The Google Glasses

Last week Google flexed its augmented tech muscles with the dramatic sky-diving demonstration of Project Glass at Google I/O 2012  Attendees were given the option of ordering a pair of the glasses for $1,500, so that developers could take them away and come up with inventive and creative uses for them. With the hype surrounding the glasses you’d be forgiven for thinking that they were the only wearable computing coming to the market. But they’re not, as plenty more are working their way to an online retailer near you soon.

And with these new types of products—these computers we can wear—we’ll be entering another phase of our digital journey, a phase where the tech goes from being something noticeable, and in some cases cumbersome, to something which will slip quietly into the background, integrated into our clothes and the objects that surround us. This is the world of ubiquitous computing and wearable technology. It’s a world that’s been explored in R&D labs across the world for some time, but now it’s beginning to hit the consumer market where the real impact will be felt.

The first consumer iterations of these products are coming our way with tech like the Google glasses and, sure, they might be too expensive and not look too great for the fashion conscious. But give it a few years and they’ll become cheaper and sleeker, eventually evolving into an AR contact lens.