Wearable web access?
From voice-activated screens to smart glass, a wave of new technology is set to launch this year
We've had smartphones and smart cars. Now it's time to embrace smart glass. After a few years of being touted as next-generation prototype tech, the last few months of this year look likely to witness the unleashing of the first products from Google's "Project Glass" research into wearable computing.
It could be an eye-opener. Video glasses for movies and gaming have been around for a while, but we'll see a slew of both virtual and augmented reality headsets launched this year.
The first experiments with smart glass will be Google's Glass Explorer Edition, which could cost as little as HK$6,000 when they are launched this autumn. Details coming out of the secretive Google X Lab are scant, but we know that "glass" will put augmented reality centre stage, letting its wearers navigate a city by overlaying Google Maps onto real life. The headset, which will use Bluetooth to link up to Android and iOS devices, can show information, directions and even video to the wearer's right eye via a tiny transparent screen that appears to be nearby. This allows the human eye to read from the screen while keeping one eye on reality - and crucially without refocusing.
Saying "OK, glass, record video", "OK, glass, check e-mail" or "OK, glass, search the web for …" effectively creates a voice-activated Siri-style personal assistant. User-generated videos and photos can be sent to others merely by voice instruction, as can e-mails, text messages and calls - and hundreds of other uses that haven't been thought of yet.
"Project Glass is a wearable solution that uses pieces of smart glass with a heads-up display (HUD) to seamlessly blend the virtual world of smartphones and computers with the real world of people and places," says Dr Kevin Curran, senior member at the New York-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. "They leverage communication technology like social networking, calling and texting, creating a type of meta-reality."
For those who take the plunge, "smart glass" will massively change the way the web is consumed.