Google Glass Steps on the Catwalk

The New York Fashion Week is the last place most expect to find the latest in consumer hi-tech-- yet that is where the Google Glass augmented reality (AR) glasses made a showing, with several models sporting the glasses at the Diane Von Furstenberg finale.

DVF Google GlassThe Belgian designer and members of her design and production team also got to wear the glasses at he event as part of "DVF through Glass," a video project Google will showcase on YouTube later this week.  "Beauty, style and comfort are as important to Glass as the latest technology... We are delighted to bring Glass to the runway together with DVF," Google co-founder and Glass "key leader" Sergey Brin says. Perhaps predictably, Brin also showed up at the fashion show wearing a pair of the AR goggles.

Well, maybe using the word "goggles" is a bit unfair... after all, Glass looks more like a slim set of spectacle frames. It carries an embedded camera, battery and a little display above the right eye. According to a "test driver" from the Wall Street Journal, the glasses are light enough, fit well and make taking pictures or video (via voice commands) a snap, even if the display is "a little disorienting."

Google still has a lot of work to do on Glass-- the software remains unfinished, and most of the functions the company promises (such as maps, calling and messaging) are not available in the prototypes seen at New York Fashion Week.

So, wearable computing-- the next big thing? Glass should hit the market sometime in 2013. Maybe more vendors will hit the catwalks should the Google attempt become more than a geek-only curio...

Go Project Glass (Google+)

Go New York Fashion Week: DVF Get Tech with Google Glass (The Telegraph)

Go Hype and Hope: Test Driving Google's New Glasses (WSJ.com)

Go Tipping Point for Wearables?