead to year-over-year growth that leads to 126 million of the devices shipped by 2019. IDC forecasts that the wearables market will see 45.7 million unit shipments in 2015, up from the 133.4% from the 19.6 million units shipped in 2014. Until 2019, IDC believes that every year the market will have a year-over-year growth rate of 45%.

“Smart wearables are about to take a major step forward with the launch of the Apple Watch this year,” said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Wearables team. “The Apple Watch raises the profile of wearables in general and there are many vendors and devices that are eager to share the spotlight. Basic wearables, meanwhile, will not disappear. In fact, we anticipate continued growth here as many segments of the market seek out simple, single-use wearable devices.”

What’s causing the growth?

The obvious reason why the market is poised for growth is the 900-pound gorilla known as the Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) Watch. When the Apple Watch launches many competing vendors will no doubt use its launch and first year on the market as a case study to adjust their own strategies accordingly.

There’s also the issue of the overall quality of the wearable market. When wearables first entered the mainstream public consciousness they were heavily fitness oriented. This appealed to a niche market, but to the not-so fitness inclined they were a questionable investment. Then the first smartwatch, Samsung’s (KRX: 005930) Galaxy Gear, came on the market to a chilly reception and ultimately had a sky-high return rate.

In a contrast, a maturing market shows that there’s nothing but demand for wearables. This is because the overall quality of device has improved, and consumers have taken note and responded positively. IDC’s numbers are realistic and definitely attainable if vendors keep building quality devices.

The post IDC: The Wearables Market is Expanding appeared first on VR World.

The launch of Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL) Watch, scheduled in approximately a month, will be a pivotal moment for the company. The Apple Watch will be an entirely new product line for Apple, the first for the notoriously cautious and conservative (when compared with its competition) company since the passing of Steve Jobs in April 2011.

Compared to the competition Apple is late to the game in the smartwatch field. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Samsung’s (KRX:005930) first smartwatch was launched nearly a year and a half ahead of the Apple Watch. Apple has had plenty of opportunity to learn from its failures, and also the success of the Pebble Smartwatch and demand for the Pebble Time.

There will be two factors that drive consumers to buy the Apple Watch: pure aesthetics, and its practicality to enhance productivity.

The Apple Watch comes in a huge variety of flavors and styles, with customizable faces.

There will be a large subset of consumers that buy the smartwatch simply because of its aesthetic. Apple is considered to be a fashionable brand, and there are many consumers who will simply line up to purchase it because of the brand and style. This holds particularly true in China, as demand for Apple’s iPhone 6 was record breaking leading to an underground economy of re-sales from Hong Kong (where it launched well it advance).

But many consumers will be unconvinced that the Apple Watch is a worthwhile purchase unless the device’s App store can prove to be viable, and full of useful, sustainable apps. Consumers that purchase the Apple Watch based on the strength of the app library will make up a larger subset of consumers that purchase the device beyond the initial hype phase.

Apple has already shown off a compelling library of apps at the device’s launch event in early March. At launch there will be apps that let the watch double as a boarding pass, a hotel room key, and even an Uber-hailing device. This is a good start, as when the iPhone launched in 2007 users had to wait months for the corresponding app store to launch.

Given the limitations of the Apple Watch, the majority of the apps that launch on the platform will simply be extensions of existing iPhone apps. For now that’s acceptable, as the Apple Watch is essentially tethered to the iPhone but as the platform matures developers will figure out use cases that are less dependent on the iPhone.

Success is already written, just add the apps

Many naysayers have pointed to Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Glass as reason that the wearable market as a whole is doomed. But, pardon the pun, this is comparing apples to oranges.

Google’s Glass was cursed from the get-go because of privacy concerns and the lack of practicality. At the end of the day, the Apple Watch is still a watch — a tried and true product line. It will still sell partially because of that alone. In contrast, Google’s Glass was something nobody could figure out how to practically use: the idea of strapping a computer to your face didn’t resonate with many.

The Apple Watch just needs a sustainable and in-depth app store. This alone will ensure that different waves of consumers buy the device, guaranteeing its success, not just those looking for a fashionable wrist piece.

The post The Strength of the Apple Watch App Store Will Determine Its Success appeared first on VR World.

Since it has been confirmed that the Windows Holographic platform will come baked into every copy of the Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft obviously anticipates the possibility of a future filled with “holographic” computing devices.

So is Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) correct to expect this trend, and – more importantly – should we be happy if it is?

HoloLens joins the recent crew of wearable interfaces, which includes Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Glass and Sony’s not-so-smart-glasses. Some people want to include Oculus Rift in this list, but the Rift is neither augmented reality, nor a computer interface – it is a glamorous virtual reality gaming console, that also happens to be really cool, but doesn’t attempt to function as an interface for everyday computing.

A step forward

Augmented reality devices represent the logical step in a trend that began with the unveiling of the original iPhone in 2007.  Much has been made of the way Apple’s iPhone – and later the iPad – influenced the computing world by creating a vast market for portable smart devices. But equally relevant is an extraordinary paradigm shift caused by these devices with the perfection of one simple element: the touch screen.

Since Douglas Engelbart’s “mother of all demos” in 1968, computer interfaces have been dominated by the ingenious mouse-keyboard combo. For a generation of people who lived before computers, the mouse and keyboard represented the perfect interface: a simple and intuitive way to input commands to a computer using direct mechanical motion and tactile feedback. Typing at a computer wasn’t much different from using a typewriter, and using a mouse must have felt a lot like pulling a lever or turning a steering-wheel to get where one wanted to go.

Most importantly, this interface maintained a clear distinction between the user and the machine: there could not be a less ambiguous boundary than the four corners of a computer monitor, and the pronounced grid of a 1980s keyboard. This distinction was a comfortable one for those accustomed to reading text from the pages of a book, or the folds of a newspaper.

But it also turned out to be an unnecessary one, because computers are not books. The touchscreen was not merely a cool gimmick, but a fundamental change in the way people interacted with their devices. Gone was the distance, or the need for mechanical proxies. Users could now directly manipulate the digital environment by touching it, and interacting with it in a way so intimate that it could arguably be called “magical”.

Since a capacitive touchscreen was included in Apple’s original iPhone, touchscreens have appeared everywhere: tablets, laptops, desktop monitors, televisions, cars, and even refrigerators. It’s a well established fact that a small niche for touchscreens existed before 2007, as exemplified by Microsoft’s Palm PC. But besides being inaccurate and cumbersome, these screens focused on the use of a stylus, and so continued to emphasize the mechanical boundary between machine and user.

Changing paradigms

Google went a step beyond the touchscreen with Glass, by changing the very screen from a physical one to one existing virtually in a user’s line of sight. But this was more of a gimmick than anything significant. Glass still functioned almost exactly like a mobile device. The glass interface was just a screen – a screen constantly floating in front of one’s face, but a screen nevertheless.

HoloLens represents an even more dramatic reduction in the distance between user and interface. By virtually transforming the physical world into a tangible representation of programs and controls, HoloLens is more invasive than glass, which at least preserves the distinction between what is virtual and what is real.

The effect – theoretically, at least – is awesome. What could be cooler than literally stepping into a Martian biome, or the bounds of a video game environment, or to pick up a virtual model and turn it around, all within one’s office?

The question of whether these theoretical features will actually function as intended can be ignored in lieu of the more dramatic question, which is: should this distance be breached in the first place? Digital environments are not realer than the ones in books or other fantasies, which we comfortably consign to the boundaries of our imagination, or pages, or stage, or screen – the boundaries of something.

But should we willingly lie to our senses until they are confused what is actual, and what is virtual? HoloLens is the first time this has actually been attempted, so there are no past failures to learn from, or debates to draw on. This is a question that must be worked out by the consumer, whose answer will ultimately determine the fate of augmented reality, and Microsoft’s HoloLens.

The post Is Microsoft HoloLens the Future of Computing? appeared first on VR World.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced Wednesday that its Glass project had shifted out from its Google X research arm and into a standalone project. As a result the Explorer project will end on Monday and sales to the public will hault.

While Google will stop selling Glass to the public as part of the change, sales to businesses and educational institutions will continue as Google seeks to push its Glass at Work program. For users that have Glass headset, the devices will continue to work as normal but there will no longer be any updates for the device.

The Explorer program was never meant to be permanent. Google only intended it to be a temporary endeavour to see how people would use Glass in their personal lives and in the workplace. While Glass received a fair amount of criticism for the privacy implications of its front facing camera, later on in the Glass program it did find a following amongst some as a productivity enhancing device in the workplace.

Going forward, the Glass project will be run by Ivy Ross who will report to Nest’s Tony Fadell. However Google has confirmed that Glass will not be integrated into the Nest project.

An updated version of Glass is expected later this year.

The post Google Glass is No More appeared first on VR World.

More than 1,900 applied, only 10 were chosen. The Extreme Tech Challenge  finalists vying to pitch their company to Sir Richard Branson on Necker, his private island, includes Skully, a smart motorcycle helmet. Skully combines the latest in technology in one extreme helmet.

To begin with let’s cover the basics. The streamlined helmet is water and dust proof with a comfortable NASA originated Outlast lining that is removable and washable. It comes in black or white and gives you a Darth Vadar appearance. Now, on to the technology.

Essentially, the Skully AR-1 eliminates blind spots. The helmet sports a 180 degree rear view camera with a fisheye lens that projects revamped, dewarped images of what’s happening behind you onto a cube at the front of the helmet. This rearview mirror is not the only information displayed. The cube is transparent so it does not impair your front vision while providing dashboard-like data.

A small gasoline icon notifies you when fuel is low.

Other information you can see includes a tachometer, speed readout, gear position, and incoming calls. The helmet provides a blue tooth GPS with worldwide mapping. The visual information displayed is augmented by audio directions. The stereo speakers provide clear phone conversations and good music enjoyment, as well as route indications.

Worldwide maps provide GPS assistance as you cruise along.

Looking to the future, at the rear of the helmet you will find RGB LED lights in place that can light up as turn signals or to indicate braking. They also will help with diagnostics. The system runs on two individual rechargeable batteries reloaded via micro USB.

The helmet was designed for comfort. The informative cube is set to eliminate eye strain. Your eyes don’t have to refocus from distance viewing down the road to close-up to read gauges previously mounted on the dashboard. Material for the wide-angle-view visor is anti-glare, anti-fog, with a button you can push for bright light correction. To prevent you from becoming a hot headed motorcyclist, the helmet has vents on the front, top, and both sides to air cool your skull.

The transparent informational cube is designed and placed to eliminate eye strain while driving and checking data.

Speaking of heads, the helmet comes in S, M, L, XL, and XXL. A chart gives dimensions in hat size, centimeters and inches. For example, a Large fits hat size 7 1/8 – 7 1/ 4. Additionally, if it still doesn’t fit, the company promises to send another premium padding set at no charge.

This company put out an Indiegogo project with a goal of $250,000. Instead, in less than two months, they closed the fund October 9, 2014 with $2,445,425 USD. During and since, videos have been posted that have gleaned positive and negative comments regarding the approach, cost, safety, sturdiness, and the usefulness of this new technology aimed at the motorcycle enthusiast.

The company says the Skully AR-1 is DOT/ECE (US Department of Transportation / Economic Commission for Europe) certified and is currently pending AS/NZS 1698:2006 certification. As to damage during an accident, they suggest checking your insurance policy to see if you are covered for Custom Parts and Equipment (CPE) coverage.

Skully’s Vice President of Design Joshua Bloom produced a very detailed look at the streamlined helmet in a YouTube video.

Skully VP of Design Joshua Bloom proudly displays the AR-1.

One viewer commented: Looks interesting, but cost is prohibitive. It is currently listed as $1,499 plus $99.99 shipping. Another person summed it up thus: When it comes to pricing think about it in this manner. You’re buying the equivalent of 1) a decent helmet 2) a GoPro camera 3) a Google glass 3) a communication system 4) a photo chromatic face shield. Does it really seem that expensive??

You can judge for yourself at CES in Las Vegas. Skully and the other nine finalists will vie to become the top three winners on stage January 8, 2015 at 2pm in the Marco Polo room at The Venetian. If you want to buy the product, the company website’s store is your only option. You can place a pre-order and hope shipment happens by the promised July, 2015 date.

The post Skully Motorcycle Helmet: Extreme Tech Challenge Finalist appeared first on VR World.

Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Glass will be re-launching next year with new components, but it’s not quite clear if this version of the device will be available for retail sale.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Google will be launching a refreshed version of the Google Glass next year with an Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) chip, better battery life and more memory. It’s not entirely clear what chip will be powering the next-generation Google Glass but in all likelihood it will be the Intel Quark.

While many have speculated about when Google will release Glass to the public, after this report it still isn’t entirely clear when the wearable headset will make its public debut. The report notes that Google is targeting “hospital networks and manufacturers, while developing new workplace uses for the device.”

Google Glass, introduced in 2012, has been met with sharp criticism from privacy advocates. Many commercial establishments have banned the use of Google Glass on the premises and the term “Glasshole” has entered the lexicon of many.

However, re-launching the device as something to enhance workplace productivity rather than a consumer electronics device might be the ticket Google needs to reboot the device.

The post Google to Launch Refreshed Glass in 2015 appeared first on VR World.

Taiwan’s Himax (NASDAQ: HIMX) took a sharp dive during the Tuesday trading day in New York, shaving nearly 14% off its ticker price, after it announced Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) would not be initiating a second round of investment into the company.

Google maid a first investment in the company last October, taking a 6.3% stake. The option was on the table for Google to up this investment to 14.8%

Himax played a key role in the launch of Google’s glass, developing the LCOS microdisplays for the headset. It was widely speculated that should Google unveil a second-generation of the Glass, it would continue to source the displays from Himax.

However, this isn’t the end of the road for Himax and Google according to a release from the company.

“Google continues to work closely with Himax as a strategic partner on future technologies and products and will remain a board observer,” Himax said.

CEO Jordan Wu added in the statement, “the on-going development and collaboration between Google and HDI validates our LCOS technology as the most superior and best suited microdisplay for wearable devices such as Google Glass.”

Google’s second thoughts on Glass?

This move may be indicative of a change in Google’s strategy towards Glass. While the future remains bright for augmented reality, the obtrusive nature of Glass — particularly the head-mounted camera — means that Glass has had a chilly reception thus far. Combined with reports of buggy, slow hardware means Google will have to struggle to warm the market to the device.

Google choosing not to exercise its option for the larger stake in Himax might mean that the company is simply choosing to reduce some of its losses in the sector. It’s not pulling out of the Glass project entirely, just recalibrating things.

The post Taiwan’s Himax Tumbles After Google Opts Against Further Investment appeared first on VR World.

After failing to secure any major hardware wins with its mobile processors, Intel is shifting focus to the wearable segment by announcing a collaboration with watchmaker Fossil. Although details on any upcoming products were divulged it is likely that Intel will be leveraging wearable technology from Basis, a wearable technology manufacturer that Intel acquired earlier this year.

The wearable market itself is in its nascent stages, and although we saw a flurry of new device staunches at the IFA earlier this week, manufacturers are tinkering away at new form factors, like Samsung has with the Gear VR. In the smartwatch segment, the South Korean vendor recently unveiled the Gear S, a Tizen-based smartwatch that has a SIM-card slot for standalone connectivity. Meanwhile, other vendors like Motorola and LG have focused their attention on design, with the Moto 360 and G Watch R featuring a more traditional watch design.

A collaboration with Fossil isn’t Intel’s first entry into the wearable segment, as the hardware vendor announced a high-end smart bracelet earlier this week. Set to debut later this year, Intel’s smart bracelet is set to cost in the vicinity of $1,000. With the bracelet, Intel is looking to fuse high-end fashion with wearable technology, although it isn’t the first time both industries have collaborated — Google teamed up with designed Diane von Furstenberg in launching a more stylised version of Google Glass earlier this year.

Intel’s collaboration with Fossil is more indicative of a general trend in the wearable segment, one that is seeing more and more manufacturers looking to the fashion industry for new ideas. The oft-rumored iWatch is set to debut next week, and it should be interesting to see the features it offers.

As for Intel’s offerings in this segment, we should be hearing more about the vendor’s plans at the Intel Developer Forum, which is being held next week in San Francisco.

The post Intel Teams Up With Fossil For Wearable Technology Products appeared first on VR World.

Google has been working with Diane von Furstenberg for a very long time and if you remember, last year, during New York Fashion Week they did a lot with her in and around fashion. So, it comes as little surprise that she would work with Google to spice up their currently incredibly ugly Google Glass. Google has already taken some pretty significant steps in terms of making Google Glass more visually appealing, including their partnership with Luxottica. However, Luxottica is mostly a manufacturer of glasses and still works very close with most of the designer brands in order to ensure that their designs are in line with their brand identity. In fact, there’s a very good chance that almost any designer brand of glasses or sunglasses could immediately become a Google Glass partner if Luxottica and Google deem it a good idea.

So, today Google and Diana von Furstenberg have announced a line of glasses and sunglasses that have Google Glass functionality and look miles better than anything Google currently offers through Glass.

So, as you can see, they’re clearly trying to change the way that we see Google Glass and wear it too. The real question will be how well can they integrate the optical system into future designs and whether or not they can get rid of the unsightly bump of the processor and battery system in the Google Glass itself. Sure, this is a huge improvement over what Google has done but just changing how Google Glass looks won’t make it more successful. It will just make it less repulsive to people around the Google Glass wearer. The real power of Google Glass will come when they’ve got enough developers developing apps for it and when they finally decide to upgrade the hardware beyond its 3+ year old platform with a TI OMAP 4330 processor. If Google upgrades Google Glass to something like a Snapdragon 800, I have a feeling that they’ll be able to really get some serious performance improvements and better battery life. It will also enable them to use much lower power Bluetooth technologies which will also save power as that is one of the biggest drains on the battery life of Google Glass right now.

These new models of Google Glass by DVF are going for an extra premium $1,800 which puts them at a $300 premium on top of the standard Google Glass which sells for $1,500 and we’ve already established is grossly overpriced due to the current BOM which is around $80. So, you’re really really overpaying for Google Glass at $1,800 and Google is sort of admitting that this is no longer a ‘developer’ device by bringing it into a more fashionable form factor. In fact, it might be arguable that at this point Google is just being elitist with the price and only putting it in the hands of those that can afford it. Because let’s be honest, most upstart developers don’t have $1,500 to throw down on a Google Glass without any expectation of selling millions of downloads of their app. That’s what makes the $1,800 price all the more ridiculous, it has just become a more premium version of an already premium product that’s actually running sub-par hardware. Wonderful, isn’t it?

DVF Shades Model

If Google is serious about Google Glass, they need to release it at a consumer-friendly price and push it out to more designers and get app developers excited about it by making it accessible to them.

DVF Google Glass Brown White

The post Google Glass Gets the Diane von Furstenberg Treatment appeared first on VR World.

Usually, the YouTube channel TheFineBros asks people of differing ages (usually much older or much younger) to react to a certain type of video, but sometimes they ask someone to respond to a physical technology item that they might not understand. In the past, they did a video about how kids reacted to a Sony Walkman cassette player with admittedly hilarious results.

In this video, however, they’ve flipped the technology and the audience and tried to see what it was like for older people to react to Google Glass, and unsurprisingly enough they were far more aware of what it was and were far more able to operate it than the younger kids were with the cassette player. Having used Google Glass myself, I will admit it definitely has some incredibly novel applications, but the fact is that it alone does not solve many day to day problems that people have in their lives today. Even so, this video is a great thing to watch over the course of this weekend to see how older people react to Google Glass, unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to do so myself so this video is without a doubt entertaining to me.

They also help educate consumers by explaining the technology little by little by explaining to them (and the audience) how to use Google Glass. And they all have a lot of very legitimate concerns and observations much like the rest of the general public. There was also a poll of the elders that asked them whether or not they would use it and the responses to Google Glass were mostly 50/50. This clearly helps illustrate the slow development of wearables and Google Glass is helping move along these ideas with the whole society together as one and doesn’t seem to be leaving one generation behind. It would be interesting to see how they will react to smartwatches or some sort of combination of smartwatches and Google Glass.

The post Watch: Elders React to Google Glass appeared first on VR World.

When I found out that I’m actually going to Computex Taipei 2014, my first thought was – well, nothing. The fact is that through all of my journalist years I’ve heard news bits about an IT conference that is held in Taiwan every year for the last 33 years. Somehow, I couldn’t imagine myself being actually there on that very spot. I’m aware that as for all of you BSN readers, I don’t have to explain what it’s all about. Somehow though, I still like to think that I’m not the only one who’s been IT ignorant so maybe this typically chick-lit text will find its readers.

Computex Taipei 2014 Intro Page

If you’d ask someone who knows me in person, they would probably call me a geek. A girl, but, still a geek. It is true though, that even I am a great final user of many gizmos and gadgets, I couldn’t call myself a geek. Nowadays, when a girl needs a huge amount of gadgets and related applications, it is practically impossible to stay a total idiot. Or lives under a rock.

In that way I’m pretty much trying to go along with the news in the IT industry. For me, the most important thing that a gadget should have is accuracy. I want my mobile/laptop/tablet (etc.) to act fast, be accurate, simple to use and – to look nice. It’s not the matter of benchmarks, which as we know – today can be owned by the manufacturers of the said gadgets.

Yes, I can understand some guys drooling over some really ugly (but still very cool, expensive, hip, mega extra wanted) notebook as it was some hot chick from AVN Expo. Still, for me, my gadgets have to be pretty, and has to match my other accessories and has to be noticed.

That is way I’m pretty happy because of attending of this years’ Computex. I you consider that it’s my peer, and that every year it gathers top ICT elite, different innovators and entrepreneurs from all of the world – I believe that there is a hope of finding some very cool and useful stuff. As organizers announced during their press conference, this Computex should be impressive for launching the new ‘SmarTech’ area featuring smart wearables, 3D printing and the rest of the smart technology at all levels of everyday life. Who knows, maybe 3D printing opens our ways to some new fashion era.

Teuta wearing Google Glass at the W Taipei Hotel.

All in all, through the next few days, I will be there having my Google Glasses on – assuring that nothing comes out of my way. And of course, I’ll be in my feminine way informing you on what have I learned and found out.

The post Computex from a Woman’s Perspective, Part I appeared first on VR World.

The University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine yesterday announced that they would be incorporating Google Glass into their 4-year curriculum. The School, including dean of medicine, Dr. Ralph V. Clayman, stated that they would introduce Google Glass at the beginning of the students’ 4-year medical programs and would incorporate it into the first two years of anatomy and clinical skills training to their third and fourth-year hospital rotations. The hopes are to help integrate technology more effectively into a student’s overall daily life and to enable them to become more productive and effective in delivering quality care. The school claims that they will be using specialized software that will comply with the HIPAA requirements for privacy, even though I’m not entirely sure if that’ll actually be entirely possible.

While the idea of integrating Google Glass into the medical field seems incredibly great, Google needs to enable these med students and the hospitals they’ll be working in to be able to properly warehouse all of the data within the hospital’s networks. This may be difficult because Google Glass makes heavily utilization of Google’s voice recognition software, almost all of which is running in the cloud. Yes, there is a way to enable cloud-less voice recognition but it is vastly less accurate and less responsive, which means these schools like UCI need to cooperate with Google to install local hardware to enable this to properly comply with HIPPA. However, they will probably get an exemption since they are using this for testing and will likely help Google and others find ways to balance technology, usability and privacy.

If you go to a lot of doctor’s offices today, you can still see how low-tech a lot of things still are and it would be incredibly valuable to help bring technology into the doctor’s office with something like Google Glass that enables a vast amount of data to be at a Doctor’s fingertips without actually restricting their hands.

Starting this month, they will deploy 10 pairs of Google Glass with 3rd and 4th year students with preliminary plans to utilize them in operating rooms and emergency departments. In fact, the technology has already been piloted by UC Irvine’s Medical Center in operating rooms, intensive care units and the emergency department to assess its effectiveness in improving physician efficiency and patient safety. In addition to that, an additional 20 to 30 pairs of Google Glass will be acquired and deployed in August when 1st and 2nd year students start their 4-year programs. The devices will be incorporated into places like anatomy labs, medical simulation centers, the ultrasound institute the Clinical Skills Center and even the basic science lecture hall.

One of my biggest concerns about deploying Google Glass widely across a place like UCI is how patients will receive the devices as some people simply worry about being filmed or having their picture taken even though Google Glass is mostly used for things other than that. It will be interesting to see how wearables mature further and how technologies like Google Glass find their way into the medical field.

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