Google Glass could one day be reborn as real AR glasses

Ah, Google Glass. Google's pair of AR smartglasses made big waves when they was first announced, but they crashed and burned, ending up in the Museum of Failure. It's still alive and kicking in enterprise, however.

But it may one day be reborn as a proper pair of consumer AR glasses, Rick Osterloh, head of Google's hardware division, told The Telegraph. AR technology has improved since Glass' overlay "assisted reality" was the latest and greatest. Smartglasses now, like Magic Leap One, use lasers to beam images into your eyes.

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Smartglasses are "very interesting" to Google, he said, but the technology needs to improve before they become a mass market product - and that could take years.

"It will take a while for the technologies to mature... it will be a few years before that's the case," Osterloh said. "We're going to invest for a long period of time in that area as the technology catches up to where people want it to go."

Osterloh said that Google is doing all sorts of research and looking at all sorts of form factors, but that the company has no announcement in the offing. This is probably a good thing, as the last time Google just threw Glass out for everyone to see, not realizing people's privacy fears with the device.

It's good to know that Google is still tinkering on AR smartglasses and that Glass hasn't completely scared it away. Especially when every one of its competitors, from Apple to Facebook to Amazon, is working on some sort of AR smartglasses.

We'll just have to wait and see what Google eventually cooks up. Hopefully the lessons of Glass are put to good use.