Is It Recording? Google Glass in NYC

Walking down Fifth Avenue wearing Google Glass caused a woman to do a head turn in the middle of her Snapchat selfie, a mover with a thick accent to follow me for two blocks asking me to buy my Glass (for only $50!) and a plethora of "Did you just see that girl wearing Glass?!" comments.
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Walking down Fifth Avenue on a weekend afternoon is a tourist's dream and a New Yorkers past-time. Walking down Fifth Avenue wearing Google Glass caused a woman to do a head turn in the middle of her Snapchat selfie, a mover with a thick accent to follow me for two blocks asking me to buy my Glass (for only $50!) and a plethora of "Did you just see that girl wearing Glass?!" comments.

It was a cold evening in late March when was eating a pork bun at my favorite hangout, Booker & Dax, when the first person I ever saw wearing Glass walked in. His Glass was bright orange but it didn't need to be; everyone noticed, everyone's head swirled. Depending on who you asked, he automatically became the coolest or weirdest person in the bar. A few months later, Gary Shteyngart wrote an article in the New Yorker, voicing his initial experiences with Glass in New York City. In both cases, I wondered with amusement what it was like to possess this intriguing technology.

Fast-forward to November 6 when my Glass arrived at 9:32 a.m. A few hours and a dozen poorly taken photos later, I headed solo to Terminal 5 to see James Blake in concert. It was packed as I weaseled my way in closer to the stage. Unable to practice voice commands, I was a slave to the trackpad, struggling to capture a video that could encapsulate James' talents, as I danced (practically handsfree) to his deep beats and harmonic voice. The girl to my right stared in amazement at Glass, so I briefly let her try it on before heading to meet up with my friends at a magazine-launch party in Meatpacking. As soon the bouncers saw that I was wearing Glass, we walked right in.

By no means does seeing me (or anyone) wear Glass muster up the same sentiment felt back in March when the first Glass Explorers strutted around New York and San Francisco. While the exclusivity of Glass has fled America, it still resides in Europe and Asia (as well as Africa, Australia and of course Antarctica).

I have now demoed Glass to 38 people, got an Nexus 4 for my Glass to "always be connected" and use the MyGlass app to screencast what I am seeing on Glass to others because I got tired of asking: "Is it recording?!"

My favorite new feature to demo is the Word Lens app better known as the "OK Glass, Translate" this function. I captured my friend Matt's first reaction to using the app when when the words "Hola, como estás?" quickly transformed in Glass to "Hello, how are you?", the technology is so mind-blowing I attempted to sensor out his explicative(s) in the video below. I am beyond thrilled to see how people abroad react to using this app to translate a street sign .

Now that you've read about my experiences in New York, watch the short video compilation of everything described appearing in no particular order.

P.S. This is my first time making a video, so I can assure you that they will get better!

Special thanks to The 3% Conference for making this all possible!

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