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Tag: Google Glass

  • Microsoft Reportedly Testing Glass-Type Eyewear

    Smart watches have already begun to appear, and it doesn’t seem that consumers are as excited for the devices as manufacturers had expected. Already, though, the tech industry is preparing to follow Google into the next unproven gadget market.

    The Wall Street Journal this week reported that Microsoft is now testing out prototypes for eyewear similar to Google Glass. The report’s unnamed “people familiar with the matter” stated that Microsoft is shopping around component manufacturers known to make hardware for such wearable devices. The sources also emphasized that Microsoft is simply in the testing phase, and that their wearable displays might never reach the consumer market.

    This news comes less than a month after Samsung was also rumored to be working on a Glass-type device. The so-called “Gear Glass” could appear as soon at next spring.

    Microsoft’s project seems to be further behind than Samsung’s, though the Journal report states that Microsoft is “determined” not to come in late to the wearable computing market the way it has with the smartphone and tablet markets. The report also points out that Microsoft could be well-positioned in the wearable computing market, with over 170 attained or pending patents for head-mounted display technology.

    Google is expected to debut a redesigned Glass for the consumer market sometime in 2014.

  • New Google Glass Planned For 2014 [Report]

    New Google Glass Planned For 2014 [Report]

    For the past year, Google Glass has been the sole plaything of developers and those rich enough to afford a pair. Starting next year, however, the technology will be put into the hands of everyday consumers. Those consumers will decide the fate of Google Glass, and Google knows it.

    During a talk at EmTech, Google X display division head Mary Lou Jepsen, talked about the creation of Glass and what they have planned for next year. In short, they’re now redesigning Google Glass to be more consumer friendly for when it launches.

    To be more specific, Jepsen compared the consumer version of Google Glass to the Model T Ford. Sure, there were other cars before Ford’s first automobile, but it was the Model T that really gained traction with consumers. Jepsen believes that the consumer version of Google Glass will have a similar effect as “it’s lightweight, it’s comfortable, it’s cool.”

    The cool factor is definitely something that Google needs to work on as almost every photo of somebody wearing Glass comes off as the exact opposite. Need I remind you of Robert Scoble’s infamous Google Glass shower pic?

    Even if Google Glass doesn’t immediately take off next year, Jepsen believes that wearable computing is here to stay. In fact, she believes that people will become addicted to the wearable computing experience once they realize that the tech lets them complete certain tasks much faster than before.

    Of course, the entire talk wasn’t solely devoted to Google Glass. Jepsen also took time to address the slowly emerging wearable computer market found in smart watches. While Google is rumored to be making its own smart watch, the company is remaining mum on the subject. All Jepsen would say is that smart watches need to be as diverse as the clothes we wear to make an impact. It could be just a simple bit of advice, or it could be a hint that Google is working on a wide range of styles for Google Glass and its rumored line of smart watches.

    [Image: Google Glass/YouTube]
    [h/t: Gizmodo UK]

  • Samsung Working on a Google Glass Competitor [RUMOR]

    Samsung Working on a Google Glass Competitor [RUMOR]

    For over one year now, Google has been hyping up its Google Glass project, a wearable computer with a tiny display that hovers over a user’s right eye. Now, with the presumed release of the device less than one year away, other manufacturers are beginning to take notice.

    Eldar Murtazin, founder of the website Mobile-Review, tweeted today that Samsung is developing its take on the head-mounted computer. He claims that the device will be called the “Gear Glass” and will be released sometime in spring 2014 – around the same time the Google Glass is supposed to be available to consumers.

    There are no more details about what Samsung may be designing, or if Samsung will use Google’s operating system for the device. Given the company’s history, however, it’s likely that this “Gear Glass” will be very similar to Google Glass.

    If this rumor turns out to be true, then computing eyewear represents yet another unproven market that tech manufacturers will be stumbling over each other to establish market share in the coming years. Already this year Samsung announced its Galaxy Gear smart watch, and Sony refreshed its existing smart watch product. Those products were made available following rumors this year about an upcoming smart watch from Apple, making it seem that manufacturers will continue to chase Google and Apple at every opportunity.

    (via 9to5Google and BGR)

  • Snake Handler Dons Google Glass To Show Us How She Inspects Venomous Snakes

    Google Glass offers us a chance to see the world through the eyes of some of the most interesting professions in the world. The Taronga Zoo in Sydney has already shown us what a day in the life of a zookeeper is like, and now the Houston Zoo shows us what life is like for those who handle dangerous animals.

    The Houston Zoo was recently asked how it handles its venomous snake species, and one of its snake handlers was more than happy to strap on Google Glass to show us. In the below video, you’ll see our snake handler try to coax a black forest cobra into a tube for a routine inspection.

    The black forest cobra isn’t the most dangerous snake in the world, but it’s venom still packs a punch. According to Wikipedia, this particular snake can inject a large amount of venom in a single bite. After a bite, a human can die within 30 to 120 minutes if antivenom is not administered immediately. During that time, those who have been bitten will suffer drowsiness, limb paralysis, hearing loss, inability to speak, dizziness, fever, abdominal pain and respiratory symptoms. As you can see, it’s not pleasant and makes the work of snake handlers all the more impressive.

    Google Glass is amazing in that it let us see into the world of such a dangerous profession. It also reconfirms my convictions that going near snakes is always a bad idea, especially when snakes have proven time and time again that they become eldritch abominations upon death.

    [h/t: Softpedia]
    [Image: houstonzoo/YouTube]

  • Wearable Technology Is Drawing A Great Deal Of Interest (If Search Trends Are Any Indication)

    Wearable Technology Is Drawing A Great Deal Of Interest (If Search Trends Are Any Indication)

    Yahoo shared some search data with us today indicating that people are quite interested in smart watches and other wearable technology. A long-rumored Apple watch was absent from the company’s big event on Tuesday, but such a product could end up being a hit if it ever comes out.

    Samsung recently unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Gear, and according to Yahoo, searches for [Samsung smart watch] have spiked 787% this month. It’s the top searched product with at least ten times more searches than both [sony smart watch] and [apple smart watch].

    “Men are most interested in the new watch as 77% of the searches come from them,” a Yahoo spokesperson tells WebProNews. “Other top searches for smart watches include [casio smart watch bluetooth], [samsung smart watch price], [samsung galaxy smart watch features], [pebble smart watch], [omate trusmart watch].”

    More findings from Yahoo:

    • [fitbit] is the top searched wearable tech item on Yahoo over the past 30 days
    • Ranked in order, top searched wearable tech items on Yahoo this month are: [fitbit], [google glass] (merged with google glasses), [smart watch], [samsung smart watch], [jawbone up], [sony smart watch], [apple smart watch]
    • Searches for [google glass] are nearly 3x higher than [samsung smart watch] this month on Yahoo
    • [fitbit] is searched by women 61% of the time and [jawbone up] is searched for by women 70% of the time – clearly, ladies are more interested in the fitness bands
    • [google glass] is searched for men 74% of the time
    • [samsung smart watch] is searched for 76% by men and [sony smart watch] is searched for 92% of the time by men – guys are more interested in smart watches than women
    • Over the past week on Yahoo, [samsung smart watch] has spiked 791% and has been searched for nearly 2x more than [google glasses]

    Five million smart watches are predicted to ship next year, according to Canalys. More PC companies and Microsoft are expected to enter the smart watch space in the coming year.

    Image: Samsung (Youtube)

  • Google Glass Will Get Its Own App Store Next Year [Report]

    Google will reportedly be launching a special app store just for Google Glass apps in 2014.

    Buried in a seven-page New York Times report from Friday, NYTimes.com revealed that one will come as the device becomes available to consumers. Here’s the relevant excerpt:

    Because there isn’t an app store for Glass, its capabilities were initially limited by the few applications preinstalled by Google — sending and receiving texts, taking and sending videos and pictures, getting directions and doing Google searches. (The company says an app store is coming next year, when Glass is available to the general public.) Google created a set of guidelines for designing applications, and by midsummer, private developers had produced a few offerings. A cooking application, for example, displays pictures to go with a recipe as you make it. “It’s like a little chef alongside you, telling you what to do,” says Gary Gonzalez, a petty officer in the Coast Guard who was chosen among the 8,000.

    The Glass-dedicated app marketplace has since been confirmed by Matt McGee at MarketingLand, who writes that Google declined to share any further details, like even if it will be part of Google Play or completely separate. It stands to reason that this would be at least connected to Google Play, but I guess time will tell.

    Google will likely want a place that easily displays all Google Glass has to offer as people can buy it, so it makes sense to separate it out, even if it’s not completely separate from Google Play.

    In the meantime, you can take a look at this unofficial list of Glass apps from glass-apps.org.

    Image: Google

  • Mercedes-Benz and Google Glass Join Forces

    Mercedes-Benz has taken the reins of innovation and is showing no signs of slowing down. From the 2014 CLA that will be priced just under $30,000 at $29,900 to the pseudo-compact SUV, the new 2015 GLA, which will be hitting the U.S. market in Fall 2014, Mercedes-Benz is headed in only one direction – up; literally!

    Mercedes-Benz has decided that they will not continue to simply remain a vehicle that sits quietly outdoors. In other words, you can seemingly take your Mercedes-Benz with you even after you have left the driver’s seat. To make this possible, they have teamed up with Google in a partnership that has led to a prototype of a vehicle that has Google Glass integration. Essentially, Mercedes-Benz is working on a navigation app that will not only assist you in getting to your destination while in your vehicle, but will assist you once you have left you car and are in motion to your destination on foot. It’s being described as “door-to-door” navigation.

    This is just another way Google is going above and beyond to show that Google Glass is a viable concept. Google has recently aligned themselves with none other than the trend-setters themselves, the fashion heads. This past year, Google teamed up with fashion designer and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), Diane von Furstenberg. Goggle Glass was incorporated into her Spring/Summer show, where she reportedly pulled Sergey Brin who was seated front row, onto the stage at the finale of the presentation. Each model donned an outfit with matching Google Glass eye wear.

    The fashion world has taken a huge interest in Google Glass, being that it has not only hit the runways, but is also being featured in this year’s publication of Vogue magazine’s September issue; in other words, the fashion bible.

    They’ve also become an interest to Hearst Corporation’s Elle magazine, which has apparently become the first magazine app to be created for Google Glass.

    These fashion partnerships only seem to be working out in Google’s favor and one can only guess that this new automotive progression will be available for consumers sooner than later. It would seem that many fashion ads always display some sort of partnership with an automotive company. Maybe Google will be premiering an ad combining the two in the near future.

    Though it is currently in the testing stage, Mercedes-Benz is looking forward to leading the automobile industry into a new generation of technologically interactive vehicles.

    As eye wear works in general, it has no boundaries. It reaches generations of people. Google Glass seems to be doing the same. Whether you’re into fashion or automobiles, Google Glass is attempting to find a niche in each realm. It would appear that we could only expect Google to take it a step further and infiltrate many other fields.

    Here’s an idea, Google Glass for everyday use? Just think, maybe one day we’ll be able to use it to check our email, check the security status of our homes or maybe we’ll be able to video chat sometime in the near future? Either way, here’s for hoping that Google Glass will continue to make Glassholes out of us all!

  • Google Glass Game Based On An Ant Colony In The Works

    Aside from the novelty of wearing a web-capable recording device on your eyebrow, in order for Google Glass to truly succeed, it will need a killer app that makes it all the more attractive to consumers. While we’ve already seen the first porn made using Google Glass, I’m not sure the average user is going to use it for that particular purpose. That being said, considering the amount of naked selfies electronically traveling around the globe, maybe I’m wrong. Considering Google probably doesn’t want Glass to be resigned to the porn industry, other uses will need to be demonstrated.

    With that in mind, what about a massively multiplayer game that puts players in the role of ant who is apart of a larger colony, working together to insure its sustainability? Or, well, any kind of game that makes use of the Google Glass technology? Is that enough to convince consumers Glass is a must-buy? Speculation aside, the details about the game Swarm! are intriguing. The game was developed by Daniel Estrada, a philosophy professor at Illinois State University, and by Jonathan Lawhead of Columbia University. The idea behind Swarm! is to chart players’ movements via GPS data, provided by Glass. These player movements are then mapped out on a Google Map that uses different colors for different players.

    The product page explains further:

    Swarm! is a Massively Multiplayer Online Augmented Reality Simulation (MMOARS) game in which you are an ant foraging, fighting, and working tirelessly for your Colony and your life! Designed exclusively for Glass, Swarm! can be played with minimal user input or updates while allowing for an immersive team gaming experience with surprising strategic depth. Swarm! takes full advantage of Glass’ innovative design to provide a glimpse not only of the future of social gaming, but perhaps the future of social organization itself.

    Over at CNet, Michelle Starr offers some more insight on how the game is “played”:

    As you travel your trails, you can collect virtual resources, picking up bonuses by snapping pictures or lingering in one spot. Like the trails laid by real ants, these fade over time but can be reinforced by travelling over them again. You can reinforce the trails laid by other “ants” in your colony, which boosts your resource collection rate — but crossing a rival path could cost you a day’s work.

    For those who are worried about privacy issues, the developers indicate no private data is collected. Instead, the game focuses on behavior patterns, and how these individual patterns interact with the rest of the group.

    There’s a video of the pitch made by the developers:

    While Swarm! does sound like it makes good use of Glass’ capabilities, it sounds more like something you would do if you had Google Glass, instead of a must-have that forces you to buy Google Glass.

    [Lead image courtesy]

  • Google Glass May Just Help The Blind ‘See’

    Google Glass May Just Help The Blind ‘See’

    What do you think of when you hear about Google Glass? Is it Google being stingy about porn and facial recognition, or is it about the potential for crazy augmented reality video games? There’s even more that Google Glass can do, but you probably never thought Google’s AR glasses would ever help the blind see.

    Say hello to OpenGlass, a set of custom tools for Google Glass from Dapper Vision that allow visually impaired users to “see” the world around them. The two tools now available in OpenGlass are called Question-Answer and Memento – both help people see in an entirely new way. Here’s how they work:

    (Question-Answer) The user takes a picture and asks a question. These get sent to cloud workers (mechanical turk) and twitter users who answer it. The answer received is read aloud to the user through Glass. Note: the voice that you hear is what the user hears, though it is slightly muffled because it is a bone conductive speaker (best heard through headphones, captions at the bottom of the screen note important user feedback).

    (Memento) A native app streams real-time video frames to a cluster, which performs image matching against a dataset of images and annotations created by a sighted user. Annotations associated with matching images are sent back to Glass and read aloud to the user.

    In short, Google Glass isn’t some miracle device that will give sight to the blind. It does, however, go a long way to make the lives of visually impaired people much easier. I’m especially a fan of crowdsourcing Twitter to let people know what they’re looking at.

    I don’t know if Google ever envisioned Glass helping the visually impaired, but it’s absolutely amazing to see developers doing things like this with the hardware. It makes one wonder what people will think of next.

    [h/t: Ubergizmo]

  • Bon Jovi Keyboardist Wears Google Glass On Stage

    It appears we have a new use for Google Glass: making concert movies from the perspective of the band. Instead of having camera men run around while hunched down, trying to stay out of the picture, we can just slap a Google Glass headset on the band and let them film the entire thing, rehearsals included. Can you imagine how many Bieber acolytes would jump at the chance to buy footage taken from the eyebrow of the Bieber God himself? Although Google Glass is very much in its infancy, it is definitely making the rounds, showing up on the brows of porn stars, NFL punters, soon-to-be NBA Players, and British drivers. Oh, wait.

    While a drummer has already Google Glassed himself pounding away at a show at Glastonbury, the test drive with Bon Jovi is the first from a band of their size. Granted, this probably would’ve been more relevant when Slippery When Wet was owning the radio and MTV, the fact remains, Bon Jovi’s name still resonates, especially from Google’s perspective, a company hoping their new device crosses over to mainstream adaptation.

    Unfortunately, the public footage of Bon Jovi’s use of the Google Glass headset is limited to a video of the band’s keyboard player, David Bryan, as he prepares to take the stage for their show in New Jersey. It doesn’t really show much except for Bryan walking to the stage:

    Apparently, both Bryan and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi tried wearing Google Glass, but there’s no footage of that available. For those of you disappointed with the demonstration the band made available, you are not alone. The YouTube comments section is also disappointed with the video, calling it boring. As pointed out by the person who loaned his Google Glass headset to the band, Chris Barrett, the device does present a potentially new revenue stream for bands, provided they can find a way to monetize it, and improve the quality of the footage being streamed.

    The question becomes, would people be eager–that is, willing to pay–to watch a streaming concert of their favorite band presented from the Google Glass point of view?

    Lead image courtesy

  • Google Glass to Be Banned for Drivers in the U.K.?

    Google has yet to offer its new wearable tech, Google Glass, in the U.K. – but the Department of Transport has already decided to set in motion a ban of the device for drivers.

    Here’s what a Department of Transport spokesperson told Stuff:

    We are aware of the impending rollout of Google Glass and are in discussion with the Police to ensure that individuals do not use this technology while driving. It is important that drivers give their full attention to the road when they are behind the wheel and do not behave in a way that stops them from observing what is happening on the road.

    A range of offenses and penalties already exist to tackle those drivers who do not pay proper attention to the road including careless driving which will become a fixed penalty offense later this year.

    In the U.K., using a hand-held phone while operating a motor vehicle is also illegal.

    A Google spokesperson had this to say:

    “We are thinking very carefully about how we design Glass because new technology always raises new issues. Our Glass Explorer program, currently only launched in the US, reaches people from all walks of life and will ensure that our users become active participants in shaping the future of this technology.”

    Which doesn’t really respond to how the company will react to the ban – and any future bans in other areas. In an place like the U.K., where the Transportation Department is taking such a proactive stance on banning the technology, there’s probably not a lot that Google can do to change their minds. No matter the tweaks they make to Glass, it’ll always involve wearing a computer on your face. And to many officials, that screams distracted driving.

    The U.K. is not alone in this. The product isn’t even available to the U.S. public (other than a handful of Google Glass Explorers, and just recently, their friends), and one state is already looking to ban its use by drivers. West Virginia has already introduced house bill 3057, which would amend the current code to ban the use of “a wearable computer with head mounted display.”

    “I actually like the idea of the product and I believe it is the future, but last legislature we worked long and hard on a no-texting-and-driving law. It is mostly the young that are the tech-savvy that try new things,” said Gary Howell, one of the bill’s authors. “They are also our most vulnerable and underskilled drivers. We heard of many crashes caused by texting and driving, most involving our youngest drivers. I see the Google Glass as an extension.”

  • Google Lets Glass Explorers Invite a Friend to the Party

    It looks like Google is about to expand the Glass exploration just a little bit, as the company has begun to send out emails to a select group of early explorers telling them that they have one invite to bestow upon one lucky friend.

    “Invite a friend to explore Google Glass,” reads the email.

    “Hi there – we love demoing Glass to our friends. We’ve perfected our ‘OK, Glass, take a picture’ faces so that the shot captures us smiling, laughing, and looking chic. Well, maybe not at the same time. Mostly, we love sharing Glass with out friends because adventures through Glass are more fun with others. Here’s you chance to invite one friend into the Glass Explorer Program. Complete this form and share Glass with a friend, funny demo face and all.”

    The email specifies that invitees must be U.S. residents over the age of 18 that are able to personally pick up their spectacles in San Francisco, New York, or L.A.

    Google Glass invite email

    Google has confirmed that a “small subset” of Glass Explorers got this email.

    Google Glass first started to surface on the face of some developers, or “Google Glass Explorers,” back in April. Since then, we’ve seen it used on the gridiron, in the operating room, for a POV porn, and on stage. With Google opening up Glass invites to a select few “friends” of explorers, let’s hope that those with the power to bestow invites are wise. We don’t want a bunch of Glassholes walking around, now do we?

    [Ryan Mott, Google+ via Zagg Blog]

  • NFL Punter Chris Kluwe Shows Us Training Camp Through Google Glass

    Apart from POV porn, this might be the coolest use for Google Glass that I’ve seen so far. Raiders (formerly Vikings) punter and big deal on the internet Chris Kluwe has been using the wearable tech to document the training camp experience.

    He’s posted four videos from Glass so far. One as he catches the snap and holds for kicker Sebastian Janikowski…

    One as he punts out of the endzone…

    One as a “slow person returning a kickoff”…

    And he even gave the glasses to Janikowski so we can see what it looks like to effortlessly launch a football 50+ yards…

    The possibilities for Google Glass in sports are endless, and Google knows this. Here’s what a Google spokesperson had to say about American tennis star Bethanie Mattek-Sands when she took the tech to Wimbledon:

    “Glass’s potential in the sports realm is huge, and it can connect athletes, coaches, and fans in new ways. For Bethanie, it’s allowed her to capture her strokes from her point of view during practice and share those with her coaches. It also helps her search recipes and perfect her cooking, something that’s important to a professional athlete with dietary allergies and restrictions.

    It’s unlikely that we’ll see Google Glass worn in an actual NFL game any time soon – but the opportunity is there. For now, we’ll just have to settle for POV training camp videos – which is still pretty damn cool to me.

  • Zookeepers Check Out Some Animals With Google Glass

    The Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia has put out a video in which its staff members strap on Google Glass and give us an up close and personal look at some of the animals.

    “We had the opportunity to try out Google Glass this week, and our keepers were curious to see if it would help them in caring for the animals,” the zoo says in the video description. “It also gave the rest of us the chance to see the animals through the eyes of the keepers, as they went behind-the-scenes to work with the koalas, eagles, giraffe and a sooty owl.”

    “This sort of footage is really priceless for us,” one of the keepers says, noting how nice it is to have good focus while still having both hands free.

    “Behavior can be a complicated thing, but to have technology like this, we can try and see if it’s something we’ve gotta try and communicate better to the animal,” one says.

    Check out the video and some pretty cool animals shots from it. Included are an eight-month-old Koala, a friendly kangaroo, a wedge tail eagle and some “big, beautiful” giraffe eyes.

    Zoo on Glass

    Giraffe Glass

    Koala Glass

    Koala on Glass

    Eagle on Glass

    This is yet another logical, professional use of wearable technology like Google Glass. We recently saw the device taken into a surgical procedure.

  • Google Glass Get Its “First-Ever” Porn Flick

    Google Glass porn is officially a thing now, thanks to James Deen. The actor/director is the first official porn company to produce a movie with Google Glass as the focus. The setup features the traditional office/sexy secretary setting, with Andy San Dimas playing the frisky receptionist. Not only are portions of the action shot with Google Glass–first-person POV for the win–the two performers are also being filmed by a separate film crew. So yeah, it’s got something of a Google Glass Does Inception feel to it.

    The on-screen duo use their respective Glass headsets to do things like look up information about each other, use an X-Ray vision feature, and sync up their sexual rhythm on their Glass display. Naturally, the parody aspect of porn is alive in well in James Deen’s creation.

    As you might expect, there is a trailer for the movie. It is, surprisingly, safe enough to be posted on YouTube. That, however, does not mean your workplace will appreciate it if you decide to watch it during business hours:


    According to the performers, while they seem to be having a good time, working with Google Glass wasn’t necessarily easy:

    In addition to the plot, the Glass also began to heat up, as it tends to do when recording for an extended period of time. The stars grew irritated with their cyborg extension, which kept getting knocked around and caught in San Dimas’s hair.

    For those of you who need more action than a YouTube trailer can give, it looks like you’ll have to wait. While the author who was invited to the shoot, Motherboard’s Arikia Millikan, indicates a full-on porn was being shot while she was there, the final product doesn’t seem to be available at the moment.

  • Google Invests in Wearable Display Company Himax Display

    Himax Display (HDI) this week announced that Google has agreed to purchase a portion of its company. HDI is a Taiwanese manufacturer of micro-display (liquid crystal on silicon) technology.

    Under the terms of the agreement, Google will acquire 6.3% of HDI, with the option to purchase up to 14.8% in preferred shares over the next year. According to HDI, the investment will be used to pay for production upgrades, expand its manufacturing capacity, and “expand capacity and further enhance production capabilities at HDI’s facilities that produce liquid crystal on silicon chips and modules used in applications including head‐mounted display (HMD) such as Google Glass, head‐up display (HUD), and pico‐projector products.” Google’s investment is expected to be finalized sometime during the third quarter 2013.

    Much of HDI’s display technology has been engineered with wearable computing applications in mind. In this context, Google’s investment in HDI to improve its manufacturing capabilities suggests that a production run of Google Glass could be coming in the near future.

    “We are delighted to receive this investment and to form a strategic partnership with Google,” said Jordan Wu, CEO of Himax. “Beginning the second quarter of this year, we had already begun expanding capacity to meet demand for our LCOS product line. This investment from Google further validates our commitment to developing breakthrough technologies and state‐of‐the‐art production facilities. We look forward to leveraging this investment and our collective expertise withGoogle to create unique and transformational LCOS technologies for many years ahead.”

  • Developer Works Around Google Glass Restrictions With Custom OS

    Google Glass has a lot of potential, but some may feel that Google is squandering said potential with its heavy handed regulation. The company has already banned porn and facial recognition apps from being developed for the device. Before Google can ban more capabilities, one developer wants to free Glass from Google’s reach.

    NPR reports that Stephen Balaban, a developer out of San Francisco, has re-engineered his Google Glass with a new operating system. Unlike Google’s OS for Glass, Balaban’s OS allows any and all kinds of apps. His end goal is to create an OS that “runs on Glass but is not controlled by Google.”

    Balaban is creating the custom OS because he’s already run afoul of Google’s policies when his employer, Lambda Labs, tried to submit a facial recognition app. Instead of just packing up and going home, however, he decided to create a custom OS that would let developers do anything with Google Glass.

    Balaban’s heart is in the right place, but some people are not going to be very happy about it. Google is already dealing with accusations that Glass in its current state is a massive infringement of privacy, and custom operating systems will only make Glass critics even more worried.

    In fact, Congress has even started to ask questions regarding what Google intends to do to protect privacy in the age of Glass. A custom operating system would make Google’s efforts to regulate Glass a moot point, and Congress could take that as an excuse to regulate the hardware. Google certainly doesn’t want that, and the people making custom operating systems don’t want that either.

    We’re still months away from Google Glass’ public debut. Before that, Google can work with its developer partners to find a way for Glass to protect privacy while letting developers go nuts. Whether that means Google relaxing its policies remains to be seen, but it couldn’t hurt.

  • ‘OK, Glass’ Could’ve Been ‘Pew, Pew, Pew,’ ‘Glassicus,’ or ‘Device, Please’

    If you’re an early adopter of Google Glass, you’ve probably uttered the words “OK, Glass” about seven million times. It’s the Google Glass catchphrase – the words needed to access the menu. It’s how Glass works, now, but you could’ve been muttering an entirely different set of words to access the wearable tech.

    “Pew, pew, pew,” anyone?

    Google Glass project marketing manager Amanda Rosenberg took to Google+ to recount the story behind “OK, Glass” and to reveal some of the other phrases that were at least mentioned, if not really considered.

    Rosenberg tells the story of how she had dinner with Google Glass product manager Mat Balez and his wife, and how he told her that the Google Glass team was looking for a “hotword.” Rosenberg said that the first thing she thought of was “OK, Glass,” but she kept it to herself. Later, she sat down and sent him an email with the suggested phrase and the rest is history.

    But she also revealed some of the other “hotwords” the Google Glass team thought up – and I have to admit, a few of them are pretty cool.

    For instance, “Go Go Glass.” That’s neat. Also on the list: “Clap on,” “Glass alive,” “Glassicus,” and “Device, please.”

    “Coming up with the phrase was the easy part. Figuring out if it would work, was another story. There’s a whole team at Glass who worked very hard testing and implementing it before it was adopted. It’s hugely exciting to hear “OK Glass” being used today. That said, ‘Device, please’ is growing on me,” says Rosenberg.

    I’m partial to “pew, pew, pew.”

  • Google Glass Is The Perfect Complement To Your Future Smart House

    Developers and users have been doing some amazing stuff with Google Glass ever since they got their hands on the device earlier this year. It’s strange then that we haven’t seen Google Glass tackle home automation yet.

    Last week, the developers at Revolv revealed their new Google Glass app that allows those wearing the device to control their home wirelessly. With just a few simple swipes, Glass is able to turn on the lights, lock the door and turn on a music player. It also have voice control to change the color of the lights.

    Google Glass is just a curiosity for Revolv at the moment as it primarily focuses on smart home controls for smartphones. Still, it’s incredibly exciting to see stuff like this being done with Google Glass. The smart home is already being controlled by only one or two devices, and things like Google Glass will make it even more personal than ever before.

    Of course, Google Glass soon won’t be the only wearable computer on the block. It will be interesting to see if Samsung, Apple or Microsoft talk about home automation when and if they reveal their respective smart watches.

    [h/t: BGR]

  • Samsung’s Rumored Smartwatch Gets The NMA Treatment

    Samsung’s Rumored Smartwatch Gets The NMA Treatment

    At this year’s Mobilebeat conference, Samsung said that it was investing heavily in wearable computers. The company will start out with smartwatches, but it thinks we’ll soon have computers in our clothing.

    Now, we could bore you with a bunch of conjecture over what a Samsung smartwatch might look like, but it’s more fun when NMA does it. Besides, I think they’re onto something with the computer that’s embedded into a bikini.

    In all seriousness, it’s only natural for Samsung to invest in wearable computing. Google Glass is already changing how we perceive computing, and it’s pretty much a given that Apple will release its rumored iWatch this year or next. Samsung can’t afford to be late to the party if wearable computing really does take off.

    If it does, maybe we can expect something like the Samsung Apex in the future.

  • Google Glass: Filming Your Next Arrest Documentary

    Is this proof that Google Glass will “change citizen journalism forever?” Or is it just another example of how Google Glass and other wearable tech is about to make it impossible to do anything without the constant, watchful eye of a surreptitious camera?

    Google Glass explorer and founder of PRserve Chris Barrett caught what is probably the first arrest to be filmed #throughglass.

    “I walked right up, saw a crowd forming, and people were saying a fight was going on. With Glass I went closer to the action than I probably should have and saw a couple fights going on. I think I got the first arrest with Google Glass – kinda cool!” Barrett told Venturebeat.

    While the video itself may be a bit unremarkable, just some shirtless bros fighting on the Wildwood, New Jersey boardwalk, it does raise some important questions about Google Glass, other wearable tech, and how it will affect the future of crime and law enforcement. Check it out:

    What’s even more strange is that not many people seemed to notice or care that Barrett was filming the whole thing with Glass. It really appeared to be stealth recording at its finest.

    “I think if I had a bigger camera there, the kid would probably have punched me. But I was able to capture the action with Glass and I didn’t have to hold up a cell phone and press record,” said Barrett.

    Filming crime and/or police actions and throwing the video up on the internet is about as old as YouTube itself, but Glass could be a game changer in this realm. It’s one thing to hold up your giant Galaxy S4 and film a crime or an arrest – its another to stand with your hands in your pocket and capture the whole thing, possibly without anyone around even suspecting their actions are being filmed.