Called Specs, the glasses monitor what you’re looking at and nudge you to pay attention when you inevitably get distracted
Do you always find yourself scrolling through Twitter instead of doing your work? Are you lying in bed right now instead of tidying your room? Boy, does one company have the product for you. Enter: anti-procrastination glasses.
Designed by a startup named Auctify, the glasses – aptly called Specs – use artificial intelligence to monitor what you’re looking at, and will nudge you when you get distracted. Launched this week on Indiegogo, Auctify has already exceeded its fundraising goal of £7,520, racking up an impressive £29,162 in just three days.
‘How do they work?’, I hear you ask. Specs have a camera built into the frame, which uses machine learning to identify what you’re seeing. Data from this camera is recorded and sent to a connected app, where users can take a number of actions. Be that simply getting a breakdown of your daily activity, creating productive “focus sessions”, or setting up alerts for when you’re looking at the wrong thing (AKA procrastinating).
For those who set Specs up for the latter purpose, they’ll see a light in the corner of their eye, or hear a sound through the glasses’ built-in speakers when Specs identify that you’re distracted. If you manage to stay focused on your goals – which you can set in the app – Auctify says you’ll be rewarded (though TBC how).
Speaking to The Verge, Auctify founder Hisham El-Halabi says the glasses can identify 20 different activites, including – among others – reading, writing, looking at your phone, watching TV, working out at the gym, cooking, and talking to other people.
“Since being productive means different things to different people,” El-Halabi told The Verge, “users can choose within the companion app which activities are recognised as productive. For activities that can be more vague, such as studying, the user can set which specific activities contribute towards studying – such as reading, writing, etc.”
As they’re still in the crowdfunding stage, you’d be forgiven for having doubts about how well the Specs will actually function when created. El-Halabi is confident in his product, though, and has even released a demo video with a fully functional prototype of the glasses, which sees the user’s focus level drop everytime he stops his target activity – in the video’s case: reading.
As well as stopping you from procrastinating, Specs also function as a fitness-tracking device, let you listen to music, take calls, and even add prescription lenses so you can use them as normal glasses.
When it comes to privacy, El-Halabi asserts that Specs never send videos or photos over the internet, immediately discard any visuals they analyse via AI, and encrypt any information stored on the accompanying phone app.
According to Indiegogo, Auctify is hoping to start manufacturing the glasses in December, with deliveries set to begin in January next year. Find out more, and contribute to the fundraiser here.