On Tuesday, a blog post from Google confirmed that they will be bringing back their old invention, the augmented reality glasses after a massive fail around ten years ago.
In the post, the company specified all the shortcomings of their previous failures and how they plan to overcome them. For starters, it was mentioned that some of the prototypes are designed to look like normal glasses but will consist of microphones and cameras. The glasses will also have transparent displays.
Although it is said to be tested on the general public, these glasses haven’t been marketed as a product just yet and will not be available to the public. Yes, their main goal is to help with daily tasks like translation or working similar to a GPS, but due to the massive backlash from last time, Google seems hesitant.
While the invention of Augmented Reality is harder than anything, it is said to be a game-changer. Most of the tech world is working on virtual reality, or the Metaverse, which is creating a complete fake world, a virtual one. While augmented reality aims to superimpose the digital world on the real world. A mixture of both. This way, one will enjoy a glimpse of the Metaverse while staying in the real world.
The biggest problem Google faced last time was how users were concerned with the privacy of these new glasses. Since the glasses were equipped with a front camera, users were afraid of being recorded without consent. To overcome this, Google is focusing mainly on business users this time around. The company assured over and over again that privacy is their main concern this time.
To further emphasize this, the blog post mentioned that users will not wear these glasses in public settings like schools, offices, government buildings, churches, or such places. The glasses will have a red light turn on as an indicator that the camera is recording. Also, the glasses will only record when the user needs to store something for future reference or the technology needs to identify someone or something.
As for the testing, Google confirmed that the glasses will only be tested on trusted users and selective audiences.
Since all the other tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, etc. Are all working towards developing the ‘perfect’ Augmented tools first, it is going to be a long and hard competition. As for the products already launched or soon-to-be-launched, we feel like Microsoft’s HoloLens is indeed the best. We do have high hopes for Apple's and Meta’s mixed reality headsets as well.
Read next: Google And Facebook Accused Of Favoring Their Own Products To Eliminate Competition, Internal Document Reveals
In the post, the company specified all the shortcomings of their previous failures and how they plan to overcome them. For starters, it was mentioned that some of the prototypes are designed to look like normal glasses but will consist of microphones and cameras. The glasses will also have transparent displays.
Although it is said to be tested on the general public, these glasses haven’t been marketed as a product just yet and will not be available to the public. Yes, their main goal is to help with daily tasks like translation or working similar to a GPS, but due to the massive backlash from last time, Google seems hesitant.
While the invention of Augmented Reality is harder than anything, it is said to be a game-changer. Most of the tech world is working on virtual reality, or the Metaverse, which is creating a complete fake world, a virtual one. While augmented reality aims to superimpose the digital world on the real world. A mixture of both. This way, one will enjoy a glimpse of the Metaverse while staying in the real world.
The biggest problem Google faced last time was how users were concerned with the privacy of these new glasses. Since the glasses were equipped with a front camera, users were afraid of being recorded without consent. To overcome this, Google is focusing mainly on business users this time around. The company assured over and over again that privacy is their main concern this time.
To further emphasize this, the blog post mentioned that users will not wear these glasses in public settings like schools, offices, government buildings, churches, or such places. The glasses will have a red light turn on as an indicator that the camera is recording. Also, the glasses will only record when the user needs to store something for future reference or the technology needs to identify someone or something.
As for the testing, Google confirmed that the glasses will only be tested on trusted users and selective audiences.
Since all the other tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, etc. Are all working towards developing the ‘perfect’ Augmented tools first, it is going to be a long and hard competition. As for the products already launched or soon-to-be-launched, we feel like Microsoft’s HoloLens is indeed the best. We do have high hopes for Apple's and Meta’s mixed reality headsets as well.
Read next: Google And Facebook Accused Of Favoring Their Own Products To Eliminate Competition, Internal Document Reveals
