Google’s Cyborg Glasses Are for Fun, Not Profit

Posted on Feb 22, 2012

Pascal (CC-BY)

Google seems to have grown tired of waiting for the future and is reportedly developing a set of glasses that acts like a smartphone for your eyes.

That doesn’t really do justice to the device, which is rumored to scan your surroundings and beam context-aware information from the cloud directly into your sockets. That could be pretty cool, unless, like all things Google, it comes down to advertising.

According to The New York Times, the product is not intended to be a big moneymaker, but more of an experiment:

Everyone I spoke with who was familiar with the project repeatedly said that Google was not thinking about potential business models with the new glasses. Instead, they said, Google sees the project as an experiment that anyone will be able to join. If consumers take to the glasses when they are released later this year, then Google will explore possible revenue streams.

The Times reports that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is personally overseeing the project, which is a part of Google’s “X Labs.”

We are living in a science fiction novel.  —PZS

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