Google Glass: A Virtual 4th Dimension

10 Most Interesting Digital Advances: #3

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When we first heard about "super computers," smart phones and talking robots, we were being offered a window into what the world could potentially become. The dreams and visions of some were science fiction to others. Some listened, learned and responded while others paid no attention. As more and more dreams evolve into reality, we need to pay more attention to the dreamers and the visionaries. Technological advances are accelerating at an exponential rate as we enter the second half of the Internet transformation and it's increasingly likely that today's science fiction will become reality in only a couple years. To manage these advances, businesses must:

· address the need to adapt to accelerating technological applications;

· apply the core emerging technological advances to their legacy business models and develop new strategies;

· address the likely impact of these advances on their corporate infrastructure and on the current/future needs and interests of their customers and constituencies.

There are many technological advances on the near-term horizon that are layering a new economic ecosystem on top of the current one, and one of these advances is creating a virtual fourth dimension that literally introduces a brand new world. It's not science fiction but on display in Google-produced YouTube videos and on the Google campus. The product is from the secretive Google X labs, and it's called Google Glasses.

What are Google Glasses?

Google Glasses are, in fact, eyewear that takes information from the real world and overlays information, graphics and videos. Google Glasses place visual "signposts" into your field of vision that help you navigate the world around you. The signposts are generated by augmented reality filters.

The team behind Google Glasses says Google Glasses are more than just another high tech invention; they are a way to explore and share your world virtually in real-time, anywhere. Google Glasses add another visual dimension as you look at the world through an overlay of content that you define and design through available apps.

The YouTube videos recreate the day in the life of a Google Glasses user by showing their functionality. Users can call friends and families, schedule appointments, set real-time reminders, take photographs and videos, post information to a Google+ account, search the web and navigate from point-to-point. The possibilities are virtually endless. The future of Google Glasses not only could impact the iPhone and the entire smartphone market, but augmented reality is the first step toward 24/7 direct Internet-to-brain communications. Yes, the stuff of science fiction, but in development already.

The efforts behind Google Glasses are spearheaded from the top of the company. Co-founder Sergey Brin and the Google X development team, led by founder Sebastian Thrun, have been behind this project for the better part of two years. When asked when Google Glasses plan to hit the marketplace, Brin stated he hopes to have prototypes available by 2013.

What is Augmented Reality?

Touted as science fact, instead of science fiction, augmented reality creates virtual signposts for your surrounding area. The technology behind AR places graphics over your real world vision. The overlay is generated by RFID tags placed on products throughout a particular location as well as recognizable images, GPS, and other tools now in development.

Augmented reality doesn't just create a new world for the user; it activates multiple applications, including education, entertainment, navigation, news, sight-seeing and more. With AR, Google Glasses are in essence adding an additional dimension to the visual and marketing landscape. The core technology is already in the hands of consumers and businesses through high speed Internet access that is becoming ubiquitous and inexpensive. It's not difficult to image holding a smart phone video camera in front of you and enabling applications that "see" what the camera is viewing and provide on screen and audio feedback, directions, search and location-based information. As the apps learn your needs and interests, the feedback loop becomes more and more personalized and sophisticated. Now just eliminate the smart phone and put all those same features into a pair of glasses with embedded audio/visual capabilities. Take it a few steps further and put the same capabilities into contact lenses with a blue tooth earpiece or even an embedded communications chip. Still don't believe it's possible or don't quite understand? Watch the videos.

How Google and Marketers Plan to Change the World

From a marketing and development standpoint, the possibilities for Google Glasses are endless. Walk through a retail store (or browse online), activate the app for competitive information, simply look at the products on the shelf and instantly see competitive differences, pricing options at different retailers, product ingredients, safety notes, comments from other buyers. How often do you see someone you know but can't recall their name? Google Glasses will include visual recognition software that instantly provides detailed information on every person you see, assuming their images are available in databases. Google Glasses never-lost systems will know where you are at all times and through visual and GPS-based input, guide you through video step-by step instructions. Walking through a neighborhood, you'll be able to see if any of your friends are nearby and, once connected, actually see what they're seeing, and activate the record feature to store images. The possibilities get downright funky.

Augmented reality, partnered with application development and localized marketing, will create a new virtual 4^th dimension that individuals and marketers will be required to navigate. Google Glasses is one of many game changers on the near-term horizon. For Internet Natives, this new dimension will be simply the next breakthrough technological advance in a lifetime of advances. For those of us who still view these ideas as science fiction, they represent continued chaos and disruption. Unless you prepare for science fiction to suddenly become real and on the market, you will be too far behind to compete with companies that are already preparing for this new virtual overlay ecosystem.