Google internet glasses on the way
Google glasses that overlay the internet on daily lives should hit the market within two years -- technology the tech giant hopes will someday make fumbling with smartphones obsolete.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin offered the estimated timeline after a project update that included sky divers dropping in with a new version of "Glass" wearable computers.
"I'm so glad that worked," Brin quipped after sky divers wearing the glasses streamed live video during their jump from an airplane to the roof of the San Francisco convention center. "I wasn't really expecting it to."
The sky divers handed off a package to cyclists, who performed stunts as they rode to the edge of the Moscone Center where they handed it off to a man who rappelled down the outside of the building to the third floor.
Another cyclist whisked the cargo the final length of its trip to a stage where Brin and other Google executives were kicking off the California-based company's annual developers conference.
Brin opened the package to show an "Explorer" edition of the glasses that developers could buy for $1,500 to become the first people outside the company to shape the revolutionary eyewear before it gets to market.
Explorer edition glasses should ship early next year, and a version should be ready for the consumer market within a year after that, Brin said.
"Google Glass Explorer edition will be rough around the edges; you have to be into being on the bleeding edge," Brin said of the effort to build a community of developers passionate about taking part in the project.
"This is really new technology and we really want all of you to help shape it."
The eyewear features built-in camera, microphone and speaker technology and can synch to the Internet using wireless connections.
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