Segways would need parking / secure storage, or lots more upper body strength on the average person to get them up stairs. Costly physical barriers to widespread use.

Something like this pretty much just needs something to charge from. Like your computer while you work, and the wall while you sleep, from a USB port perhaps (which you already have).

Not making any claims as to which are more useful / applicable to more people. Just that there are major physical barriers to anything that requires even a pocket, much less infrastructure. A small wearable computer just requires somewhere to sit when you're not using it.

I can imagine people wearing headsets like that all the time would cause innumerable problems.

They'll be like bluetooth headsets. Reserved for a very specific subset of the population.

You're assuming that you'll even be able to tell who's wearing one rather than regular glasses. Look at the change in form factors of MP3 players and phones over the past 10 years, and then look at where they're _starting_ from with these. No reason they couldn't be nearly invisible by the time they hit widespread use.

You'll be able to spot those people because they're always walking into things or muttering voice commands to nobody in particular.

Don't tell me you can't spot someone with a portable music player from a hundred feet away. If anything the visibility of those has increased as the popularity of over-sized headphones has grown.

Can you spot someone with a hearing aid from ten feet away? Not these days.

All of those problems with the Segway could be solved if people were determined enough to use them. The Segway didn't take off because PEOPLE LOOK RIDICULOUS on them.

"Wearable" computing has the same issue, and will only take off if it can be made to look stylish enough for fashion-conscious people. This is Google we're talking about, so it's safe to assume the product will be about as stylish as an industrial vacuum cleaner. Some other company will have to come along and fix it before it becomes popular.

I keep hearing that theory around Segways, but I keep seeing people riding them on tours and whatnot. I heard a few people claim ridiculous when they first came out, but I don't hear it from anyone, anywhere, in person, any more. Only on the internet.

Honestly, I think it has more to do with them costing $5k and being less mobile than a bike, which you can pick up. That alone makes them absolutely worthless beyond their battery range, and to anyone who encounters stairs in their day to day life. And out of the price range of an enormous percent of USA's population, and it only gets worse for families.

But opinion battles have no end. We disagree at a rather fundamental level, I'm happy to leave it at that.

Hopefully it's just you. Some of us have been waiting for this for more than 20 years. :)