8000 people to test Google’s internet-connected glasses

PanARMENIAN.Net - Google has picked 8,000 people in the US who will have a chance to wear the company's new internet-connected glasses, described as the next breakthrough in mobile computing, Belfast Telegraph said.

The winners will each have to pay 1,500 dollars (£995) if they want a test version of the product, called Google Glass. They will also have to travel to New York, Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay area to pick up the device, which is not expected to be available on the mass market until late this year or early next year.

The excitement stems from the belief that Google Glass is at the forefront of a new wave of technology known as "wearable computing". Google, Apple and several other companies are also working on internet-connected watches, according to reports citing people familiar with the projects.

Google Glass is supposed to perform many of the same tasks as smartphones, except the glasses respond to voice commands instead of fingers touching a display screen. The glasses are equipped with a hidden camera and tiny display screen attached to a rim above the right eye.

The engineers who have been building Google Glass tout the technology as a way to keep people connected to their email, online social networks and other crucial information without having to frequently gaze down at the small screen on a smartphone. The hidden camera is designed to make it easy for people to take hands-free photos or video.