Spectacles

Snap, the company formerly known as Snapchat, just released its sunglasses with built-in cameras. They’re tough to get, but fun to use and they just might be the first face computer you’ll actually want to wear. It is now possible to get a firsthand look at someone else’s daily life.

Snap’s new ‘Spectacles’ are on sale now for 130 bucks – sort of. The only way to get a pair is to find one of the mysterious Snap Box vending machines. The only other way to get them is to pay a lot of money – $600! They are a lot more socially acceptable then Google Glass and they are about 1/16 as useful. They make videos – and not much else. The bonus is that you don’t look like a tool wearing them. Well, not too much of a tool… Spectacles work by having lenses on both stems combined to show video with 115° field view. You press the button by your left temple and the glasses capture 10 seconds of a “you-eyed” view. The video is taken in a circular format, which your Snap friends can spin their phone around to see. It all syncs to a new Specs folder in your Snap app, where you can edit just like any other video.

The video you shoot is not as good as the one in your phone camera, but it looks good in Snap. It makes you rethink the way you capture the world and the way you view things in the world. Using the Spectacles is also effortless. You just tap the button and look around, allowing you to be in the moment while you capture your video. At this point, Spectacles are just toys with a genius marketing plan.