Latest news with #GoogleGlass
Hypebeast
3 days ago
- Business
- Hypebeast
Why Google Bought a $100 Million Stake in Gentle Monster
Multiple sources have reported thatGooglehas invested approximately $100 million USD for a 4% stake in the fast-growing Korean eyewear labelGentle Monster. The news comes one month after the tech giant revealed partnerships with Gentle Monster andWarby Parkerto develop design-forward smart lenses for its newAndroid XRinitiative. Google's latest move sends a strong message to competitorMeta, which has ramped up its AI-powered glasses rollout with partnersRay BanandOakley. Meta unveiled its partnership with Ray-Ban in 2023 and has since launched multiple models, including the recentOrion glasses, touted as 'the most advanced pair of augmented reality (AR) glasses ever made.' And just days ago,Oakley and Meta unveiled the HSTN, their first product from a new long-term partnership in 'a new category of Performance AI glasses.' However, it's not the first time Google has attempted to enter the smart glasses market. In 2012, Google unveiled its now obsolete Google Glass device, equipped with a camera, a small information display, and internet than 10 years later, the growth of augmented reality (AR) technologies and highly advanced AI has paved the way for more user-friendly and convenient wearables. Additionally, hardware advances have allowed new designs to accommodate slimmer profiles and more attractive silhouettes. In December, Google announced its revamped efforts withAndroid XR, 'a new operating system built for the next generation of computing,' focused on bringing heightened experiences to headsets and glasses. Fast forward to late May, Gentle Monster took to Instagram to share the news of theirpartnership, saying the collaboration 'represents a pivotal step in the evolution of smart eyewear into essential, lifestyle fashion items.' 'Creativity and sophistication are essential design features for the integration of technology into everyday life,' the brand added. So, what could Google x Gentle Monster smart glasses look like? Compared to Ray-Ban, Oakley, and fellow Android XR partner Warby Parker, Gentle Monster is the youngest eyewear label, and the most experimental. Founded in Seoul in 2011, the brand has garnered international appeal for its trend-driven silhouettes and collaborations with innovative designer brands likeMaison MargielaandMugler. A pair of Gentle Monster smart specs could bring big tech's dream of merging its services with fashion's cultural appeal into reality like never before, paving the way for wearable concepts beyond eyewear altogether. As of the time of writing, an official launch of Gentle Monster and Google's collaboration has not been confirmed. Stay tuned to Hypebeast for the latest fashion and tech industry insights.
Fashion United
4 days ago
- Business
- Fashion United
Google buys stake in Gentle Monster as it eyes entry into fashionable wearables
Anyone thinking wearable technology was a trend gone by, Google just acquired a 4 percent stake in South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster, marking its most fashion-conscious foray yet into the smart glasses race. The deal, valued at approximately 107.3 million euros, positions the tech giant alongside Meta in vying for dominance in the nascent but increasingly promising augmented reality (AR) eyewear market. Gentle Monster, known for its sculptural, avant-garde eyewear and high-profile fashion collaborations with houses such as Maison Margiela and Mugler, represents an unexpected but telling partner for Google. The brand will lead design for a forthcoming line of XR (extended reality) glasses, slated for release in 2026, reported the Korea Economic Daily (KED), with Google's AI and Android XR systems embedded, developed in collaboration with Samsung and powered by Gemini, Google's AI suite. This isn't Google's first attempt to marry vision and technology. Its earlier iteration, Google Glass, failed to achieve mass appeal, crippled by privacy concerns, awkward aesthetics, and cultural resistance. What's changed now is the convergence of more sophisticated AR capabilities, improved miniaturisation, and, crucially, an understanding that wearables must seduce as much as they perform. The timing of this alliance reflects the maturation of the smart glasses market, which is moving from novelty to necessity in the eyes of major tech players, KED states. Meta's recent collaboration with EssilorLuxottica on Ray-Ban Meta frames demonstrated how meaningful the fusion of fashion and function has become. Google's deal with Gentle Monster aims to push that agenda even further, placing style at the forefront of product design. For Google, the partnership offers both technological potential and cultural cachet. For Gentle Monster, it's an elevation from niche fashion innovator to global tech collaborator, poised to reshape what smart eyewear can look and feel like.
The Citizen
16-06-2025
- The Citizen
Visually impaired UKZN students get boost with AI smart glasses
The future of five visually impaired UKZN students is looking much brighter and clearer after the institution secured them a life-changing pair of Envision Smart AI Glasses to aid them with their studies, Berea Mail reports. 'For the first time, I feel like I won't be left behind. I can do things on my own, read my notes and slides in the lecture hall and recognise my friends. I finally have control,' said Bright Sello, a fourth-year Bachelor of Science student upon being told that he will be one of the recipients of the artificial intelligence (AI) glasses. Sello, Thandeka Ngcobo, Londiwe Ndaba, Siboniso Mabuza and Thembisa Xolo were awarded the life-changing glasses. Sello, who is partially sighted, struggled to navigate the academic environment. Lectures were particularly daunting for him. 'I often sat in class unable to follow along because I couldn't read what was on the screen or see what the lecturer was pointing to,' he said. 'I had to rely heavily on classmates or tutors after hours to help me catch up, which made me feel like I was always lagging behind.' The Envision Glasses, equipped with a high-definition camera embedded in lightweight frames built on the Google Glass platform, use AI and have the ability to read printed and digital text, recognise faces, navigate environments and access real-time descriptions of their surroundings – all through discreet audio feedback. Each pair of glasses costs about R75 000 and comes with lifetime software updates and technical support. The university managed to secure the students a pair of the R75 000 smart glasses through the efforts of the UKZN Foundation, which approached assistive technology provider Sensory Solutions (Pty) Ltd to donate these glasses to the university's Disability Support Unit. 'The impact of the glasses extends far beyond the classroom. Imagine being able to read a printed timetable independently for the first time, confidently find your way to a lecture venue or recognise your lecturer or classmates in a crowd,' said Amith Ramballie, the head of the university's Disability Support Unit. He said: 'This milestone is particularly significant because no other university in South Africa currently offers students access to this device. While wearable assistive technology has existed for years, previous models were often more expensive or lacked functionality and reliability.' His excitement was shared by Mukthar Khan of Sensory Solutions, the exclusive distributor of Envision Glasses in the country. He added: 'UKZN is the ideal launch partner for this technology in South Africa. We've seen a genuine commitment to inclusion from the university and a thoughtful, student-first approach that aligns perfectly with what this technology aims to achieve.' Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. Read original story on At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Egypt Independent
15-06-2025
- Business
- Egypt Independent
Google, Meta and Snap think this tech is the next big thing
New York CNN — Silicon Valley thinks it's finally found the next big thing in tech: smart glasses – the same thing Google tried (and failed at) more than a decade ago. But Google Glass may simply have been ahead of its time. Now tech companies believe technology has finally caught up, thanks in part to artificial intelligence—and they're going all-in on truly 'smart' glasses that can see and answer questions about the world around you. The latest example: Snap announced this past week it's building AI-equipped eyewear to be released in 2026. The renewed buzz around smart glasses is likely the combination of two trends: a realization that smartphones are no longer exciting enough to entice users to upgrade often and a desire to capitalize on AI by building new hardware around it. That's why, although smart glasses aren't entirely new, advancements in AI could make them far more useful than the first time around. Emerging AI models can process images, video and speech simultaneously, answer complicated requests and respond conversationally. And that could make smart glasses finally worth wearing. 'AI is making these devices a lot easier to use, and it's also introducing new ways people can use them,' said Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager covering wearable devices for market research firm The International Data Corporation. Meet the new class of smart glasses Google, Snap, Meta and Amazon have previously released glasses with cameras, speakers and voice assistants. But the Google Glass of a decade ago never caught on. The screen was tiny, the battery life was short and the 'glasses' themselves were expensive and unfashionable. More modern glasses like Amazon's Echo Frames, Meta's original Ray-Ban Stories and early versions of Snap's Spectacles made it easier to listen to music or take photos hands-free. Yet these still didn't do anything you couldn't already do with a smartphone. This newer crop of smart glasses is far more sophisticated. For example, when I tried prototype glasses based on Google's software last year, I asked Google's Gemini assistant to provide cocktail ideas based on liquor bottles I had been looking at on a shelf. The glasses will also remember what you've seen and answer questions based on that: During its I/O developers conference in May, a Google employee asked Gemini for the name of a coffee shop printed on a cup she has looked at earlier. With the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, users can perform tasks like asking whether a pepper they're looking at in a grocery store is spicy or translate conversations between languages in real time. Two million pairs have been sold since their 2023 debut, Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica said in February. Attendees wear Google Glass while posing for a group photo during the Google I/O developer conference on May 17, 2013 in San Francisco, California.'There's been several years of various failed attempts,' said Andrew Zignani, senior research director of ABI Research's Strategic Technologies team. 'But there's finally now some good concepts of what's working.' And market research indicates the interest will be there this time. The smart glasses market is estimated to grow from 3.3 million units shipped in 2024 to nearly 13 million by 2026, according to ABI Research. The International Data Corporation projects the market for smart glasses like those made by Meta will grow from 8.8 in 2025 to nearly 14 million in 2026. What's coming next Snap didn't reveal many details about its forthcoming 'Specs' glasses but did say they will 'understand the world around you. 'The tiny smartphone limited our imagination,' Snap wrote in a blog post announcing the glasses. 'It forced us to look down at a screen, instead of up at the world.' Apple is also said to be working on smart glasses to be released next year that would compete directly with Meta's, according to Bloomberg. Amazon's head of devices and services Panos Panay also didn't rule out the possibility of camera-equipped Alexa glasses similar to those offered by Meta in a February CNN interview. 'But I think you can imagine, there's going to be a whole slew of AI devices that are coming,' he said in February. Demonstration of prototypes of glasses that can display information in the user's field of vision at the Google I/O developer conference on May 20 in Mountain View, CA. Andrej Sokolow/picture-alliance/dpa/AP AI assistant apps, like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Search and Gemini apps, are already laying the foundation for smart glasses by using your phone's camera to answer questions about your surroundings. OpenAI is putting its tech in everything from a mysterious new gadget co-designed by Apple veteran Jony Ive to future Mattel toys. Google said last month that it would bring more camera use to its search app, a sign that it sees this technology as being key to the way people find information in the future. Apple this past week announced updates to its Visual Intelligence tool that let users ask questions about content on their iPhone's screen, in addition to their surroundings, by using its camera. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently reiterated his belief that smart glasses could become critical to how people use technology during testimony in a federal antitrust case. 'A big bet that we have at the company is that a lot of the way that people interact with content in the future is going to be increasingly through different AI mediums, and eventually through smart glasses and holograms,' he said in April. Do people actually want smart glasses? Still, tech giants need to get regular people to buy in. This includes potential privacy concerns, which played a big role in Google Glass' demise. Recording video with camera-equipped glasses is more subtle than holding up your phone, although Meta and Google's glasses have a light on the front to let other people know when a wearer is capturing content. Perhaps the biggest challenge will be convincing consumers that they need yet another tech device in their life, particularly those who don't need prescription glasses. The products need to be worth wearing on people's faces all day. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg presents Orion AR glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on September 25, 2024. Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters And these devices likely won't come cheap. Meta's Ray-Bans usually cost around $300, roughly the price of a smartwatch. While that's not nearly as expensive as the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro headset, it still may be a tough sell as people spend less on ancillary tech products. Global smartwatch shipments fell for the first time in March, according to Counterpoint Research, perhaps a sign that customers aren't spending as much on devices they may not view as essential. Yet tech firms are willing to make that bet to avoid missing out on what could be the next blockbuster tech product. 'Many in the industry believe that the smartphone will eventually be replaced by glasses or something similar to it,' said Ubrani the IDC analyst. 'It's not going to happen today. It's going to happen many years from now, and all these companies want to make sure that they're not going to miss out on that change.'
Hans India
14-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Smart glasses get a second life: AI powers the future of wearable tech
Silicon Valley is making a fresh bet on smart glasses—once a failed experiment, now a potential game-changer thanks to AI. Google, Meta, Snap, and Amazon are doubling down on this tech, reviving the dream of glasses that do more than look smart—they are smart. Unlike the early Google Glass, the new generation of smart glasses features built-in AI assistants capable of understanding and responding to the world around them. Meta's Ray-Ban glasses can translate speech in real time, identify objects, and even determine if a pepper is spicy. Snap's upcoming "Specs" for 2026 promise context-aware AI. Google's Gemini already offers visual memory capabilities. The drive is fueled by two shifts: smartphones no longer excite users like before, and AI is enabling truly hands-free, heads-up computing. But the real challenge remains—can tech firms make smart glasses fashionable, useful, and worth wearing all day? The next tech revolution may be looking us right in the eye—literally.
