Shut up and take my money, Google!
This first thing that I thought to myself when Google unveiled their Project Glass (Google Glasses) to the world earlier this month was this: What about all of us visually impaired folk that wear prescription glasses all the time?
Apparently, that was a common sentiment, and Google has actually addressed the issue.
On Thursday, responding to those questions, Google’s Senior Industrial Designer Isabelle Olsson basically said “chill out, we’ve got this.” Here’s what she had to say in a Google+ post:
I really enjoyed reading all of the comments and questions about the design photos we released. Here’s a question I saw a few times: “I use prescription glasses. Will this work for me?” We ideally want Project Glass to work for everyone, and we’re experimenting with designs that are meant to be extendable to different types of frames. Many of our team members wear glasses, too, so it’s definitely something we’re thinking about. Here’s an early mock-up to show how the device might work with prescription glasses. Please keep the feedback coming.
She even provided us with a mock-up for what Project Glass might look like fitted over your everyday specs (seen above).
For the visually impaired who don’t like the way they look in glasses, we’ve seen evidence to suggest that Project Glass-inspired contacts could be on the way as well.
Project Glass has seen a lot of attention since April 4th, when it was detailed to the public. There have been more parody videos than we can keep track of, most of them highlighting the fact that Google Glasses would create a whole new kind of distracted walker. Or the parodies have discussed the possibility of ads taking over your vision. Or, you know, maybe things will get all Terminator-ey.
All in all, however, everyone’s pretty excited to see the new technology in action. And who knows, we might get that chance at Google I/O in June.