In an age of technology, it's an easy thing to get caught up in the latest trend, and when the marketing of a trend happens to latch onto (teehee) a subject close to your heart, it's easier still to jump on the bandwagon.
Do we REALLY need Google Glasses to help breastfeeding mothers to nurse their babies? REALLY?
In a world that is already filled with camera phones, web cams and video conferencing, do we really need to add another piece of expensive technology to enable mothers to get the help they need? Or are we loosing track of the bigger picture: Helping mothers breastfeed through getting them real live help- through education and through re-educating the health system to SUPPORT breastfeeding mothers.
This is yet another ploy to distract people from the real problem by giving them a bandaid for a headache. It doesn't help.
....But it does sell Google Glasses, eh?
......... and Google Glasses are NOT just a cool (expensive) new toy...
Breastfeeding mothers get help from Google Glass and Small World
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Sheila French using Google Glass to connect with a lactation consultant via Google Hangouts. Photo: Angela Wylie
New mothers struggling with breastfeeding may soon have the latest technology at their disposal to get expert help at any time of day.
The Melbourne office of an innovation company called Small World is about to conduct a Google Glass trial with the Australian Breastfeeding Association that will effectively allow their telephone counsellors to see through the eyes of mothers while they breastfeed at home.
The company is looking for 10 Victorian women expecting to give birth in February who want to trial the high-tech glasses for six to eight weeks to receive breastfeeding coaching. During that time, participants would receive training through their glasses on the fundamentals of breastfeeding. The gadget will display prompts, allowing mothers to keep their hands free to nurse their baby.
If they need further help, they can video call at any time an ABA breastfeeding consultant who will be able to see, through their Google glasses, a live stream of their baby attaching and feeding.AdvertisementNicole Bridges, a spokeswoman for the ABA, said the group decided to participate in the trial because they felt the technology could overcome some of the barriers women face in getting useful advice when they need it most.
She said although most Australian women started breastfeeding infants soon after birth, many decided to stop about six to 12 weeks because of difficulties. In many cases, this stemmed from women leaving hospital before their milk came in, leaving them insufficiently advised about how to prevent and overcome problems.
It is my hope that people have been taking note of the massive amount of information that has been going through the main stream media about the spying and theft of information by the NSA and various other government agencies (globally) for the last 8 months. This is not a "it's not going to happen to me" type problem... it IS happening to you!
The NSA has been caught red handed with collecting your private information, tapping your phone calls, reading your emails, and SELLING your information to FOREIGN corporations and governments. Their top three favorite venues to troll through are:
-Skype
And now Google has introduce the Google glass- a contraption that can record any conversation and video anything you do or see, and has the ability to interact with your Retinas.
Google patents 'pay-per-gaze' eye-tracking that could measure emotional response to real-world ads
Advertisers spend heaps of cash on branding, bannering, and product-placing. But does anyone really look at those ads? Google could be betting that advertisers will pay to know whether consumers are actually looking at their billboards, magazine spreads, and online ads. The company was just granted a patent for "pay-per-gaze" advertising, which would employ a Google Glass-like eye sensor in order to identify when consumers are looking at advertisements in the real world and online.From the patent application, which was filed in May 2011:Pay per gaze advertising need not be limited to on-line advertisements, but rather can be extended to conventional advertisement media including billboards, magazines, newspapers, and other forms of conventional print media. Thus, the gaze tracking system described herein offers a mechanism to track and bill offline advertisements in the manner similar to popular online advertisement schemes.The idea is to measure how long a person looks at an ad, as well as their emotional response as indicated by pupil dilation. The company, by now very used to allegations of privacy invasion, was careful to preempt the Big Brother argument by noting that users can opt out of "pay-per-gaze" tracking and data will be anonymized.
Sure.... Just like you can opt out of Facebook settings you don't like. .... and then facebook resets your settings when they "upgrade" and low and behold, you discover that your family photos are public viewing again and hell- even searchable through Google Images!!
The Real Privacy Implications of Google Glass
The real concern with Google Glass and privacy doesn't have to do with surveillance or collection of personal data, but with the way it will make us behave in the real world.
Over the last few weeks, Google has steadily been building hype around Google Glass. The search giant revealed tech specs, explained how the software works, and has even let some of the tech press get their hands on the “Explorer Edition” of the device, an early version that costs a cool $1,500.
One thing Google hasn’t done is talk about the privacy implications of Glass, which has a built-in camera that can sneakily take photos and video at any time. It seems the company would rather let the debate play out on its own.
I think this is a mistake on Google’s part, but I also think much of the fearful prognosticating over Google Glass is misplaced. The real concern with Google Glass and privacy doesn’t have to do with surveillance or collection of personal data, but with the way it will make us behave in the real world.The Debate Thus Far
Google Glass supporters have a few standard lines of defense against privacy critics. They claim that Glass isn’t much different than a smartphone in terms of capabilities, that people will have common decency about what to record, and that bystanders will learn to recognize when they’re on camera.
Robert Scoble, arguably the biggest Glass advocate outside of Google, tries to swat down privacy complaints in a post on Google+:They think we’re going to follow them into bathrooms and record “their junk.” … If I wanted to do that I’d rather use my new Android phone, which has a much better camera and, um, can be more easily aimed without grabbing attention. The microphone on my iPhone is better, too, and video is much sharper and isn’t quite as wide angle, so I can see more details if I’m trying to be pervy anyway (which I’m not).Scoble claims that the privacy concerns around Glass are overblown, and in a way, he’s right. The vast majority of people aren’t perverts or creeps, and wouldn’t use Glass as a force of evil. Besides, the real stalkers already have better tools at their disposal.
They think I’m going to walk by them recording everything they are saying. After getting [Glass] that’s laughable.
But in making his defense, Scoble also touches on something more subtle. Because Glass opens the possibility of surreptitious recording, people will learn to put their guard up in the device’s presence. Ever notice that people tweak their behavior when you train a camera on them? Glass has the potential to make that feeling the norm.
Tim Stevens, in his review of the Glass Explorer Edition at Engadget, captures this notion perfectly:The point can certainly be made that it’s possible to take a picture or video of someone these days without their knowledge, but the situation here is a bit reversed: nobody knows if you’re not taking a picture or video of them. This will, at first, result in some good-natured “Are you recording this?” comments in conversations but, as time goes on, as a wearer, you’ll notice that people will be acting a little more cautiously around you. (As an aside, they’ll also struggle to maintain eye contact. One person told us that Glass looked like a “third eye” that he couldn’t stop staring at.)Google Glass may expose us to prying eyes, but that risk already applies to existing technology, as Scoble pointed out. As for data collection, Google already knows plenty about its users through Gmail, Maps and Search. The only major new frontier for Glass is face recognition, but it’s a stretch to assume that Glass would start auto-tagging everyone it sees and building some secret mugshot database.
U.S. spy agencies were fantasizing about Google Glass four years before it was invented
Google Glass is still a long way from reaching ordinary consumers like you and me. But the search company isn't the only one that's dreamed of a future powered by augmented-reality vision. Turns out the intelligence community was fantasizing about something called "iGlasses" as early as 2008 — long before anyone had coined the word "Glasshole."...