Google Glass: science fiction you can wear
After years of speculation and teasers, Google's Project Glass augmented reality glasses are finally beginning to be tested in public. We're a long way from these glasses being a shipping product, but stay tuned here as we track every update, and our own experience, with the straight-from-the-future headset.
Google Glass apps: everything you can do right now
Google Glass isn’t ready for prime time. Even Google knows this, which is why it hasn't shipped to the masses yet. Instead, Google floated a few units to “Explorers,” glorified guinea pigs who can enjoy the joys and trials of this cuttingest edge of cutting edge technologies. But nascent or not, Glass exists, and it works. Or at least it "works." Developers are still getting their feet wet, high-profile apps like Twitter and Facebook feel more like experiments than finished products,...
Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks?
Google Glass in its current form might be the ultimate early-adopter status symbol, but project leaders at Google think it will grow into a broadly-accepted product. "There's a real opportunity for Glass to become mainstream," product director Steve Lee said today at Google I/O. "We were surprised at how quickly there was a positive reaction."
Lee was speaking to a large crowd gathered for a "fireside chat" on the future of Glass, and his comments were echoed by other Google employees on...
Google on Glass privacy: 'If I'm recording you, I have to stare at you'
The team behind Google Glass defended its creation against privacy worries in a Google I/O fireside chat with developers on Thursday. When asked what the privacy implications of Glass' head-mounted display and camera are, Steve Lee, Glass' product director, said the device was built to alleviate these concerns before it even shipped.
Google encourages developers to push the limits by hacking Glass
Google doesn't want any reselling of Google Glass, and it will even shut down some key functionality if you even try to log into a the headset with multiple Google Accounts. But that doesn't mean you can't hack into Glass at all. In fact, Google is encouraging hacking, albeit with clear boundaries.
Congress asks Google CEO if Glass infringes 'on the privacy of the average American'
For all that's been said about the tremendous innovations of Google Glass, privacy concerns have only grown louder since the project's introduction last year. As Google's Explorer Edition continues its staggered rollout, Congress is finally seeking answers. The Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus today wrote a letter to CEO Larry Page asking the CEO to clear up once and for all "whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of the average American."
Google Glass becomes more useful with new Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr apps
Until now only two third-party apps have been available for Google Glass: The New York Times and Path. Thankfully that's about to change. Today at Google I/O we learned that several new apps (or "glassware" as the company refers to them) are coming to Google's headset including Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Tumblr, CNN, and Elle. Twitter for Glass lets users post photos to their timeline — these tweets are automatically tagged with "#throughglass" — and they'll also receive alerts for...
Google's new Hangouts app will come to Glass
Hangouts, the new Google messaging service that unifies the company's disparate offerings in the space, will eventually be available on Glass. Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president of engineering, told ABC News' Joanna Stern that Hangouts would be able to provide Glass with more social functionality.
Using Google Glass: at a Justin Timberlake concert
Google's Glass Explorer Edition is finally shipping, and Verge staffers worldwide have been waiting to try out the new headset. So we're sending our editors out to live life with Glass, to explore the brave new world we're lurching into whether we like it or not.
"Those are some unique glasses." "Are you wearing Glass?" "He's got Google Glass on!" My appearance can be ostentatious at times, but wearing Google Glass in public drew a truly unparalleled amount of attention — never have...
Google Glass software update adds Google+ notifications, limits background uploads
If you're lucky enough to be an early Google Glass owner, you might want to glance at device settings to see what software your headset is running. According to reports, Google is tonight pushing out a new update, XE5, that contains a number of bug fixes, optimizations, and other changes. First, Google is implementing a new rule on where and when Glass can upload data in the background. From now on, apps will only be able to do so while Glass is connected to both a power source and a local...
Caesars Palace confirms ban on Google Glass-wearing gamblers
World famous Las Vegas casino Caesars Palace has confirmed that patrons won't be allowed to wear Google Glass when gambling. Previous statements had indicated that the heads-up display would be permitted on the casino floor as long as it wasn't being used to film. However, in a statement to The Verge, a Caesars Palace representative said that there would indeed be a Glass ban for gamblers in accordance with Nevada state laws.
Using Google Glass: stuck in traffic
Google's Glass Explorer Edition is finally shipping, and Verge staffers worldwide have been waiting to try out the new headset. So we're sending our editors out to live life with Glass, to explore the brave new world we're lurching into whether we like it or not.
I was late.
Ten minutes after I was supposed to be at Google HQ, learning how to wear the company's hotly anticipated Glass headset, I found myself stuck in stop-and-go traffic not a mile from the Mountain View campus....
Google Glass' awkward interactions parodied on 'Saturday Night Live'
Google Glass and its new approach to a constantly-connected lifestyle has already been the butt of a number of jokes, including Tumblr blogs devoted to showing how ridiculous the device can be. On Saturday's new episode of Saturday Night Live, the writers of Weekend Update also got into the fray, with fictional tech blogger Randall Meeks and his new Google Glass joining the news desk to speak to Seth Meyers. SNL's portrayal of Google Glass' awkward head gestures and sometimes unresponsive...
Google Glass may soon support directions and text messages on iOS
Google's Glass headset seems futuristic, but it still relies on interfacing with a traditional smartphone. While it's possible to do basic pairing with any Bluetooth-enabled phone, only Android users can get support for navigation and SMS — the former being one of the most interesting and immediately useful features. That, however, may be changing soon. An unnamed Google employee has told TechCrunch that Glass users will soon be able to get these features regardless of platform. Right now,...
Google Glass has a Twitter app, confirms LeWeb founder (update)
The New York Times has already launched an app for the Google Glass augmented reality headset, delivering breaking news in your peripheral vision. Now, it appears that Twitter is also working towards an official app which you could use in a similar fashion. Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that a Glass developer had spotted one user sharing photos from a Twitter client identifying itself as "Twitter for Glass."
That Twitter account was quickly deleted. But today, LeWeb founder Loïc Le Meur...
Google gets people ready for Glass with new how-to video
Google's Project Glass is still exotic, futuristic, and distant — it's available only for extremely early adopters, including "creative individuals" who were let in through a Twitter and Google+ contest. But a year or more ahead of its consumer launch, Google is already trying to get ordinary people used to the idea of wearing a heads-up display. "Glass How-To: Getting Started," the first video released through a new Project Glass YouTube account, goes through the basics of wearing Glass,...
Google Glass chipset revealed, uses same processor family as the Galaxy Nexus
We got a glimpse at the specifications of the Google Glass Explorer Edition earlier this month thanks to Google, and one early adopter has been able to glean even more information from the device itself. After hacker Liam McLoughlin discovered a debug mode on the Explorer Edition, Jay Lee was able to connect the device to the Android Debug Bridge and discover the operating system, processor type, and amount of RAM.
According to Lee, the device runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and lists...
New York Times releases Google Glass app for early adopters
The first models of the Google Glass Explorer Edition have been rolling off the production line, and now the New York Times has launched its app for those lucky enough to have a device in hand. To get things going, users will have to link their Google account at a special webpage the Times has set up. The app requires a relatively brief set of permissions — namely, that it can access basic information from your Google account, can manage your Google Glass timeline, and view your location...
Eric Schmidt says consumer version of Google Glass 'probably a year-ish away'
Google has never committed fully to a launch date for a consumer version of Glass, though the headset may not be available as soon as was first thought. Google executive chairman said that a Glass for consumers is "probably a year-ish away" in an interview for BBC Radio 4's "World at One" today. The interview covers a range of topics include Schmidt's new book, Google's UK tax policy, privacy, and more, though interviewer Martha Kearney did briefly ask him about Glass. Schmidt added that...
Google may deactivate Glass Explorer Edition if you try to sell it
Google has laid out some pretty specific guidelines on what developers working on "Glassware" apps will be able to do, but it turns out owners of the Google Glass Explorer Edition will be facing some limitations as well. As spotted by Wired, the Terms of Sale for the device specifically state that owners may not "resell, loan, transfer, or give your Device to any other person" without Google's approval. If an owner does, Google has the right to deactivate the device without offering a refund...
First Google Glass Explorer kits arriving to backers, user guide posted online
Yesterday we learned that the first Google Glass units were rolling off the production line, and now we’re seeing the first units actually arriving to customers. Google+ user Brian Allgood has posted the internals of his Explorer Edition kit. The contents aren’t a surprise — yesterday, Google revealed that the kits would include a Micro USB charger and cable, for instance — but now we know that the first devices are getting into people’s hands. And even though we already had a good...
Google reveals Glass specs: one-day battery life, bone conduction audio, 16GB storage
Alongside the first details of its Mirror API for Glass apps, Google has published a list of technical specifications for the head-mounted device. Glass features a 640 x 360 display that Google says is the "equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away," a 5-megapixel camera capable of 720p video, and — as revealed in an FCC filing — audio that comes via a bone conduction transducer. There will be 16GB of flash storage on-board, with 12GB actually usable, and it will...
Google Glass developers prohibited from using ads or charging for apps (update)
Google has released documentation for the Mirror API, the interface that programmers will use to write services for Glass. The contents include everything from quick start guides for Java and Python to in-depth developer guides and best practices, and starter projects and libraries are available for download. The news comes just as the first Glass units are beginning to roll off the production line.
First Google Glass devices rolling off the production line
Production of the first Google Glass units is being completed and the units will be shipped out to members of the early-access Explorer program in batches, likely within the next few weeks. The news comes from an email sent out to Google's backers (below) saying that "we’re seeing the first few devices come off the production line right now."
The timing isn’t a surprise — we had been expecting the Explorer units to ship by early May — but the announcement marks the culmination of...
Glass Collective VC partnership to help startups get Google Glass apps funded
Three venture capital funds have joined together to create an investment partnership aimed at nurturing Google Glass apps. The Glass Collective is comprised of Google Ventures, KPCB, and Andreessen Horowitz. The firms aren't setting aside any money specifically for the cause, but have agreed to share all pitches from Glass startups to give them the best chance of investment. “The thesis of Glass is profoundly transformational," said web pioneer Marc Andreesen, now of Andreesen Horowitz....
Google Glass Explorer Edition shipping to developers 'within the next month'
Developers who pre-ordered the first Google Glass models, called the Explorer Edition, will be receiving their headsets "within the next month." That's according to TechCrunch, which was told as much at an event today for the "Glass Collective," an investment syndicate that's formed in partnership with Google Ventures and two other firms, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins to provide seed funding for developers. The timeframe makes plenty of sense — we expect that Google I/O, which...
Google's 'If I Had Glass' winners list dominated by celebrities, popular Twitter accounts
Google's "If I Had Glass" competition has always been a public affair: applications were submitted using a hashtag on Twitter and Google+, and winners offered the opportunity to be among the first to purchase Glass started receiving notifications in the form of public replies earlier this week. Stanford computer science Ph.D student Andrej Karpathy has accumulated data on winners who entered using Twitter from the publicly-available data, and it provides the opportunity for a bit of analysis...
Google rescinds some 'If I Had Glass' offers after it actually reads applicants' ideas
It looks like Google is backtracking on some of the Glass Explorer invitations it’s sent out over the past few days. Back in February, the company gave people the opportunity to pay $1,500 for early access to the headset by explaining what they would do with it, either by posting to Google+ or tweeting with the hashtag #ifihadglass. Now, after starting to announce winners, the Glass team is taking a step back, saying that while it needs "honest feedback" from people who are "skeptical and...
Google Glass will reportedly be manufactured in the US
Google Glass headsets will be manufactured in the US, according to a report from The Financial Times. Specifically, Google wil be manufacturing the headsets at a Foxconn plant in Santa Clara, California, making it the second product that we know Google has manufactured on US soil. The first of which was the ill-fated Nexus Q media streamer, which Google eventually shelved before a wide release to the public. As the initial product run will be a complicated and high-cost production, Google...
Print your own Google Glass and look the part
Han Solo, Honest Abe, and even Aristotle are just a few of the people who look absolutely fantastic wearing their Google Glass computers. But unless you're a deep-pocketed developer from the US, chances are nil of getting anywhere near the audacious $1,500 spectacles. So why not do the next best thing and print a pair?
That's exactly what Sander Veenhof and Klasien van de Zandschulp did, whom I discovered this morning in an Amsterdam cafe cheerfully muttering nonsense into their oblivious...
Death by notification: will Google Glass drown us in data?
Let's face it: we're all pretty horrible at turning off push notifications on our smartphones. You install an app, give it permission to notify you with updates, and before you know it, your phone's buzzing like a beehive with status updates, tagged photos, and friends checking in nearby. The definition of "urgent" is becoming harder and harder to define. According to Google's Timothy Jordan, Google Glass is all about "getting technology out of the way," but if his keynote yesterday was...
Google shows off prescription-friendly Glass prototype
For all of its futuristic potential, one of the major questions surrounding Google Glass has been how Mountain View plans to ensure those wearing prescription glasses won't be left out. Today Google provided an update on that topic, reiterating that it plans to release a version of Glass that will play nice with most eye prescriptions. "We understand how important this is and we’ve been working hard on it," the Glass team writes in a Google+ post. To demonstrate an early prototype, Google...
Google reveals Glass apps: New York Times, Evernote, Gmail, and Path
We're watching Google's Project Glass developer panel live at SXSW Interactive, and the company's showing off some of the first third-party software integrated into Glass — all using a unified "Timeline cards" interface to position short bursts of useful information in your peripheral vision, and Google's Mirror API to pull down that data. Google's developer advocate Timothy Jordan demonstrated that software on stage, starting with The New York Times. Breaking news can be delivered...
InSight app uses Google Glass to identify people by their clothes
Google's Project Glass is fertile grounds for imagining a future where everything can be captured and analyzed as soon as it's seen, and privacy concerns have centered around things like facial recognition. But what if Glass could recognize your friends by their clothes? InSight, developed by USC researcher Srihari Nelakuditi with support from Google, can create temporary "visual fingerprints" based on the color and pattern of a person's clothes. After snapping a series of pictures and...
JetBlue mocks up its own vision of a Google Glass-enhanced airport
Last week, when Google announced a competition to open up pre-orders of the Explorer Edition of Glass to "creative individuals," we didn't expect to see corporations submitting entries. Nevertheless, airline JetBlue posted five mockups on Google+ (with the requisite #ifihadglass hashtag) on Wednesday showing what it envisions Glass could bring to air travel. One idea JetBlue has is to show garage capacities as travelers drive by them at the airport, another displays navigation directions to...
Google aims to sell Glass to consumers this year for less than $1,500
Does Google's latest promotional video for Glass have you longing for a pair of the augmented reality glasses? Well, we finally have official word from Google that it is aiming to release a "fully-polished" version of the wearable headset to consumers by the end of this year. The company has also informed us that Google Glass will cost "less than $1,500" when it goes on sale.
Last June, the first pre-orders for the "Explorer" edition of the headset were made available to developers at Google...
I used Google Glass: the future, but with monthly updates
The frosted-glass doors on the 11th floor of Google’s NYC headquarters part and a woman steps forward to greet me. This is an otherwise normal specimen of humanity. Normal height, slender build; her eyes are bright, inquisitive. She leans in to shake my hand and at that moment I become acutely aware of the device she’s wearing in the place you would expect eyeglasses: a thin strip of aluminum and plastic with a strange, prismatic lens just below her brow. Google Glass.
What was a total...
Google focuses on fashion with Glass, reportedly talking with eyewear startup Warby Parker
Google is negotiating with trendy eyeglass startup Warby Parker to make its Google Glass frames more fashionable, reports The New York Times. Neither company has commented publicly on the talks, but it’s known that Google is trying hard to push Glass into the fashion world, with a significant presence at New York Fashion Week in September. Warby Parker emerged in 2010 as an online-only, lower-priced alternative to expensive eyewear boutiques.
During the Glass’s development, Google has...
New Google Glass UI video shows off search, camera, and voice translation features
Google today posted a video preview of its forthcoming Google Glass wearable headset, providing a fresh, and more realistic look at the device's user interface. The video, embedded below, was published early Wednesday after the company announced plans to expand its Glass pre-order program.
Google expands Glass pre-orders to 'creative individuals' with #ifihadglass competition
Last summer, Google announced the "Explorer" edition of its Glass headset meant for developers and early adopters. Pre-orders for Glass took place at Google I/O, where attendees were offered the opportunity to put down $1,500 for early access to headset. Now, Google is re-opening that pre-order program to "creative individuals" via its #ifihadglass page. The search giant says it's looking for "creative individuals who want to join us and be a part of shaping the future of Glass."
Google Glass headset with bone-conduction speakers revealed in FCC filing
Google has been pretty up front about its plans for Google Glass — the company said the first "Explorer Edition" of its virtual reality headset would arrive early in 2013, and now the glasses themselves have shown up at the FCC. That said, it's not clear yet that these will be the glasses that end up shipping to developers who ordered a pair back at Google I/O last summer. The glasses appear to have 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi — though one of the FCC's filings only reveals 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi,...
Google hosting Project Glass hackathons in San Francisco and New York, giving Explorers an early crack at their pre-order
Remember Google's futuristic Project Glass augmented reality eyewear, and how you could plunk down $1,500 at the Google I/O conference last June to secure an early pair? Now, after months of radio silence, those developers who pre-ordered the so-called Project Glass Explorer Edition are getting invited to New York and San Francisco to finally try out the kit.
The events will take place on January 28th and 29th in San Francisco, and February 1st and 2nd in New York; both are hackathons, so...
Google Glass lead says project is still a work in progress
Google's Project Glass product, the company's venture into wearable computing, was officially unveiled over half a year ago at the Google I/O conference. Since then, we haven't heard much from Google about the device, but today IEEE Spectrum published an interview with Babak Parviz, head of the project at Google. Parviz didn't reveal too much that we didn't already know, but he did lend a few details about Google's intentions for Glass and how far along it is in its development process.
C...
Google Glass moves beyond photography: details on heads-up display emerge
We've seen Google Glass trotted around more than a few times now on the faces of plenty of Google employees and even on a handful of models, but information on how the device functions and what its capabilities are beyond photography have been extremely difficult to come by. Today we're getting a precious few more details about voice commands and other functionality courtesy of The Wall Street Journal's Spencer Ante, who recently got a moment with a pair of the glasses and Sergey Brin.
"OK,...
Google Project Glass makes it onto the runway to record New York Fashion Week on video
Project Glass has already been shown off on stage and modelled by our own Joshua Topolsky, but now the augmented-reality glasses are getting some time on the runway. The glasses aren't being used as a fashion accessory, however: they're recording designer Diane von Furstenberg's show for New York Fashion Week from behind the scenes. It's the first time that the heads-up display is being used publicly for something more than a tech demo (not that there's anything wrong with skydiving into a...
Policy & Law
Intellectual Properly: Apple's patent on Google's Project Glass that wasn't
Intellectual Properly is a series where we seek to set the record straight on the day's hottest patent, copyright and related intellectual property issues in the tech world.
Every Tuesday comes with a risk of drama because, like clockwork, that's the day the US Patent and Trademark Office publishes newly-issued patents for the general public — and Apple is frequently in the mix. This last Tuesday was no exception: introducing the world to Apple patent 8,212,859. With a title like...
Android
Sergey Brin hopes to bring Google Glass to consumers by early 2014
While Google didn't go so far as to give all I/O attendees their own Google Glass headsets, Sergey Brin did announce that developers could get their hands on the Google Glass Explorer edition sometime early next year. As for when the rest of us will be able to try out Google's fairly wild hardware, Sergey Brin told Bloomberg Television that a "broad consumer offering" should be ready "within a year" after the launch of the Explorer edition — that would mean Google Glass should be available...
Google's Project Glass: first impressions (with Sergey Brin's headset)
I just had a bizarre and fairly interesting experience here at Google I/O 2012. After a small, closed press session on Google's Project Glass, company co-founder Sergey Brin decided to let the press here try on the devices for themselves. Including his personal pair.
The demo was set to nothing more than a looping fireworks video, but I got to have a first-hand experience with what Google's Glass is like for those wearing it right now (side note: Sergey was personally placing the glasses on...
Google announces Google Glass Explorer Edition, $1,500 pre-order shipping next year
Google has just revealed a new Google Glass Explorer Edition of its prototype camera-equipped glasses at I/O 2012. Pre-orders are open today, only for attendees of the I/O conference, and will cost $1,500 for a delivery early next year. As Sergey Brin himself confesses, this is by no means intended to be a consumer product, but Google's keen to get the Project Glass hardware out into people's hands and onto their faces.
Google shows off Project Glass at I/O with live skydiving and bike jumps (video)
Google's Sergey Brin admits that Project Glass may not be as polished as the Nexus 7, but he's just showed off a live skydiving video recorded with the glasses. One of Brin's friends dived out of a plane onto the roof of Moscone while streaming the whole thing through Project Glass in a Hangout. After the diver landed on the roof, Brin switched to a feed of some bikers also wearing glasses, who then launched off the side of the building using ramps, followed by yet another athlete who...
Project Glass and the epic history of wearable computers
Growing up, my mom would take me and my siblings to the library once a week. When I graduated past Curious George and Boxcar Children books, I began to haunt the magazine racks. You could only browse current issues, but you could check out any back issues, and I began to run through months of Macworld, Wired, and Popular Science at a time. I let the tech writing wash over me, and formulated endless ideas of what the future would look like, but there was one techno-vision that stuck out to me...
Google's Steve Lee on Project Glass: concept video not just a futuristic dream
When Google first officially announced the Project Glass heads-up glasses, it did so with a concept video depicting a mapping and local search experience that played to the strengths of a hands-free computing device. According to Project Glass product lead Steve Lee, the UI and features shown in that video were actual targets for features Google hopes to have in the first version of the product. In an interview with Fast Company, he said that "we definitely didn't put out that video with the...
Web & Social
Sergey Brin lets interviewer try on Project Glass, hopes to launch 'sometime next year'
Sergey Brin hasn't been afraid of taking Google's Project Glass augmented reality prototype out on the town. Most recently, Brin brought Project Glass to an interview with California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom on The Gavin Newsom Show — in a short clip, Brin actually lets Newsom try Project Glass on for himself. In a quick exchange, Brin tells Newsom how he just took a photo without his interviewer even noticing; Newsom wanted proof, so Brin just let him try the glasses on and see it...
First video sample from Google's Project Glass
Although we're still not sure exactly how Google's Project Glass wearable glasses work, the company has been testing them in very public ways over the past couple of months. Google co-founder Sergey Brin showed off the glasses at a charity event in April and a bunch of Google employees have published a series of photos from an even more recent "Google Glass Walk" this week. The photos show Sergey Brin, Colby Brown, Peter Hurley, and other Google employees using the prototype glasses in public...
Google Project Glass patent shows control system using infrared rings and fingernails
Although we've seen a few instances of Google's Project Glass in action, for the most part we have no idea how the glasses-based heads-up display will be controlled. One of the Google patents granted a few days ago, though, may give us some hints. The patent describes a wearable computing device whose interface can be controlled by infrared markers in the form of bracelets, rings, artificial fingernails, or effectively invisible temporary decals. A camera in the glasses would pick up...
Policy & Law
Google patents Project Glass AR glasses design
Filed on October 26th last year and approved today, a design patent at the USPTO grants Google the rights to the ornamental design of its newly unveiled Project Glass augmented reality glasses. Patent D659,741 lays claim to the whole appearance of the whole "wearable display device," however looking at the images presented, the actual glass element that serves as the display isn't covered by the patent. It's represented by hashed lines, which serve to only illustrate design patents — what...
Google engineer Sebastian Thrun posts hands-free photo taken with Project Glass
A few weeks ago, we saw what was probably the first public image taken with Google's Project Glass augmented reality glasses — the photo was taken by Project Glass researcher Sebastian Thrun during an interview with Charlie Rose. Since then, Thrun has posted more images to his Google+ page, but one that went up a few days ago most likely couldn't have been taken with anything but Project Glass (see above). While we don't yet know how useful Google's AR glasses will be in reality, Thrun's...
Google X founder takes Charlie Rose's picture from Project Glass headset
Google's Project Glass heads-up display was announced weeks ago, but nobody is sure whether the glasses are actually functional or if, as Sergey Brin has said, "you really just see [them] reboot." In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, Glass researcher Sebastian Thrun (who previously worked on Google's self-driving cars and founded Udacity online university) wore a pair of the glasses to discuss his progress on the early prototype. When asked what they could do, he appeared to take a...
Android
How would Google's Project Glass HUD work for those with prescription glasses?
Isabelle Olsson is a Senior Industrial Designer at Google, and apparently, she's a member of the Project Glass team responsible for designing Sergey Brin's futuristic heads-up display. Today, she took to Google+ to answer a burning question: how would the system work for people who already require a pair of glasses to see? The short answer is the mockup you see above. Find the longer answer below:
We ideally want Project Glass to work for everyone, and we're experimenting with designs that...
Google Project Glass modeled by Sergey Brin: first high-res photos
High-res images have now emerged of Sergey Brin stepping out wearing Google's Project Glass heads-up eyeglasses at a charity event last evening. These are the first good photos of a "real" human — a non-model — wearing them in the real world, so we have a better idea of what they'll look like on the streets. And is there anyone more appropriate than one of Google's co-founders to do the honors?
There's no evidence that Brin's unit was fully functional. Robert Scoble said that he saw light...
Sergey Brin: Project Glass feedback 'very useful' so far, 'give us time' to release
We managed to catch up with Sergey Brin tonight, following the charity event where he was spotted wearing Google's Project Glass augmented reality glasses. The Google co-founder told us that the glasses are still very much at the early prototype stage. While he said the company doesn't usually like to announce products so far in advance, Google had done so in this case in order to collect feedback on what people think of the concept, and how they would like to use the product itself —...
Google's Sergey Brin takes Project Glass into the wild
Project Glass, Google's planned augmented reality product, has been spotted in the wild on none other than Sergey Brin. Robert Scoble ran into Google's co-founder at the "San Francisco Dining in the Dark" charity event and snapped the above photo of Brin wearing the glasses, posting it to Twitter. He followed up with a few details, saying Brin wouldn't allow him to try the "very light looking" glasses on, but the glasses did appear to be self-contained. Brin told Scoble that it was a...
Web & Social
Could Google's Project Glass be used in contact lenses?
Google's now testing its Project Glass augmented reality glasses, but it sounds like this is only the first step in its AR plans. One of the engineers on Project Glass, Babak Parviz, is an associate professor at the University of Washington who specializes in bionanotechnology and helped to create a single pixel contact lens display, which was recently tested on live animals. Obviously, a lot more than a single pixel will be needed for this technology to be useful, Google appears to have the...
Mobile
Google's Project Glass augmented reality glasses begin testing
A long-rumored Google project, the Project Glass augmented reality glasses were unveiled today by Google on a new Google+ page. The project is specifically from Google X, the company's "secret lab" focused on long-term projects. These early videos and images show an augmented reality concept that's deeply integrated with all of Google's services, with voice commands, video chat, location check-ins, maps (outside and in-store), and much more. The New York Times's Nick Bilton writes that the...
Google heads-up display glasses to sell for $250 to $600 this year, NYT says
The New York Times' Nick Bilton is quoting "Google employees familiar with the project" as saying that Mountain View's long-rumored skunkworks technology — heads-up glasses with integrated connectivity and navigation features — will be on sale this year. That could be construed as an aggressive-sounding schedule, but it's said that the company is looking at this more of an "experiment" than a profitable product — idea first, revenue streams later. And the price might be low enough to at...
Alleged details about Google HUD eyeglasses surface, public beta said to be in consideration
Word first leaked out that Google had been developing a pair of eyeglasses with an integrated heads-up display back in December, and now 9to5Google claims it has some additional information about a prototype of Mountain View's electronic specs. According to the site's tipster, the glasses looks similar to Oakley's MP3-playing Thump line — somewhat of a departure from the "normal-people" eyewear that had been initially described — and incorporates a front-facing camera and flash. The...
Google developing heads-up display eyeglasses?
Following up on an earlier report today that Google is developing wearable computing devices, 9to5Google claims that the company might have bigger ambitions than previously hinted at. Specifically, the rumor is that Google is developing a full heads-up display built into a pair of normal-looking, thick-rimmed eyeglasses. Supposedly the glasses would not merely be an Android peripheral, but communicate directly with Google's services instead of pairing with the phone — though presumably it...
Apple
Apple and Google reportedly testing wearable computing devices
Both Apple and Google have independently spent the last year developing and testing wearable devices which will augment and extend the functionality of smartphones, according to a New York Times report. Like a more advanced version of the Motorola ACTV, these devices would send and receive data from your smartphone, which would act as the information hub — handsets would largely stay behind the scenes and users would interact primarily with these wearable peripherals.
Apparently, some Apple...
