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Google shows off Project Glass with skydiving live broadcast
[June 27, 2012]

Google shows off Project Glass with skydiving live broadcast


SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 27, 2012 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- A Google product announcement on Wednesday was "unexpectedly interrupted" by the company's co-founder Sergey Brin in a live video chat with several skydivers wearing Google Glass, a futuristic device being developed by the Internet giant.



At Google's annual developer conference Google I/O in San Francisco, Google Vice President Vic Gundotra, who was introducing a Google+ app for tablet, was "interrupted" by Brin wearing a pair of the forthcoming Project Glass augmented reality glasses.

Brin then started to hold a live video "Hangout" on the Google+ social networking service with a couple of Google employees who were also wearing the glasses and flying over San Francisco in a blimp.


After chatting for a few minutes, four Googlers jumped out of the blimp, live streaming the skydiving through their Google glasses to the audience at Google I/O as well as people who were watching the live broadcast online.

The skydivers landed on the roof of Moscone Center in San Francisco, venue for the Google I/O, and delivered a box containing a pair of the glasses to bikers who performed flips on the roof.

Mountaineers then rappel down the walls of Moscone Center with the box, and handed it to bikers who rode into the auditorium and delivered the glasses to Brin.

All the performers wore Project Glass smart glasses and the whole jaw-dropping delivery process was shown in a seamless Google+ Hangout live video chat.

In a following demo video, Google also showed how people use the augmented reality glasses during daily activities like holding a baby and walking around a farmers' market, and the glasses enable users to easily capture pictures and videos of events that is hard to get through a traditional camera.

The glasses also packs accelerometers, gyroscope, compass and other sensors.

Brin said the glasses presented on Wednesday is "Explorer Edition" and is available for pre-order to Google I/O conference attendees in the United States at a cost of 1,500 U.S. dollars and will ship next year.

The Google co-founder noted that it is not a consumer product yet.

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