NeoBytes :) is a new, occasional little feature on Neowin that takes a second glance at some of the big stories in tech, with a cynical eye and a dose of humour.
Google officially confirmed this week that it"s working on Project Glass, an effort to create a heads-up display with its own data connection that beams its interface and content directly at your eyeballs, with none of the oh-so-yesterday hassle of using a clunky smartphone.
Many people out there - especially the more hamfisted and sausage-fingered among you - rejoiced at the prospect of no longer being constrained by the limits of a touch interface, and Twitter was littered with eager fans practically spitting with excitement at the idea that this might soon be a real world product.
The concept video that Google posted to showcase the project was fabulous, of course - as such videos often are - but how realistic was it? How close to the concept will Google"s glasses be when they make it into the real world? What will they really be like?
Disastrous, if Tom Scott"s video is anything to go by:
...and it looks like Jimmy Kimmel agrees. That"s certainly a more realistic ending to Google"s concept vid than the original:
But you know what the big omission from Google"s vid was? Ads, of course!
Much more authentic. Still want a pair?
Update: Of course, Google"s competitors will be watching it closely to see what they can learn in developing their own rival products. This vision of reality augmented and seen through Microsoft"s eye-Windows ("iWindows"? maybe not...) seems remarkably prescient: