Monitor your study every minute, efficient time management, a pair of AI glasses is enough

Author | Bei Shuang

Is there a way to overcome procrastination?

Recently, an AI black technology product appeared on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform, claiming to help users improve their concentration and learning efficiency .

This black technology product is the pair of glasses that look "ordinary" in the picture.

It is understood that this pair of glasses named Specs has also been widely reported by many foreign technology media.

So, how does it improve efficiency?

Improving efficiency cannot rely solely on self-control, you also need a supervisor.

Specs glasses are made by a company called Auctify. According to the official website, the glasses help users improve their concentration by monitoring what their "eyes" are looking at. This function is mainly achieved through the built-in smart camera and computer vision technology of Specs.

Specifically, the functions of Specs need to be used in conjunction with the application in the mobile phone.

For example, if you need to complete a certain learning task, such as finishing a book within 60 minutes, you can set the "reading options" in the application, which is a bit similar to the Pomodoro to-do list.

The difference is that Specs monitors whether you are actually reading.

As shown in the figure below, Specs will synchronously transmit all collected "status" information to the application and perform real-time analysis.

If you are actually reading a book, the system will automatically display the current high productivity state with a blue waveform.

Once the eyes move away from the book, the system will use a gray waveform to prompt inattention; if the eyes are completely deviated, such as browsing Bilibili, the system will directly display the distraction state in red and issue a warning through the built-in bone conduction headphones.

Isn’t it a perfect weapon to prevent slacking off? This feeling reminds me of the pair of “eyes” on the glass at the back door of a high school classroom.

You may be wondering, can Specs identify and monitor any activity? What if I want to make a fitness check-in plan?

In fact, the activities that Specs can recognize are limited. However, Auctify’s official website shows that the algorithm can already recognize more than 20 common check-in activities, including fitness plans, writing, watching mobile phones/TV/laptops, doing yoga, cooking, playing musical instruments, and chatting and interacting.

Founder and CTO Hisham El-Halabi also said more activity types will be added in the future.

A pair of high-tech glasses that integrate the functions of Bluetooth headphones and sports bracelets.

Judging from its internal structure, Specus is not a simple "overseeing" glasses. Its built-in accelerometer and gyroscope (Accelerometer+Gyroscope), pulse oximetry sensor (Pulse Oximetry Sensor), Bluetooth LE (Bluetooth LE), and bone conduction speakers (Bone Conduction Speakers) can also realize multiple functions.

Among them, the pulse oximeter, accelerometer and gyroscope can act as fitness tracking devices, such as monitoring pulse and blood oxygen concentration during exercise, and providing data analysis on the mobile phone.

The bone conduction speaker and Bluetooth LE can support answering calls and even listening to music.

In addition, it should be noted that all personal data collected above will only be stored within the mobile application and will not be leaked to other websites.

Specs has now launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Indiegogo platform, priced at $249 (about 1,702 yuan). El-Halabi said that their initial crowdfunding goal was $10,000, but now they have earned about $17,000.

El-Halabi is very optimistic about the Specs product and is already considering mass production. He said that students, office workers, and entrepreneurs have shown great interest in it, because improving procrastination will benefit everyone, and our target group is not only technology enthusiasts, but also more people with procrastination.

According to the platform information, if the crowdfunding goal reaches US$150,000, in addition to a pair of smart glasses, users will also receive the following smart gift package, including a smart charger, four spare batteries and a smart bracelet.

However, El-Halabi also emphasized that there are still certain challenges in large-scale production, because it is not easy to embed multiple functional hardware into slender glasses frames and combine them with machine learning to connect with external applications.

Overall, Specs can indeed play a supervisory role in improving personal efficiency, but its effectiveness is still limited. For example, if you change professional books into novels when reading, Specs does not seem to work for this way of slacking off.

Not only Speces, but any technology product can only play a supporting role in time management. It still depends more on the ability of self-control, just as this user said:

Some netizens also complained that if you look into the distance you will be warned, which makes it impossible for you to think.

Interestingly, a netizen who is suspected to be the boss suggested that every employee should have one to squeeze every last drop of blood out of them.

In addition, some netizens suggested that it can be given to boyfriends as a gift, which is an absolute "anti-theft" weapon [sly smile].

Finally, what other magical uses do you think Specs has? Welcome to chat with us~

Reference link:

• https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/1/21404004/anti-procrastination-smart-glasses-productivity-boosting-auctify-specs-indiegogo
  

• https://www.pcmag.com/news/trouble-staying-focused-these-smart-glasses-monitor-what-you-look-at-to

• https://www.tomshardware.com/news/auctify-specs-smart-glasses-use-machine-learning-to-try-to-keep-you-productive