Are you worried that with all those pairs of Google Glasses heading to the high streets of every major city you will no longer be able to pick your nose in public without it being posted to Facebook? Scared that your friend will record your every word to blackmail you? Or do you just not want to live in a world where people appear to have been partially assimilated by the Borg?

If you have answered “Yes” to any of those questions you will be happy to know that a new web based campaign has started which hopes to prevent Google Glasses from invading your privacy! The group known as “Stop The Cyborgs” claims the wearable computer would eventually lead to distrust between wearers and may be used to spy on the public.

If you want to help the heroic fight then you might to head over to their webstore where you can buy a “Stop the Cyborgs” T-shirt or a sticker for your business which reads “Google Glass is banned on these premises”. While you’re at it you might also want to ban all smartphone users, and anyone with a camera, oh and tape recorders, too.

What do you think of the idea of banning Google Glass, nothing but pure B.S. or do these protesters raise a good point?

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Over the past couple of months, augmented reality glasses have become all the rage at the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office). Although as of now, Google one of the only companies to formally debut their device (Project Glass). Now it seems that Microsoft’s Research department looks to enter the game as well.

The patent abstract states that it is for “A system and method to present a user wearing a head mounted display with supplemental information when viewing a live event” (USPTO). Furthermore, the head mounted display would allow a user to watch a live event through a semi-transparent display. At the same time, objects and information can be shown without interrupting the user’s view of the live event.

This sounds pretty epic, but when is it coming? While we can’t say for sure, since this is Microsoft Research technology. Sometimes these kinds of projects turn into commercial efforts quickly, sometimes they never do. We do know that Project Glass prototypes have already been sold to developers and will arrive in 2013. Additionally, the consumer versions are poised to be released in late-2013 or early-2014.

Would you enjoy wearing augmented reality glasses? Is this technology the future of mobile? Let us know in the comments below.

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Modern advances in science have helped many people overcome their disabilities. If your sense of hearing is going, a hearing aid can help. If you’re near-sighted, you can get glasses, contact lenses, or laser eye surgery. But what if you are completely blind? Is there a solution for that? Designer Xu Guang-suo sure thinks so and that’s how he came up with the Navigation Glasses for the Blind.

In a sense, it allows people who are blind to “literally visualize their surroundings.” This doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to see in the conventional sense, however. Instead, the Navigation Glasses are outfitted with sensors that pick up elements in the environment and then this information is fed back in the form of auditory cues to the user.

You could say that it is like a form of sonar, allowing the user to interpret the world around them in the form of reflected sound. The range appears to be beyond 180-degrees, offering a good sense of peripheral “vision.” The problem is that Xu Guang-suo hasn’t indicated at all how this would really work and how the person would be able to understand the auditory signals. One day, perhaps. One day.

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If you are either near-sighted, far-sighted, or maybe both, you might think that vision technology is moving a little too slow for your liking and having to wear bifocal lenses are cramping your style. The truth is, bifocals and progressive lenses are absolutely old tech, very last decade, and that is why PixelOptics has chosen to take the road less travelled with a much needed 21th century upgrade. Instead of the regular bifocal lenses, the company at CES showed their technology that uses liquid crystal lenses that are able to adjust their focus in less than a second, to any different focuses you may require given your situation, from reading to driving.  Now that’s taking glasses to a whole new level of clarity.

A simple electrical signal changes the liquid crystal instantly, activating and deactivating the reading zone of your glasses.  Or for an even more impressive demonstration, simply slide a finger along the side of the arm to enable a tiny gyroscope that adjusts the lens even as you move your head. So this means no more headaches from having two different lenses in front of your eyes.

The liquid crystal lenses can be fitted into any frame design, giving them the most potential for reaching a broad audience. But unless you are already using bifocal or progressive lens glasses the focus shifts may be too subtle to appreciate, but from the demo video you can really notice the significant changes in clarity.

PixelOptics plans to bring the lenses to market by April of this year, although they will make you dig into your pockets a little deeper than usual, with their $1,200 price tag.

[Gizmodo via PixelOptics]

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