Google wingmen rain Project Glass on San Francisco
Wearable computers launched in style
Google I/O Google's Sergey Brin has confirmed that the first units of Project Glass, his pet project of wearable computing systems previewed earlier this year, will be available to US customers early in 2013.
The glasses have a screen above the right eye, with a CPU, wireless radios, memory and a camera with a touchpad and control button built into the frame. The first build of the computing spectacles, Project Glass Explorer, ships with an eye-watering $1,500 price tag. Only attendees at this week's Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco can order them at present.
"This not a consumer device, it's rough around the edges," Brin said. "It's for those that have to be on the bleeding edge of technology."
Google staffer shows off prototype system
It's also for people who are willing to shell out the price of a top-of-the-range laptop for an experimental prototype that may never see the light of day - such as That the developers who queued up in large numbers at the Moscone Center, home to Google I/O, to order their pairs.
Google is further restricting their use to business, industrial and medical use – so don’t expect to see them in the shops any time soon.
Brin introduced the Project Glass demonstrations with a publicity stunt that will take some beating.
Two professional skydivers in wing suits parachuted from a blimp 4,000 feet above the Moscone Center, maintaining a constant steam of video until they landed. They handed the glasses to some trick cyclists to get them to the edge of the building, where a waiting abseiler dropped them down for delivery to Brin.
Freefalling Project Glass team look nervous
The stunt was dreamed up a few weeks ago and took a special dispensation from the San Francisco authorities to allow the first (legal) wing suit jump over a US city. Maintaining data transmission in freefall also took some jiggery-pokery, including a makeshift wireless antenna boosted by an adapted wok and specialist equipment for the freefallers.
Tomorrow we want to see a bikini-clad Larry Page leaping over a tank of sharks on a motorbike. Remember where you read this first. ®
COMMENTS
Wow
Sounds like Microsoft have lost one astroturfer to the 'do no evil' company...
The glasses are a great idea I think and it's good that they are willing to take a gamble and get them out there, because that's the only way that this sort of technology will become a reality and force other companies to come up with similar and better offerings.
As for the person who questioned why they need this when they have a phone well I could see a scenario where the smartphone goes back to being a dumb phone and when it rings it's answered by the glasses and you speak into the mic on the glasses and while the phone does a lot of the grunt work it has no touchscreen or massive display because all the apps are projected on the screen of the glasses via bluetooth or something. Then eventually once the technology is there the phone goes completely.
And if you want to pay something with NFC you have to bend down to the shop counter and rub the side of your glasses against the till.....
Sounds good
It is worth it for the wireless radios alone. The wired radios I have been using on my phone and laptop are very annoying.
Re: So.....
Why? Sounds perfect to watch porn while shagging the missus.
No more "couples movies" rubbish.
Re: Unlike Apple
Sure the price limits this device to only those who are really interested in it but I'd still say offering something like this to developers is better than keeping it as a private R&D project.
There is always someone out there who will find a use for your hardware that you'd never have dreamed of in a thousand lifetimes.
Nasty
"Tomorrow we want to see a bikini-clad Larry Page leaping over a tank of sharks on a motorbike."
This little visual will wake me up screaming in the middle of the night, for weeks to come. Thanks a lot.
