Just when you finally stopped thinking people using Bluetooth headsets were talking to themselves, Google demonstrates glasses that will let you check messages, your calendar, and the weather. These glasses even let you send messages and record videos. Just think repercussions of products like this. Lawmakers are already legislating text messaging while driving, police don’t like being recorded doing their job in public, and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) will probably ban these from every concert venue in the country if they have their way.
Their Introduction
First tested publicly in April 2012 and demonstrated at the June 27th Google I/O conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Google Glass Explorer Edition provides a heads up display where one would expect the lens on a pair of eyeglasses. At the conference, the demonstration involved a Google+ hangout with a live display from skydivers, abseilers, and mountain bikers. The sensor packed devices provide the latest in real-time sharing.
Once Available…
Once these are publically available, just imagine the applications we might see. You could use them as a speed/blind dating helper app that works like the Chrome “Search by Image” plugin, allowing you to see if your date is really a creep, or a crime stopper app that does real-time facial recognition against the most wanted list. Or a parking spot helper app that reports where open parking spots are available in busy cities as people with glasses just drive around. Even the folks at Intuit would love this as an automatic entry system for Quicken to help manage your personal finances. And just imagine them using web hosting choice.com as a web hosting platform with real-time everything.
Features
First introduced as “Project Glass”, the magical glasses are sure to be the latest fashion trend in wearable computing. The hardware includes a camera, microphone, and a touch sensitive pad. A gyroscope helps with positioning and orientation. A button on top is available to initiate picture taking and video. All this while displaying the information positioned above the eye, slightly out of the line of sight. Add in the communications support and you’re wearing more power than the old luggable Compaq computers and what took the Apollo mission to the moon and back.
Unless you were at Google I/O, live in the United States, and have $1,500 to shell out for a developer unit, it looks like you’ll have to wait until at least 2014 before you can get your hands on the glasses. How much they’ll cost by then and what the final specs are is anybody’s guess. Just in case different hardware specs for Android apps aren’t enough for developers, add to that the resolution and interface for a Google Glass one. Lots of joy for the development community there.
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