Wow, so here’s a thing I totally stumbled upon today—apparently Google is teaming up with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. You know, those eyewear folks? I mean, when did glasses get so high-tech? Anyway, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill glasses, they’re cooking up something called Android XR smartglasses. Sounds like a mouthful, right?
But hold on, what’s XR? Extra Radical? (Kidding—not really sure what it stands for.) Seems like some super-future tech jazz with AI called Gemini, like the horoscope, but techier. Pretty sure I don’t entirely get it—yet here we are.
Oh, and about these glasses… no one’s actually seen them yet. It’s all hush-hush, yada yada. Some might have screens or something. Just imagine it: wearing screens. Actually, isn’t that what we used to do with those silly Visor things in the early 2000s? Or am I losing it?
Here’s a twist—Warby Parker and Gentle Monster are on board. Warby Parker is that US brand that sells glasses online, making you look smart without breaking the bank. Gentle Monster, they’re from South Korea, kinda like Warby Parker’s cool sibling who lived abroad. But compared to this giant called EssilorLuxottica over in the designer corner with Ray-Ban and Oakley? Let’s just say these two are still in the little leagues. EssilorLuxottica’s been playing with Meta (formerly Facebook, remember?) and their Ray-Ban smartglasses. Heard they look snazzy.
So, what’s Google up to? Trying to look cool again after their first attempt, Google Glass. Remember those? I do. Made folks look like cyborgs from a low-budget sci-fi flick. Those glasses screamed “Look at me, I’m techy!” in the most awkward way possible. Anyway, back to the drawing board with those, and now they’re hoping this time it’ll be a thing people actually want to wear in public.
And get this—no clue when these new toys hit the shelves or how much dough they’ll cost us. But they say developers can start playing around with this stuff soon, this year even. Probably to make sure these things do more than just sit on your face.
So there you go—glasses that are smart but don’t make you look like an alien. Fingers crossed.
