Google is hard at work trying to fulfill a dream of mine: augmented reality glasses. That’s right, when Google said they were working on wearable devices they didn’t mean watches.
You have no clue how excited I am by this.
9To5Google claims that Google’s secret R&D; think tank has been hard at work on thick-rimmed glasses with augmented reality capabilities powered by Google services. What does that mean? Imagine Google Goggles integration, where looking at a piece of art lets you pull up info on its creator. Or you glance at a CD cover and get a band biography floating in the air to the right, with price checks to the left. Or you tagged someone in Google+ but you don’t remember their name, but don’t worry, because its now floating above their head.
Sound like science fiction? Its not. Google recently updated Google Goggles so that it no longer needs to take a picture to pull up information. As you wave your phone (or any device that sports Android and a camera… Like glasses) in front of something, it will pull up information on it automagically.
9To5Google claims that the device is currently in the late prototyping stage, which is feasible given the state of the art for video glasses. Lumus has shown off near-production video glasses that do much the same thing, and Vuzix has also, though their augmented reality system uses a bulky camera snapped to the nose of their see-through glasses.
If Google has managed to take one of these devices, or a prototype that either of these companies hasn’t shown off yet, and make true VR goggles out of them, well, I don’t care how much they cost. I am buying a pair. Apple, on the other hand, has apparently decided that iPod watches are where the action is at.