sarah-price-waring-blue-google-glass

You’ll probably have noticed that Road to VR is rather excited for Google’s fledgling Augmented Reality project, codename ‘Google Glass‘. It’s a project shrouded in mystery and it’s secrets tightly guarded, as evidenced by the strict NDAs required by attendees of the recent Google Glass Foundry event in January.

Nuggets of news regarding Glass are tough to come by then, so when things do surface it’s of great interest. Today, Google posted a new video named ‘How It Feels [through Glass]’ — which seems to detail Google’s vision for how Glass might work in reality. The video is filmed entirely in the first person and looks through the eyes of a lucky but anonymous avatar enjoying various activities whilst wearing a set of Google Glass[es].

It’s clearly a promotional piece designed to generate buzz for the project, but it actually does gives an enticing glimpse into the possibilities Glass might bring and, more interestingly, the practicality of wearing and using them. The video demonstrates the user triggering actions verbally with sentences prefixed with “Glass” then followed with “..take a picture”, presumably leveraging a version of the company’s ‘Google Now’ voice recognition technology already present in its Android mobile OS. Less clear is the hint that physical actions (say by pointing / sliding with your hand in close proximity to the visor) also trigger actions — although I may have misinterpreted this.

How to Get Google Glass

The video is actually part of a new promotional website, pushing the Glass brand seemingly with the aim to introduce the general public to the idea of Glass and the ideas behind augmented reality with a solidly visual / text-light approach. The website also offers a chance to get a set of Google Glass for yourself:

We’re looking for bold, creative individuals who want to join us and be a part of shaping the future of Glass. We’d love to make everyone an Explorer, but we’re starting off a bit smaller. We’re still in the early stages, and while we can’t promise everything will be perfect, we can promise it will be exciting.

Using Google+ or Twitter, tell us what you would do if you had Glass, starting with the hashtag #ifihadglass.

Whoever Google chooses from the #ifihadglass campaign will still have to pay $1500 and head to New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles to pick up the unit.

SEE ALSO
'Astro Bot' Inspired VR Platformer 'Max Mustard' Lands on Quest This Month

It certainly seems that Google are shifting the Glass’ profile up a gear in preparation for getting units out there into the wide world. Let us know whether you’ve applied for a unit and what you said to blag your way into the program, we’d love to here from you over on our forums.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • Will

    I love the heads up navigation and it seems as though the video could be useful in some situations. The entirely voice controlled bit seems a little iffy to me though. I feel weird using Siri on my iPhone in public and its pretty obnoxious in a quiet area. Can you not interact with Glass at all without voice?

    • Gerald Terveen

      Wait for the end of the video – there are some things happening where I wonder how they are controlled.

      • Paul James

        Indeed, this left me wondering (as I did in the article). Google have been smart not to be too specific with details and set expectations, but physical interaction would seem like a must and registering hand gestures would seem like a cool option. Even if implementing it at a technical level with any degree of consistency seems challenging.

        • Gerald Terveen

          I think it is all done through the eye tracking – not sure though. In the other news you can see the little eye tracking cam.

  • Gerald Terveen

    As long as they don’t give me at least some specs – like screen resolution, camera capacity and resolution, does it need other devices, how long does the battery last … I most certainly won’t even consider spending 1500$ on such a toy.

    But since I am not a US citizen I won’t have to think about it anyway.