‘Emasculating’: Sergey Brin Says Google Glass Outdoes Smartphones

By Daniel Bean

Feb 28, 2013 1:05pm

Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is trying to get us excited about the company’s Project Glass. This time he’s doing it at the expense of smartphones, calling them “emasculating.”

Brin spoke at the TED Conference in Long Beach, Calif. as part of its “Disrupt!” session.   He talked about the shortcomings of checking one’s phone all the time, according to Wired. “You’re standing around and just rubbing this featureless piece of glass,” he said. “You’re actually socially isolating yourself with your phone.”

“I whip this out and focus on it as though I have something very important to attend to,” Brin added, holding up his phone. “[Google Glass] really takes away that excuse… It really opened my eyes to how much of my life I spent secluded away in email or social posts.”

Related: Google Glass: An Inside View

Brin has been in full campaign mode for Google Glass since it was introduced with a spectacular Google I/O skydiving stunt last year. He spoke about the company’s continued interest in expanding Internet search features beyond typing in search terms.  “My vision when we started Google 15 years ago was that eventually you wouldn’t have to have a search query at all… The information would just come to you as you needed it,” Brin said. “[Google Glass] is the first form factor that can deliver that vision.”

But the technology isn’t quite yet available for public consumption. Google recently closed the #ifihadglass contest it ran on its Google+ social network.  Google was accepting applications for aspiring Glass owners. Applicants were asked to suggest creative ways to use Google Glass, and the company said it would reward those who had the best answers with an opportunity to buy their very own pair (for $1,500).

Since it was first publicly introduced last year, Google has been slowly releasing more and more information on the progress of Glass, the project that Brin says started as “a cellphone strapped to your head.”  Promotional videos are now up on the project’s website.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com