A Google Glass/Fitbit mashup

[ WaterLogg ]

Hi, I’m @jasonsalas

- Product manager, news anchor, college football analyst, filmmaker

- Co-author of Designing & Developing for Google Glass

- That Guy who likes Godfather III the best

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”

Great moments in thinking

“Necessity is the mother of invention.” - Plato, The Republic

Great moments in thinking

“When you create a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist, THAT’S invention.”

Great moments in thinking

“When you create a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist, THAT’S invention.” - Me, in graduate school

Great moments in thinking

Fitbit, IoT & The Quantified Self

Inefficiency revealed

● I drink A LOT of water ○ Large daily volume ○ Multiple “transactions”

● Fussing with Fitbit’s mobile & web apps is often laborious ○ Constantly posting via phone, tablet & browser○ Keeps me from doing other things

● Glassware updating Fitbit data○ Head-mounted client largely without a UI

● RESTful application○ Cloud service doesn’t require native app startup/shutdown

● Vocal actions are the perfect input mechanism○ 4 seconds versus 20 seconds

WaterLogg is born!

● Tell Glass how much water you drink○ ...literally!

● Track how much you’ve consumed○ ...constantly!

● Continue to live in the moment○ ...conveniently!

● Leverage the Internet of Things○ ...totally!

Handsfree, voice-driven program control

Use case

● Drink water at the office, in the car, at a restaurant, while exercising, doing dishes, folding laundry, lying on the couch...

● “OK Glass - post an update to - WaterLogg - thirty-three”● Audio transcribed as numeric text & pushed to the cloud● Fitbit profile updated & synced across platforms/devices● Confirmation card inserted into Glass timeline

● This is precisely the behavior where Glass is great○ Doesn’t take users away out of the real world○ Caters to microinteractions: quick, lightweight sessions

● A completely subjective solution○ Nothing existing addressed my specific need○ High impact, low intrusion, stupidly simple

Opportunities

Let’s take it for a spin

Voice command

Voice command

(or a tappable home card menu item)

(or a tappable home card menu item)

Glass listens for input

Speak volume of water consumed

Volume transcribed & uploaded

Success!

Success!

I use this all the time, everywhere.

Seriously. (Ask my co-workers & neighbors.)

● Mirror API○ Static cards, menu items, voice command, sharing contact

● Google APIs Client Library for Python○ OAuth 2.0 flow

● App Engine ○ Task Queue

● Temboo○ Insanely useful libs supporting 100+ APIs, devices & databases ○ Proxies authorized requests to remote services

Server-side semantics

Mirror API flow

Mirror API flow

Mirror API flow

Mirror API flow

- Callback needs to respond to notification pings ASAP- Let a managed service handle processing (like multithreading)- Adopt this pattern in all Glassware, no matter how trivial

Use a job queue for async processing

Takeaways

● Big win isn’t next-gen technical alchemy ○ Not just Glassware for the sake of Glassware

● Enhancing value by delivering real utility○ Creating an effective solution to do something better

● Fluency of the wearable UX ○ Right tool for the right job

As it turns out, the Grecian formula was right

Philosopher king > Guam dweeb

Roadmap

● Android Wear integration○ Same idea, but designed for smartwatches

● Contextual computing○ What I’m doing, where I am, what time it is, who I’m with,

who’s near me, what’s going on around me

Get the code

Explore, clone, fork & improve!https://github.com/jasonsalas/Waterlogg

SPOILER ALERT: . . .shameless self-promotion ahead. . .

(Cough, cough)

@jasonsalasgoogle.com/+JasonSalas#ThinkForGlass

Thanks for your time!

;-)