google glasses

Google Glass development charges ahead

It's been six months since Google unveiled its Google Glass project, and it appears the tech giant is still hard at work ironing out the kinks to get the product ready for consumption.

In an interview with IEEE Spectrum published today, the head of the Google Glass project, Babak Parviz, said his team is continuing to try out new ideas and that both the software and hardware development is coming along.

"We constantly try out new ideas of how this platform can be used," Parviz told IEEE Spectrum. "We're also trying to make the platform … Read more

Google Glass

Count on Google to deliver the future before you're even quite ready to receive it, and to deliver it via a team of skydivers with Sergey Brin in tow. The company made clear its lofty ambitions for the Google Glass project -- the aptly named effort to put a smartphone's brains in a pair of interactive spectacles -- with an unprecedented press event at Google I/O in June.

Google says it wants Google Glass to help users interact with the virtual world without distracting them from the real world. The tech community responded with excitement, poring over … Read more

Nexus 7 explodes in China, Asus runs to rescue

The Nexus 7 has been one of the smokin' hot tablets of 2012, and unfortunately for one user in China, that was literally the case.

The user posted the photo above to a forum on Baidu (China's home-grown answer to Google), claiming that the device began smoking while plugged in and charging on its original factory charger. In the process, the guts of the tablet seem to have been totally torched.… Read more

New patent hints at Google Glass wristwatch

If the idea of a heads-up display inside your eyeglasses still seems strange, what about one for your wristwatch?

A patent issued yesterday revealed a new frontier for the Google Glass project: the humble wrist. A wristwatch design filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office shows a timepiece with a clear touch screen that flips up from the base of the watch to serve as a secondary display.

Images filed with the patent show the display being used to offer directions, product information and e-mail notifications.

Patents don't always -- or even often -- become products. But … Read more

The 404 1,127: Where we eat our utility bill (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Google Glass makes catwalk debut at New York Fashion Week.

- The Fifth Element inspired: Remote-controlled roaches to the rescue.

- Odd "digital rituals" we perform to make technology serve us.

- Will putting a car remote under your chin increase its range?

Bathroom break video: Pong traffic light in Germany.

Video voice mail: Matt is now the ultimate trucker.

Episode 1,127 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video  

Toys 'R' Us takes on tablets with Tabeo

This Monday tech news roundup doesn't want to grow up:

Toys "R" Us has created it's own tablet designed for kids, called Tabeo. It goes on sale in stores Oct. 21 for $150, but the store is now taking preorders online. This kid-safe tablet comes with 50 apps pre-installed for games, education, reading -- even apps for cooking and editing photos. And there's 7,000 more apps available in an app store. It comes with 4GB of memory, but is expandable with a memory card slot. And Toys 'R' Us won't be sharing this … Read more

What a sight: Google Glasses adorn models at NY fashion event

Google Glass has officially hit the fashion runway.

Google's smart eyeware was seen on the faces of several models at a Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) event yesterday that kicked off New York Fashion Week. The show marked a collaboration between Google and von Furstenberg that teamed up technology with the latest fashions, and the first time the high-tech specs made a public appearance at a non-Google event.

"I am so excited to introduce Glass to the fashion world and use this revolutionary technology to give everyone a unique perspective into fashion," von Furstenberg said in a statement.… Read more

Apple patent filing hints at Google Glass-like tech

Heads up, Google. Apple may be eyeing its own "portable heads-up display" that could one day give Google Glass devices some competition.

Outlined in a filing published by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office yesterday, Apple's patent application refers to a technology that increases the resolution on a display without increasing the number of pixels. Such technology could be used in a portable heads-up display, Apple explained, where limiting the number of pixels is especially useful.

"In particular, a portable heads-up display may be size and weight constrained such that addition of physical pixels may … Read more

Raspberry Pi smart glasses subtitle foreigners in real time

Wouldn't it be handy if when someone was speaking a foreign language, subtitles appeared just below their face? CNET reader Will Powell thought so, so he built some glasses that make you feel like you're in an arthouse movie.

Using some 3D specs, a couple of mics, a smartphone, a few cables, and two Raspberry Pi mini-computers, Powell hacked together a working automatic translation system -- and he's made a video showing it working.

Powell, a programmer with a background is in Adobe Flex and AS3, was inspired by Google's high-concept Glass project. … Read more