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Revealed: Google's "Project Glass" augmented reality glasses (video)

Dubbed "Project Glass" Google's efforts to create consumer-friendly augmented reality glasses may just change the way people interact with the world.
Written by Ricardo Bilton, Contributor

In February, the news dropped that Google was in the midst of a semi-secret augumented reality glasses-based project then called, affectionately, "Google Googles."

Now, months later, Google is lifting the veil on what it's working on. Dubbed "Project Glass" the efforts center around Google X, a secret Google lab that focuses on such unlikely projects as augmented reality glasses and space-bound elevators.

As seen in the shot above, the glasses, which wrap around the face, don't look too bad. And that's a good thing seeing as how Google plans to test the devices in public in the coming months. (Also potentially in the wings? Augmented reality contacts.)

Google laid out its vision for the project in a post on Google+:

We think technology should work for you—to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.

A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.

In the accompanying video (posted below) Google makes it a bit more clear what consumers could expect from the final product. Many of the features - voice commands, embedded camera, Google Maps integration - have been previously rumored, but it's compelling to actually see them in action. Whether they will work quite as well in reality is, so far, uncertain.

[Via The New York Times and Google +]

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