Recently there have been reports that Google is working on wearable computing. But the latest rumour suggests that it’s actually planning to gives us all our own heads-up displays.
Yesterday the New York Times reported that, in the secret Google X labs, the company is working on forms of wearable technology — in the form of something like a watch.
But now 9to5Google claims that Google is aiming much higher than that. In fact, it suggests that Google is developing a full heads-up display built into a pair of normal-looking, thick-rimmed eyeglasses. They suggest that, though there would likely be few buttons on the arms of the glasses, they could be mistaken for normal glasses.
The idea isn’t that the glasses would be just an Android peripheral — rather, they would communicate with Google services directly in order to provide an augmented display for the user. Yes, like Terminator.
It’s the logical next step from Google Goggles. Especially when you consider that the latest update to Goggles means that it can now constantly scan for objects and text instead of requiring the user to snap a photo. Google Goggles already takes account of location information too, a feature that these glasses would surely require.
9to5Google says that the Google X lab is already working at the “late prototype stages” of development for the glasses. But, as this is all currently still rumour, there’s no word on estimated cost or due date. [9to5Google]
Image credit: Mr. T in DC/flickr









As one of the perpetually four eyed I can’t wait for this. Since I am really bad at remembering people what I would like is an app that can identify faces, giving me a heads up display of their name (and maybe some bio details) to jog my memory.
Your idea would be the savior of my life. I’m awful with names.
but reading this it seems they would not be prescription, so anything past 2-3 foot in my case and I would be buggered.
Consider how many tech nerds wear glasses, can you really see them developing a system they couldn’t use?
well thats just a tad stereotypical, plus my point was that it was not mentioned in the article (well it is a rumour) but how would you see them rolling this out to prescription glasses wearers?
though considering this is all rumour it is a moot point :L don’t get me wrong it would be pretty awesome but I would be bummed if they did not suit me, took me ages just to find my ray bans *groan*
There was an article here recently about glasses that projected TV images onto the lenses. If they did that it wouldn’t matter what prescription the lenses were.
What gets me (And this is a small gripe considering what they’re proposing); why have any buttons on them?
Why not have it connect to your phone/PC via bluetooth or similar?
This could turn everyone into a surveillance network. They could automatically notify the authorities when a wanted criminal crosses your path without you even knowing.
Why does everyone compare augmented vision to the overlay effects in Terminator?
He didn’t have augmented vision, he was a goddamn robot.
Anyway, can we expect something along the lines of Dennou Coil’s augmented reality from Google in the future? I hope so.