Project Glass: Google takes a glimpse into the future with augmented reality glasses

Search engine and Internet giant Google recently made a revolutionary move by revealing information about its augumented reality glasses, that would allow people to use all of Google's products, like mail, social network, video call, while taking pictures, sending recorded messages and buying things online. The product, called Product Glass, imagined by many and eagerly awaited by early adopters, is in the prototype phase, but Google has not announced when and whether it would hand out testing prototypes, not when it hopes for a mass market launch.

“A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment,” writes a statement. A video shows what sort of experience these glasses can offer and what users can expect, probably in a not so distant future. The video below this article. Users were asked to give feedback on the new product, and their first opinions ranged from “immersive, distracting device”, to concerns on effects for vision and amazement on the blend of Internet features into the daily life. Google recently announced plans to bring in changes to its search engine, around which the company was founded and has since prospered. The idea is to introduce ‘semantic searching’, where meaning and context of search words are used to refine search results. Essentially, commentators say, it will mean that Google will answer questions rather than just look for words. Google promises it will be a major change to how information is searched, at the moment “we cross our fingers and hope there’s a Web page out there with the answer,” said Google’s VP Amit Singhal. Google already has about 66 percent of the search engine market in the US, compared to 28 percent for Bing-powered search, 12.8 percent Bing.com search and Yahoo, with15.2, according to Experian Hitwise. If successful, the move could see Google take even more from competitors such as Yahoo and Microsoft, which runs Bing.com. Larry Page and Sergey Brin (in picture) founded Google in 1998. The company went public in 2004 with an IPO on the NASDAQ. Google reported revenues of UDS 10.58 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, an increase of 25 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. Google reports its revenues on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC). In the fourth quarter of 2011, TAC totaled USD 2.45 billion, or 24 percent of advertising revenues. Google provides its search engine, email – Gmail -, an Internet browser called Chrome, maps- Google Maps, search advertising – AdWords. The latter is core to Google’s query- result-based advertising, which makes the bulk of its revenues. editor@romania-insider.com