When I spoke with Tim Pool on the phone, the Vice reporter and media innovator (first to pioneer the use of drones for reporting on demonstrations, for instance) was having a typically busy week. Just after coming back from working in the United Kingdom, Pool was now in Las Vegas getting ready to visit Def Con and Black Hat –the world’s two best known cybersecurity conferences, which both take place within days of each other in Las Vegas’s searing summer heat. Pool was interested in the reactions from Las Vegas tourists, many of whom likely had no idea that thousands of computer hackers and eccentric tech geniuses were about to disrupt their vacation.

He was, however, more interested in sharing his findings from using Google Glass as a journalist. Using Glass, Pool shoots livestreaming footage for Vice.com and takes pictures from the midst of volatile demonstrations and other newsworthy events. It also helps him see his producers from thousands of miles away, speak to locals who don’t understand English, and even allows him to instantly access his home computer in the middle of a revolution.

In our conversation, Pool said Glass was the biggest change to his reporting toolkit since the iPhone. After being accepted as a member of the Google Glass Explorer program, he began tinkering with Glass in order to add functionality useful for him as a journalist. Using Launchy, an Android app launcher program for Glass OS, Pool quickly added livestreaming, voice translation, and remote access capabilities to his headset. Using a Bluetooth mini-keyboard, Pool is able to access his desktop from volatile points in the field, see his files displayed in his field of vision, and bring up any file he might need to consult on background.

While Pool notes that Glass currently has technical obstacles–it can be constrained by bandwidth, the battery life is relatively poor, and, as he notes on his Google+ page, it is surprisingly susceptible to tear gas, he considers it a huge asset to his reporting. Most important, it seems, is the safety and non-distraction factor. While it might be ironic given all the talk of Google Glass bans, he swears that wearing the headset saves him from distraction during demonstrations where there’s risk of harm. To give one example, Pool says wearing Glass helped him keep his cool during a volatile demonstration in New York City over the Trayvon Martin verdict. Pool was able to film protesters being detained while focusing on avoiding arrest or injury, thanks to Glass. Using his headset, he shot the below footage.





Pool, who joined Vice in early 2013, is best known as the co-creator of Occupy Wall Street’s iconic livestream. His organization, The Other 99, used everyday technology such as Samsung mobile phones and a modded Parrot AR.Drone quadrocopter to feed 24/7 footage from Zuccotti Park to tens of thousands of viewers and major media organizations worldwide. Because Pool works with small organizations with limited layers of bureaucracy, the journalist has been able to experiment with tools and feature sets that the entire industry, in my opinion, is bound to adopt.

Glass allows me to keep my focus–When I’m running, having my hands free is particularly important. When things get intense with plastic bullets, I don’t want to stare at a camera, I just hit record.

During our conversation, Pool was quick to note that Glass isn’t an all-in-one tool. Instead, the headset is part of his toolkit alongside an HD camera. He says that the headset takes decent quality footage whenever there’s a volatile situation where using a standard camera would be imprudent. “I shoot photos and video with Glass, and b-roll shows up immediately,” Pool said. “When I film, one of my phones livestreams footage, and another camera films in HD. GoPro can be inconvenient when I have to be on the ground for 13 hours; Glass streamlines things.”

“Glass allows me to keep my focus–When I’m running, having my hands free is particularly important. When things get intense with plastic bullets, I don’t want to stare at a camera, I just hit record. It puts me more in the moment when I have a POV shot.”