Revealed: Google's "Project Glass" augmented reality glasses (video)
Summary: Dubbed "Project Glass" Google's efforts to create consumer-friendly augmented reality glasses may just change the way people interact with the world.
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 +]
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
That's very innovative
"can deliver advertisements"?
For example, if you think that when you look at a concert poster you'll [i]need[/i] to inform the system to remind you about it, you're nuts! If anything you'll need to tell the system to [b]stop[/b] showing you reminders for the concert, ads for ticket agencies, the location of music stores with the artist's recordings in stock, offers to download the latest tracks, and/or a list of your Google+ friends who have listened or are listening to that artist. Plus, if you actually do make any of those purchases, expect all of those same people to be informed of that decision.
No, if anyone doesn't expect to have retailer offers, restaurant menus, social media alerts, or any other manner of paid interaction with a Google advertiser constantly streamed into your eyeball, you've clearly never used a Google service.
that's called synergy of
You'll love this LG
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2012/03/microsoft-patent-points-to-head-mounted-laser-based-display-technology.ars
Kopin
Useless concept
Not Useless
really?
And I'd call that ANNOYING
Was kinda hoping for binocular displays
Vuzix
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.330399240323228.102731.100000594643800&type=3&l=a04baa2b3d
This stuff has been around for a LOOOOONG time now...I bought my first pair of VR glasses way back in 1996...cost about a $600 bucks at the time, including the head tracker and computer interface. They didn't have portable battery units back then like they do now though. Pinch gloves were quite a lot extra. I guess if you're a n00b all this stuff seems "new to you", but really, Google would be far better off simply buying out Vuzix or one of the established companies, rather than trying to break in on an industry they clearly know absolutely nothing about.
Fake, Fake, Fake, Fake!
The current "best" on the market is the Vuzix Wrap 1200, which has twin 852 x 480 LCD displays...nice, but no where even remotely close to what's needed for a proper augmented reality system. Cost by the way is $500 bucks!
The best overall deal is probably i-O i-glasses 920HR model, for ~only~ $300 bucks, which has twin 800x600 LCD displays. Such systems are good for playing video games and watching movies in low resolution...but that's pretty well it. You can't use them as a replacement to your desktop monitor...the resolution just isn't good enough.
There are some rather innovative attempts at creating augmented reality glasses by having the user wear regular clear glasses and then using a small projection system to simply project the augmented bits onto the clear lenses...but they're pretty limited as far as what you can do.
As far as Google...this is merely a cheap publicity stunt, nothing more, and they CANNOT "make their own" for "cheaper" because it's KOPIN who owns ALL THE PATENTS on nano-display tech. Google is SOL unless they go through them...and that means an absolute Brobdingnagian cost for these supposed products.
Of course it's fake, it's proof of concept.
Let's not overlook that the display is hardly the biggest hardware hurdle. The processing power required to drive this would not be negligible, nor would the power requirements. Plus, even from this demo it's clear that such a device would use a great deal of bandwidth, and it would likely be a situation where more users would consume additional bandwidth exponentially as opposed to linearly.
It's also important to remember that such a device, if allowed to function in the manner Google would probably most desire, could generate enormous amounts of revenue per user, so Google would be in a position to heavily subsidize devices. Of course, many regulatory agencies may impose privacy, security, and competitive restrictions that would decrease its profitability.
Wrong!
Processing power? Puhlease, that's the easiest part. Granted stickin it into the glasses themselves would be pretty difficult, but they can just include a wired system that fits into yer pocket, wouldn't need to be any bigger than an iPhone.
In fact that's what people do currently. Like I use my Vuzix Wrap 1200 VR glasses in conjunction with my PSP, my tiny little MP3/4 music/video player as well as my portable DVD player. Most all the major VR product manufacturers have portable battery units that work with their devices, usually providing around 4 to 6 hours of power on average. You can see some reviews I've done on various models here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.330399240323228.102731.100000594643800&type=3&l=a04baa2b3d
...ALL of those products by the by are based on Kopin tech...they have to be, because again, THEY own all the patents on nano-display tech.
A bit dramatic aren't we?
MS had a much better proof of concept about 6 months back or so.
As it is, it is yet another stupid pie in the sky video; and MS's VR glasses seemed to have a much better and more thought out UI.
Not The Pie In The Sky...Just Costly
The prices do come down ~eventually~, but it takes a long time. For example I bought one of the very first commercial portable DVD players when they first came out, back around 1998...for a THOUSAND dollars! Flash forward nearly 15 years later and you can buy 'em for about a $100 bucks at K-Mart. Same deal here, it'll be at ~least~ another five to ten years before this becomes viable as far as a general commercial product, but even then you can expect to pay upwards of $500 bucks easy.
Personally I'm waiting for Vuzix to do it. I like their stuff cause they don't use propriety battery crap, you can use regular, rechargeable AAs and get around five hours of use out of them (for the display only).
If you wanted your own right now you'd of course have to program all the software yourself, which would be a bit of a pain. Probably best to use an old PSP, most cost effective that way. PSPs are easy to jail-break and once you do they're basically just a portable computer.
The only difficult thing would be if you wanted to add some kind of pupil tracker for completely hands free operation, that would get even more costly and cumbersome. It'd be easier to just use some kind of VR pinch glove control type setup...but that's going to add even more to the cost. I never even bought a pinch glove with my VR tech cause it was going to cost too much. I stopped at the head tracker and computer interface gear.
Can you just imagine the next generation of licensed drivers wearing
Within five years, this concept will be available. Do you want your teenage child using this gadget while driving? Do you want your teenage child on the road while someone else is driving with this thing on?
Just food for thought.
Angry Birds on the Highway
Nice evolution
So now the driver of the other vehicle won't drop her cellphone while texting and swerve into my lane while trying to retrieve it from the floor. Instead, the driver will just plow straight ahead while reading the text and speaking to the voice recognition.
A complaint now made and put aside as a normal hazard of everyday life, I really like this product concept and I challenge Google to not be a 4-eyes hater and make a version that clips onto glasses without looking weird. Then I can buy one.