John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Schmidt: Talking to Google Glass Could Make You a Spectacle

Google has long had a “creepy line” that it likes to approach without actually crossing. But with its new Google Glass, it’s really tottering on the edge.

That’s the gist of Eric Schmidt’s latest comments on Google’s forthcoming facephone, whose launch the company is approaching with quite a bit of circumspection. Speaking at an event Thursday at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Schmidt said Glass requires a rethinking of social etiquette, and a heavy curative hand from Google with Glass app developers.

“There are obviously places where Google Glasses are inappropriate,” Schmidt said. “It’s so new, we decided to be more cautious.”

Wise move, and not just from a public relations standpoint, but from a regulatory one, as well. If Glass draws the same sort of scrutiny as Street View, even a single privacy misstep could very quickly turn into a grueling nightmare.

“We want to be very careful that this sort of new invention is not misused,” Schmidt said later. “It’s already been banned in Las Vegas casinos. They haven’t even seen it. I’m always concerned about premature regulation based on fear, as opposed to understanding what’s possible.”

Certainly a legitimate concern, given Google’s history.

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December 30, 2013 at 6:49 am PT

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December 29, 2013 at 2:12 pm PT

BlackBerry Pulls Latest Twitter for BB10 Update

December 29, 2013 at 5:58 am PT

Apple CEO Tim Cook Made $4.25 Million This Year

December 28, 2013 at 12:05 pm PT

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Nobody was excited about paying top dollar for a movie about WikiLeaks. A film about the origins of Pets.com would have done better.

— Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com comments on the dreadful opening weekend box office numbers for “The Fifth Estate.”