Google’s Glasses augmented reality technology could be hitting the shelves in less than two years’ time, with the company today releasing a video of a drmatic set of stunts as viewed by the people taking part.
Co-founder Sergey Brin showed off the technology at the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco yesterday, and said that the ‘Explorer’ model will be made available to developers early next year, with a consumer version on the market a year later.
He promised that the consumer device will cost less than the $1,500 that the company plans to charge developers.
He added – reassuringly – that there are no plans to carry advertising on the device.
And in a dramatic demostration, skydivers wearing the glasses parachuted onto the roof of the Moscone Center, sharing their view of the descent with the crowd. The package of Google Glasses they were carrying was then handed over to a group of stunt cyclists, followed by rapellers – the video’s below.
“This could go wrong in about 500 different ways,” said Brin – but it didn’t.
The glasses bear a small electronic screen with camera, microphone and speakers and can record video, diplay text messages and access the internet.
Google says that it hopes to improve the battery to allow it to run a full day on a single charge. It’s also working on displaying directions on the screen and enabiling the device to read out text messages aloud.
