As a technology, the screen only works if you’re looking at it. For an advertiser, that’s just not good enough. If you’re out walking around, the screen on your desk or your console isn’t doing anything. The one on your phone is a little better, but not if it’s hidden in your pocket.
That’s why the new glasses Google plans to begin selling by the end of the year are promising. A built-in screen allows them to function as a so-called heads-up display, overlaying whatever the viewers is looking at with a digital layer. The glasses will be tricked out with a wireless internet connection, an Android operating system, motion sensors, GPS and a camera. They’ll also be rather ugly, apparently.
The glasses were developed by Google X, the blue-sky lab that focuses on ambitious projects that often seem more rooted in science fiction than in current reality. As such, there’s no business model to speak of, beyond selling them to consumers for a few hundred dollars.
However, you can be sure advertising will enter into the picture. And when it does, it will most assuredly be in the form of augmented reality. Google already incorporates AR in Google Goggles, a smart phone app that “uses image recognition technology to recognize objects and return relevant search results.” Those objects can include ads, which come alive when viewed through Goggles.
Imagine you’re walking home from work. You put on your Google Glasses to check your email and notice that the restaurant near your house is highlighted. In the window is a glowing icon that lets you know there’s a discount available. A tiny tilt of your head brings up the offer: 40% off any purchase plus free edamame. With a bit more tilting and nodding, you place your order. By the time you cross the street, it’s ready for you. Would you like to pay via Google Wallet?
The heads up display (HUD) is only for one eye and on the side. It is not transparent nor does it have dual 3D configurations, as previously speculated. The navigation system currently used is a head tilting-to scroll and click. Iit is very quick to learn and once the user is adept at navigation, it becomes second nature and almost indistinguishable to outside users.
I/O on the glasses will also include voice input and output, and the CPU/RAM/storage hardware is near the equivalent of a generation-old Android smartphone. As a guess, we would speculate something like 1GHz ARM A8, 256MB RAM and 8GB of storage? In any case, it will also function as a smartphone. Perhaps most interesting is that Google is currently deciding on how it wants to release these glasses, even though the product is still a very long way from being finished. It is currently a secret with only a few geeky types knowing about it, and Google is apparently unsure if it will have mass-market appeal.
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