Looking into the future
When Google released a promotional video on Wednesday for its new Internet-connected glasses technology known as Google Glass, it only renewed the growing interest in the product, which was adjudged one of the “Best Inventions of the Year 2012” by Time magazine.
The video displaying the wearable glasses demonstrates some of the useful abilities of Google Glass such as a hands-free clock, flight details, a maps app display, access to Google Translate, weather app display, video recording and voice-dictated email or text messaging. All of this information appears in a small, translucent square in the top right of the wearer’s field of vision.
Even before its release, the state-of-the-art gadget has managed to capture the interest of famous, influential people, starting with Mark Zuckerberg. On Wednesday at the University of California, San Francisco’s Mission Bay medical campus, the Facebook CEO met up with Google cofounder and special projects head Sergey Brin for an informal business discussion. Sergey, for whom Glass has become a trademark accessory, let Mark try on his gadget as Mark remarked, “I can’t wait to get one of my own!”
Google, on its part, doesn’t want to just make a useful pair of glasses — it wants to make them stylish too. According to The New York Times reports, Google is in talks to team up with eyewear designer Warby Parker to develop more fashionable frames for Glass.
Google also launched the ‘If I Had Glass’ programme, which stirred new excitement around the wearable computer. The company gave potential early adopters a chance to buy the as-yet-unreleased product, by starting a contest where fans can use Twitter or Google+ with the hashtag #ifihadglass, and tell the company why they deserve a pair in 50 words or less. The best entries, plus $1500, will get a chance to attend a special pick-up experience, in person, in New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles.
The contest got a lot of entries, including from celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, who plays the famous role of Barney Stinson in the TV show How I Met Your Mother. He wrote: “#IfIHadGlass I'd show what it's like to act on the set of [How I Met Your Mother] all day”(sic).
Google is accepting applications until February 27, so if you're a geek itching to get your hands on a pair of that innovative gadget, now’s the chance. Google, as always, never fails to surprise us!
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