FOR ALL YE GOOGLE GLASS NEWS FANS AND FOLLOWERS, you may have already heard the news about the latest killer app that has been hitting the tech blog headlines: all about Google Glass' RaceYourself app for running and fitness enthusiasts.
Interestingly, more and more are giving their thumbs up and elite nods , especially from technology evangelists , future tech vigilantes, and techno-progressive analysts and enthusiasts alike. This early, it has garnered the first of its future awards, recently proclaimed as the Best Design App in Fitness Nutrition and Diet Category by the UK Mobile and App Design Awards in London held just this June 2014
And who wouldn't take a second look at this beauty: what with its adrenaline-pumping tech effects such as simulations of flesh-eating zombies running after you and make you run for your life, or the challenging one-two punches via your very own avatar with your own personal running best time -- urging you to , as the app says, Race Yourself.
YouTube Screengrab
And there's more: RaceYourself takes you to riveting and surreal heights in augmented reality fashion.
While on your run, you go through a myriad of scenes, such as running but also "flying" as the app takes you through a skydiving experience, showing a sea of other "skydivers" with you, and later takes you to a virtual marathon of identically-clad runners in purple shirts, later bringing you to a skiing scenario with all the snowy mountain slopes with your other "fellow skiers".
And next thing you know, you later find yourself on the road running for your life with a huge rolling boulder seemingly following you at each turn and out to get ya! As you run faster and faster, you find yourself on a beach, and as you continue your workout, you're suddenly in the middle of a virtual bike race with cyclists via a surreal Tour De France.
Just when you think you have had enough, you later come across a platoon of zombies hungry to eat your brains out -- making you scamper away through all these hoopla of uberly cool excitement and fun.
That's a total of thirty game modes in the said app, and this defines the future of fitness and exercise as being far from the gloom and doom of boredom.
But experts say that all these are far from kidstuff.
Company co-founder Alex Foster said in a recent press release: “Imagine racing against your own personal best, chasing a friend you want to beat or even escaping a 400-tonne cargo train traveling at your target marathon pace," company co-founder "By blending reality with virtual reality, we can make workouts a lot more interesting and motivating."
“As well as making exercise more interesting, we wanted to incorporate the addictive and social elements from gaming. That’s why we reward users with unlockable games for completing workouts, " he says.
Foster adds: "Exercise is incredibly good for you. Gaming is incredibly addictive and enjoyable. Our goal is make exercise incredibly addictive and enjoyable through augmented reality exercise experiences on, primarily, Google Glass. “We are offering similar promises; more motivation, tracking, competition… but visually and live, that is, the user knows if they are beating or falling behind their personal best or target pace the whole way through the run.”
Meantime, the app's Beta version, now open for applications but limited to American citizens who are over 18, will be more accessible to a wider audience later this year , according to the app developers.
YouTube Screengrab
YouTube Screengrab
YouTube Screengrab
With the Glass' voice recognition technology , wearers of the smarrt eyewear can just whisper "O.K., Glass" to activate it, and can give you an array of choices on what to do while on your run: "Take a picture", "Record a video", "Give me directions to the nearest fastfood" --- and Glass would dutifully do its job for you.
RaceYouself's Chief Operating Officer Richard Goodrum said in a statement that the growing RaceYourself fans, this early, would enjoy more upcoming features to further enhance the app , taking it to the next level via another game mode, which is the race track.
"Taking RaceYourself to the racetrack is definitely something we have been thinking about and we have already started talking to a company regarding Google Glass integration with helmets. To put a car avatar on the track that drives ahead of you, much like in the game Gran Turismo, would actually be more accurate than a running man avatar."
"We could even adapt the chasing aspect of RaceYourself to beat your previous lap around the track, you can be driving away from a monster truck or Godzilla. "
"When it comes to the safety aspect of it, some do not realize that the Google Glass display is slightly off to the top right of your vision, meaning that you can easily obtain a clear view of the road ahead without serious distraction."
YouTube Screengrab
YouTube Screengrab
Goodrum further says that the app's newest version, available later this year, would also be "revolutionizing the racetrack experience" for track day enthusiasts and professional racing drivers as they see a visual representation of their lap to beat.
"With the release of the RaceYourself app aligned with the Google Glass' recent launch, we will be looking to pursue the car aspect of the app later in the year. "
Meantime, amidst all the media razzmatazz , recent news reported banning of Google Glass in UK cinemas, with theatre operators alarmed about the device's recording function which wearers can use inconspicuously to record the films being shown for the public.
Google Glass has just arrived in the UK last June 23, but this early, while early Glass Explorer beta testers have been pouring to check out the smart eyewear, controversy is blocking its marketing strategies these early.
jPhoto from Google Glass' RaceYourself site
Photo from Google Glass' RaceYourself site
London's The Independent reported the growing concern among theater owners regarding the idea and possibility of the device wearers easily recording pirated copies of their films being shown in their theatres. Cinema Exhibitors Association CEO Phil Clapp told the paper that "recording in cinemas is the source of more than 90 per cent of all illegally copied fils in their release form. Customers will be requested not to wear these into cinema auditoriums, whether the film is playing or not."
As UK filmgoers enter the cinemas, they will be greeted by this sign:
"“As a courtesy to your fellow audience members, and to prevent film theft, we ask that customers do not enter any cinema auditorium using any 'wearable technology' capable of recording images. Any customer found wearing such technology will be asked to remove it and may be asked to leave the cinema.”
The UK stages a first by getting the frontseat of initial global sale of the Glass outside the US, with units priced at 1,000 British Pounds, equivalent to about US$1703. However, the ban stays --- covering some 750 cinemas within the UK, which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Related to the most recent controversy, Google issued its statement:
"We encourage any cinemas concerned about Glass to treat the device as they treat similar devices like mobile phones: simply ask wearers to turn it off before the film starts. Broadly speaking, we also think it's best to have direct and first-hand experience with Glass before creating policies around it. The fact that Glass is worn above the eyes and the screen lights up whenever it’s activated makes it a fairly lousy device for recording things secretly.”
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