Much like Gmail’s five year-long beta period, expect Google Glass to be a “work in progress” for some time.

Google today released the first major update for Google Glass after it finally began rolling out to early adopters, Phandroid reports. The “XE5″ update includes a bunch of notification updates, as well as some useful features like easier searching from anywhere in the Glass interface and better battery charge estimation.

It’s surprising that Google is only now getting around to adding some of the new features like crash reporting and international dialing. That goes to show that, despite looking like something from the future, Glass is still very much in its early stages.

Expect plenty more updates like this as Google learns more about how people are actually using Glass. Everyone participating in the Google Glass Explorer program are basically guinea pigs before Glass makes its way to the general public.

The new features in the update include:

• Change to sync policy: require power + wifi for background uploads
• Crash reporting
• Incoming G+ notifications (direct shares, comments, +mentions), including ability to comment and +1
• Incoming Hangout notifications
• Transcription of queries & messages is now wicked-fast
• Long-press to search from anywhere in the UI (no longer just from off)
• International number dialing + SMS
• Hop animation on disallowed swipes in the UI
• New On-Head Detection calibration flow
• Show device Serial Number on Device Info card
• More reliable estimation of battery charge remaining
• New recipient-list mosaic

Photo: Project Glass/Google+

While Google Glass may seem like a step towards a crazy science-fiction future, for some reason it lacks a fairly basic security feature: a lock screen.

That left the door open for Roundarch Isobar’s Mike DiGiovanni to develop a lock screen of his own, which he calls Bullletproof. Whenever Glass detects that it’s been removed from your face, the app presents a screen that can be unlocked with your own combination of gestures on Glass’s touchpad.

It’s not exactly groundbreaking, but it’s certainly necessary for a $1,500 computer that you wear on your face. Without Bulletproof, anyone could grab your Glass unit and send whatever images and messages they want to your friends and Google+ page.

The bigger question: How the heck did Google release a next-generation device without basic security protection? I’d argue that Glass is even more vulnerable to theft than your smartphone, since it’s typically resting on your face unattached, instead of being hidden in your pocket or purse. Glass also can’t be folded down like a typical pair of Glasses, which means it’s a fairly big target if you leave it on your desk.

If  your expensive Glass headset does get stolen though, you can always track it and wipe it remotely from the MyGlass website. Still, that doesn’t help if someone surreptitiously nabs your Glass unit to send malicious messages.

Update: A Google spokesperson sent along the following statement around Glass’s security:

We recognize the importance of building device-specific protections, and we’re experimenting with solutions as we work to make Glass more broadly available.

Via: Slashgear; Photo of Sergey Brin wearing Google Glass: Chris Chabot/Google

If you were wondering if Google Glass survived a full shower, here’s some photographic proof courtesy of tech industry cheerleader Robert Scoble.

“You thought I was kidding when I said I would never take them off,” Scoble wrote on his Google+ page this afternoon. “Yes, they survive being wet. I had them full on soaked in my shower this morning. +Google Glass still works.”

Good luck scrubbing this image from your mind. But hey, at least we know Glass can survive a heavy downpour and amateur porn shower scenes.

Scoble has written extensively about his experience with Glass, and not surprisingly, he’s fully on board with Google’s latest gadget. That’s not saying much, though, as he has a reputation for jumping on every new technology trend with the enthusiasm of a schoolchild.

While the majority of gadgets are assembled overseas, wearable computing gadget Google Glass will be manufactured within the U.S, according to a Financial Times report.

Google Glass does many of the same things you do with your smartphone, such as snapping pictures, recording video, displaying augmented reality user interfaces (such as driving directions), and communicating with others. Despite not being released until late 2013, Google Glass is already a main topic of conversation among futurist hipsters who can’ wait to spend $1,500 (or less) on ridiculous looking eyewear.

(I confess to being one of those hipsters.)

The report indicates that Google has signed a contract with Hon Hai Precision Industry’s Foxconn to produce its Google Glass in San Francisco. Foxconn is also responsible for producing a large number of products for Apple, so it’s not surprising for them to grab the contract to build the new smart eyeglasses. If true, the move would mark Foxconn’s first manufacturing operations withing the U.S. Hon Hai first expressed interested in creating U.S. manufacturing plants back in November, with likely locations being job-starved Detroit and Los Angeles for production of Apple’s Mac Mini computers.

This also wouldn’t be the first time Google has tried to produce a piece of hardware domestically. The company also tried to manufacture its Nexus Q TRON bowling ball before wisely deciding to delay production last year.

The potential San Francisco plant also wouldn’t need to be set up for mass production in the same way you would for other popular mobile gadgets. The Financial Times states:

Only a few thousand Google Glass devices will roll off the Californian factory line in the coming weeks rather than the millions of iPhones and other electronics which Foxconn typically produces at its plants in China, where the vast majority of the world’s gadgets are made. It is also not clear how many people the facility will employ.

The “few thousand” Google Glass devices could be all the company needs to supply super-early adopters and winners of its Explorer Program.

We’re reaching out to Google for further comment about Google Glass manufacturing, and will update this post with any new information.

Photo credit Project Glass/Google+

With Apple and Samsung reportedly working on next-generation smartwatches, it was only a matter of time until we heard that Google was joining the party.

Google’s Android unit is reportedly working on a smartwatch of its own, the Financial Times reports. Just as we’ve heard about Apple’s supposed iWatch, Google’s device will serve as an extension to your smartphone, a source tells the FT.

Project Glass, Google’s futuristic wearable display, is being spearheaded by Google’s X Lab, not the Android team, so the two projects could end up dueling for the mantle of Google’s top wearable computing project; although the smartwatch will likely end up retailing well below Project Glass’s $1,500 price (which itself will likely fall significantly over the next few years).

Google received a patent for a “smart watch including flip-up display” last October, which has been reported previously — so it’s not a huge surprise to hear that a smartwatch may be in the works.

The rumor gels well with Google’s reported X Phone, which we hear Google is developing together with its subsidiary, Motorola Mobility. With a potential smartwatch, X Phone, and Project Glass down the line, the Google of the future seems to be far more reliant on its own consumer devices, rather than on those produced by partners (which have led to some serious issues with its hold on the Android ecosystem).

Photo via: Rob Bulmahn/Flickr

Those who are waiting for the hotly anticipated Google Glass, the wearable computing gadget from Google, should start saving money for it now.

Google is planning to release a “fully polished” version of the smart eyeglasses for consumers before the end of the year, according to The Verge’s Josh Topolsky, who was able to extensively test out the gadget recently. Google also indicated that it would cost less than the $1,500 price tag that developers and creative types can spend to get an advanced version and that its pricing would be more in line with a new top-model smartphone.

Google Glass does many of the same things you do with your smartphone, such as snapping pictures, recording video, displaying augmented reality user interfaces (such as driving directions) and communicating with others. Also, the device can connect with your smartphone’s (iPhone or Android) cellular data network via Bluetooth, so you can stay connected anywhere. (Previously, some speculated that Google Glass would only work with smartphones running Google’s native operating system, Android, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. At least according to The Verge’s report.)

The tentative consumer release time frame for Google Glass is sooner than the 2014 general product launch timeline stated by Google cofounder Sergey Brin last summer. Obviously, Google is aggressively pursuing its goal of being the first major manufacturer to get into the wearable computing gadget market, especially since rivals Microsoft and Apple are also rumored to be working on a product of their own.

 Photo via Google

The latest marketing video for Project Glass, Google’s ambitious wearable display, finally shows off its awesome potential. Now Glass doesn’t just look like a casual device for annoying hipsters, it looks like something essential for sharing intimate and exciting moments in your life.

Google is also opening up pre-orders for Project Glass in the form of a contest: Post a note to Twitter or Google+ with the #ifihadglass hashtag in 50 words or less detailing what you’d do with a Glass headset. You can also include up to five photos and a 15-second video. Unfortunately, the contest is only open to adults in the U.S. (And yes, you’ll still need to pay $1,500 for the Project Glass unit.)

At Google I/O last June, the company showed off how versatile Project Glass can be by having people livestream their experience jumping out of a plane, rappelling down the side of a skyscraper, and riding a bike onto the main stage. That was also where Google initially kicked off Glass pre-orders for attendees. Glass also made an appearance at Fashion Week in New York City last September.

The latest video appears to be a mix of actual footage taken from Project Glass units and some footage produced to mimic its on-screen experience. It shows how Glass can be used to capture moments traditional technology could miss — though I don’t suspect many early owners will be as carefree with their units, given the initial high cost.

It looks like Project Glass will need a solid (perhaps lifetime) warranty when it finally starts shipping.

Zerkin, who spends his days creating experimental and creative integrations between technology, happened to see the Google co-founder on the subway in New York, wearing one of his innovative new projects, the Google Glass augmented reality glasses:

Yeeeah... I just had a brief conversation with the most powerful man in the world. On the downtown 3 train. Nice guy. http://t.co/cx93BXKY

—
Noah Zerkin (@noazark) January 21, 2013

I’m not sure about the “most powerful man in the world,” but Brin is a billionaire perhaps 18 times over, is number 24 on Forbes’ list of the richest people in the world, and owns a Boeing 767 jet. And yet, he  apparently rides the subway just like any other commuter in New York, wearing a beanie cap and a track jacket.

One thing he’s wearing that most other commuters can’t, however, is Google Glass.

Project Glass, which hasn’t updated its Google Plus page in about two months, made the list of Time’s best inventions of the year for 2012 but won’t be available for widespread purchase and use until perhaps 2014. Which means that the rest of us can’t videochat, check maps, see appointments, and benefit from a cyber-assisted memory without actually looking down at our smartphones. How lame.

In any case, it sounds like Brin is a pleasant enough multi-billionaire to run into in public. Zerkin says he was a “nice guy.”

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc

Our team will be off to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas soon, and we’ll get plenty of glimpses of the future of technology there. We’ve all heard a lot of promises. But here are some things we’d love to see and use in real life in the near future — whether or not they’re at CES.

We’re not sure if we can get our wish, but this is the list of the coolest technologies that we can’t wait to use. I’ve relied on staff recommendations and other big thinkers for these tips. Thanks, all.

Tell us which one is your favorite in the poll, or suggest your own in the comments.

Google Glass

This technology is one of the truly inspired products coming down the road. It combines an eyeglass-style display with computing power and wireless technology that can deliver information to you based on what you look at in your surrounding environment. Project Glass promises to deliver information to you the instant you need it, like identifying the face of someone standing in front of you. Or so we hope.

Self-driving cars

Another innovation from Google is going through rigorous testing and the regulatory mill. These cars drive themselves based on computing, wireless, and camera technologies that can make a robot-driven car safer than a human-driven one. You can sit in the driver’s seat and do your email, but you can also override the controls if necessary. Once it’s polished, we’d love to take the car for a spin. But not before they get the bugs out.

Apple television

Okay, this mythical beast doesn’t really have to be made by Apple. But we need a TV that truly combines the best of the Internet and the best of traditional cable television. Apple has hinted something is coming that will transform the living room. We want to be able to play free or 99-cent apps on the high-definition screen and access our favorite TV shows and first-run movies. We have no clue, though, when this rumored Apple device will really arrive (if ever).

A 72-core Tegra 4-based tablet computer

Nvidia hasn’t announced anything yet, but the rumor is it will describe its next-generation Tegra chip at the Consumer Electronics Show next week. If that happens, you can expect that dozens of tablets and smartphones will follow. Tablets thrive on efficient battery use as well as performance. But Nvidia has been moving down the path of creating Tegra technology that offers both low-power consumption and outstanding 3D graphics and processing power at the same time. It’s time for another great leap that could put tablets on par with — or ahead of — the traditional PC.

Cool wireless technologies that don’t make us glow

The bottleneck in delivering fast Internet service to homes and mobile devices has strangled a lot of innovations. Bridging the last mile and delivering blazing-fast speeds to both home and mobile users is one of the great challenges facing us. It could be done with a huge investment in infrastructure, but smart technology might make it a reality as well. Steve Perlman (of Rearden and formerly the head of OnLive) has demoed Project DIDO, a distributed wireless Internet technology that gets around bottlenecks and delivers awesomeness in the not-so-distant future. We hope it’s real. And it would be great and necessary bonus if these technologies were really safe as well.

Cheap rides into space

I’m still waiting for the Southwest Airlines of space travel to arrive. Maybe $99 to the moon and back? After all, we want to be space tourists one day. The space shuttle has died, but maybe private companies will make it happen.

Better robots

It would be nice if we could count on the help of household robots and maybe get all of these great gadgets made by robots working in factories in the U.S. I’d like to try out a few personal robots, once they slim down in size and become a little more humanoid.

Indoor location

CSR’s Sirf Technologies division has figured out how to map indoor locations when you’re walking with your mobile phone inside a building. Now we have to see it in practice. Companies like WifiSLAM are hoping to make this real. We can’t wait until we can find our way through the giant hotel-casinos of Las Vegas without getting lost.

4K televisions that cost $500

I know that 4K TV, or those with four times as many pixels as today’s high-definition TVs, are going to be plentiful at CES. In the past year, these so-called Ultra HD TVs have debuted at prices at $25,000 or so. Can we skip the whole learning curve part and jump to the $500 model soon?

A.I./brains

I need a better brain. Or a brain enhancement. I’m counting on Jeff Hawkins’ Grok technology, which promises to deliver “big data” analysis based on the processing that resembles what happens in the human brain. Or something like it. It’s like those chips in William Gibson’s novel Johnny Mnemonic.

Personal gaming

Will Wright shared a vision last year for personal gaming, or a mobile game that was smart enough to know your interests, know your location, understand your context, and then deliver a surprising, fun gaming experience to you. The game collects a lot of big data about you and processes that. Then it creates a custom experience, a game made for just one person. You.

An awesome game console

How about a great video game console? One with free-to-play games with both traditional game controls and gesture recognition. I’d love to have a wide variety of indie games as well as blockbusters, and I’d like to extend my play to mobile game platforms and the web. Add backward-compatibility and cloud computing. Let’s hope that Sony and Microsoft are listening. Nintendo’s Wii U doesn’t quite do it for me.

Quantified self gadgets that automate calorie counting

We’ve got devices like Striiv that can count our steps. Other gadgets (like the Basis Health Tracker) can monitor our sleep, record our heart rate, and sync with the cloud. But we’d really like to get a device that photographs our meals (or does something like that) and calculates how many calories we’ll consume. This kind of technology could complete the loop in terms of figuring out our physical activity and our food intake, giving us the data we could use to calculate whether we are exercising enough and eating right. (VentureBeat’s John Koetsier supplied this idea, based on the “<a href=”“quantified self” movement where people try to measure everything about themselves).

If this list of new technologies doesn’t sound ambitious enough, we’re also waiting for some pie-in-the-sky science fiction to become reality. We’d like to go for a ride in the Star Trek Holodeck, a virtual reality simulation that is indistinguishable from reality, or live in the Metaverse virtual world of Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. And I’d like to use that gesture-based computer that Tom Cruise used in Minority Report. But we’re assuming it’s going to take a while before the tech and entertainment industries can deliver on those visions.

Now if Moore’s Law ever stopped in its tracks, the engine behind all of this change would grind to a halt. Then we could say that things might truly get boring. On the other hand, nanotechnology might be quite useful in replacing semiconductor manufacturing with something else. So we’re not counting on getting bored anytime soon.

Image credits: Google, cmmorrison/Flickr, guilhermescha/Flickr, Nvidia, Lionsgate Television, SpaceX, Nao, Microsoft/Bing, LG, VLADGRIN/Shutterstock, Samsung, Samir Torres/VentureBeat

Tech giant Microsoft is working on a set of augmented reality eyeglasses, according to a new patent application made public today.

Microsoft’s glasses are very similar to Google’s Project Glass, the sci-fi-looking glasses that let you do many of the things you do with your smartphone without the need for a separate device — things like snapping pictures, recording video, or displaying a user interface.

Microsoft’s glasses, according to the patent, seem to zero in on turning your line of sight into a true UI. For example, live events like concerts or sports games will have images and text above or beside people showing relevant statistics, trivia, and more.

Here’s a description from the patent application:

“Fans of live sporting and artistic events have enjoyed various types of information which is provided on different displays to supplement the live event. This supplemental information is provided both when the user is in attendance at the event and when the user views the event on broadcast media. One example of this is the augmentation of football games to display a first down marker superimposed on a playing field in a broadcast television event, and the broadcast of replays both on broadcast television and large displays at the venue of the event.”

The patent application was initially flied in May 2011, and we don’t know when and if Microsoft actually plans to release a device based on the images shown above. Google, however, is scheduled to release its Project Glass  product in the next few months.

Via UnwiredView

During New York Fashion Week, acclaimed designer Diane von Furstenberg added a new accessory to her show: Google’s Project Glass. Today, she released her video made entirely out of Google Glass footage, showing what it’s like to be DVF during the craziest week of fashion in the U.S.

The fashion team wore the eyewear created by Google all around DVF’s fashion show, taking video of what they were seeing. Project Glass is a wearable computer that provides information not through a screen, but rather through your “eyes.” It gives you data about your surroundings without the need to whip out your smartphone and know what to search. For example, if you go into a bookstore, Google Glass will be able to provide you with an indoor map of the place, and lead you to your desired book.

In the “movie” we see Diane writing with lipstick on a mirror and taping her father’s lucky gold coin onto her strappy sandal.  We also get some birds-eye views of New York City, indicating that someone took the prototype into a helicopter.

Project Glass is still going through testing. Furstenberg got involved with the glasses after meeting Sergey Brin at a conference, where he let her try them on. During the show Furstenberg, her stylists, and models all wore a pair and posted photos from the Glass to, what else, Google+.

Check out the four-minute Google Glass movie:

Google’s Project Glass might be the latest form of “walking in someone else’s shoes.” While it gives us a new way to see the world, it lets outsiders see the world through others’ eyes. What better week to see through someone else’s eyes than Fashion Week.

Google is teaming up with arguably one of the most revered designers of ready to wear fashion, Diane Von Furstenberg. She is credited with giving women the gift of the wrap dress, and is one of those fashion icons whose name will always be synonymous with effortlessness.

Now, please let me remove my lips from her ass.

A few DVF employees (maybe even Diane herself) will be wearing one of Google’s “Project Glass” headpieces throughout her show at Fashion Week. Project Glass is that Star Trek-like technology that gives you information about your surroundings in your eyes, as opposed to on a phone screen. Google and DVF will air a “short film” on her Google+ brand page on September 13 and on YouTube. She has also been posting photos from today’s show on her Google+ page, which you can see now.

It looks like some of the models also wore the eye glasses, so we may get a shot of what it’s like to cat walk.

Google may also be trying to prove that the eye-wear is, well, wearable, by associating it with Fashion Week. That’s one of the big issues Google will face when releasing technology that becomes an accessory. It has to be something people will want to wear.

The technology might not answer the age-old question, “Is my yellow, your yellow?” but as long as yellow doesn’t become the new black, I think we’re all good.

Image via DVF’s Google+

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

When developers finally get their $1,500 Project Glass units next year, they’ll be prime targets for envious gadget geeks, spies from rival companies, or anyone looking to make a quick buck. Luckily for them, it looks like Google has come up with an innovative way to keep Glass data secure: motion-based theft detection.

Google today has received a patent for a method that will lock down the Glass unit when it detects “unnatural movements” — for example, somebody slipping off your glasses from behind. Even better, the patent also covers a method that will alert authorities when the Glass units are stolen.

Attendees of Google’s I/O conference were able to buy early Project Glass models for $1,500, though they won’t be receiving them until early 2013. There’s no word on when Glass will make it to a wider audience, or how much it would cost when it does (I’d wager it’ll be well over $500 though).

Here’s the abstract of the patent, USPTO 8,223,024:

A wearable computer determines unnatural movements of a head-mounted display (HMD) and triggers a locking mechanism. In one embodiment, the wearable computer receives movement data from one or more sensors and determines that the movement of the HMD is unnatural. In one embodiment, the wearable computer receives movement data from one or more sensors and determines that the HMD is being worn by an unauthorized user. In response to determining an unnatural movement and/or an unauthorized user wearing the HMD, the wearable computer triggers a locking mechanism, which can beneficially provide security measures for the wearable computer.

Via Engadget; Photo Chris Chabot/Google

Olympus’ model, however, is not much more than a display … a wearable LCD screen that requires a connection to a smartphone.

But that’s not its biggest problem. Which would you wear?

Source: Olympus, Google

Olympus prototype vs Google’s Project Glass

The Olympus model is bulky and oddly bulbous. The Google model is sleek, stylish. It’s like putting an Apple product against a GE MP3 player: not a contest. In fact, not even close.

Of course, that’s Olympus president Hiroyuki Sasa wearing the prototype, and he’s no model. Our guess on the Project Glass model? She’s no Google employee.

But a display-only product that requires a Bluetooth connection to actually do anything also compares poorly to Project Glass, which has an integral CPU and memory built right into the glasses. The Olympus model does have an acceleration sensor, and seems to be usable with GPS, according to the company’s released information, but no camera, and certainly not as much intelligence as Google appears to have built into Glass.

And for a device that’s intended to be worn on users’ faces, style and fashion are not just nice-to-haves. They are purchasing factors of paramount importance.

It must be said that Olympus didn’t, of course, rush a prototype into the market in two weeks. They have been working on prototypes for at least seven years, as the Verge notes. But the timing of this July 5 announcement (Japanese/Google Translate version) seems a little transparent: The company wants to cash in on some of the new wearable computing cachet.

All fine and good.

But after seven years, you’d hope the company would be able to come out with a better prototype than this.

Google has debuted the first video taken with its new set of eyewear from its Project Glass project.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, Project Glass’ sci-fi-looking glasses allow a person to do many of the same things you do with your smartphone, except without the need of a separate device. The eyewear displays user interfaces for different programs, allows you to snap pictures, and as we said, even record live video (in this case, it’s a bit nausea-inducing).

Over the past week, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and others from the company have been field testing the eyewear and taking pictures to show off what it can do in a real life setting.

We’ve embedded the video below of a Google employee performing flips on a trampoline. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Photo via Chris Charbot/ Google+

Google chief executive Larry Page appears on PBS show “Charlie Rose” this evening at 11 p.m. local time.

In the show, Page addresses a wide range of topics, starting with today’s surprising news that Chrome is now the most popular browser on the Internet. (“I’m really excited about that.”)

Check out a clip from the show below.

He also wishes Facebook well on its recent initial public offering, while more or less declining to comment on that company’s IPO methodology, which was a traditional, banker-driven IPO as opposed to the ostensibly more open reverse auction used by Google in 2004.

But it’s on the subject of cooperation with Facebook that Page really gets going.

“I think it’s been unfortunate that Facebook has been pretty closed with their data,” Page tells Rose.

By contrast, he says, Google generally stands on the side of openness. For instance, when you join Facebook, you can’t import your contact list from Google. Why not? Here’s Page’s take:

From a user’s perspective, you say … I’m joining Facebook. I want my contacts. In Google, we said, fine. You can get them from Google. And the issue we had is that then Facebook said, no, Google, you can’t do the reverse. And so we just said, well, users don’t understand what they’re doing. They’re putting data in, and they don’t understand they can’t take it out. So we said, well, we’ll only participate with people who have reciprocity. And we’re still waiting.

In other words, Google is willing to share its users’ contact information with Facebook, but only if Facebook is willing to do the reverse.

“You don’t want to be holding your users hostage,” Page says. “We think it’s important that you as users of Google can take your data, and take it out if you need to, or take it somewhere else.”

On other subjects, Page plays the typical, confident CEO. Regarding the company’s ongoing legal battle with Oracle over Java patents in Android, Page says “we feel pretty good about our position.” Regarding antitrust litigation, he’s happy to work with federal officials on “reasonable scrutiny,” given that Google is such a big company. And he’s really excited about those Google glasses.

Quotes courtesy of the “Charlie Rose” show. Click here to find local showings on PBS. The show will also be re-broadcast tomorrow on Bloomberg at 7pm and 10pm.

Image credit: Screenshot from the Charlie Rose show.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Google has successfully secured patents on the design of its augmented reality glasses, which is part of the company’s futuristic Project Glass initiative.

Project Glass’ sci-fi-looking glasses allow a person to do many of the same things you do with your smartphone, except without the need of a separate device. The eyewear will display user interfaces for different programs, allow you to snap pictures without a point and shoot camera, and possibly even lead to sinister mind-altering  games — like in that one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Wesley Crusher has to save the entire Enterprise crew with Ashley Judd.

As you can see from the design mockup, the glasses look like a cross between super expensive 3D eyewear and a laser scope headset from a video game (eyepiece only). In other words, it looks cool. And now Google has the rights to it.

But the design of the augmented reality glasses are probably the most minor obstacle in the path toward putting them on consumer shelves. The technology that powers the glasses are the most important patent Google will need, and its very likely that at least some of them are owned by designer shades company Oakley.

Oakley has about 600 patents related to smart glasses tech that it’s been developing for years, as VentureBeat previously reported. Fortunately Google has deep pockets, and Oakley seems willing to forge a deal to license some of those patents out.

Let us know what you think about the design in the comment section.

Via Engadget

The above picture shows us exactly what it’s like to be grilled by famed interviewer Charlie Rose. It was taken with Google’s Project Glass headset by Sebastian Thrun, the man spearheading Google’s next-gen innovations at Google X, during his interview with Rose on Wednesday.

The picture isn’t framed that well, and it’s not the best quality, but it shows us how Project Glass can instantly help us share experiences with friends. As you can see early in the interview, Thrun doesn’t even break conversation to take the picture: he simply taps a button on the headset, focuses on Rose, and shares it with his Google+ circles using a few simple head gestures. That’s certainly more fluid than whipping out your phone, unlocking it, loading a camera app, snapping a picture, and then sharing it to your friends (which may involve using several apps).

“The hope [with Project Glass] is to get things out of your life, not into your life,” Thrun told Rose.

But while it may be nice for taking pictures, Google apparently is still figuring out the best uses for the futuristic glasses. Thrun mentioned that he hasn’t really seen a compelling augmented reality use-case for Project Glass, and he went on to say that sharing is currently the most useful feature.

Unfortunately, Thrun didn’t divulge much else about Project Glass in the interview, but he did cover some of his other projects, like Google’s self-driving cars, and his education startup Udacity. If anything, it’s clear from the Rose interview that Thrun is a busy man, as every one of his projects is trying to disrupt established industries.

Via The Verge; Photo Sebastian Thrun/Google+

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Oakley, maker of high-end designer sunglasses, is creating new technology that displays images and information directly on the lenses of a special set of eye-wear.

Sound familiar? Well, it should. Technology giant Google recently confirmed months of speculation that it was working on its own set of sci-fi movie-looking glasses, dubbed Project Glass. Google’s glasses should allow you to do many of the same things you do with your smartphone without the need of a separate device. And even though they aren’t even available to consumers, it seems that others are already looking to compete.

Oakley’s glasses technology aim to do many of the same things described by Project Glass, but it’s something the company has been working on for years, according to a Bloomberg report. And believe it or not, Oakley has about 600 patents related to smart glasses tech — some of which the search giant may need.

“As an organization, we’ve been chasing this beast since 1997,” Oakley CEO Colin Baden told Bloomberg. “Ultimately, everything happens through your eyes, and the closer we can bring it to your eyes, the quicker the consumer is going to adopt the platform.”

Baden didn’t reveal whether Oakley was working on its own set of smart glasses, but he did say the company would be willing to license some of its patents to others, such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft.

The technology would initially seek to integrate smart glasses with devices frequently used by athletes, but it could also be used to create military-grade equipment, Baden said.

TRON glasses image via Oakley

Google Glass, the tech giant’s foray into augmented reality and the new wave of mobile computing, is reportedly already stirring up competing products from its rivals.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White revealed this morning to Boy Genius Report that during supply chain meetings in Asia, he learned about how Google’s competitors are already developing products to give Google Glass a run for its money.

“Our meetings today indicate that Google glasses (a.k.a., Project Glass) already has competitors working on similar initiatives to improve consumer’s mobility around Internet access,” White wrote. “We expect to hear more about projects such as this and others in the coming years. This could drive a new wave of innovation across the mobility space.”

It might be a stretch to call these competing products “clones” — after all, we don’t really know when development on Glass or any Glass-like products from rivals may have begun, and we don’t know how much future releases from companies like Apple, Samsung, or other manufacturers may emulate Glass’s look and features.

It’s moreover important to note that, far from being a mass market-ready gadget already on production lines, Glass is still very much in its conceptual stages. “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,” wrote Googlers Babak Parviz, Steve Lee, and Sebastian Thrun of the collateral that set the geek world abuzz earlier this week.

Still, Google Glass and anything like it share strong ties to science fiction, the progenitor to so many current marvels of science and technology. Check out the top image on this story — that’s Star Trek: The Next Generation character Wesley Crusher playing a game using augmented reality headgear that overlays a casual game interface on the wearer’s field of vision.

These goofy, geeky AR toys we’re starting to build today were dreamt up long ago by technologists and creatives, and it’s not too surprising that (especially given recent advances in location and other mobile technology) multiple companies and manufacturers are getting the same ideas for similar products at around the same time.

I, for one, welcome our new augmented-reality-headgear-wearing overlords.

Like a lot of folks, we thought the concept behind the project was awesome, and the video made it look seamless and futuristic. And this being Google, they put the concept in front of folks before it was ready to release to the public, allowing plenty of time for feedback, or in this case, comedic abuse.

Nokia actually released a video for a strikingly similar pair of augmented reality glasses two years ago. Hopefully Google will have better luck. Anyway, enjoy the video!