The New York Times | 9to5 Google
Nick Bilton reports Google will be selling eyeglasses with an embedded digital display by the end of the year. What kinds of new news products and sources will emerge to fit this new class of devices?
Bilton’s sources say the Android-powered headsets will cost “around the price of current smartphones.” They’ll have a small screen on the side of the viewing area, wireless Internet access, and sensors like GPS, an accelerometer and a front-facing camera to “monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby.” This description sounds similar to the glasses envisioned by Matt Thompson and Robin Sloan in “The Storm Collection,” their vision of a future when digital information overlays every part of the real world.
Google blogger Seth Weintraub has been all over the rumors, and reports the glasses will resemble Oakley Thumps:
For the news industry, this eventually will become yet another device like smartphones or tablets that demands we rethink news products, delivery methods and business models based on its unique capabilities and uses. It’s never too early to start thinking.
Earlier: How the New York Times and others are experimenting with augmented reality (Poynter)
