Google Glass...

Google Glass users get mostly warm reception

Despite the controversy around Google Glass, early adopters say the attention they've received has been mostly positive.

JR Curley got a pair of Google Glass in November. Not once has he been asked to take off Glass in an establishment and no one has expressed discomfort that he might be taking photographs of them he said. (Brian van der Brug, Los Angeles Times / April 3, 2014)

SAN FRANCISCO — At 6 feet 4 inches, JR Curley is used to getting noticed.

Just not like this. Ever since he got a pair of Google Glass in November, he has been turning heads at the grocery store, in restaurants, on the street, even at Disneyland.

People approach him all the time to ask about his head-mounted, Internet-connected computer, which is worn like a pair of glasses. He spends so much time letting them try on Glass that his wife has begun referring to herself as the "Glass bystander."

For all the controversy Glass has generated for its ability to take pictures or film video with a simple gesture or voice command, Curley says the attention Glass gets on the streets of Los Angeles has been positive.

Not once has he been asked to take off Glass in an establishment and no one has expressed discomfort that he might be taking photographs of them or video recording them, he said.

In fact, he's the one who has had to get accustomed to people whipping out their smartphones and taking pictures of him without first asking permission.

"As with any new technology, the more people have it, the more it generates a broad understanding," said Curley, 41, a design studio director of an accounting firm who lives in Manhattan Beach.

Curley and dozens of others who are early testers of the device report little or no backlash from the public. In fact, they say a series of high-profile yet isolated incidents have given Glass an unfair rap.

Glass users have been tossed from movie theaters. The device has been banned in bars, restaurants and casinos. A San Diego woman was pulled over for driving with Glass, and a few states are considering banning drivers from using Glass out of concern that the small screen will distract them on the road.

One of the most notorious incidents took place in a San Francisco bar in February when social media consultant Sarah Slocum said she was attacked for wearing Glass. Despite allegations from bar patrons, Slocum denied surreptitiously recording anyone there. But court records show that in 2012 her neighbors got a restraining order against her for crouching outside their open window and recording them with her smartphone.

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