Hasta La Gadget!

Google has spilled a fresh batch of Google Glass details, with a new video detailing what the wearable can do – including video, Google searches, photos, voice translation, and more – as well as showing the latest hardware. The new footage is apparently a far more realistic demonstration of Glass’ potential than Google’s original concept video, putting a preview pane of the Glass eyepiece in the upper right corner of the screen, and showing how the headset can react to spoken commands previewed with the order “OK, Glass.”

So, to take a photo you can merely wake the headset with the “OK, Glass” command, and then say “take a picture” complete with a preview in the corner of your vision. The same is true for video – “Start Recording” – and you can trigger Google+ Hangouts too, giving friends a live streaming view through the headset’s front-facing video camera.

There’s also support for directions, with overlays of which roads are coming up, what path to take, and ETA, together with the ability to Google for information such as “how long is the Brooklyn Bridge.” Glass even supports voice-dictated messages, and translations, so you can ask “how do you say bread in French?” and have the headset whisper the answer to you.

Google Now-style features, such as flight information cards, are also included, popping into your vision when relevant rather than forcing you to manually ask for them.

Meanwhile, there are new images of the Glass headsets, including five different colors – charcoal, tangerine, shale, cotton, and sky – and seemingly confirming that the wearable will be water-resistant. Considering it’s designed to be worn all the time, that’s probably a good idea. A version with sunglasses lenses attached is also shown, and we know Google is thinking about prescription lens support too. Finally, the headband itself is seemingly made from flexible metal, for better resilience.

Google is yet to delivery the first batch of Glass Explorer Edition headsets to Google I/O 2012 preorder customers, though that hasn’t stopped it opening up for a second round of orders. Developers who can give a sufficiently interesting use-case will be invited to preorder one of 8,000 more Glass units.

New Google Glass video demos true potential of water-resistant wearable is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google has re-opened preorders for its Glass wearable computer, though it’s not just a case of opening up your wallet to the tune of $1,500: you’ll need to have some good ideas as to what exactly to do with the wearable to qualify. First put up for sale at Google I/O 2012 as the limited edition Glass Explorer Edition, still yet to ship though promised sometime in early 2013, the new round of orders extends the net to developers across the US.

They’ll have to convince Google that they’re worthy customers, however, using either Google+ or Twitter to do that. In the space of a fifty word or less outline, accompanied with up to five photos and up to a fifteen second video, they’ll need to explain what they’d do if they had a Glass headset.

Applications are being accepted up until February 27, which basically means a week to come up with a killer idea. Of course, since the applications are all being made publicly, the longer you wait, the more likely it is that someone else might figure out your idea and detail it first.

Only three applications are allowed per person, and they can’t be modified after being submitted. Google will be judging them via an independent jury, based on creativity, compelling use, originality, and “social and spectrum”; there’ll be 8,000 headsets to be had in this new round of orders. Collection will be made in person, at one of three special “pick-up experience” events held in New York, Los Angeles, or in the San Francisco Bay area.

If you’re not a developer, but would still like to keep abreast of some of the ideas people are coming up with, you can follow along on both Twitter and Google+ using the #ifihadglass hashtag. More details in the FAQ.

[via The Verge]

8,000 more Google Glass wearables on offer for creatives is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google recently submitted FCC filings for their upcoming Google Glasses. The pair includes 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, but they also include bone conduction technology, meaning that you can listen to audio without having pesky earbuds or headphones. Vibrations that travel through bones near your ears allow you to listen to music, while still hearing what goes on around you.

In the FCC application, there’s a paragraph referencing to an “integral vibrating element that provides audio to the user via contact with the user’s head.” Of course, just a few days earlier, Google filed for a patent dealing with a bone-conduction earpiece for glasses, meaning that there could very will be a connection between the patent and the FFC filing.

Bone conduction technology isn’t anything new by any means, but we haven’t really seen a breakthrough in the technology, and it hasn’t become that popular yet. If Google Glasses does, in fact, include bone conduction technology, we finally might see it fly into the mainstream quicker than it would otherwise.

We first saw glimpses of Google’s “Project Glass” earlier last year, as well as at Google I/O over the summer, where the company demonstrated the new technology to developers and press. Developers will be able to get their hands on a pair in a couple of months at a price of $1,500, while regular consumers are said to be able buy a pair sometime within a year from when devs get theirs.

[via Business Insider]

Google Glasses to include bone conduction technology is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We already know that the Explorer Edition of Google Glasses is about to make its public debut shortly, but not before it makes a trip through the FCC first in order to get approval for public sale. An application for Google Glasses was spotted at the FCC, and we’re now getting a closer look at the details of the HUD-equipped glasses before they get handed out to developers.

In the FCC paperwork, the model number is referred to as “XEB,” and this was the first model that was tested back in November. The application mentions that the glasses will have 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, but it won’t support both at the same time, meaning communication can only be active through one or the other at a time.

Other than that, we’re not seeing anything else too special, but we’re positive that we’ll hear more about them in no time. Of course, we were promised a January 2013 release date for the glasses back during Google I/O, and now it looks like it won’t be for a couple more months, but a trip through the FCC is proof that these glasses are actually real, and that we’ll see them real soon.

We saw glimpses of Google’s Glass project earlier last year, and at Google I/O over the summer, the company went all-out to demonstrate the new technology. Developers will be able to get their hands on a pair soon, at a price of $1,500, while regular consumers are said to be able buy a pair sometime within a year from now.

[via Engadget]

Google Glasses make an appearance at the FCC is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Folks, the rather dour line drawing that you can see in the image above is the very first glimpse of Google’s wearable computing project as it swings through the FCC’s underground facility. The Google Glass Explorer Edition hardware, promised to arrive this year, is carrying a Broadcom 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g WiFi radio that’s been paired with a Bluetooth 4.0 + LE module. We’ve seen a reference to an “integral vibrating element that provides audio to the user via contact with the user’s head,” which we presume relates to the bone conduction patent we saw earlier this month. The filing also reveals that the testing laboratory involved used the conduction technology to view video with audio. As the commission is now making the paperwork public, it can only mean that it’s judged the unit, with the product code “XEB,” to be safe for human consumption — which means customers 782 and 788 might be expecting something special in the mail very shortly.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Source: FCC