The most revolutionary, game-changing, and human-enhancing app for wearable tech also happens to be the most dangerous. This app is Vine, the six-second video recording service.
Why is it the best app for wearable? Because text sucks on a HUD. If you called up instructions for changing your oil, a set of short, quick-cut videos (in first-person, naturally) will beat the hell out of paragraphs. You don’t need to interact with it, it gets to the point, and it’s self-explanatory. Vine on wearable means having mentors at your shoulder, literally showing you what to do.
A wearable is also the perfect device to capture a Vine. You get a stable first-person camera, a gesture to control the shot (Vine only records when you’re holding a button) and the ability to be super-impulsive about recording your Vines. Whatever your job, hobby, or talent is, you can show others how it’s done without really bothering. It’s a killer app because it makes using and sharing expertise trivial.
Why is it the worst app for wearable? Because the camera is a trap. Simply wearing a camera is disconcerting to others, especially when they know you can record video any time. Six seconds is enough to take anything out of context. The fear alone is enough to raise lynch mobs against wearables.
Let’s not forget that entertainment is always a Faustian bargain. For every video that shows you how to execute a perfect stir-fry flip, there will be a hundred worthless clips of cats. A clip with lifesaving CPR instructions will be buried under idiotic gag comedy, videos of food, snaps of television, and the mounds of dreck that unfocused people insist on proliferating. Of course, don’t forget the porn. As soon as porn becomes possible, you’ll never be able to call up a video without people jumping to conclusions.
Vine is the best and worst app possible for wearable. With hardware-enforced limits on content, it links human minds together more tightly than any possible technology. Without it, it brands every wearable user as a perverted snitch while obliterating hours of their time.
Zack Freedman 