Hasta La Gadget!

Google just hit our inbox with an email inviting folks who pre-ordered the Explorer Edition of Project Glass to two-day hackathons in San Francisco and New York, where they’ll be the first group of developers — not being paid by Page and Co. — to collectively develop for Glass. Dubbed Glass Foundry, the events will introduce developers to Glass, set them up with access to the hardware and familiarize them with the API, called Mirror. Throughout the powwow, Google engineers will be on-hand to help out with development, and the second day will feature demos and “special guest judges.” Hackers in San Francisco can look forward to the event on January 28th and 29th, while those in New York City can snag time with the device on February 1st and 2nd. Hit the jump for the full text of Mountain View’s email.

Continue reading Google invites Glass pre-order holders to hackathons in New York, San Francisco

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Interactive eyewear maker Vuzix revealed its potential challenger today for Google Glass in the Android-powered world of augmented reality: the company will showcase its Smart Glasses M100 at CES 2013, in hopes of bringing over-the-eye display support to everyday mobile applications. Set for a mid-2013 release, the Ice Cream Sandwich-based eyepatch, features a WQVGA display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, a 1GHz OMAP4430 processor, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory. This modernized monocle is also capable of capturing still photos and 720p HD video, with playback and picture viewing available through its mounted display. While the M100s run Android 4.0, Vuzix has included support for iOS devices and plans to release an SDK for developers sometime in December to the tune of $999. As more tech companies begin focusing their efforts on HUD glasses, hopefully some jerk will come along and create a next-gen Opti-Grab to hold these things steady.

Continue reading Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 to battle Google Glass for Android eyewear supremacy

Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables

Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 to battle Google Glass for Android eyewear supremacy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like Google has considered transferring ideas from Project Glass over to your wrist by patenting a smart watch with a transparent, flip-up touchscreen. If such a device ever came off the USPTO papers, it would present notifications and other info transmitted from your smartphone at a glance, like many, many others now on the market. However, Mountain View’s added a new twist when you’d flip up its bezel — at that point, it’s claimed that the watch could channel a plethora of other Google apps, like Gmail, Goggles, and Maps. Of course, you’d be able to privately view messages inside the bezel, but since the display would also be transparent, you could see through it to landmarks or object around you. According to the patent, you could then be given directions based on GPS coordinates and the buildings “seen” by the watch, while a Goggles-like implementation would be able to identify smaller items in the display. That would let the search giant throw ads or other data about the product your way, giving you the info you need to snap it up — and likely not hurting Google’s bottom line.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

Google patents smart watch with flip-up display that could reveal everyday objects’ secrets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 10:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Glass‘ early luxury brand pricing appears to have put it in good stead, with the elite at New York’s Fashion Week getting an early close-up look at Google’s wearable camera future. Diane von Furstenberg, who’s no stranger to a tech tie-in, has added the lightweight frames to her latest show, using them to make a documentary about fashion’s creative process. The project is set to appear on von Furstenberg’s Google+ page later this week, but if you’re not a world-renowned fashion designer (or model), we’d be paying more attention to that two-year wait.

Filed under: Wearables

Google Glass makes catwalk debut at New York Fashion Week originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look up. Now down. Back up here again? Imagine having to do that every time you wanted to unlock your phone, as this granted Google patent for “Unlocking a screen using eye tracking information” possibly suggests. Okay, it actually looks more like it’s intended for the firm’s super spectacles — which given their general hands-free nature — makes more sense. The claims are fairly straightforward, unlocking of a device would be granted based on “determining that a path associated with the eye movement substantially matches a path of the moving object”. As long as those moving objects aren’t moving too fast, we think we can work with that.

Filed under: Wearables

Google gets patent for eye tracking-based unlock system, shifty looks get you access originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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