Augmented Reality Glasses Starting to Take Off

Google isn’t the only company moving into the “smart glasses” space. In fact, several companies worldwide are nipping at its heels.

The Wall Street Journal reported that warehouse employees at one company use head-mounted devices to help them navigate the staggering amount of merchandise in their 22,000-square-foot facility. Digital information is displayed over each worker’s eye, giving them visual directions through a Wi-Fi connection and helping them to navigate through the 1.4 million items shelved there.

The technology even confirms that the employee picked the right product, cutting down on errors by 60 percent—not to mention the fact that it frees up their hands.

The augmented reality device is made by Knapp AG, an Austrian firm, and costs $13,000. Meanwhile, Google plans to launch its Google Glass device next year, as smaller companies like Lumus Ltd., Vuzix Corp., Laster TechnologiesSAS and Recon Instruments Inc. work on their own prototypes that will do anything from “transmit turn-by-turn directions so people won't have to look away from the road while driving, to displays built into ski helmets that show skiers how fast they are cutting through the snow,” the WSJ reports:

Some computer scientists increasingly envision a world in which people wear glasses-like devices with a built-in camera and use apps that can recognize objects and faces—using technology called "computer vision"—and automatically retrieve information about those objects from the Web or other sources.

For example, an American visiting another country could wear such a device and run a translation app to overlay English on foreign-language billboards, street signs and store fronts.

"By 2020, the world will have perfect augmented vision," said Dave Lorenzini, who designs augmented-reality apps and related businesses at consulting firm Augmented Reality Co. "It's like creating the Internet again but inside the real world."

A License to Self-drive: Google's Autonomous Cars Get Plates

Since 2011, Nevada has been the only state to allow autonomous vehicles to cruise its roads. And now, the first license plate for a self-driving car has been issued—to Google, of course.

The new, futuristic plate identifies the car as a self-driving vehicle, helping other drivers and law enforcement officials to distinguish it. The licensing process took a while; Google had to first prove to the state of Nevada that its car is safe and that the company has measures in place for insurance, training, accident reporting, etc.

Although Google is the first company to receive a plate, that might not last long. Other car manufacturers may soon flock to the state to take advantage of its laws and wide open spaces and develop their own self-driving vehicles. According to the DMV, "just about every manufacturer in Detroit" is interested, though some are closer to the goal than others.

Chinese and European companies are looking into autonomous cars too. Germany's Continental Automotive group has driven thousands of miles in their self-driving car to qualify for a license in Nevada.

It will be interesting to see where this Nevada trend takes us in the coming years. What do you think? Would you ride in a self-driving car?

Google Debuts 'Project Glass' Augmented Reality Glasses

Today on Google+, Google shared its vision for Project Glass, an effort to create the world's first augmented reality glasses.

The Project Glass group explains that they want to "build ... technology ... that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment." The technology featured in the video certainly does that. (While also giving you permission to never think for yourself again.) 

Although the glasses are in the early, early stage, Google wants your feedback on the idea. Check out their post here to let them know what you think.

Nevada Okays Regulations, Testing for Driverless Cars

Nevada just took a big step toward the future: It’s the first state to approve regulations that pave the way for companies to test driverless cars on state roads.

Down the road, this could lead to driverless taxicabs or cars that transport people who can’t drive due to a medical condition.

Although the cars aren’t ready to go to market yet, this is a chance for companies like Toyota to do real-world testing on their driverless concept cars. Already, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval took a test ride in a self-driving Toyota Prius in July. The car, which is being developed by Google, uses radar, sensors and computers to drive itself. Don’t worry, though: the human driver can override the autopilot function at any time.

The regulations generally follow traffic laws, with one obvious exception: A law passed by legislators last year to ban texting while driving included a specific exemption for operators of self-driving cars on autopilot.

What about drinking and driving, you ask? Sorry, it still applies, even to drunk "drivers" of self-driving cars.

Congress: Unmanned Drones will be Allowed in U.S. Commercial Airspace

Think unmanned aerial devices are relegated only to the skies over Iran and Afghanistan? Think again. Starting in September 2015, UAVs will be allowed into commercial airspace, even if they’re privately or commercially-owned drones.

This means companies like Google—or your neighbor that is fascinated by GPS—could deploy drones anywhere in the country for more advanced mapping or, you know, spying.

Why the change in policy? Congress passed the bill just yesterday, but they weren’t focusing on UAVs, exactly. Instead, the bill is to allow the FAA’s adoption of NextGen, a program that lets commercial aircraft install GPS technology. That will allow for more efficient (read: steeper) take-offs, which should be fun.

I’m all for more efficient air travel (will it also be cheaper?), but the privacy implications of this bill worry me. As Time explains:

Rigging a cheap drone with a video camera was no problem for an Occupy protestor; how hard would it be for someone with deeper pockets to finance a drone with even more powerful surveillance equipment to monitor, well, who knows what? How will we know what purposes any private citizen has for deploying a drone overhead?

Meanwhile, Forbes wonders how corporations will use this new-found freedom to gather more information on consumers.