Google has picked 8,000 people in the U.S. whowill have a chance to wear the company's new Internet-connected glasses, whichare being described as the next breakthrough in mobile computing.
Google Inc. began notifying contest winners Tuesday.
The winners will have to pay $1,500 apiece if they want atest version of the product, called "Google Glass." They also willhave to travel to New York, Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay area to pickup the device, which isn't expected to be available on the mass market untillate this year or early next year.
The excitement stems from the belief that Google Glass is atthe forefront of a new wave of technology known as "wearablecomputing." Google, Apple Inc. and several other companies also areworking on Internet-connected wristwatches, according to published reports thathave cited anonymous people familiar with the projects.
Google Glass is supposed to perform many of the same tasksas smartphones, except the glasses respond to voice commands instead of fingerstouching a display screen. The glasses are equipped with a hidden camera andtiny display screen attached to a rim above the right eye.
The engineers who have been building Google Glass tout thetechnology as a way to keep people connected to their email, online socialnetworks and other crucial information without having to frequently gaze downat the small screen on a smartphone. The hidden camera is designed to make iteasy for people to take hands-free photos or video of whatever they are doing.
Privacy watchdogs, though, are already worried that GoogleGlass will make it even more difficult for people to know when they are oncamera.
One contest winner promised to take Google Glass to VeteranAdministration hospitals so soldiers who fought in World War II can see theirmemorials before they die. Another plans to wear Google Glass during a trip toJapan so she can take video and pictures that she can share with hergrandmother, who lives in the U.S. but would like to see her native countryagain. A zookeeper plans to use Google Glass to show what it's like to feedpenguins, and another contest winner wants to use the technology to providemaps that will help firefighters in emergencies.
Google said the test, or "Explorer," version ofGlass will help its engineers get a better understanding of how the technologymight be used and make any necessary adjustments before the device hits themass market.
The company sold an unspecified number of"Explorer" models to computer programmers last year. The finishedproduct is expected to cost from $700 to $1,500.