Geeky? Really? lol! This might be interesting: augmented reality glasses from Google – this year! Take a look at what is rumored from Mashable:
Google plans to launch glasses with a heads-up display by the end of 2012, the New York Times reports citing sources familiar with the matter.
The glasses, who were previously rumored to have a front-facing camera with flash and a voice input interface, will be Android based, sources say.
They will include a display, mere inches from the wearer’s eye, streaming real-time info about your surroundings, similar to the various augmented reality applications we’ve seen on smartphones.
The data will be fetched through a 3G/4G data connection, and the glasses will retrieve information about their surroundings through GPS and several sensors.
The glasses will cost “around the price of current smartphones,” sources say. While definitely not very precise – current smartphones cost anywhere from $150 to $600 – this price range shows that Google intends the glasses as a product for the mass market.
Will these glasses be something you need as opposed to want? We doubt it – we haven’t seen a must-have augmented reality application yet, although we have seen some very cool ones in the past.
AR heads-up display glasses, however, are the stuff sci-fi dreams are made of, and it’s a product we’d definitely like to see in the real world – even if they make us look like total geeks.
and Newser:
By the end of this year, you won’t have to pull out your smartphone for directions while walking down the street: The information will be displayed directly in front of your very eyes, if you buy a pair of the glasses Google is developing. The Android-based glasses, which will have a 3G or 4G connection and are expected to cost around the same amount as a smartphone, will stream information in real time on a small screen a few inches from the eyeball, sources tell the New York Times.
The glasses will also include sensors like motion and GPS and a low-resolution camera, making it possible for the glasses to give the user information about location and even nearby friends. Users are expected to scroll and click through the information via head tilts. Privacy is a concern, as Google wants to make sure people know if the glasses are recording them. The glasses, which are being built in Google’s secretive Google X laboratories, are not intended to be worn at all times. Apple is exploring a similar option, but its creation would be worn around the wrist.
