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Google's head-mounted display, Google Glass, has made it's way to the Federal Communications Commission. The developer's edition of the headset, Google Glass Explorer Edition, has appeared in filings at the FCC, suggesting that those who paid for the $1,500 display will be receiving them in the coming months.
Google has applied for a patent concerning a Project Glass-style pair of glasses with built-in bone-conducting headphones. The application, titled "Wearable Computing Device with Indirect Bone-Conduction Speaker," would theoretically allow the wearer to hear audio played from the device privately without resorting to use earphones or external speakers.
Google is holding a pair of developer events to kickstart app development for Project Glass. E-mails have been sent to developers that bought the $1,500 developer edition of the head-mounted display, inviting them to the Google Glass Foundry events, where they will be given the chance to use the device, as well as to work on how to use the system's underlying software.
Google’s Project Glass is still under development with many aspects of the product yet to be nailed down, according to an interview with Google’s Barbak Parviz by IEEE Spectrum. Although Google has previously outlined its broad plans for the device as platform for the next generation of wearable computing, Parvix also offered some additional insights into Google plans for the device. Google, he says, is working on developing Project Glass so that it allows users to quickly connect with others through images and video, while also enabling rapid access to information.
Microsoft appears to be working on its own version of Project Glass. A patent application filed at the USPTO shows a pair of glasses with an augmented reality display covering part of the field of view, though instead of being a general purpose item as Google's Glass aims to be, Microsoft's version focusses on only one specific purpose: live events.
Vuzix has revealed its upcoming wearable computer. Competing with the similar-in-appearance Project Glass from Google, the Smart Glasses M100 seems to offer most of the usability of a smartphone in a wearable format. Connectable to an Android or iOS smartphone over BlueTooth and Wi-Fi, the M100 allows wearers to take calls, read text messages and e-mail, along with other standard tasks.
The market for wearable computers will reach $1.5 billion by the year 2014, according to a recent study. The increase from the existing $800 million in sales this year will be driven by consumer spending on fitness and healthcare-related devices, which would include the likes of Google's Project Glass as well as smart watches.
Google has patented a smart watch where the front turns into a flip-up transparent touchscreen. According to the patent, the wirelessly-connected timepiece would allow the user to see notifications and messages from other devices, like other smart watches, as well as providing some of the functionality of Project Glass when using it to look at nearby objects.
Trying to push its accounting scandal behind it, Olympus has revealed an intriguing challenger to Google’s Project Glass. The MEG4.0 is a glasses-mounted head-up display that uses Bluetooth connectivity to pair with smartphones. The glasses use an Olympus ‘proprietary optical technology’ to both display images as well as give the user a clear view of their surroundings.
The Project Glass wearable computing device Google showed off last week at its developer conference will be positioned as a premium product and priced accordingly. That revelation came as part of an in-depth interview Wired conducted with two project managers behind Glass' development. The talk also yielded some information on the dimensions of the device, as well as some insight into its specifications.
Consumers will have to wait until 2014 before they can expect to don Google's Project Glass wearable computing device. Despite its extreme demonstration yesterday at the opening Google I/O keynote, Google still has to get feedback developers before the device is ready for wider consumption. Google co-founder Sergei Brin told Bloomberg that the company is working to bring the technology to consumers, but it's going to take a while.
As a part of the Google I/O keynote, Google demonstrated some of the possibilities of its Google Glass wearable computing project. Project Glass is still nowhere close to a consumer release, but the technology shown was intended to impress, with live-streaming user perspectives.
Sergey Brin allowed someone else to wear the Project Glass headset in an interview. California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom was able to try on the Google display on his self-titled program, the Gavin Newsom Show on Current, and was able to see a photo of himself taken minutes before by Brin. The interview also demonstrated how the current iteration of the glasses are navigated, with Brin warning the interviewer not to touch the right-hand side touchpad.
The first video taken with Google's Project Glass wearable computing device has shown up on the Internet. The video is part of a collection of media, all produced with Project Glass, that was posted to a Google+ Photography Conference album. The 15-second clip, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of a first-person video game, shows Project Glass' view as the wearer jumps and somersaults on a trampoline.
Google has applied for a patent on an input system that relies on a finger ring to control for technology such as Project Glass. The application, made public by the USPTO on Tuesday, describes a “wearable marker for passive interaction” in the form of a ring, artificial fingernails or other wearable items that could interact with a head-mounted display, following another recent application for the glasses design.
Google has admitted that its Project Glass wearable display interface currently does not resemble what is shown in the demo video. The admission comes the same day the search giant patents the design of the Project Glass prototypes, showing what a prescription variant would look like.
Google's automotive technology lead Anthony Levandowski revealed on Wednesday to the WSJ that he had been on a trip to Detroit to gauge interest from car designers in its self-driving car technology. While there were "millions of miles" to go in testing a truly safe system, it wanted partners in the industry to have cars available within the next ten years, and possibly "much sooner." The approach wouldn't just be confined to pre-installed systems and could involve aftermarket add-ons or subsidizing the cost entirely to make it up in revenues for Google's usual services.
Brother is making an upgraded version of its AiRScouter head mounted display glasses. The WD-100G with lenses and WD-100A without lenses offers USB connectivity and an updated design compared to the previous model.
Oakley is developing its own equivalent to Google's Project Glass with a possibly more independent design. CEO Colin Baden said in an interview with Bloomberg published Tuesday that the project would initially focus on sports, serving as a heads-up display for a workout. It would likely spread to other fields, he said.
Oakley is reportedly developing technology that may rival Google's Project Glass endeavors. In an interview with Bloomberg, Oakley CEO Colin Baden said the company is currently testing an eyewear-based projection system that is capable of presenting information directly onto a lens and controllable via voice command.
Valve Software researcher and veteran programmer Mike Abrash has posted a long retrospective that has also gone into detail about wearable computing studies. He had started on it after realizing there was no immediate need for more work on Portal 2 and saw it as a chance to explore always-available computing. Wearable hardware could be a practical reality within 10 years and possibly under five, he said, and the research would help speed this along.
Google has announced plans to make its Project Glass concept compatible with prescription eyewear. In a Google+ post, the company answered a popular question regarding Project Glass for users who already wear corrective lenses.
Google's Project Glass used to be called Project Wingfront internally in the [x] labs. Project Glass is the more public-friendly name as knowledge of the device leaked, 9to5Google claimed in a new rumor. The last few months also reportedly saw disagreements within the group, with product developers asking for more time while the management is pushing to release the device to the public.
(Update: new, better photos) Google co-founder Sergey Brin used a Dining in the Dark charity event to provide one of the first real instances of Project Glass in real life. He proved to Rackspace's Robert Scoble that they not only matched the design from the concept video but that they work, with images flashing on the tiny glass display. The glasses themselves appeared very lightweight.
Google ended speculation about its computing eyewear by confirming Project Glass. While providing few details in the tease itself, the company showed a monocular set of augmented reality glasses that would provide a way of both getting information and communicating without needing to hold anything. In a concept video (below), Google suggested it could be used for everything from holding video or voice conversations to providing the weather when looking outside or getting live map directions.
