Rumors have been floating around that Google is developing a pair of glasses with a built-in heads-up display, and Google confirmed the project's existence today.
"Project Glass," as shown in a Google+ page, outfits the wearer with a sleek pair of glasses with just one small lens worn over the right eye, and a camera. That doesn't mean a working pair actually exists yet—Google said photos of the glasses were posted to "show what this technology could look like" and a video was created "to demonstrate what it might enable you to do."
In the video, a guy wakes up and sees some Android-like icons in his heads-up display. He makes coffee, sees a reminder for an appointment, looks out the window, gets the weather, then receives a text message from a friend asking him if he wants to meet. He replies to the text message by voice while he's eating. The guy walks out the door and heads toward the subway when his glasses tell him subway service has been suspended. Instead, he gets the walking route from his glasses.
Later, he goes into a bookstore, asks "where's the music section?" and is given walking directions to that part of the shop—using the indoor maps technology built by Google. He sees something interesting, says "take a photo of this," and then "share it to my circles" in order to post it on Google+. Then he walks up on top of a balcony, receives a video call, and shares the view from the top of the building with a friend.
In short, the glasses will be designed to do just about everything that can be done using a smartphone, but without the massive inconvenience of actually carrying a device and using your hands. Google hasn't said how close all this is to reality, but here's the video for your viewing pleasure:
