New use cases for tomorrow’s must-have products
Tech development sometimes seems as if it’s living in an upside-down world. Gone are the days when the mantra, “necessity is the mother of invention,” ruled the drawing board. These days, ‘inventors’ are just as likely to come up with the creation first and decide what it’s good for, second. However, this drip up, verses drip down approach to development can be highly innovative if we can only see their potential.
Over the years, several developers have tried their hand at smart glasses. Google started it all with Google Glasses and Snap Spectacles tried their luck too, but neither really took off. So it might come as a surprise to hear that Intel has now thrown their hat into the ring with their offering, Vaunt.
“Intel are putting their fate in the hands of external developers worldwide.”
Yes, they’re smaller, smarter, faster, with a low-powered class one laser that shoots messages directly into your eye, but the big question is — will they succeed where the others failed? Intel is hoping so, but they are also putting their fate in the hands of external developers worldwide. They plan to release the technology to those in the field who would be able to find new use cases for this, their latest technology.
Currently, their use cases are limited, they suggest the image might let you know it’s someone’s birthday, send notifications from your phone, or project a cake recipe into your retina. But we don’t need to be geniuses to see these uses alone won’t convince the world to wear a pair of Vaunt glasses.
But while Google glasses never took off, their new use cases were viable and this is something Intel can build on. Healthcare applications which could help surgeons by displaying critical information at eye level where put forward, and could be performed even better with the Vaunt. Likewise, simple customer service uses would allow employees to talk face to face with a customer while seeing the required information.
“What information would you like to receive almost subconsciously?”
However, the Vaunt product is not aiming to offer the augmented reality that saw Google projecting a map on the road in front of a walker. Intel’s glasses simply project a small amount of data directly into the eye. In addition, the future models will likely be equipped with a microphone based smart assistant and smart home access (like Alexa or Siri). The first-gen models will also have motion sensors to allow them to be controlled through subtle motion gestures like a tilt of the head. While second-gen glasses might have pupil tracking. Essentially, Intel wants wearing these glasses to be as natural as possible.
And this is where new use cases, different from those Google uncovered, will come into play. What information would you like to receive almost subconsciously — Instant translation applications, a hands-free calculator, Bitcoin rates?
While we wait to see what new use cases are developed, it’s a good chance to appreciate the system of ‘putting the cart before the horse’. Because why should new products be solely driven by a noted deficiency? Why not invent the thing and then work out how to use it? After all, some of the most significant discoveries of humankind were accidental, the use cases yet undefined, such as penicillin and even fire. We discovered these things and only later decided on their uses, and this worked out quite well both times.
