Google desires to solve some misperceptions about Glass. We have got our own views at the truth.

Google Glass provides a brand new perspective at the world, but people have trouble seeing it for what this is: a piece in progress.

To chase away against misperceptions about its computer-augmented eyewear, Google on Thursday published a listing of the end 10 Google Glass Myths.

“In its relatively short existence, Glass has seen some myths develop around it,” Google explained on its Google+ page for Glass. “While we’re flattered by the awareness, we thought it will probably make sense to tackle them, simply to clear the air.”

Yet Google has not addressed perhaps an important question about Glass: Does it have a future? Technology blogger Robert Scoble, an early fan of Google Glass, published a Google+ post on Wednesday expressing doubts about Google’s commitment to the project. Scoble, who thrives on taking provocative positions, said Google’s loss of clarity about Glass’s intended purpose indicates that Google hasn’t made up its mind about the way it sees Glass. And within the absence of clear answers, Scoble says technology investors are getting reluctant to fund Glass-oriented projects.

Google offered a restrained response. “We always appreciate feedback from everyone — even Robert — on make Glass better,” a corporate spokesman said in an email. “Inside the last 10 months we’ve got shipped nine new software updates and made three hardware updates based, largely, on feedback from our Explorers. We continue to maneuver quickly and are interested in what’s coming down the pike. Glass remains a prototype and we’ll keep improving it before making it more widely available to consumers.”

[Can’t afford a Google Glass for the boss’s birthday? Buy Your CIO a present: 5 Inexpensive Ideas.]

Google has prior to now abandoned products which were slow to take off, like iGoogle and Google Wave. But in trying to dispel Glass myths, it’s clear the corporate is making an attempt to counter negative public perception. Confronting the issues head-on seems inconsistent with a plan to throw within the towel.

These myths are those that worry Google.

1. Glass is the last word distraction from the true world.
Google argues that cup allows you to lookup and interact with the realm instead of staring right into a phone or tablet: “Big moments in life — concerts, your kid’s performances, a great view — is absolutely not experienced in the course of the screen you’re attempting to capture them on. That’s why Glass is off by default and only on if you happen to want it to be.”

Translation: You can actually be human in the event you use Glass, whether or not you seem like a cyborg.

It’s a good point. But Google isn’t going as far as to query whether it’s a necessity to capture all those big moments in life. Some things in life are best experienced in all their glorious impermanence, unrecorded and unmediated.

2. Glass is often on and recording everything.
“Similar to your cellphone, the Glass screen is off by default. Video recording on Glass is decided to last 10 seconds. People can record for longer, but Glass isn’t designed for and even in a position to always-on recording (the battery won’t last more than 45 minutes before it must be charged).”

Translation: Read the manual! We’ve already explained this at length in our Glass FAQs.

Oh, Google. In the event you had only seen your personal 2009 video “What’s a browser?” you’ve got anticipated the inevitability that folks would misunderstand Glass. The video is a reminder that not everyone cares about fine distinctions like “off by default” and “on by default.” Within the real world, people don’t even know what an online browser is. They simply want stuff that does something useful and they are not inclined to think too deeply about it.

3. Glass Explorers are technology-worshipping geeks.
“Our Explorers come from all walks of life. They include parents, firefighters, zookeepers, brewmasters, film students, reporters, and doctors. The only thing they’ve in common is they see the possibility of people to exploit technology in some way that helps them engage more with the area around them, instead of distract them from it.”

Translation: If you are having trouble engaging with the realm, our technology assist you to, nerd. That, and Glass may be useful to anyone who can’t spare his or her hands to administer a keyboard or tablet while at the job.

There’s a second thing Glass Explorers have in common: A spare $1,500 to enroll in the Explorer club. a wiser strategy will be to argue that Explorers are, as you suspected, technology-worshipping geeks, but these are the precise people you would like testing Glass.

4. Glass is in a position for high time.
“Glass is a prototype, and our Explorers and the wider public are playing a critical role in how it’s developed… And, one day, today’s prototype may look as funny to us as that cellular phone from the mid ’80s.”

Translation: You must see the contact lens we’re developing.

Really, we must always be grateful to Google for testing Glass in public. The failings it raises in regards to the social expectations of privacy and private interaction

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Thomas Claburn was writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications similar to New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and tv, having earned a not particularly useful … View Full Bio

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