It’s no secret that Google Glass is too expensive for most consumers, however the wearable appears to be slowly finding its place in the workforce. It’s helping law enforcement fight crime, doctors save lives and changing the way people battle hearing loss. So what’s next for Google’s $1,500 wearable computer? How about flying an aircraft?
Since its initial unveiling more than two years ago, one of the biggest questions surrounding Google Glass has been its commercial viability. Reuters today has published a report, yet again questioning the long-term success opportunities of Glass. Sergey Brin, the head of Google’s X Lab which is responsible for Glass, was seen this weekend in public not wearing a pair. The Google executive remarked that he had left his pair in the car when asked by a reporter.
Stroke experts from Memorial Hermann in Houston are using Google Glass at sites of emergencies to test if the wearable can be used to help save time, money and lives. Dr. James Grotta, director of Stroke Research at Memorial Hermann’s Texas Medical Center hospital started using Glass to share critical medical information with the hospital’s staff while responding to 911 calls related to potential stroke victims.
Google Glass in movie theaters has long been a topic of debate, with a plethora UK cinemas banning the wearable and at least one U.S. chain doing the same. Today, however, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) issued a statement announcing a new “zero tolerance” policy against wearables in the theatre. The statement says that all wearable devices must be powered off prior to the film beginning, no questions asked.
Twitter, one of the web’s largest social networks, was actually one of the first companies to jump on board with an app for Google Glass. But sadly, the app that launched initially in May of 2013, has disappeared from MyGlass and is no longer in development by Twitter. The news comes via a Reddit user who got in touch with Twitter support, and the company went on to say that it is no longer working on the app:
According to Glass support Twitter is no longer developing their Glass app. This was one of my favorite and most used apps on Glass. If you remove Twitter from your Glass it disappears from Glassware and there is no option to reinstall it.
Chardan Capital Markets analyst Jay Srivatsa believes that a combination of two Google investment decisions could signal that the company is planning to take “a different direction” with Google Glass, reports StreetInsider.
Srivatsa noted that Google had decided against further investment in Himax, a company specialising in controllers for conventional head-mounted micro-displays, at the same time as investing in virtual reality startup Magic Leap …
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Glass at Work, Google’s program that aims to put hands-free technology in the workplace by way of awesome third-party software, now has 5 new partners. This may not seem like much, but it brings the number of companies part of the program up to 9—effectively doubling it in size and scope. And with the Glass at Work program being one of the places that Glass seems to actually be a useful device, this is quite notable.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99YyWeqHaBo]
London-based singer FKA (“formerly known as”) twigs is moonlighting as a Google Glass explorer and today the songstress released a new short film aptly named #ThroughGlass. At just over two minutes long, the video has an abstract feel with the artist vogueing and hitting several dance moves while cycling through the high-tech eyewear’s UI.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq1wl5jQO8s]
Google has announced that Glass owners will soon be able to immediately view any notification from their Android phone using a new feature, Notification Sync.
Max sent you a WhatsApp message, marycam81 tagged you in a photo, your Lyft has arrived… these are just some of the reasons for pulling out your phone. You want to know about the things that matter to you, but you don’t want to be distracted by your phone when you could be enjoying the moment.
Today we’re launching Notification Sync on Glass, which means you can see your Android phone app notifications at a glance …
Today, Google announced that it has opened yet another Google Glass Basecamp, this time in London, UK. And while it may seem that Google has definitely put Glass on the back burner with the flurry of Android Wear announcements, this is a comforting reassurance that the Glass project hasn’t been abandoned. You can schedule a visit to the new Basecamp online, where you’re able to register for a “demo,” “try and buy,” a “fitting,” or “support.”
From keeping soldiers safe to assisting doctors during surgery, Google Glass is slowly transitioning from being a cool tech demo to a useful real world tool. Soon to contribute to the wearable’s mainstream appeal is a new text captioning app developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology that transcribes spoken word via a companion Android app.
After a proper pilot program, Dubai police detectives will soon receive Google Glass as standard issued gear. The idea is to pair Mountain View’s wearable computer with facial recognition software developed by the wealthy Arab emirate’s law enforcement to help cops spot bad guys when out in the field. In addition to equipping its gumshoes with high-tech eyewear, Dubai traffic officers will use Glass to track vehicles involved in moving violations.
When you’re trying to assist large numbers of people, all of them in a hurry, having instant access to the information required seems like a good idea – hence the interest in Google Glass being shown by the aviation industry.
Following an earlier trial by Virgin Atlantic at London’s Heathrow airport, customer service staff at Scotland’s Edinburgh airport are now testing the headset, reports Engadget.
Staff will be fed real-time flight information, language translations and information about the local area, allowing them to provide assistance to travellers throughout the airport and not from behind a check-in desk. The airport says it will test Glass until December
While anyone in the US and UK can now buy Glass, the product still has no official launch date. There was, however, a recent clue in revised terms & conditions for Glass suggesting that the headset may be close to launch – and at a lower price than the current $1500.
Image credit: JetBlue
Currently available in the US and UK, Google Glass could soon be on its way to Canada. A Glass explorer recently received a replacement unit and noticed that his wearable was accompanied by a new regulatory informational card for Canada. The bundled literature advised that Google’s wearable had been approved by Industry Canada for use within the country.
Google’s companion app for Google Glass was updated this afternoon on iOS with a few minor changes. The update to MyGlass bumps the app to version 0.8.0 and brings it closer to the generally more capable and more powerful MyGlass Android app.
Tips and my own inbox confirm that Motorola is sending I/O attendees out their Moto 360 Smartwatches right now! Will they make it before Tim Cook and Co announce their own entry into the smartwatch field? I suppose it depends on which part of your FedEx carrier’s route you are on.
Google just announced the XE21.0 update for Google Glass and with it introduce faster Google now notifications for flights and sports and the integration of Waze data for navigation:
When looking up routes to your destination, Waze accident indicators help you avoid potential traffic.
Google announced its acquisition of mapping company Waze last year and has quickly integrated real-time traffic alerts and other features from the app into its own Maps and navigation features across platforms.
Earlier this month Google began selling its $1500 Google Glass Explorer Edition through the US Google Play Store alongside a number of accessories.
Following the release of its still in beta “Explorer Edition” of Google Glass on Google Play in the UK, Google is now listing the product on the Play store in the US. Glass was previously available to order in the US through a dedicated sign-up page and checkout process.
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Image via WSJ
The founder and chairman of Google’s biggest and most important Google Glass partner, Luxottica, says that he would actually be embarrassed to be “going around” with the Mountain View company’s wearable device on his face (via WSJ). Why might this be interesting? As you may recall, Google made a partnership with the huge Oakley/Ray-ban parent company earlier this year and is supposedly planning to eventually release frames in collaboration with them.
Pandora Internet Radio is the latest service to bring its product over to the Google Glass world. The music streaming service’s Glassware app came out of their Hack-a-thon from earlier in the spring, Pandora says, and was good enough to share with Google and ship.
The Pandora Radio app for Google Glass gives users access to stations with the ability to control them with voice commands or the touchpad. Pandora says the voice commands allow you to select existing stations or even create new stations. Actions including music controls like play and pause require using the touchpad; favoriting and dismissing a track also requires using the touchpad for now.
Users can find the Pandora Internet Radio app on the Google’s Glassware section, and Pandora has more instructions below:
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Glass may be getting closer to being a full-blown consumer product, according to a few changes to the product’s terms of sale. Although the search giant recently made its high-tech eyewear available to the public, it’s widely referred to as still in beta. About a week ago, Google revamped its sales terms for Glass, adding an updated “Prices and Taxes” section.
Google is getting ready to push out the latest update for Google Glass—numbered XE 20.1—and with it is coming some pretty major changes to how contacts are handled, notably allowing users to access all contacts by voice via Google Contacts. Also included in this update is the ability to actually choose which method you would like to use when sending a contact a message—Hangouts, email, or SMS.
Your entire phone address book is now available on Glass thanks to Google Contacts. You can access 20 of your most recent and starred contacts by voice and the rest are just a swipe away. Starring a contact is really easy. Just find them in your phone and click the star. If the star is filled in, then the contact has been favorited.
Yesterday we told you about a patent that was granted to Google last week, featuring what appears to be an alternate design for Google Glass. Described as a “wearable display device,” the patent shows a pair of normal glasses with the display technology fitted on the inside—which is unlike the current model’s externally-fitted projector and prism.
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A new patent granted to Google last week (via Glass Almanac) depicts a hardware revision that may become part of future iterations of Google Glass, and it looks like the Mountain View company is attempting to tackle the social stigma that comes with wearing a pair of glasses fitted with an external prism and projector. The patent, labeled as D710,928 on the patent and trademark office website, is described as simply a “wearable display device” and features a set of images showing what looks like a normal pair of glasses with a transparent display on the inside.
