When Project Glass hit the headlines earlier this year following Sergey Brin's demo at Google I/O I must admit I wasn't massively interested. I've never thought much about Augmented Reality/ wearable computing other than finding the concept vaguely scary.
However, following the London Olympics/ Paralympics I found myself thinking about the role of technology in sport. It looks as though sport is going to be one of the main areas developers will look to target with Project Glass apps - there are already projects under development to that end.
Although I'm not competitive, I love to swim and started to think about the possibility of smart swimming goggles. Since Project Glass runs Android, I thought about how I would love to come up with some swimming apps. I'm a big fan of swimming techniques including the Shaw Method and Total Immersion, so initial app ideas would probably focus on the quality of the swimming experience rather than exclusively on competitive/ high performance aspects. Following a cursory Google search on the topic, I was pleased to find that the company has indeed acquired a patent for swimming goggles.
Anyway, this development has basically got me excited about programming for the first time in a while. Although I love developing applications, I haven't felt too creatively stimulated recently, mainly because I don't spend enough time working on my own projects. I've got a lot to learn if I do want to target these devices, as I know virtually nothing about AR or wearable computing at the moment. I'll be posting on the topic as I learn more about it, and keep my fingers crossed that the smart goggles do become a reality.
Here are some related links:
Hacking for Fun: Programming a Wearable Android Device
Could Google Glass Change Pro Sports Forever?
Google Googles For The Open Water?
Google Acquires Swimming Goggle Patent
Wikipedia: Project Glass
Project Glass on Google+
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