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Google's HUD glasses have been sighted

Rumors that HUD Google Glasses were in the works have now been confirmed--reportedly, a prototype has been seen and the glasses might even be available to people outside of Google.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr
2 min read

The prototype for Google's HUD glasses has been seen, according to tech news site 9to5Google. And, supposedly they resemble Oakley's Thump glasses, which makes them look a lot like something the Terminator might wear.

Oakley THUMP glasses. Oakley

But, it's not just how Google's glasses look, their function also mirrors something out of the Terminator trilogy.

In December, rumors spread that Google was finishing up a prototype on high-tech glasses known as wearable head-up displays (HUD) that could tap into Google's cloud-based location services and detail users' surroundings. The information would then appear as an augmented reality computer display.

According to 9to5Google, these glasses can do all that and more. The glasses will reportedly have an extremely small front-facing camera with a flash to gather information and take photos, a navigation system that is used by head-tilting to scroll and click, I/O for voice input and output, and CPU/RAM/storage hardware nearly equivalent to a generation-old Android smartphone.

Previous speculations on the glasses included head-up displays in both eyes but actually 9to5Google reports that the display is only in one eye and on the side. Also, the display does not have dual 3D configurations, as previously believed.

Wearable technology is on the rise. Not only is Google working on these sorts of products, but so is Apple, Recon Instruments, and Motorola.

9to5Google writes that the HUD Google Glasses are nowhere near being finished and that it's unclear how they'll be marketed and sold. However, there are rumblings that Google might consider releasing the glasses as a beta-pilot program to people outside of the company.

Google did not return request for comment on this article.