Google Glasses Rivals Emerging with Old Technology?
It seems like Google has got a rival for its new project, Google Glasses as Oakley is developing technology that can project information directly onto lenses. Sounds like Oakley is moving one step ahead of Google as the search giant has devised the similar technology using glasses. Oakley is a division of Italy’s Luxottica Group SpA (LUX) and making an experimental effort to build smartphone features into eyewear.
“As an organization, we’ve been chasing this beast since 1997. Ultimately, everything happens through your eyes, and the closer we can bring it to your eyes, the quicker the consumer is going to adopt the platform,” said Oakley Chief Executive Officer Colin Baden said in an interview.
“We would initially target athletes with products based on the so-called heads-up technology. Oakley could develop a similar product for the U.S. military through Eye Safety Systems, a subsidiary that specializes in eyewear for military and government agencies. Obviously, you can think of many applications in the competitive field of sports. That’s the halo point of where we would begin, but certainly you can transcend that into a variety of other applications,” Baden said.
Oakley has been working on this technology since 1997, which shows that the company has put a lot of effort towards this invention. And there’s another company, Innovega, that’s trying to bring the digital world closer to your eyes, and is tapped by The Pentagon to deliver a fully functioning prototype of contact lenses that uses their iOptiks system. These contact lenses will have two different filters to allow the wearer to focus on two things at the same time.
The rumors around Google Glasses started surfacing back in February, when we heard that Google was secretly working on heads-up display glasses capable of streaming information right before your eyes. It was reported that Google aimed to make it available in the market later this year. And now, we all are eager to try this fascinating technology.
These glasses will likely run on Android, and therefore integrate with certain mobile apps, namely Google’s. Expect integration with Gmail, Google Voice, Google Video and Google Maps to say the least, and many others.
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