A Rose-Colored View May Come Standard

By NICK BILTON
NYT

SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Wednesday offered a look at a previously secret project to develop Internet-connected glasses, staking out a lead position in a futuristic and fast-growing area known as wearable computing.

The glasses, which are still in a prototype stage, would place a small see-through display screen above a person’s eye that can show maps and other data. The wearer could use voice commands to, say, pull up directions or send a message to a friend.

Apple, a major Google rival, is also reportedly working on wearable computers. In April 2008, the company filed a patent for a head-mounted display system that showed glasses with screens.

But Google has amassed some of the leading experts in this field within Google X, a company lab responsible for such projects that was also something of a company secret before Wednesday.

(More here.)