Google (News - Alert) is working on a new prototype for glasses with a transparent projection system built into them, granting users Internet access and browsing capabilities.
Remember the film “They Live”? You shouldn’t. The hero, played by pro-wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper, gets a hold of a pair of sunglasses that allow him to “see the reality” behind a false facade invading aliens invented in order to lull humanity into a sense of complacence while they took over the world.
Always the clever innovators, Google plans a full reversal of the classic horror movie plot in their re-dux. Rather than allowing wearers to see through a false reality, Google’s Project Glass will add an extra layer of obfuscation to the existing ones.
The glasses will interface with your smartphone device in a fashion similar to Blue Tooth. Google staff blogger Seth Weinthrub explains that users of the Android (News - Alert)-enabled glasses will be able to interact with and manipulate the GUI interface through various tilts of the head and neck. These mannerisms will not appear to outsiders as the symptoms of a nervous disorder. Rather, once you get comfortable with the system, people will not even notice.
Senior TMCnet editor Peter Bernstein questions the usage of the word “augment” in this context.
According to Hugo Barra, a project management director at Google, they wanted to work on the Android platform because it is open source. The long-term prediction is that Google will continue developing Android-based products for as many appliances as they possibly can. Imagine: a kitchen of the future powered by Android.
Frightened yet?
Reports predict that the glasses (goggles?) will run somewhere in the ballpark of $300 to $600. For the perverse excitement of Bert Krages, author of The Legal Handbook For Photographers, deluxe models of the glasses will have camera functionality built-in. If using these glasses doesn’t give you a migraine, rest assured: the ensuing legal rumpus these things are going to cause will send you scrambling for the Excedrin in no time.