Google’s Project Glass: Augmented Reality Takes a Big Leap Forward.

It was just over a decade ago now but I can still vividly remember walking around the streets of Akihabara in Tokyo. It’s a technical wonderland and back then when Internet shopping was something only crazy people did (for fear of losing your credit card details) it was filled with the kind of technology you couldn’t find anywhere else. I was there on a mission looking for a pocket translator similar to the one my Japanese teacher had lent me. While my quest went unfulfilled I did manage to see all sorts of technology there that wouldn’t make it to Australia shores for years to come, and one piece in particular stuck in my mind.

There was a row of these chunky looking head sets, each hooked up to what looked like a portable CD player. I remember picking one up and looking at the headset I saw two tiny displays in it, one for each eye. Putting on the headset I was greeted to a picture that seemed massive in comparison to the actual size of the device playing some kind of demo on a loop. It wasn’t perfect but it was enough to make me fascinated with the concept and I thought it wouldn’t be long before everyone had some kind of wearable display. Here we are just over a decade later and the future I envisioned hasn’t yet come to pass but it seems we’re not far off.

Today Google announced Project Glass, one of their brain childs of the secretive Google[x] lab. There’s been rumours floating around for quite a while now that they were working on something of this nature but no one could give much above the general idea that it would be a head mounted display and Android would be powering it. Looking over what Google’s released today as well as the comments from other news outlets makes it clear that Google is quite serious about this idea and it could be something quite revolutionary.

The initial headset designs I saw back when I heard the original rumours were the kind of of clunky, overly large glasses we’ve come to expect when anyone mentions a wearable display. Google’s current design (pictured above) seems rather elegant in comparison. It’ll still draw a lot of attention thanks to the chunky white bar at the side but it’s a far cry from what we’ve come to expect from wearable displays. What’s even more impressive is the concept demo they included alongside it, showcasing what the headset is capable of:

The possibilities for something like this are huge. Just imagine extending the capabilities to recognise faces of people you’ve met before, neatly side stepping that awkward moment when you forget someone’s name. You could even work a barcode scanner into it, allowing you to scan food to see the nutritional value (and then see if it fits in with your diet) before you purchase it. I could go on forever about the possibilities of a device like the Project Glass but suffice to say it’s quite an exciting prospect.

What will be really interesting to see is how these kind of devices blend in to every day social interactions. The smart phone and tablet managed to work their way into social norms rather quickly but a device like this is a whole other ball game. The sleek and unobtrusive design will help ease its transition in some what but I can still see a long adaptation period where people will wonder why the heck you’re wearing it. That won’t deter me from doing so though as it’s this kind of device that makes me feel like I’m living in the future. That’s all it takes for me to overcome any social anxiety that I might have about wearing one of these 😉