Google Glass, the search giant's internet-connected glasses prototype, is one of the most exciting products to come around in a while.
That's because the implications are huge.
Glass will bring everyday activities closer to our senses, and enhance our interactions with our surroundings. We'll be more connected to the Internet than we ever have before and we'll be able to see useful images and data overlaid onto the real world.
Granted, Glass is still in its early days. It doesn't yet have its own cellular radio, so it has to sync up with mobile phones via Bluetooth to access Wi-Fi and 3G or 4G data connections.
As of now, Google Glass can do things like record video, send text messages, provide translations, and give directions.
But Google has been holding hackathons for developers to come up with more ways to use Glass. The search giant also recently held a competition to give everyday people a chance to get their hands on Glass and its API. Anyone who wanted Glass had to write on either Twitter or Google+ what they would do with Glass and include the hashtag #ifihadglass.
Glass does raise some privacy concerns. And before it really takes off, Google will need to find a way to make it appeal to the masses. As of now, Glass seems to appeal more to men than women, according to a TechCrunch analysis of #ifihadglass tweets and Google+ posts. It's also pretty expensive at $1,500.
Still, Google Glass has the potential to disrupt a lot of industries, from Hollywood to air travel.
Here are a few of them.
GPS
Conventional GPS is essentially already dead because so many people have the same service on their phones. But since many states ban the use of cell phones while driving, Google Glass will be a great alternative. Sure, you could pull up the directions before you start driving and even receive voice-based turn-by-turn directions. But people still like to see where they're going — and Glass does that.
Hollywood
Google Glass will open up the doors to more creative types of videography.
Already, there seems to be a push toward shooting movies on iPhones and creating new ways for people to consume and immerse themselves in video. With Glass, we'll be able to record video from an entirely new, first-person perspective.
When Google first announced Glass, for example, Google co-founder Sergey Brin used skydivers to demonstrate how people can now capture video from anywhere, without needing to physically hold a device.
Glass will likely be another nail in the coffin of traditional film.
Air travel
JetBlue recently highlighted what it would do with Google Glass. If JetBlue had Glass, it "would continue to help the world view air travel through a whole new lens," the airline company wrote on Google+.
A few of the possibilities: real-time notifications for your flight status, a map for available outlets in the boarding area, taxi fare estimates for when you're leaving the airport, real-time garage capacity information, and directions to the baggage claim area.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider