Google shows off its vision for smart glasses

Google’s plan to inject some actual sci-fi into the mundane real world with Android-powered smart eyewear is undeniably ambitious. Maybe even a little crazy. It’s also the company’s worst-kept secret. Until now, anyway. On Wednesday, a small group of Google engineers unveiled “Project Glass,” showing off their distinct vision for smart glasses.

Look familiar? The current design is admittedly more Dragon Ball Z than Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, Google’s Babak Parviz, Steve Lee and Sebastian Thrun admitted it isn’t necessarily what the company will run with.

“We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do,” the group said.

Google demonstrated the pie-in-the-sky concept with an equally fantastical video, showing a first-person view of someone using the eyewear to send voice messages to friends, video chat, find friends via GPS, take pictures and more.

It looks great in the carefully-shot footage. Here’s hoping Google can actually deliver on the promise.