Bob CollinsLast week, Google put the pricetag on its Google Glass eyewear. For $1,500, you can be constantly connected.
On Friday night, Kyle Russell, a tech reporter for Business Insider, was wearing Google Glass eyewear while walking in the Mission District of San Francisco.
If there’s anywhere that would appreciate a little tech, you’d think it would be San Francisco. But it’s also a symbol of the tech-savvy pushing out the “little people.”
Sadly, the easiest way to spot a techie is to look for the guy or gal equipped with the kind of ridiculous gadgets we’re always trying out.
So if you’re in San Francisco and see someone wearing Google Glass, it’s pretty likely that they work for a company that’s had some kind of an impact on the community, from one of the many startups to giants like Twitter or Google.
If those people hadn’t moved to San Francisco, people wouldn’t be priced out of their neighborhoods, rental properties wouldn’t be purchased by wealthy young millionaires, and tenants wouldn’t be evicted from the homes they’ve lived in for several decades.
My love for gadgets makes me look and sound like one of the people whom residents of the city have come to feel oppressed by.
The individual who smashed my Google Glass on Friday — because of political beliefs or a personal impact that has been made by the tech industry — felt that it was appropriate to destroy my personal property in protest against what I seemed to stand for, based on my appearance; never mind the irony in choosing to assault someone based on their appearance as a way to preserve San Francisco’s culture.
In February, a woman was attacked in a bar while wearing Google Glass.
They go on sale tomorrow.
