Tech Tuesday: A Closer Look at Google Glass

By  //  July 23, 2013

INNOVATIVE DEVICE MAY REVOLUTIONIZE WEB BROWSING

ABOVE VIDEO: Google provides a first hand demonstration of Google Glass in action. 

Imagine if your friends could see exactly what you were looking at with your own eyes,in real time. Google Glass technology enables real-time, live-stream video sharing with a hands-free, first person eyeball perspective. Image courtesy of Google
Imagine if your friends could see exactly what you were looking at with your own eyes,in real time. Google Glass technology enables real-time, live-stream video sharing with a hands-free, first person eyeball perspective. Image courtesy of Google

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — One of the most controversial devices that has yet to be fully released to the public is Google Glass.

Google Glass displays directions, video, search engine results and calls to your eyepiece. Image courtesy of Google
Google Glass displays directions, video, search engine results and calls to your eyepiece. Image courtesy of Google

EDITOR’S NOTE: Google’s innovative device offers users the ability to record video, take pictures and utilize the world’s most popular search engine and Google Maps. Below, we’ve posted an excerpt from the Hubspot Blog post titled: “What’s It Like Wearing Google Glass? A Glimpse Into the Future With Robert Scoble.”

Imagine an app where you can look at something, say “Buy that,” and just like that, Amazon will get to work shipping it to you. Or imagine being able to say, “Find coffee nearby” and having an app direct you to a coffee shop where your drink is waiting for you, and your credit card has already been billed. Nothing to sign, no card or money to hand over — just grab your drink and go.
Those things and more could be possible thanks to Google Glass, and they might not even be so far away, says tech pundit Robert Scoble.

DEVELOPER TESTS APP THROUGHOUT ENTIRE DAY

Scoble has been wearing Google Glass every day, all day, for the past three months, and while he concedes that for now the device has limited uses, he says Google Glass has given him a glimpse into the future.

“I think everything is going to be `Uber-ized’ in the next 10 years,” Scoble says, referring to the car service where you order a car via an app on your smartphone and in minutes a car arrives at your location, and it’s all billed to your credit card, automatically. “I want everything to work like Uber. It just makes so much sense.”

Scoble reckons Google will announce the actual Glass product in February 2014 and start shipping them in April. So far, Google hasn’t provided developers with good enough tools for creating applications, but that too should change. Even so, some people are developing cool Glass apps. One engineer, who also owns a Tesla, has created an app that lets him control the car from his glasses.

Image courtesy of Google
Image courtesy of Google

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE & PRICING TO BE DETERMINED

As for the price, Scoble reckons Google will price Glass somewhere between $200 and $400. “I’m hoping [Google CEO] Larry [Page] prices them very aggressively. If they’re $200, a lot of people will buy them. Then it’s just a question of how many hours per day or per week you wear them,” he says.

For Google, the device could open up a huge new business where instead of selling ads, Google could facilitate transactions and take a slice of each one.

Scoble’s hypothetical example: You’re on a road trip, and you ask Glass to find the closest McDonald’s, place and order, and bill it to your credit card — so that all you do is drive up, grab your Big Mac, and go.

“If Google can make that world happen, and if Google can get, say, 50 cents every time something like that happens, that could be 10 times bigger in terms of revenue than what they’re doing now,” Scoble says.

DIRECTIONS-500
Image courtesy of Google
Image Courtesy of Google
Image Courtesy of Google