Google Glasses Could See an Augmented World

Image: A potential Augmented Reality future from AR thought leader and architect Keiichi Matsuda

Picture this; you work at Google and you're having a gay old time what with getting your free hair cuts and sliding down the chute to the canteen to grab the worlds best sandwiches -to scan and upload to your blog- but you're racking your brain in your 20% free time for what Google can do next.

Blam: Eyewear!

The NY Times is reporting that google may be doing just that. It seems they're expanding out of their business of holding your hand around the internet into fashion accessories, particularly glasses.

Rayban have no need to worry their shades off though as these particular specs are reported to be 4G augmented reality screens worn just off the eye that would allow google to serve it's location based data over everything you looked at whilst wearing them. Minority report here we come.

There are plenty of AR apps around that allow you to overlay digital information on the real world; from the pragmatic uses of mapping restaurant reviews and houses for sale to leaving your mark on anything and everything with the more creative Stiktu.

Subversive new media artists overlaid new works on the staid collection in New Yorks MOMA with AR technology see more

This has been playing out for a while now with some fantastically innovative projects most of which have petered out over time. Augmented Reality hasn't really stuck, but with google improving the technology anything could happen. The really interesting aspect -and the one pushed further by Googles reported new tech- is the fact that we could totally redefine the way we see the world to suit our own tastes.

A hypothetical future where this was the case was masterfully mocked up by Keiichi Matsuda a few years ago and seems especially relevant now. Check his vision out below, we recently spoke to Keiichi who told us this was his attempt to push the potential for this tech to its absolute limit so the outcome can appear a little bleak with its intrusion of advertisers but do check out this other videos for some more potential outcomes. Inspiring stuff and all very close on the augmented horizon.