Google has done it again.
The innovation and technology giant released a sneak peek into one of its most recent and highly-speculated-upon endeavours yesterday: Project Glass. This would give the ordinary citizen a brand new operating system for everyday life: his or her very own heads up display.
The HUD, part of a series of recent developments into augmented reality, comes in the form of a sleek pair of pseudo-glasses, integrating our beloved hands-free technology into every part of life imaginable, without ever needing a handheld device. Want a picture of that beautiful sunset in front of you? No problem. Want to know where that awesome café is? No problem. Want to video chat people without looking at a puny screen? No problem. It takes the real time data collected from you, your voice and your vision, and sends or stores information useful to you in that situation. Oh, and it does whatever the best smartphones are capable of right now too, all right in front of your eyes, whenever you need it.
But this personal menu for life may not be all it seems to be. Sure, getting one would make anyone feel like they’re in a video game or sci-fi movie, but what about for those of us around them? To whoever that doesn’t know about it, people with the device will seem crazy (and obnoxious), talking out loud to him/herself. However, these same speculations were made at the invention of Siri, and Bluetooth technology before that.
But what about health concerns? How will this affect our vision? How will those of us with our vision already impaired be able to use this? The internet has been quick to express concern for the idea of having notifications enter our vision without our calling them. We can’t have this new technology causing car crashes everywhere.
We can stay here and complain all day about everything any new technology does. The future of technology can only develop in this direction: more realism and more convenience. That’s how development works, and it’s capable of so much. As we move into the future, we could see devices that could provide us with all kinds of detailed information simply upon a thought. We could see devices that allow us to create a virtual reality or a simulation within the real world. The vast database of human knowledge could be linked directly into an infinite number of inventions and tools that could perfect every aspect of our lives. Learn to mix the perfect cup of coffee. Zoom into a tiny speck on the horizon. Let the car drive itself (Google’s nearly got that covered already). Read anything we want anytime we want. We could completely control our perception of the world we live in. Hands free of course.
Google’s project glass has evoked enormous excitement of the internet community, but as of yet there is no word on when we’ll see a real prototype.
