back to article Google goggles with Terminator HUD 'coming soon'

Google is actually working on twitch-responsive sci-fi-style head-up display glasses, according to a report by 9TO5Google. And the new tech apparently includes a cursor that responds to head movements. The article includes great eye-candy, including a clip from CES 2012 on Motorola's headset computer and a Terminator clip. …

COMMENTS

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  1. Tom_

    processing power

    First gen ones might well suck, but they're just a demo of what we'll be able to have a bit further down the line.

    Exciting. Burger King adverts right in your FACE.

    1. kraz
      Meh

      " Burger King adverts right in your FACE." is the bit that puts me off. I'm not sure I'm ready for adverts all the time, it's bad enough at the moment!

      Other than that it sounds interesting.

      1. Johan Bastiaansen
        Happy

        I'm pretty sure there's a premium edition without the ads.

        That, or they will be rooted.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      RE: processing power

      Who'd want Burger King adverts right in their face? They're annoying enough as it is!

  2. Suburban Inmate
    Terminator

    Android?

    Cyborg surely?

    1. The Fuzzy Wotnot

      Exactly! Where's the Captain, dear old Kev when you need a suitably stupid quote?!

  3. Thomas 18
    Thumb Up

    how about one that blocks billboards

    A nice black square over anything with vibrant colours that's on a 2D plane should get a fair majority. That wouldn't need wifi or bluetooth.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not ideal for driving...

      ...as it sounds like your goggles would blank out the bright blue motorway signs.

      Could be handy for those sunny days when you can't see the speedo easily, though, if the HUD could display your speed.

    2. Sly
      Trollface

      Adblock Plus for Google Goggles?

      Billboards? I don't see any billboards... just open sky! I now enjoy my scenic drive to work. no buildings, no billboards, just blue sky and roadway (granted, the ton of cars are still an annoyance, but we're still working on that issue).

    3. Daf L
      Go

      It's already been done

      This has already been invented: unfortunately their site is down at the moment but there is a cached version, courtesy of the web archive team, here:

      http://web.archive.org/web/20110408142833/http://chromeadblock.com/freedom/

    4. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      This only blocks Apple billboards and Apple stores

    5. Comments are attributed to your handle
      Go

      Close enough

      TV-blocking glasses (among other things)

      http://www.ladyada.net/pub/research.html

  4. Gil Grissum
    Pint

    I'll take one!!

    Sign em up for a pair. :-)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What about...

    ... making these things primarily useful as a screen for some other device, like your mobe? Or a battery-powered raspberry pi, maybe. Why stick computing power in it at this point at all?

    1. ArmanX
      Flame

      Knowing how hot my phone gets...

      I can see this having some pretty serious problems with heat. Never mind the trouble you'd have when you get a bad batch of batteries - pockets catching fire is one thing, the side of your head catching fire is something else completely.

    2. The Fuzzy Wotnot

      I thought Olympus had already done that a while back, sure they were about £200 for HD eye-wear projectors?

  6. Jim Coleman
    Holmes

    I'd have thought waving your hands in front of you would be a better input than twitching your head. I'm thinking more Kinect / Minority Report. I take it the shades have a camera...

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Virtual keyboard!

    2. Shadowthrone
      Happy

      How about more like Auger's glasses in the Rodenderry series "Earth: Final conflict". They responded to motion of his eyes on the projected interface.

    3. Meph
      Terminator

      Pre-existing tech

      Tech already exists in the Apache gunship where the pilot and gunner's eyes are monitored so that the main gun is slaved to the eyeline of the controlling officer. If such tech could be miniaturised and built into a pair of glasses, you could pretty easily use blinks or other eye movements to manipulate the data.

      The only problem I can see at this point (pun not intended, honest!) is malware that, when you look at some pretty young thing almost wearing something, automatically calls your wife and sends her the 3d video feed..

  7. launcap Silver badge
    Big Brother

    re: What about...

    Some sort of RDP/VNC over bluetooth? Sounds like a good idea for the 5 minutes that the battery would last once it was switched on.

    Unless of course, you pay the extra for the battery handcart.

    And lets not mention that Google will be storing everything you do, all the things you look at and your head-twitch response to scantily-clad MOTAS..

  8. Gary F

    Easy takings for street robbers

    Unless there's going to be a dorky looking headband option, it will be so easy for robbers to run past and snatch them off people's faces.

    With that in mind, such technology might be better suited to professional environments where no one nearby is likely to be a thief.

    An IR and UV display mode will be most useful to a few professions I can think of, and even more if it has a 12MP camera and LCD with zoom mode.

    I think a bluetooth remote control would be most useful - something small that you wear like a fingerless glove or an inward facing ring worn on your index finger and controlled with your thumb. Could be quicker to use than awkward voice or head movements. (Remember where you heard this first!)

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Predator!

  9. Lockwood
    Coat

    "the other side has an arm packed with a 1GHz ARM CPU"

    I've gone and got your coat for you.

    1. TRT Silver badge
      Coat

      The other side...

      is mostly ARMless.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      in the spec, the ARMs will connect to the model's view controller using a spring framework.

  10. Haku

    Head twitches?

    If wearing some bulky strange shaped glasses somehow doesn't make you look like a loon, twitching your head whilst wearing them will!

  11. Pedro Mendosa
    FAIL

    Life?

    Display, GPS, mobile data, etc. sucking from a discrete battery.

    You'll only ever get adverts for shops within a 500 metre radius of your charging point of choice.

  12. Matt Bacon 1

    Are they peril-sensitive as well?

    M.

  13. dirk_diggler
    Happy

    3d

    Is the obvious hook here. twin cameras taking 3d photos and video, with the twin lenses playing it back. Full 3d overlay for augmented reality and this is the start of the endpoint where smartphones have been heading since conception.

    The easy theft is a bit of a problem where they could be snatched off your head, but perhaps things like retina recognition etc. can make them almost useless to thieves.

  14. Medium Aardvark
    Thumb Up

    Are they also Peril Sensitive? Or will there be an App for that ( with optional friendly on-screen panic button!).

    And of course they have to do different styles....

  15. Gusty O'Windflap

    Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses

    now they would be awesome

  16. Christoph
    Pirate

    With these gadgets you'll have all the information you want all the time - except the little detail that there's a lorry bearing down on you while you're wandering across the road watching your display instead of the traffic.

  17. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. jonathan 11
      Mushroom

      Better for fire support

      Artillery is the first thing that comes to mind...

      Look at target

      One blink <marks target>

      Two quick blinks <fire for effect>

      <distant thump>

      <chirpy female voice> "Shot"

      "Splash in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, __"

      <massive detonation at target>

      "mission complete, have a nice day!" </chirpy female voice>

      Left-Right headshake cancels target select

      1. SimonX
        FAIL

        also...

        ...

        Gets grit in eye.... destroys village

        1. The Original Cactus
          Joke

          They won't get grit in their eyes, they're wearing shades.

        2. The Fuzzy Wotnot
          Facepalm

          Or stares at the ground next to feet, while trying blink grit out...."Target acquired. Launching in 3...2...1..."

  18. dotdavid
    Linux

    Battery

    I'd be interested to see where the battery is kept. The weight and size issues would seem to be tricky to solve unless they have a battery life of an hour, or whatever.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Combine this with clothing / pack etc made with material containing the lithium battery fibers, mentioned in an article yesterday, sewn in this wouldn't be too much of a problem.

  19. thegrouch
    Mushroom

    Shades of 'They Live' (no pun intended)

    "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.......and I'm all out of bubblegum"

  20. Graham Marsden
    Terminator

    1GHz ARM CPU running Android?

    But everyone knows that the T-800 used 6502 Assembler!

  21. JDX Gold badge

    re:Easy takings for street robbers

    Just like normal sunglasses then, which also cost £hundreds for designer brands.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      And in reality less easy to steal then the average phone/wallet as a pick pocket can be long gone before you've even noticed, you're gonna notice if some oik nicks your glasses.

      1. Sys110x

        And...

        ... GPS plus Android means FindMyDroid + variants will be available should they be pinched right from your face.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    The only downside--its from Google!

    Your HUD is going to become an irritating barrage of location-based marketing, where you walk down the street while your Googlasses helpfully point out that businesses on the side of the road have a Wednesday meatloaf special or are offering 2-for-1 specials on herbal erectile supplements!!

  23. Monkey Bob
    Terminator

    "...you will have to speak ... very... clearly."

    Give me your clothes, your boots, & your motorcycle.

    Clear enough? What accent?

  24. renynzea

    Yummy

    I'd love to tether a pair of these to a digital camera. Would make it much easier to take pictures.

  25. Nights_are_Long

    Kinda reminds me of the ones in DAEMON, I like the idea though I really like the idea.

  26. Sarev

    Not content with knowing everything we search the web for...

    ...Google would also like to know everywhere we go, everything we see and say, as well as everything we hear - for good measure.

    On the one hand, I'd say fuck off. But on the other, this sort of technology is inevitable. What we really need are some equally visionary law-makers to bolster our privacy rights so that companies like Google can only use the data they slurp for the things we say they can (without making it a choice between accepting everything or being excluded from what will become fundamental to interacting with society as a whole). You know; in the same way they haven't done with the Internet... muppets.

    1. Steven Roper
      Thumb Up

      Knowing that what you say won't happen

      and knowing that the future is a horror because this sort of thing is exactly how human greed will cause all such technology to be abused, is the primary reason why I've refused to have children.

  27. LaeMing
    Coat

    The Goggles

    They do .... Google!

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    the specs will tell you where the deals are

    which is great because of all the cool stuff you can buy like cheese in a spray can and trainers with lights in them.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looks like something

    that "Dog the Bounty Hunter" wears. No thanks.

  30. Semaj
    Unhappy

    Glasses

    I already wear prescription glasses. Will I be screwed like with 3D movies? I bet I will :(

  31. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Why am I not surprised.

    "There needs to be a constant communication facility though, so a mobile phone link is likely to be necessary too."

  32. showady

    you can get prescription 3D passive glasses, costly tho!

    "I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle!"

  33. Kevin7
    FAIL

    To make these cheap enough for gadget hoarders to buy they'll be monumentally shit. Only the military has the budget to make these feasible.

  34. Mako

    Awesome. My Google sunglasses can have arguments with my Apple shoes about what advertising I get exposed to. Now *that's* the way I always envisaged the future to be!

    I'm positively quivering with anticipation for the day someone develops open-source knickers.

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