Google Glass has been in the works for over two years. The initial prototype is older than that. The first Glass prototype was assembled sometime around August of 2011 and weighed about 8 pounds. Google announced Glass and showed them off to us at Google I/O in June of 2012. The evolution of Glass is pretty impressive, and is really fun to track. Current iterations of Glass weigh less than your average pair of sunglasses. There’s even a prescription version of Glass for people who need prescription lenses.
Glass isn’t available to consumer yet, but the Explorer program is open to just about anyone who wants to spend $1,500 for them. We know Glass is coming soon in a consumer package for less than that price. They may be announced at Google I/O in June of this year. The Glass team took to Google+ today to show us how far Glass has come, and to break down some of the myths surrounding the project.
Some of the myths they bust are “Glass is the ultimate distraction from the real world” and “Glass is always on and recording everything.” As the Google Glass project gets closer to a public release, setting the record straight on some of these topics is key to helping consumers understand what Glass is, and what it isn’t. They even admit that Glass isn’t ready for primetime yet. “In the last 11 months, we’ve had nine software updates and three hardware updates based, in part, on feedback from people like you. Ultimately, we hope even more feedback gets baked into a polished consumer product ahead of being released. And, in the future, today’s prototype may look as funny to us as that mobile phone from the mid 80s.”
Other myths that the team addresses include some of the major privacy and security concerns that have surfaced in the short time that Glass has been in the public eye. Statements like “Glass is the perfect surveillance device” are simply not true. Google Glass definitely does not mark “the end of privacy” either. People have been worried about cameras and privacy for over a century. The Glass team puts it this way: “When cameras first hit the consumer market in the late 19th century, people declared an end to privacy. Cameras were banned in parks, at national monuments and on beaches. People feared the same when the first cell phone cameras came out. Today, there are more cameras than ever before. In ten years there will be even more cameras, with or without Glass.”
I’m guessing that most of you are not worried about Glass. If you are, or if you just need some ammunition for your friends and family that have questions, hit the source link below and school yourself on Google Glass.