Google glasses may hit market this year
Friday, March 01, 2013
Google co-founder Sergey Brin envisions Google’s internet glasses hitting the market this year with an eye toward freeing people from unsocial habits engendered by “emasculating” mobile phones.
By Glenn Chapman
He told of the inspiration behind Google Glass eyewear during an appearance at a TED conference in Long Beach, California, known for an inspiring mix of influential big thinkers and “ideas worth spreading”.
He playfully demonstrated his point by ignoring a theatre audience to stare down at his smartphone, saying he was intent on a message from a Nigerian prince in need of $10m (€7.65m).
“I like to pay attention because that is how we originally funded the company,” Brin quipped about a well-known scam.
“Seriously, in addition to potentially socially isolating yourself when you are out and about using your phone, I feel it is kind of emasculating,” he said.
Brin described Glass as the first form factor to deliver on a vision he had from Google’s inception that one day search queries would be outmoded and information from the internet would come to people when they need it.
Glass frees the eyes as well as the hands when it comes to connecting to the internet on the go, said Brin.
“That is why we put the display up high, out of the line of sight,” Brin said, wearing the Glass eyewear he is rarely seen without.
“If I wore a ball cap, the display would be on the brim and not where you are looking,” he continued. “And sound goes through bones in the cranium, which is a little freaky at first, but you get used to it.”
Glass wearers can speak commands to the eyewear, and built-in camera technology allows pictures or video to be captured from first- person perspectives while people take part in what is happening.
“Lastly, I realised I also have a nervous tic,” Brin said. “The cell phone is a nervous habit. If I smoked, I’d probably smoke instead.”
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