From the heads up display in James Cameron's Terminator to the augmented vision of Neo in The Matrix to even the virtual overlay of Nonplayer, the idea of seeing the world with digital assistance has long held sway over science fiction aficionados. Now a little company from Mountain View, California believes they can fill that order …
There were rumors that Google was secretly working on a pair of augmented reality glasses and now Google's made it official that it is indeed prototyping a pair of them. It's called "Project Glass" and it could change the way we live, or just make us ever more reliant on technology for everyday tasks.
AR technology is not new. We've seen some fantastic smartphone apps show us how the world would be if it had real-time info overlaid on top.
Project Glass takes the AR/heads up display concept further. The voice-activated glasses (design is obviously not final) can make voice and video calls. It can "check-in" to places and share photos to social networks (presumably Google+), get real-time mapping, tell you the weather, remind you of appointments and more.
Think of Project Glass like your very own personal assistant — like Siri — only with augmented reality elements and not just voice.
Initial rumors stated that Google would be releasing the glasses by the end of the year for about $250 to $600.
Google hasn't thrown out any details on when we'll see Project Glass go on asale. Rather, it's released the concept video you see below as a way to generate buzz and conversation. It's far from being ready for launch, as far as Google's letting up.
Here comes the future, like it or not …
However, some people can't wait, and want it NOW! Like whom? Like this guy …
Pretty much the same thing … cobbling together existing software and parts. As elegant? Perhaps not … but as always, the lesson is that the future is within your reach.
[Source: DVICE]