Google Glass Team: ‘Wearable Computing Will Be the Norm’
Even before people got to sample Glass, it was popping their eyes out.
Google wouldn’t provide a date or product details for Glass’ eventual appearance as a consumer product — and in fact made it clear that the team was still figuring out the key details of what that product would be. But Google made waves by announcing that it would take orders for a $1,500 “explorer’s version,” sold only to I/O attendees and shipped sometime early next year. Hungry to get their hands on what seemed to be groundbreaking new technology, developers lined up to put their money down.
Meanwhile, I just as hungrily bit at the opportunity to do a phone interview with two of the leaders of Glass. Google originally hired project head Babak Parviz from the University of Washington, where he was the McMorrow Innovation Associate Professor, specializing in the interface between biology and technology. (One relevant piece of work: a paper called “Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens.”)
The other Glass honcho, product manager Steve Lee, is a longtime Google product manager, specializing in location and mapping areas. Here is the edited conversation.
Vernor Vinge used conctact lenses and clothing for humans to interface with the web in Rainbow’s End. The book totally depressed me. I had a hard time imagining myself in this version of the future and I somehow knew it to be an accurate vision.
I’m warming up to the idea of cochlear implants for my iphone, but the contact lens thing —I just don’t know. This Brave New World is a challenge for the older and an adventure for the young.
All bets are off, The future is here.
