Google has filed a particularly creepy patent that would allow a wearable device to create a video database of our “memories,” all recorded using a wearable device such as a future iteration of the Google Glass.
While the Glass allowed users to record video footage, if this new patent was to be put into practice it would build upon this feature greatly by allowing users to record far lengthier videos, stretching out to an entire 24-hour day. These recordings would then be uploaded to a cloud-based storage system, with you then able to use voice control in order to access these “memories” and replay them at your discretion.
It’s incredibly ambitious considering that current technology would not have the capability to store such a large amount of video footage, and that Internet upload speeds would prove to be a major stumbling block for transferring the videos to the cloud. However, Google is likely filing the patent early so that when the technology to support their idea does exist, they’ll have the jump on their competitors to bring this off-the-wall concept to life.
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Aside from technological limitations, though, Google would also face the legal implications of effectively allowing users to record anyone and everyone that they pass in the street. It was an issue that the original Google Glass had, with restaurants and theaters ordering that Glass wearers remove their devices before they entered, and it would only escalate if users of this future wearable could effectively record their entire day. It’s a situation that would inevitably make a lot of people uncomfortable, knowing that whomever they were holding a conversation with who was wearing the device could potentially be recording them, and could watch the replay of their meeting later.
It remains to be seen how and if this patent will ever be implemented by Google, and the mere thought of it is undoubtedly disconcerting, conjuring up images of Charlie Brooker’s sci-fi series Black Mirror and its episode ‘Entire History of You’ in which users’ effectively ruined their lives with a very similar gadget by replaying the sordid memories of their loved ones, but it’s at least another interesting use for a head-mounted display that isn’t virtual or augmented reality.
