Google Co-Founder Spotted Wearing Augmented Reality Glasses
Last week, Google sent out an email to developers, inviting them to a
pair of hackathons in New York and San Francisco. Here, Google hopes
these developers will help them figure out what they should do with
their Google Glass idea. Yesterday, one blogger just so happened to recognize
Google co-founder Sergey Brin riding the subway and doing a bit of dogfooding.
As only a blogger could, Noah Zerkin recognized Brin and his peculiar
pair of spectacles, the super nerdy and incredibly rare Google Glass.
Zerkin decided to chat up Brin as they rode through New York’s
underground (as luck would have it, Zerkin blogs about augmented reality, a feature which is expected to one day ship with Google Glass) and even managed to snag a picture with him before they parted ways.
Zerkin tweeted the picture of Brin, but hasn’t yet mentioned what exactly they discussed, only that Brin is a “Nice Guy.”
The fact Brin was caught wearing these glasses has sent other
bloggers to wonder aloud what he was able to do with these specs. After
all, the cell service in the New York subways is said to be nearly
non-existent, and as the glasses mostly require a cellular connection,
he might not have been able to do much with them while riding the train.
Once he stepped out of the train, however, he probably could have used whatever features are currently being tested.
Earlier this month, IEEE Spectrum
published an interview with Google Glass’ head Babak Parviz, wherein
the executive claims the futuristic spectacles are currently “in flux.”
Though Google’s introductory teaser video for these glasses showed
off plenty of augmented reality features, Parviz said in the interview
this feature might not make it to the glasses for some time.
“I would say that even though augmented reality isn’t our immediate
goal for Google Glass, I think in the future that augmented reality will
also come into the picture,” said Parviz in his interview with IEEE
Spectrum. “I personally find it exciting, and I think in the future it
will actually come.”
The second Glass Foundry event (what they’re calling the upcoming
hackathons) will take place in New York on February 1 and 2. This could
very well explain why Brin was spotted in New York. He’s also an
incredibly wealthy man and could have decided to spend the weekend in
New York because of bagels.
At this point, Google’s Glass could be just as capable of doing all
sorts of cool augmented reality things as it performing the same sort of
tasks as the new Pebble watch.
The fact Brin is wearing these things out in public is, at best, a
sign he has faith in his company and the glasses are actually working.
At worst, the glasses could have been a last ditch effort to disguise
himself on the subway, hoping a pair of specs would throw AR bloggers
off the scent. If this is the case, Brin would be a terrible spy,
placing the fate of our country in terrible peril.