What's Happening with Google Glass?

"The initial version of Glass, which sold for $1,500, prompted a privacy backlash because users could record video in public places without others noticing. Google stopped selling it in January and executives have admitted that the device was released before it was ready for consumers," reports the WSJ blog Digits. "Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said earlier this year that the company wasn’t giving up on Glass because wearable technology is a potentially big new market. Google is quietly distributing a new version of Glass to companies in industries such as health care, manufacturing and energy. Another consumer version is at least a year away and the new Aura team could take the technology in new directions." Read more.

Google Glass for Business Attaches to Eyewear

"The next edition of Google Glass will target enterprises and feature an attachable design, a news report suggests, shedding new light on rumors that have been circulating over the past several months," reports PCWorld. "The device will feature a curved, rectangular form factor much the way the first, consumer-focused Glass edition did, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. It will differ from that version, however, in that it will reportedly feature a button-and-hinge system rather than a fixed frame, making it attachable to different kinds of eyewear." Read more.


Google has not given up on Glass. "Sounding a bit like his perfectionist late boss and iPod-designing collaborator Steve Jobs, the head of Google’s Nest division suggested to the BBC that he was handed control over design of a new Google Glass because he volunteered to fix it," reports Silicon Beat. "Tony Fadell, co-founder of connected thermostat maker Nest, joined Google when the tech giant bought his company for $3.2 billion last year. Along with designing Internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and home security cameras, he also began working on Glass, the high-tech eyewear, when Google canceled its failed public experiment in January and moved it into the Nest division for more internal research and design. Fadell told the BBC in a wide-ranging video interview posted Friday that the emerging wearable market is as exciting as the PC innovation of the 1980s." Read more.

New Virtual Reality "Eyewear" Is Smaller and Easy for Consumers

Smaller device said to make virtual eyewear more accepetable to consumers.

"The data glasses developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena fulfill even more product functionality. In fact, it solves a problem that has plagued the manufacturers of such eyewear in the past: cumbersome frames. The awkward design means that few private users have been keen to wear them," reports Science Digest. "Models usual consist of two parts: a micro-display that generates the image and optics that project the image on the desired position. Both units are attached to the temple (earpiece). Although the micro-display of the new glasses measures 8 x 15 millimeters, making it a similar size to conventional models, the optics are only 5 millimeters long, almost one-fifth the length of previous designs. Instead of having single long optics, the scientists have placed many small optics alongside each other in an array." Read more.

Microsoft Gets Patent for Agumented Reality Eyewear

"The artificial-intelligence race could be heading back to the eyeglass shop," reports the Wall Street Journal's Digits. "Google Glass may be stumbling, but Microsoft MSFT -0.30% appears to be taking a fresh look at the idea of smart glasses. Microsoft cinched a U.S. patent for Internet-connected, see-through glasses. But here’s the twist: They would be able to detect and interpret the emotions of people within their field of vision. The patent for 'a wearable emotion detection feedback system,' was filed in October 2012, and awarded earlier this week, according to a public filing by the U.S. patent office. It’s unclear whether Microsoft is serious about any near-term commercial applications, or is just tinkering. A spokeswoman said, 'Microsoft regularly applies for and receives patents as part of its business practice; not all patents applied for or received will be incorporated into a Microsoft product.'" Read more.

Luxottica and Google Working on New Version of Google Glass

"A new version of Google Glass is in the works and will be out soon, the chief executive of Italian eyewear maker Luxottica said Friday," reports the Wall Street Journal's Digits. "The partnership with the U.S. tech giant to build Glass—the Internet-connected eyewear—is going ahead, said Massimo Vian, speaking at the company’s general meeting in Milan, Italy. Earlier this year, Google stopped selling the first version of Glass and shut its Explorer program, moving the project out of its Google X research lab into a standalone unit. Yet the firm made clear that it was still working to make the eyewear ready for users. The changes sparked speculation that Google would abandon Glass. However, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told The Wall Street Journal that it has been put under the watch of Tony Fadell, head of Google’s Nest connected home division, 'to make it ready for users.'" Read more.

VSP Creating Its Own AR Eyewear. Watch Out Google Glass?

"VSP Global’s innovation labs in New York and Sacramento have developed a prototype of a wearable computer that doesn’t look like one," reports the Sacramento Business Journal. "In fact, it looks like a stylish pair of glasses.Think of it as Google Glass light. The wearable computer is the product of what VSP calls the Genesis Project. Designers and engineers at The Shop in midtown Sacramento packed all the electronics into the Genesis. Marchon Eyewear, VSP's frames line, also is working on the project." Read more.

Google Still Has Its Eyes on Google Glass

"Despite suspending sales of Glass and ending the Explorer program last January, Google is still actively developing its wearable eyewear technology, according to Eric Schmidt, quoted in the Wall Street Journal. After the relative disappointment of the first version, the Glass project's long-term goal remains unchanged: to develop a consumer-ready wearable with broad mainstream appeal," reports Yahoo! News. "On April 5, 2012, Google co-founder and X Lab director Sergey Brin set the internet abuzz by wearing the first connected glasses prototype in San Francisco. The Glass project advanced into the test phase, sparking the curiosity and enthusiasm of tech fans around the world." Read more.

Sony's Smart Eyewear Geared for Any Type of Eyewear

"Google may be a bit ambiguous about Google Glass' future, but Sony seems unfazed. Either it has a very strong faith in the still non-existent smart eyewear market or it thinks it can take advantage of Google's failure there. Either way, it is pushing ahead with own attempt but also tries to approach the problem from a slightly different angle. SmartEyeglass Attach!, which is not to be confused with its other, odder attempt, may succeed in one area where Glass failed: flexibility," reports Slash Gear. "SmartEyeglass Attach! wasn't designed to be a complete eyewear solution, unlike Glass. Instead, it is simply a more marketable name for what Sony calls the "Attachable Single-Lens Display Module". In other words, it should be able to attach to any type of eyewear, and not just eyeglass. It can even attach to goggles. At least that's the theory and, as we've seen at CES 2015, implementation is still a wee bit limited." Read more.

Google Will Stop Offering Consumers Google Glass

“Google will stop selling its Internet-connected eyewear to consumers until the company can develop a more polished and affordable version that’s less likely to be viewed as a freakish device,” reports the Toledo Blade. “The sales moratorium on the nearly 2-year-old “Explorer” edition of Google Glass goes into effect Monday. Google will still sell a version of Glass to companies that have found uses for the device in their offices, stores, and factories. The company still plans to come back with a new consumer model of Glass.” Read more.

Intel and Luxottica Introducing Smart Glasses Next Year

“Chip giant Intel and eyewear manufacturer Luxottica Group are teaming up to incorporate smart technology into premium, luxury, and sports eyewear,” reports PC Magazine. “Details remain scant, but the partnership is in the early stages. The goal, they said, is to "push the boundaries of research and development to anticipate what smart technology for eyewear will look like in the future." The first device from Intel and Luxottica is expected to launch in 2015…Earlier this week, reports indicated that the next-gen version of Google Glass would ditch Texas Instruments for Intel chips. Intel reportedly intends to market Glass to hospital networks and manufacturers, while also developing new workplace uses for the device. Luxottica, meanwhile, cozied up to Google in March, announcing a partnership in which the eyewear maker would provide a team of experts to work on Glass products, developed specifically under its Ray-Ban and Oakley brands.” Read more.

Google Glass on the Ropes?

“After two years of popping up at high-profile events sporting Google Glass, the gadget that transforms eyeglasses into spy-movie worthy technology, Google co-founder Sergey Brin sauntered bare-faced into a Silicon Valley red-carpet event on Sunday,” according to a Reuters post. “He'd left his pair in the car, Brin told a reporter. The Googler, who heads up the top-secret lab which developed Glass, has hardly given up on the product -- he recently wore his pair to the beach. But Brin's timing is not propitious, coming as many developers and early Glass users are losing interest in the much-hyped, $1,500 test version of the product: a camera, processor and stamp-sized computer screen mounted to the edge of eyeglass frames. Google Inc itself has pushed back the Glass roll out to the mass market.” Read more.

Peripheral Vision Blocked with Google Glasses?

"’Never miss a moment’ with Google Glass, claims the software and computing giant behind the creation. But a new study finds this may not the be the case,” reports Medical News Today. “Researchers from the University of California-San Francisco say the head-mounted device may partially obstruct users' peripheral vision.” Read more.

More Competition for Google Glass

“During the CEATEC show in Japan Toshiba has been showcasing their new Toshiba Glass eyewear which the company is designing to compete with the likes of the Google Glass, the digital eyewear Google launched a few years ago,” says Geeky-Gadgets. “Toshiba Glass is expected to launch their new eyewear sometime next year and Toshiba’s is a little more simplified when compared to Google’s eyewear. With Toshiba designing their Glass device to be more of an external display than a stand alone computer or smartphone.” Read more.

Luxottica Founder: Google Glass Would Embarrass Him

“The chairman of Google’s most important partner for Google Glass says it would “embarrass” him to wear the Web-connected eyewear, which now appears unlikely to be in consumers’ hands before next year,” goes the blog post in the Wall Street Journal’s Digits. “Leonardo Del Vecchio, founder and controlling shareholder of Luxottica, the largest eyewear maker in the world, criticized Google Glass in comments to the Financial Times [British sister publication of the WSJ] Tuesday. Luxottica is a key partner for Glass, since it plans to release versions of the smart eyewear attached to its iconic brands like Ray-ban and Oakley.”

“I have not used Google Glass,” Mr. Del Vecchio told the FT  in an interview. “It would embarrass me going around with that on my face. It would be OK in the disco, but I no longer go to the disco.”
Read more.

Trouble in Luxottica’s Eyewear Paradise: Andrea Guerra to Leave?

“Andrea Guerra, chief executive of Italy's Luxottica, is close to leaving the eyewear group after differences of opinion with founder and chairman Leonardo Del Vecchio, several newspapers said on Wednesday,” according to a Reuters post on Yahoo! Finance. “Luxottica, whose brands include Ray-Ban and Oakley, declined to comment. The company's shares were down 4.5 percent in morning trade. Guerra, who earlier this year was tipped to become a minister in Matteo Renzi's government, is credited with helping turn family controlled Luxottica into the world's largest eyewear maker by revenue. But according to a report in Corriere della Sera, relations between Guerra and patriarch Del Vecchio soured after Guerra's recent deal with Google to market its Internet-connected spectacles.” Read more.

CNBC reported: "Guerra took the helm of Luxottica in 2004 and has been credited with a massive turnaround of the company. Under Guerra's leadership, the company's share price has more than tripled. Several Italian newspapers reported that Guerra could leave at the end of the year when his contract expires, but the prospect of his departure has investors worried." Read more.

Smartphone Eye Exams from Home? Possibly Says VSP. New Awards Program for Labs Providing Unity Lenses

"Imagine using a smartphone application to do an eye exam from the comfort of your couch and then sending the results to the doctor," starts the post on the Sacramento Bee. "Being innovative and ahead of the latest eyewear technology is the goal of VSP Vision Care’s new midtown think tank – called The Shop. VSP was Google’s original vision care provider and teamed up with the tech giant in early 2013 on Google Glass. VSP does all of the lenses for Google Glass and has trained 6,000 doctors in its use. The goal of the new facility is to test ideas, the kind of 'changes that will disrupt the industry, but that we want to be in front of,' said VSP President Jim McGrann. He offered the smartphone eye exam as a hypothetical example of the type of change VSP is looking to exploit, though he said the company is not working on such an app." Read more.

Meanwhile VSP's Optics Group launched a new award program for independently owned optical laboratories offering Unity Performance Optics lenses. Each year, VSP Optics Group will choose one independent lab that ranks highest in three main criteria for its work in the previous calendar. Read more.

5 Nonprofits Get Google Glasses

"Five nonprofit groups got word Wednesday that Google will help them fulfill visions of using the technology titan's Internet-linked Glass eyewear to do good," reports Phys.org. "'Giving through Glass program winners were selected from 1,300 proposals from US charities with ideas of how to use the eyewear to achieve their goals. Google will give each group a $25,000 grant along with a pair of yet-to-be publicly released Glass eyewear and guidance from the technology firm's engineers. ...Winning proposals included using Glass to let students see through the eyes of Paralympic athletes to foster empathy for people with disabilities; encourage girls to learn math and science, and improve communication by people with autism, hearing loss, or speech problems. Glass will also be used on a '3,000 Miles to a Cure Race Across America' to raise money and awareness for brain cancer research." Read more.

Google Adds Gig to Glass

"Google Glass users can now record extra video footage thanks to the tech giant's extra gigabyte of memory on the former 1GB capacity connected eyewear," claims HNGN. "The company's change has annoyed existing Glass Explorers, however, who currently have the device's older model, and claim it's not as fast as the new 2GB upgrade, per info from a Glass product manager. 'Allow for more Glassware [apps] to run parallel and for each Glassware to start more quickly,' said Steve Lee. 'You'll notice the device generally feels a bit faster and more reliable.'" Read more.

Google Glass Goes to U.K.

"Google on Monday, June 23 made Glass available in Britain to early adopters willing to spend 1,000 pounds for a chance to dabble with the Internet-linked eyewear," reports the Rappler. "The California-based technology titan expanded an "explorer" program beyond the United States for the first time by inviting British enthusiasts to virtually queue for the gadget online at google.co.uk/glass." Read more.

Who's the Marchon Person Behind the DVF Google Glass?

Muller and von Furstenberg
with their Google Glasses

"Leslie Muller, Marchon’s Vice President of Design, helped to create the new frames at the eyewear giant’s Midtown Manhattan design center," reports Beta Beat. "Marchon also handles vision insurance and optics, so the DVF collection includes not only sunglasses, but also glasses that can hold a prescription lens. In fact, Marchon has long partnered with Google to provide vision care insurance. We caught up with Ms. Muller to find out what it was like to create the DVF Glass line, and what she thinks the future holds for eyewear in general." Read more.