Google has unveiled Project Glass, an augmented reality technology that interacts with its social network and could even replace smartphones and tablet computers as “the next big thing.”
The project is in its early stages and may not ever make it to fruition, but augmented reality, which overlays digital information on the real world, is an area that is likely to boom within the next few years, and clearly Google wants to be an early adopter of the technology.
In a video demonstration of how the company sees the technology working users will wear special augmented reality glasses that display notifications, video, maps, and other visual cues, as well as recording the user's voice and responding to their commands, such as to find their current location or upload a photo to Google+.
The integration with Google+ is a key part of this idea, as it's all about helping users to “explore and share” their world. Google's pitch is that other devices take you out of the moment by forcing you to type, click, tap, and look away from whatever it is you're doing, whereas the augmented reality glasses are all about “putting you back in the moment.”
Google showed off some early design photos of the eyewear people will need for this technology to become reality. It looks like a futuristic pair of glasses, but instead of two glasses covering the eyes, there is one small translucent screen on the right-hand side, suggesting that the idea is not to interfere with regular vision.
Of course, this could be problematic for those who already need glasses, but we imagine it may consider some kind of altered form that can clip onto existing glasses, or perhaps it will develop the technology to the state where opticians can manufacture prescription augmented reality eyewear, an idea that might have sounded like science-fiction a few years ago.
Google is looking to share its ideas and get feedback and suggestions from users. It is likely also keen to see how much interest there is in this technology. If it manages to develop this within the next few years it could revolutionise the industry, ensuring success both for the hardware itself and the social network that will take advantage of it.
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Google unveils Project Glass augmented reality glasses
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