Maktabi, a Lebanese product design student at London's Central Saint Martins art college, had only one day with the smart-glasses at a programming event in November, but has continued to develop his idea. The team has grown to include Sabba Keynejad and Satara Achilles, a pair of graphic designers, and is planning to launch an iPhone app next month.

The cornerstone of Sex with Glass is the shared live streaming: "See what your partner can see. … Just say 'OK glass, it's time' and Glass will stream what you see to each other. And if you feel like stopping everything, just ask: 'OK glass, pull out'," said Maktabi.

"Some people find what we do repulsive. But a lot of other people - and I am basing this on the e-mails we are getting online - really want to try this.

"People have fantasies, desires and needs. It's personal.

"What they do with that is up to them. Guilt, dogma and shame is something we still widely experience when it comes to sex and how we talk about it."

As well as sharing viewpoints, the app offers video to users who want to replay the night - although the videos are deleted automatically five hours after they are created.

In addition, if the user's home is wired correctly, the app can control the lights and music, and present a virtual Kama Sutra to anyone in need of inspiration.

Reaction to the app has been mixed. Maktabi has received responses ranging from "I want to try this with my boyfriend", to "I want to write about the anthropological impact of this app …" His favourite responses? "The anonymous messages that just say 'awesome'."

But critics say that advertising for the app doesn't match the egalitarian promises: most of the images are sexualised photos of women and slogans assume heterosexual couples.

Despite Google's crackdown on other sexy Glass apps, Maktabi sounds unconcerned: "People at Google know. And they are happy and had a good laugh."