Ten years ago, when Google started rolling its own Glass – a product that looked like science fiction at the time and could be bought for 1500 dollars – the reactions of the press they were (to say the least) lukewarm.
The Guardian’s test – three out of five stars – ended with a doubt: “We really need to see the world through the eyes of Google? “. The VentureBeat test had an even more ruthless title: “This is not, and never will be, a good consumer device.”
In fact, a prophetic sentence: Google put aside its consumer-oriented smart glasses in 2015. And soon after it focused on theirs evolution for business. Even today, if you type Google Glass on a search engine, you are directed to the official eyewear page “enterprise edition”“A hands-free device for faster and more agile work”.
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Google Glass was perhaps too far aheadas he told us not many weeks ago Amit Sood, the head of Google Arts & Culturewhen we asked him if that was not the case, in the era that faces the metaverso and on the augmented reality, to dust off the smart glasses of the Mountain View company to look at museums and places of culture with new eyes. And not only.
“Google Glass were really far ahead – Sood told us – Now we are starting to see innovation that affects all the senses and you never know, maybe the same technology could come back in a different form. Because I think the idea is still very powerful ”.
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And indeed Google Glass is back, apparently. Because the times, and the technologies, are obviously ripe. Because the consumers they used wearable (in the US) there were 25 million in 2014 and there are more than 67 million today: almost triple. And because companies are on the hunt for increasingly innovative devices capable of operating “in background”. It is the most powerful technology: the one at the service of man but which is not seen.
In a post on his official blog, in the section dedicated to “product updates”Google announced that a prototype of smart glassesdesigned for consumers and tested in the laboratory in recent months, is ready to be tested “In the real world“.
It will happen, “on a small scale”, from next month, August 2022 therefore, when a dozen ‘trusted’ testers will wear augmented reality glasses with display on the lenses, with microphones and video cameras. “But they will have severe limitations on what they can do,” writes Google, referring to the fact that the Glass will not be able to photograph or film. And therefore “the data relating to the images taken will be useful only to translate, for example, the menu in front of you or to show you the directions to the nearest coffee shop”.
Google also reminds us, with an official video released in May 2022, that in fact the Glass project has been reliving for some time.
In the video, the glasses are used for to translate – and transcribe in real time a text projected on the lenses – a language that the user does not know: two people belonging to extremely distant places and cultures, in short, can communicate in their own language simply looking into each other’s eyes. It’s not deaf peoplefor example, they can take advantage of this device to understand who is speaking in front of them and does not know sign language.
The instant translation can really be one of killer application of these new glasses. Especially if you take into account how much, in the last ten years, that is, since the launch of the first Glass, it has improved Google Translatewhich today offers reliable or at least understandable results in almost all languages.
In short, applications for this kind of devices are growing. And consumers are growing willing to buy them. It is no coincidence that Meta and Luxottica recently announced the second generation of Ray-Ban Storiesthe smart glasses designed – these yes, explicitly – to capture photos and videos with two 5MP camerasto listen to music through an integrated speaker and to make calls or record calls through three microphones, also integrated into the device.
As the market grows, however, privacy concerns are growing. To all that, in short, that smart glasses could film and record without the consent of those who are ‘pointed’ by their lenses. For this reason Google, in the directives accompanying the announcement of the public test of the new Glass, states that “an LED indicator will light up if the images are saved for analysis and debugging. If a passer-by filmed so wishes, he can ask the tester to delete the data: these will be removed from all registers “.
Google also promises that “image data is deleted if it is not useful for analysis and debugging. In this case, data related to sensitive content, including faces and license plates, is deleted. These are stored on a secure server, with limited access to a small number of googlers for analysis and debugging. After 30 days, the data is permanently deleted. “