At Google’s I/O conference the giant company offered developers the chance to be the first to get their hands on the revolutionary Project Glass augmented reality devices in a Glass Explorer edition.

The glasses are pretty incredible tech with some really intriguing possibilities, changing the way we share our personal experiences. From creating more realistic “POV” (Point-of-View) porn (article linked is safe for work) to (arguably) enhancing our dating skills by providing information about the person we are sitting across from. From allowing us to track our location on a google map without taking our eyes off the road, to buying things online while you view the items at the store instead of having to lug it home (or wait till you get home).

Google themselves demonstrated the incredible possibilities of more accurately recording and being able to share personal experiences with their skydiving demonstration:

They offered attendees of the conference the prototypes of Project Glass, to be ready early next year, for $1,500. In true Google fashion, they want to open the progress and development of the project to incorporate the ideas of “passionate people as soon as possible”. Already the Internet buzzes with ideas for using this (fairly) new technology.

The Refined Geek wonders if this will be to Google as the iPhone was to Apple, in the sense that this may be the product that will allow Google to foster a new market among the masses, just as the mass uptake of the iPhone led the smartphone revolution.

What do you think? Is Google set to reform the way we see and interact with the world using Project Glass? Will it be like the iPad, which began by looking much like a nice little toy and has only increased in utility over time? Or is the “wearable computer” an idea that’s just too silly to be practical beyond the novelty?

I personally think this could quite possibly change the way we see and interact with the world. I have actually started to consider a transition to get onto everything Google. I’m already a Gmail advocate and I’ve recently jumped to Google+ because it just seems to take the best of social networks and removes all the redundancies – I’m trying to get more people to move over to it! Their Nexus 7 tablets are looking pretty slick, though Apple’s legal plaguing might cause some problems there (they needed to dumb down the search operations on the Galaxy Nexus to try and avoid the sales ban in the US). The Chromebooks look intriguing, though I think they’d have to develop and prettify them a little more before I give up my OSX. Even Google’s cloud storage, Google Drive, is one of the better, standing up to Dropbox, iCloud and Microsoft’s SkyDrive (though I am still enjoying Dropbox’s fantastic system integration).

Is it possible that Google is slowly expanding across the Internet, taking over and exerting a Skynet-like influence? Is it really something to be scared of, or is their spread of services, and the close integration of those services, just what the masses need to make their lives easier, simpler?

With regards to Project Glass I’d like to see augmented reality tablets, or perhaps tiles: just blocks that look completely clear when inactive, but could be activated to overlay the world with awesome stuff, such as information about the product currently in frame, or annotations to a piece of writing? That would be cool – especially for those who don’t particularly enjoy wearing glasses.

[Via The Guardian | Mashable]