Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could just look up at the sky and you’d instantly see the weather report? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get walking directions overlaid with what you’re really seeing? All this and more will be possible thanks to Google’s Project Glass.

It’s like taking Google Goggles to a whole new level, providing users with an augmented reality experience via a pair of wearable transparent glasses. Yes, it’s just a concept right now, but the video below demonstrates that Google is very much taking this seriously and it in the works. You can use it to make phone calls, send messages, check your calendar, and so much more.

A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.

I’m still not entirely sure how Google will go about executing this. The user seems to be using a series of voice commands in the video, but how do the glasses know what icons to bring up under what circumstances? You’d also have to assume that the glasses are connected to the Internet in some way, though they could be tethering or connected to a smartphone. For better or worse, this is the future of communication. At least you don’t have to worry about people glancing down at their phones to check their messages during a meal; they’ll do it while staring at you right in the face.

[Source]

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The Google Goggles app on Android phones is pretty neat, being able to recognize objects in the real world and provide you with relevant information, but it doesn’t exactly happen in real time. Google wants to change that by entering the realm of true augmented reality.

There’s word going around that Google is actively pursuing the developing of AR glasses and they’ve already entered the prototype stage. The idea is that they’ll connect, presumably over Bluetooth, to your smartphone. Then, as you gaze upon the world, your view will be overlaid with relevant info, like driving directions, office space for rent, or something about the sandwich you’re about to eat.

What’s weird is that the AR Google Goggles don’t use a transparent display to do this. Instead, you get an opaque display over one eye and presumably a regular lens over the other eye. It’s like wearing an eyepatch, sort of, but when your brain combines the two images, it’s like the data is being overlaid. Sort of.

At least that’s the idea. As you can imagine, this is very early in development and it’ll likely be quite some time before the product is commercially viable. They need to deal with processor size, battery power, logistic, connection issues, and so on. I’ve used Vuzix “video glasses” before and I didn’t like them. I can’t imagine this opaque display over one eye would be all that much better.

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