glass

We reported last week that Tesla is using wearable tech to increase production efficiency at its factory, and cited knowledge of a promotional video that Google made in collaboration with Tesla as reason to believe that the company was using Glass hardware. Now, we have clips to share from that video to prove that, indeed, Tesla Motors did at one time trial using Google’s wearable at its Fremont factory…

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Google Glass Enterprise Edition has been leaked in full at this point, but what good is new enterprise-focused hardware unless it’s being used in the field? APX Labs, one of Google’s Glass at Work partners, has confirmed on its site that it has signed renowned maker of electric vehicles Tesla Motors as a client, and there is speculation that the company is using the latest unannounced Glass hardware to increase productivity at its Fremont factory…

Update: While multiple people close to the situation say that Tesla is still deploying both Glass and Vuzix hardware in some capacity at Fremont and running trials to compare the platforms, Tesla has reached out saying that “Tesla does not use Glass hardware in the Tesla Factory”. It seems that, while we’re confident Glass was at Fremont at one point, the company has recently moved away from Google’s platform. A person says that Google engineers were at one point referring clients like Tesla to Vuzix while the Enterprise Edition was in development.

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Update: It appears Google has shut down the eBay listing.

Earlier this year, we told you across several exclusive reports that second-generation Glass hardware was in development, namely a variant of the device reworked with the enterprise in mind. Now, a couple months after getting our first look at FCC images of the device and later an official Google patent, we now have our first look at a unit in the wild via a new eBay listing…

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Update 3/16: Augmate has reached out to clarify the situation, noting that CEO and founder Pete Wassell is indeed not leaving the company. The previous “team” page we linked to on the company’s site didn’t list Wassell’s name, but it appears the page — which has now been taken down — was inaccurate.

CrowdOptic, widely known as one of the larger and more successful of the dozen-or-so Glass at Work partners, has today announced its first in-house developed hardware product. The CrowdOptic Eye streams video via the company’s video streaming stack at the flip of a switch, adding additional opportunities for clients that have until now primarily used wearable devices like Google Glass for a wide variety of purposes ranging from medicine to sports…

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Earlier this year, we told you across several exclusive reports that new Glass hardware was in development, namely a variant of the device reworked with the enterprise in mind. Now, a couple months after getting our first look at the device in the flesh, a newly-granted Google patent provides us yet another look at the elusive remnant of a less than ideal Glass of the past…

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The Google Glass social media accounts—including Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and others—have finally been shut down after many months of continued #throughGlass postings and “Happy [insert holiday]!” images. This doesn’t come as much surprise as plans to bring Glass to the consumer market (at least by that name) have long been abandoned, but multiple people familiar with the matter say that Glass: Enterprise Edition is only just now starting to see wider adoption…

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Update: The first business card for a Project Aura team member has popped up on Instagram.

We know that Project Aura is the successor to Glass — or at least a project that’s being built by some of the same people that built Glass — but now we have our first look at the logo that Google designed for this new venture. A person familiar with the project tells us that the logo is meant to resemble a new wearable device that wraps around the head…

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The number of people out there that are still using Glass Explorer Edition is getting smaller by the day, but it looks like Glass is experiencing some widespread technical difficulties this morning. As reported by many members of the Glass Explorers group on Google+, many devices have been resetting themselves, are unable to be set up, and have become simply unusable over the last several days…

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Earlier this year, we told you across several exclusive reports that new Google Glass hardware was on the way, namely a device Google has been working on for more than a year aimed at the workplace. Now, several months later (and with many interesting reports about Google’s mysterious Project Aura having surfaced since), we have our first look at the device in the flesh…

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Google seems to be keeping its options open on what the next generation of Google Glass may look like. We’ve previously seen a larger prism reportedly destined for the Enterprise Edition, and last week heard that the company is working on two audio-based models without a screen via Project Aura.

A Google patent granted this week now shows two different approaches to a flexible version of the wearable (see below for the second one), worn over only one ear, and with the option of a display viewable by both eyes … 
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Sundar Pichai has taken to the Google for Work blog today to announce that Diane Greene, co-founder of VMWare, is taking lead of a newly-organized group at Google that combines the company’s cloud businesses. Besides the obvious Google Cloud Platform, this move pulls in Google for Work and Google Apps to make one integrated team…
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According to a report out of The Information today, Google is working on three devices under the umbrella of Project Aura: the next iteration of Glass (dubbed Enterprise Edition, which we extensively detailed earlier this year), and two screenless head-mounted devices that rely on audio.

The report mentions that these two audio-based devices use bone conduction just like Google Glass, but notably go without the screen. They’re like “headphones worn on your face,” Jessica Lessin says. The team that’s building the new devices (one of which is reportedly for “sport” users) is targeting a release for next year…
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Alphabet/then Google CEO Larry Page spilled the beans on Motorola’s big product announcement way back in 2013 on an earnings call justifying the purchase of Motorola:

“Think about your device. Battery life is a challenge for most people. You shouldn’t need to carry around a charger to make it through the day. If your kid spills their drink on your tablet, the screen shouldn’t die. And when you drop your phone, it shouldn’t shatter.

“Having just seen Motorola’s upcoming products myself, I’m real excited about the potential there. In just under a year, they have accomplished a lot, and have impressive velocity and execution.”

Unfortunately, Google capitulated to Samsung and sold off the Motorola division to Lenovo early last year.  That doesn’t mean that the things Motorola was working on stopped.

In fact, there’s a very real possibility that Page was referring to a shatterproof Google-branded Moto Nexus 6, but the shatterproof technology wasn’t ready for launch…just like the fingerprint reader that also wasn’t.

Fast forward to this week and Motorola along with its Droid carrier partner Verizon debuted two new Droids, the Droid Turbo 2 and Maxx 2. I’ve been using both phones since the event and have a pretty good viewpoint on their role in the Android ecosystem.

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Verizon and Motorola have today announced both the Droid Turbo 2 and the Droid Maxx 2, a pair of smartphones that give Verizon customers some really great flagship and sub-flagship options. The big announcement here is the shatterproof screen coming exclusively to the higher-end Droid Turbo 2, but that reveal is coupled with the announcement of a mid-range, all-around good phone, the Maxx 2. Here’s everything we know…
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Google, as we’ve reported several times, has been redirecting its Glass efforts to have more of a focus on the enterprise market and a large part of that comes in the health field. TechCrunch today reports that researchers at Stanford University are using Google Glass to aid children with autism. Specifically, they are using the platform to help them recognize and classify the emotions they feel and see around them.

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According to a new report out of Business Insider, Google over the summer started a new wearable technology effort called Project Aura. The group is reportedly spearheaded by Nest CEO Tony Fadell, but it’s unclear if that will still be the case when Nest becomes a separate Alphabet company. Project Aura, however, will remain within Google and not be folded into an Alphabet company.

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Two of the original team members behind Google Glass have insisted that the device still has a future for consumers, despite the company now pitching it exclusively at the enterprise market.

In an interview at the Computer History Museum, Thad Starner, a professor at Georgia Tech and a technical lead on Glass, and Greg Priest-Dorman, a systems administrator at Google X, said that the press had “misunderstood and overpromised” what Google was trying to achieve, reports Re/code … 
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