Well this is a surprising headline, to say the least. The long-defunct AR hardware from the Mountain View company, Google Glass, is getting its first firmware update in almost 3 years. Today’s update, hot on the heels of a minor update to the MyGlass app yesterday, bumps the device up to XE23 and packs at least one interesting feature.
In what is certainly a surprising turn of events, the MyGlass companion app has received its first update in nearly three years. Judging from the version number, it is an incremental fix, with subsequent teardowns confirming that this is the case.
We told you across several exclusive reports last year about not-so-new Google Glass hardware that the Mountain View company has been privately testing within the Project Aura group and with external clients, but we were also the first to tell you that the device is internally known as “Enterprise Edition”.
Now, public-facing support pages we discovered on Google’s servers confirm the “Enterprise Edition” moniker as well as reveal regulatory and warranty information for the device…
I’ve said it time and time again over the last couple of years, but maybe this will make you finally believe it. Glass isn’t dead, and as I told you across across several exclusive reports last year, there’s even new hardware being field tested right now.
To further prove this morning that Google’s troubled head-mounted display device isn’t done yet, Glass for Work startup Augmedix — which deploys wearable solutions for healthcare systems and hospitals — announced that it has raised $17 million in funding from five leading healthcare systems across the U.S. And CrowdOptic has announced that it has now surpassed 10,000 Glass livestreams…
While the previous version of Google Glass is dead and dying, it is still an Android device. And that means it’s hackable, mod-able, and will probably be tinkered with for years to come. Similar to how other aging devices still have developer support, Reddit user jtxdriggers has managed to install 4.4 KitKat on Glass.
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.
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…
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…
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…
Update: Turns out this isn’t Glass, but rather smart glasses made by a company called Pivothead.
At an NFL event marking the start of the Super Bowl festivities week, Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders was seen wearing a rather interesting wearable that may possibly be the next version of Google Glass.
We told you yesterday that Google shuttered the Glass social media accounts, but that doesn’t mean Glass is dead. This may sound like the same old song if you’ve followed my thoughts in the past, but it’s a simple fact that Glass still lives in the enterprise. This means doctor’s offices, hospitals, sports stadiums, factories, warehouses and more. One such example happens to be the Denver Broncos, one of two teams headed to Super Bowl 50…
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A couple of months ago, a report claimed that Project Aura — the newly rebranded Alphabet/Google company responsible for head-worn wearable tech — will include screen-less headsets. These screen-less devices will allegedly rely on audio to pass on relevant information to the wearer through the use of bone conduction. Today, a report from Wareable corroborates those previous rumors.
Having spoken to Adam Mathes, EVP of Business Development at United Sciences, reporter Michael Sawh states that United Sciences’ brand ambassador, Thad Starner is involved in the development of these audio-focussed Project Aura devices.
Speaking to Wareable, Mathes told us, “He’s (Thad) working with Google still on some kind of in-ear wearable and Glass combination. They’re very keen on the ear.”
Starner, of course, has long been one of the technical leads responsible for the development of the original Google Glass headset, so it’s no surprise to hear his name being associated with the project.
The Project Aura team is rumored to be working on two different audio-centric devices, which are essentially like headphones that you wear on your face. One of them is claimed to have been designed with fitness in mind, and worn during exercise.
In our exclusive reports, we’ve already revealed that Google’s Project Aura is planning on launching a new Google Glass designed specifically for the enterprise market. These new ‘Enterprise Edition’ headsets will be more durable, and feature a new foldable design. They’ll allegedly be powered by an Intel Atom processor, be available with an optional extra battery pack and feature a larger optical prism.
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…
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…
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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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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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.
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.
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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As I first told you across several exclusive reports, Google’s next move for Google Glass is into the enterprise (via The Wall Street Journal). As I said, the device is expected to have improved internal hardware including an Intel Atom processor, a new physique that makes it more suitable for less-than-ideal working environments, and will be coming exclusively to the workplace through the Glass for Work partner groups.
Nest founder and former Apple iPod lead designer Tony Fadell has intimated in a BBC interview that the decision to make an early version of Google Glass available for public sale may have been a mistake.
He said that while Google has always launched beta versions of its products and gathered feedback from users, there was a very big difference between software and hardware.
If you are only doing services based on electrons, you can iterate quickly, test it, and modify it and get it right. But when you are dealing with actual atoms – hardware – and you have to get manufacturing lines and it takes a year or more to develop that product, you better understand what it is and what it’s trying to do and specifically what it’s not going to do.
Customers have to spend money to buy those atoms. They want something that delivers value or you end up with a real disappointment and you can spoil the market.
He was, however, “very bullish” about the product, and believes it has a big future …
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Google Glass Explorer Edition
As we’ve come to learn more about the next iteration of Google Glass, it’s clear that this device isn’t the “Google Glass 2.0” that many diehard fans of the product — however many there are — have been longing for. Google Glass “Enterprise Edition” or “EE,” as the company is referring to it internally, is rather a spinoff of the Explorer Edition and an incremental revision targeted at the workplace. Google is ditching the fashion runways and #throughGlass pictures — and they’re getting into the enterprise where Glass has practical use cases.
And with that, Tony Fadell and company had to deeply consider with EE how the device looks, works, and functions. We’re familiar with multiple prototypes that are nearing the final stages of revision, and one thing is very clear: This isn’t going to be a drastic departure visually from the Explorer Edition. It has been tweaked, though, and there are at least a few differences noticeable from the outside. It folds like a regular pair of glasses, and because it’s first and foremost being built for the workplace, it has a more rugged build and appearance…
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We told you earlier this month that Google is internally referring to the next iteration of its Glass hardware as “Enterprise Edition,” and rightfully so — the Explorer Edition is long gone, and people close to Google have said that the company is planning to go full-force with its wearable computer in the workplace. But how are they going to do that? People familiar with the company’s plans have told 9to5Google that Google is currently planning to distribute the device exclusively through its certified set of Glass for Work partners…
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Google Glass Explorer Edition
We told you last week that Google is internally referring to its next iteration of Google Glass as “Enterprise Edition” or “EE,” and now we’ve uncovered information about the soon-to-be-launched device’s hardware. According to several sources familiar with advanced prototypes of the device, the Enterprise Edition includes a larger prism display, as well as an Intel Atom processor that brings better performance and moderately improved battery life…
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